I've tried and tried to get into this, but unfortunately I just can't! Couldn't connect with any of the characters, and there was a lot of info-dumping that stilted the writing.

Honestly, Imma just copy and paste the blurb here:

"The Standard of Kalam, a confederation of kingdoms bound by diplomacy, is governed by the Tetrad. Appointed by the Advisory Council, the four Tetrarchs that comprise the Tetrad are meant to ensure peace and prosperity across Kalam. Then the relative tranquility of the past several years is threatened by unknown enemies hailing from the recently acquired Eastern Territories. In trying to outsmart and stop them, Tetrarch Tancredi is aided by his sister, new allies, and an old flame… but it will take all of them, and more, if they hope to save the Standard."

Hey! Remember all the scenes in the Star Wars prequels where you got to sit there and watch them discuss politics? Here's over 100,000 words of it. This book is written well but it had so much emphasis on politics that it had all the excitement of C-SPAN on the television when you can't find the remote. I seem to keep getting these books that feel more like homework than enjoyment these days... 3 out of 5.

Look, this book isn't necessarily bad, but I don't feel like I can give a star rating higher than two when I skimmed through at least half of it. It's a well written book and it's obvious that a lot of thought went into the world and the characters, it just wasn't what I was expecting. Basically I was expecting an M/M fantasy romance novel with some politics in the background but it was ALL politics with like maybe three romantic scenes total between the main couple, one of which is the prologue that takes place seven years ago! I really tried to get into it but it seemed like every other paragraph there would be a huge info dump about some location or random person or historical event in the world and to me it just didn't flow well and wasn't interesting. Also I don't think most of it was entirely necessary because I skipped literally several pages in a row several times and I still don't feel like I lost any understanding of the 'main' plot. If you're really into political intrigue and meticulous world building you will probably like this book but it just wasn't for me.