This book is titled for Legion’s older brother, but in reality there are three relationships going on in this book. Legion and Nico return, married by Adoni. The threat of Nico’s banished people grows. The question I had while reading was who they would wage war with? Legion or Adoni? Part of this story is about Adoni finally coming into his own. Is he truly the king of 29 realms or only 20? He learns hidden truths about his council, his people, Legion, and himself.

There still some lingering issues with the series. The lack of description of the people and realms hindered my enjoyment of story. There was no actual distinction between the light and dark realms. In Legions book, we are told the 9 dark realms ruled by Legion were dark and dangerous but there were only a couple of visuals to give an idea, nothing that made me feel the otherness of Legion’s kingdom. The same can be said of this book. What made Adoni’s 20 realms the golden realms? I tried to figure out what mythology fit in the realms but it wasn’t discernable with the information given. I mean, Inanna is Cannanite/Sumerian depending on the source you use. Adoni is Judism. Legion is Greco-Roman. Astarte is from the Hellenistic period. Behenin might be Indian… So with the lack of description and imagery, I kept falling back into comparing the character’s world to a fairy world with magic and wings. There really wasn’t anything to anchor this in a “realm of gods”.

That said, I expected this to be Adoni’s journey to love but that wasn’t the only love story within the pages. Legion and Nico returned, taking up page time with their wedding and consummation. A love interest was introduced for Behenin. I’m disappointed that Behenin didn’t go to Nico with his dilemma since it was Nico’s reaction that caused Legion to be unbending. The situation wasn’t that complicated. If Behenin thought of and discarded other options than breaking Legion’s trust, it wasn’t shown and I can only guess at his reasoning. Between the issues of Legion’s love life and Behenin’s, Adoni met Navarah. With Navarah’s help, Adoni truly begins to see the crux of his problems. The open-ended issue of rebellion from Legion’s book is continued here with no real progress made by Adoni. He spent too much time whining about how the people loved Legion to work towards gaining the trust of the people. The last 10% of the story went rather quickly and ends in a huge cliff hanger with nothing resolved. I’m still not sure how to think about that. I do think that any progress Adoni made was lost when he was bemoaning the fact that Navarah was pushed into the void. He wasn’t a man of decisive action, and yet again, Legion stepped up and became the hero. I imagine that Behenin’s book is next, but honestly, I can’t stomach more of Adoni.