The Second Line lived, and their resurrection threatened the fragile happiness that Avalon has finally achieved.

Avalon Halhed was actually content. She’d go as far as to say she was even happy. She was in love. She had friends, a community, a damn pet.

Until a shockingly beautiful man walked through the gates of Boellium and ruined everything. The Heir to the Second Line shouldn’t exist. Their Line had long ago been eradicated and countless years had passed, until they were just a warning in the history books to not cross the First Line.

But Lierick Hanovan appeared with more than just the revelation that his Line lived; he had claims that were even more insane.

He believed Avalon was a Recreationist, and could physically turn back time. In fact, according to Lierick, she had recreated history over and over already.
She was also prophesied to change Ebrus forever. No pressure or anything. But despite the preposterousness of his words, they rung true in her soul.

Avalon didn’t want to be the ‘chosen one’. She wanted to badly swing a sword by day, have three ways beneath the stars with her handsome lovers by night, and then follow Hayle home when her time as a conscript at Boellium War College was complete.

However, Fate didn’t care what Avalon wanted. She’d proven that over and over again.

Part 1 –

Okay, so I have now read the first part of the book; it’s about 31% on Kindle. Wow. Okay. I need to break this down somehow. The end of book one was a twist and a bang, and though I anticipated the plot’s trajectory, I wasn’t prepared for the actions that led there. I knew this second book would take me longer to read, not just because it’s longer, but because more characters are on the board now, and each needs time to shine. We have a new main character and more secondary characters. The three parts of this book represent, I think, the different reversals of time, the time loops. Part one ends with a reset, and part two starts with one.

Avalon –

For someone who was so horribly mistreated by family, Avalon sure does collect people who love her. And whichever way you look at it, that’s good. It’s deserved for her character. I have often found in this genre that the FMC either has too much power, has no idea, and is incredibly vulnerable, or has no power unlocked, is incredibly strong, and has a wall no one can crack. Of course, I’m generalising here, but after a while, those two opposing characters get boring. I think Avalon is different because her character is unapologetic and flows so seamlessly. There is no pretence; there is no need to act up to any plot points or other characters. Avalon is her own character in a way that defies structure. She just is, and her depth isn’t overcomplicated. I find her refreshing. She was, admittedly, using a power she didn’t know she had, but once she discovered it, she was genuine in her emotions and in her actions as she researched and tried to control it. I think the FMC’s personality sometimes gets sacrificed for more smut, but to me, if the character isn’t genuine, no amount of smut will make it any better. Avalon adds to her men in this book, but it feels authentic to the character. She loves freely, and she is free in a way she never was with her father. In a world segregated by power and strength, her openness about her desires and what she wants is refreshing. It adds hope to the plot beyond its main goal.

Hayle –

As a man, Hayle is incredibly understanding. He acts like a man in a book. His ability to love Avalon unconditionally while still sharing her with other men speaks to his character. He doesn’t take his Soul Tie for granted; he worships Avalon in a way most can’t. He values her life more than his own; he’d run himself ragged just to get a smile from her. It’s endearing. He also understands the difference between loving someone and letting them be themselves. He never pushes Avalon or asks for too much. He is also his own character and powerful in his own right. His relationship with his father, Victor, is a powerful reminder that good parents exist, that some children are raised with love and protection, and that, in a book where so many young people have abusive, neglectful parents, that bond is incredibly important and sorely needed. He understands Avalon has a big heart and is open to accepting anyone she wants to add to their group. In his eyes, including these other people makes Avalon happy, and that is his number one goal in life: making Avalon happy. At the end of the day, he knows Avalon is his Soul Tie, and their relationship will never be the same as her relationships with others. They are tied together.

Vox –

Vox shows a lot of patience and vulnerability in this first part. He understands and resents the reasons he cannot engage with Avalon publicly, and it weighs heavily on him. It takes a lot of courage to go against someone powerful, and Vox isn’t just going against that power but also against his own family. While it is clear that Vox’s views are firmly not with those of his father and family, it must still cause him a lot of anxiety to leave everything behind and stand up for what he believes in. He wants a world where everyone is equal, no one is starving, and he can be fully with Avalon. It is unfortunate that so much works against this new world, but it strengthens the book by pushing the plot toward a climactic ending.

Lierick –

Lierick, our newcomer. I think both Vox and Avalon feel conflicted about him. Vox out of suspicion and emotional denial, and Avalon through guilt and attraction. Hayle accepts Lierick, and I think he sees, at least emotionally, where things are heading, though he shares some of Vox’s suspicion about his motivations. It is interesting to discover a character without a known backstory. For a character so central to the plot, I’m an impatient reader and want to know all his secrets. In reality, I’m in the same boat as Avalon, Vox, and Hayle, learning about him as things unfold. In his first part, I’m unsure whether his arrival will set the cat among the pigeons in a good way, or whether the entire landscape will burn to ash, but he is definitely not a calm, collected character. He has too much fire and believes passionately in the cause he is fighting. It is one thing to fight for freedom, but another entirely to build a civilisation free of corruption after the dust has settled!

Part 2

So, I’ve found myself struggling a little with this book, which I find odd because I was so connected to the first book and felt completely captivated. I think life has been very busy, and I haven’t been sleeping well, which has affected how I have been reading this book. Instead of reading it in one sitting, I have been reading it in small moments in the evening or during the day.

So, there is a lot of travelling in this part, which the men have experience with but Avalon doesn’t, so it’s interesting to explore from her point of view. I also think this part feels slower to me because there is a lot of travelling. I understand the plot needs this transition period, but I got used to the first book’s structure and expected the same here.

Avalon – Avalon in the ‘wild’ is a sight to behold. I honestly wasn’t sure how she’d fare with all the travelling and the continual influx of meeting new people, but she copes better than I expected and keeps her own unique voice throughout. We teeter for quite a while on the ‘will they, won’t they’ aspect with Lierick, but honestly,

Hayle – Turns out that there is more to Hayle than we, the readers, knew. It clearly means something to some people, but I don’t yet know whether it will affect the plot positively or negatively.

Vox – Vox’s father, it seems, has finally learned about his son’s choices and come out of the woodwork, but not directly…of course, other hands doing the dirty work is always preferred.

Lierick – Gets a seat at Avalon’s table and sorts out whatever is festering between him and Vox. He works as an addition to the group, but I suspected he would. Avalon draws him in, and his feelings for her are separate from what he has to do to regain a footing in Ebrus. Individually, these men wouldn’t stand a chance, but paired with Avalon and the right circumstances, they stand to gain a great deal.

I did not like the ending of part 2. After the slow-moving plot of part 2, it almost felt like a slap in the face. I enter part three, the final part, with suspicion.

Part 3 –

Part 3 came with a roar, and the plot picked up speed, holding my attention once more. I wasn’t expecting how the plot would go. I had many theories while reading, but in the end, I wasn’t even close to what actually happened. For a book I struggled to read, the last part brought me back into the fold and, with a HEA, made me smile.

Avalon – Avalon does, finally, I think, get to live a happy life. But it doesn’t come at the start of part 3; it comes at the end, as all HEAs should. In this final part, her strength and resilience are front and centre. By this point, she had seen and experienced so much that it was inevitable her personality would shift. She’s always been a strong character, but seeing her confidence flourish in this last part was rewarding to read. All of her men stand beside her in this final part, and she is better for it. They are in complete sync now, working as one unit while still being their own characters. For all the character has experienced in the two books, I would have been most disappointed if the HEA didn’t tie up all the loose ends, but fortunately this book did dot all the I’s and cross all the t’s, so I am happy.

Hayle – Hayle is the happiest I’ve seen him in either book. He is back in his homeland and reconnected with his family. But it’s not just the happiness above; it’s also the happiness of Avalon being there with him, and of getting to introduce Vox and Lierick, too. It’s almost an introduction to the family he’s made for himself, and fortunately, the Third Line prioritises family, so everyone is welcomed with open arms, despite any anxiety they may have about ‘meeting the parents’. I’ve said it before, but Hayle has a level of patience unmatched for a man sharing a woman with 3 other men and not falling victim to territorial dominance. Their relationship works. I am just a little annoyed we never got to see Avalon and Hayle formally bind the soul-tie bond, because I think it would have been quite funny to hear Avalon’s reaction to Hayle’s voice in her head!

Vox – Really, Vox had the most to overcome in this final part because it was really the epicentre of him going against his family and line. It could have gone very wrong very quickly, but I found that the character held his own and held onto his emotions, even though he had to face his line standing on the opposite side of the room. This book also let Vox explore feelings he was taught to deny his whole life, and it was rewarding to watch them come to fruition in this last part. Aside from Avalon, I think his character had the most growth. Even though this is a fiction book, it takes a lot of courage to go against your family, and I found that he navigated the situations impeccably.

Lierick – The world weighs heavily on Lierick’s shoulders. I think he struggles a lot in this book between his duty and where his heart lies. I don’t imagine anything in this book happened the way he initially expected, but that is the way of time, even if you have a prophecy book that tells you what happened before! Lierick was a character split in two; he wanted, above all, to restore the Second Line to Ebrus, but he also wanted to follow his emotions, and he struggled to balance the two. He learns, though, and slowly begins to understand the relationships around him and where he fits in them. The climactic fight for freedom at the end is presented in two parts for Lierick. The events that Avalon rewound and the events that happened. In the first round, it didn’t go well, and Avalon learned from that. It took Lierick a bit longer to understand that his previous failings didn’t matter because he made different choices the second time around.

Ziar – I was going to talk about Ziar in the second part, but it makes more sense to discuss him here. I had a sense he might become important, but I wasn’t sure how. Jokes and comments throughout the first two parts suggested where he would fit in the plot, but I didn’t want to assume anything without all the facts. I wasn’t sure where he fit with the men, or whether he would allow himself the space to be part of the group. While there was a vague exploration of his character, his actions sold me the most. He was a man who believed he couldn’t have what he desired but stayed close in orbit, just for a glance of the sun. I was glad he could make peace with his thoughts and eventually go after what he wanted in life.

Overall, it was a good read, but I wish that the book had the same level of momentum across all three parts rather than just in part 3.