Meredith {semi-hiatus}'s Reviews > A Savage Debt

Edit: I initially rated this 4 stars, but in all honesty this was more a 3.5 star read for me.

The smut was A+ and I enjoy Omegaverse fairytale retellings but idk. This just feels more like a 3 to 3.5 read to me. However I chomping at the bit to get the side characters next story.

“I am not asking you to give up your kingdom, your wealth, or your reign. I’m not even asking you to give up your alliances or make use of them for my cause. Just three nights with your daughter.”

So asks Maddoc, notorious outlaw, to King Orick in exchange for a debt he's owed. What a 3 nights those were too! *fans self* Throughout the course of those 3 nights surprising turn of events occur, which is where this book leaves off. I want to read the next book now! I didn't find the cliffhanger too harsh at all. Kudos to the author for being considerate to her readers and pricing her duet appropriately for the length! :)) I'm fine with duets not being the same exact length, and this seemed like a good stopping place for book 1; like a natural ending point.

This was a good Omegaverse fairytale romance. Recommend for Omegaverse fans wanting something a bit lighter, but still very steamy with a strong Alpha.

Was it just me, or did anyone else find the smut hilarious? Especially with lines like this:

“You’ve had me plenty of times,” Ana murmured, her mouth tight with annoyance. The Alpha grunted, the sound coarse. “Indeed. You have almost restored my faith in royalty.” 😂 I was cracking up while reading the sex scenes

This is mostly from the heroine's POV, and the author promised we'd get more from Maddoc's POV in the next book. I don't mind books with only 1 POV, because I like mysterious male main leads and slowly learning more about them as I read on. What I'd really like to see is an evolution in Ana's POV. There's room for growth from her. I'm looking forward to learning more about Maddoc - his past and exactly what he's up too in the next installment.

Trigger Warnings: (view spoiler)[Dubcon - forced seduction trope (hide spoiler)]
Safety: (view spoiler)[No cheating, H possessive of heroine (hide spoiler)]


Constructive Criticism:

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Dialogue - This is kind of nitpicky, but I can't help myself when reading, sometimes things just stick out to me.

I've noticed this a bit in the Reign trilogy too -Sometimes the dialogue and inner monologue from the characters seem a bit modern for the setting. Since the settings are fantasies ~ different cultures, different time periods, I want to see a unique dialect particular to the time/culture.

As a small example, nothing's wrong with using the word 'fuck' in a fantasy/different culture...but idk I think it's fun when reading about a new culture and seeing the characters have their own curse words or names/slang terms for things (Charlaine Harris was good at this in her Sookie Stackhouse series - Vampires were called 'Vampers' ~ lots of little details like that that were unique to that culture/setting).

I've noticed this author tends to use exposition in dialogue, especially in the beginning -->There's a balance to pulling it off and I thought it was done well in this book. There were maybe a couple times I thought the dialogue verged on too much outright explaining of the situation, but then it veered away from that and went to action. So, it was balanced pretty well here. I would encourage the author to keep watching that. I like learning about the world through dialogue, but it needs to come out naturally in conversation. Otherwise I feel like it's the author's voice telling me the story through the character's dialogue and I lose a bit of immersion & the dialogue loses a bit of authenticity.

Pacing was very good. Writing polished; prose had good flow.

Show vs. tell:

At times I thought there was a tiny bit too much telling/explaining, and it wasn't absolutely critical and it could have been obvious through the action of the characters. Here are a few examples (I know this is nitpicky! Also personal preference comes into play. Some readers like being spoon-fed their fiction, while I appreciate having to read between the lines):

The king glared at him but said nothing, indicating that he was willing to at least listen

^This took me out of the story for a split second. I didn't feel like the 'indicating that he was willing to at least listen' was absolutely critical. Just the King not ordering his guards to imprison/kill Maddoc indicates he's willing to listen. I didn't have to be told that. I like being able to read between the lines. This is a personal reading preference though. Some readers do like being told to a degree.

And this is an example of what I thought was good exposition in dialogue:

Milly’s frown deepened. “I will admit his presence is strange, but I agree with His Majesty’s decision to take advantage of this opportunity. That man has broken almost every law in our kingdom and has terrorized us all for years. An example must be made while we have him.”

Example of too much tell:

Unfortunately this is not private and the man is a bastard outlaw,the lowest possible creature that exists in our society

^Would the Queen really say this? Explain it so fully to her daughter. That Maddoc isn't just an outlaw bastard, but the lowest of society. Her daughter is already well aware of who Maddoc is and his standing in society, and the Queen knows that Idk. I felt here the author was explaining the situation to me, instead of the Queen trying to comfort, explain things to her daughter.

Gah, I'm being really nitpicky, I know! This isn't really that big of a deal, but did stick out to me a little. None of these issues were a Big Issue for me while reading, especially considering this is a Omegaverse fairytale romance. I'm really including these comments because I'd love to see more dialect particular to the culture, more 'hints' when it comes to world-building intricately dropped throughout the story, and natural/authentic sounding exposition in dialogue in future epic fantasy series this author might write.

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I will say I had to suspend disbelief in order to buy that the King would allow his daughter in this situation. The Royal Promise was explained well, but still. haha. Once I suspended disbelief this was a ton of fun.
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3.75 stars