Well, it was better than the first book. Many of my complaints from book 1 were still present, but I did find this sequel to be more enjoyable.

I still feel like the emphasis on Wyatt and Briar’s relationship was weird. They had so much more of a meaningful connection and chemistry than Wyatt and Emyr. Will they eventually be a triad?

I unfortunately had to stick with a lower rating on this one for the reasons mentioned above, and the fact that I just wasn’t that invested, or connected to any of it. I found that my main motivation to keep reading was smoky to finish the book and check it off my list. It wasn’t bad enough to make me DNF, but it also wasn’t something that really gripped me.

Overall, this was a solid sequel that wrapped everything up. The series just didn’t connect with me though.

For fans of LGBTQ stories, The Fae Keeper doesn't disappoint. A trans man witch, Wyatt, is still dealing with the aftermath of the first book in the series, The Witch King. Keep in mind if you haven't read the first book, the beginning may be a bit to get caught on. Taking place two weeks after the door to Faery has been closed. Unfortunately, things are still extremely chaotic. Emry and Wyatt are two characters that decide they must return to hunt down two characters named Derek and Clarke. With the Guard now dead, they find themselves discovering that witches hold a far more important place in magic. Trying to balance magic and a kingdom becomes a quest in itself.

While I was thrilled with the representation in this book, I did struggle to catch up with the events of the first book when I started on this one. I highly recommend starting with The Witch King and then proceeding.

My Rating: 3/5 Stars

My Review:

I received an e-ARC of this book from Inkyard Press in exchange for an honest review and place on this blog tour — thanks!

If you are interested in reading my review of The Witch King follow this link. This review will contain some spoilers for both books so readers beware

I was fortunate enough to be on the blog tour for the sequel (and finale?) to TWK after being on the tour for the first book. I remember really enjoying The Witch King, and the world of fae and witches it brought forth. It was a really unique urban fantasy, one I had been itching to get back into. However, The Fae Keeper fell short of my expectations and I am saddened by that.

I think the biggest issue I had with this book was the amount of plot that was squeezed into this 400 and some page book. It honestly could have been split into two books, and all the plot points flushed out fully, to make it into an epic finale. There was a lot that I wanted more of, especially in the world building elements. Both Faery and the other fae kingdoms in the human world were left extremely underdeveloped. I had so many questions that went unanswered. The biggest being the centering of the tension between Asalin and Faery when there are at least five other kingdoms! You cannot tell me the Pierce line (as white-y, oops, I mean mighty) propagated their views across the entire world. I understand the allusion to colonization that Hedgmon is developing in relation to fae and witches, but again I wanted to understand it more in the context of the book.

One of the things I loved the most about the first book was Wyatt’s voice. His narration and humour shone through so effortlessly, and the same could be said about it in The Fae Keeper. He does, often times, come off as immature, but I believe by the end of the book he experiences a substantial amount of growth. Which is something I certainly appreciated.

An issue I did have with the book happens off page, and though it was mentioned in the author’s note, it did not sit right with me after I finished the book. It involves Tessa, and I won’t go too far into it as it does hinge on one of the bigger plot reveals of the story, but I really do not see that it was necessary at all to the story.

All in all, though I am not certain this is the last book in this world, I think it did a well enough job bringing Wyatt, Emyr, and Briar’s story to a conclusion. I wanted more from it, but I think that can be said of a lot of endings.

The Fae Keeper released May 31st, 2022

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC of The Fae Keeper!

It was great to be back with these characters. I love H.E. Edgmon's writing style. It speaks to me. It is a writing style a lot of younger Millenials and Gen Z'ers will adore in both <I>The Witch King</I> and <I>The Fae Keeper</I>.

<spoiler>I loved that we got more worldbuilding about the witches, Faery and the kingdoms like Asalin. Because I love Aotearoa--New Zealand, I also loved that we visited there. I liked the quiet bits when it was just Wyatt and Emyr. </spoiler>

I would definitely recommend this duology to those who want to see more non-binary and queer representation as well as Indigenous representation. This duology has excellent characters and writing that understands our generation.

I'm giving The Fae Keeper the key to my heart. It's already stolen anyway, so why not make things official? But seriously, I adored The Fae Keeper, written by H.E. Edgmon. It's the second novel in The Witch King series, wrapping up the story to a perfect conclusion.

Asalin is falling apart, and it seems like nothing Wyatt and Emyr try can change that. The people are too fractured, too willing to abuse those below their station to ensure a better life. This is how most other kingdoms act, but Wyatt and Emyr were hoping to fix things.

Perhaps once Derek and Clarke, the instigators of the latest rebellions (and other war crimes), are in hand, things will finally calm down. Or perhaps not. Wyatt will first have to uncover where witches belong in the fae hierarchy before peace can truly be achieved.

“Hate can build an empire, but all empires fall.”

Wow. Wow! Words cannot describe how much I loved The Fae Keeper. It hits every high (and low) note that I could have hoped for, providing readers with a conclusion we deserved. It's also the ending the characters deserved if we're being honest here.

On a different note: Before The Fae Keeper, I had never read a character journey that resonated with my personal experience. Not the magical tale or most of the other significant points portrayed in The Fae Keeper. I'm talking about a personal journey – finding a label that fits me. I've literally never seen a character go through this (to the conclusion of realizing they're demi, to be clear). Actually, I'm not sure how many other demi characters I've ever read about (if you know other books with demi characters, please tell me!). I'm not ashamed to admit that the whole thing made me tear up. Representation matters, guys; it doesn't matter how old or young you are; it still hits hard.

Admittedly this highlight is a huge reason why I will forever adore The Fae Keeper, so perhaps all of my review is going to be a little bit biased. But really, is that a bad thing? The Fae Keeper forged a personal connection between its words and the reader. Isn't that the goal?

Even beyond this moment, The Fae Keeper is an incredibly emotional book. Wyatt goes through so much while trying to make the kingdom (and world) a better place. Obvious allegories are being drawn here. But just because they're obvious doesn't mean they're unimportant. They are SO important, and seeing them come up again and again in stories will hopefully make it more approachable for others.

I'm trying to say that The Fae Keeper was a beautifully written book. It's magical, but more importantly, it's emotional. It captures such human moments, making the otherworldly feel relatable. I loved every minute of it.

I loved ‘The Witch King’ so much and didn’t think anything could top it, but ‘The Fae Keeper’ came close! I don’t want to say too much and give anything away, but this was another twisty, at-times-dark, romantic, full-of-magic, found-family story with lifelike characters that had my emotions complicated, just absolutely all over the place. I highly recommend ‘The Fae Keeper’ and this duology as a whole.

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘣𝘺 𝘏𝘛𝘗 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 (𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬-𝘺𝘰𝘶!). 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

Rainbows and Sunshine
June 7, 2022

The Fae Keeper is the direct sequel to The Wich King and picks up right where it left off. I absolutely loved this book, even more than the first book!

We back with Wyatt, Emyr and Briar and I missed them so much! Wyatt grows so much throughout the book emotionally and also learns to communicate his thoughts. Emyr has been my favourite since book one and continues to be so.

This book is filled with new discoveries and hidden truths and new friends the make along their journey to save them all. It’s mostly from Wyatt’s POV but we do get a couple of chapters from others. Also what a way to end!!!!

Overall I really enjoyed this duology and highly recommend it to all!!

*ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review

The Fae Keeper is the sequel to the Queer YA Fantasy , The Witch King by H.E. Edgmon. The story picks up shortly after the ending of book 1 as our leading character try to change their kingdom for the better and come up against more than a few who revolt against the change. I'm not going to go into any more than that because #spoilers !

As soon as I began, all my fond feelings for Wyatt , Emyr and Briar came rushing to the forefront of my mind. Our young hero's went through a lot in the previous books, on top of the pressure they have been surrounded by their whole lives. To say they are struggling emotionally and mentally is an understatement, but they overcome it with the help of one another. The communication between Wyatt and those closest to him is on point when it needs to be.

Wyatt, even though he is still learning how to control his magic, he goes through so much emotional growth in this book. He accepts and loves his body for everything it does, and he learns to communication his feelings and thoughts instead of instantly reacting emotionally as he has in the past. He is also embracing his feelings for Emyr and doesn't hesitate to tell him he loves him. He does go through an internal debate about whether he just loves him or is 'in love' with him, but all his internal dialogue and actions make it pretty obviously that he's in love with him. I already loved Emyr from the beginning but I fell even more in love with him in this one with his vulnerability and his fierce love of Wyatt. They also have a great sex positive relationship, there's a scene where they discuss insecurities and fears in the bedroom and both press the importance that no at anytime is more than okay.

The sequel takes Wyatt and Emyr on emotional journeys where they discover truths, defeat old enemies, and make new allies. A fight for survival and a better world for witches. The book is once again told from Wyatt's point of view, but towards the end during the big climax we are given more than a few new point of views . It was so satisfying to be inside Emry and Briar's heads, if only for a few pages. I'm sad to have the series by completed, but I'm very satisfied with the ending to Wyatt's story.

If you’re looking for a fun fantasy series with fantastic lgbtq rep, especially trans, then this is absolutely for you! Unfortunately while I want to love this series, I just can’t put my finger on what is holding me back. I enjoy the characters and their diversity, the plot is enjoyable, but there is just something missing in my opinion. I hope many others love it!

The Fae Keeper was a phenomenal follow-up to The Witch King. I know this series is only set to be a duology, but the way TFK ended makes me want even more from this fantastically queer world. I loved every minute of it. The characters that I knew and loved from book 1 returned and each of them grew and developed with deeper dimensions. I found myself cheering for all of the characters and hoping they all got their happily ever afters. The writing was actually stronger in book 2, which I was pleasantly surprised with. I feel like the story flowed nicely and all of the questions I had from book 1 were answered in this sequel. I cannot wait to follow this author more in their writing career.

Thank you to the publisher, Inkyard Press, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of The Fan Keeper in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Gist
I have to be completely honest and confess that I didn’t realise The Fae Keeper is the sequel to The Witch King. Never having read the former, I was very clueless starting the latter.

I read a few reviews and short summaries of the first book to get a general idea of what the story is about. However, I was still very unprepared for the sequel.

Having said that, this review might turn out a little different than my usual ones.

The Details
I can say I am not impressed with the protagonist. I don’t like his attitude, which makes reading this story even more of a chore, because the protagonist is also the narrator.

The narrative is all over the place, mostly because the writing is not very succinct. There are plenty of run-on sentences, sentences that appear incomplete and thoughts that don’t follow the general idea of the paragraph.

It makes for a jarring reading experience. Especially with fantasy it is important to have a good grasp of grammar and sentence structure. I find having to read a sentence two, three, or even four times to really figure out what it means, rips the reader out of the world of the story that is already so much different from ours.

This brings me to another point. I thought The Fae Keeper is suppose to be a fantasy story? But everything seems to be pretty realistic except for using terms that have a set meaning in our world and give them a different meaning in this fantasy world.

For example, an “influencer” is someone, who influences nature around them; not a popular person on social media.

Technology is also “tweaked” to fit into this fae-witch world, yet it is not very well explained.

So, the reader is left to trick themselves into thinking that this fantasy world, with real locations, technology and other terms that remind so much of our world is in fact this made-up fantasy land.

That’s a tall order for a reader, who just wants to escape into a book.

The Verdict
Overall, coming into The Fae Keeper during the second act, so to speak, has some obvious downfalls and my review reflects those.

Looking at just what I read, I have to say that this story is a bit messy and confused me until I was rather agitated.

I have to give this one a pass.

HE Edgmon's follow-up to The Witch King, The Fae Keeper, completes the duology, and it's as entertaining as I'd hoped. The emotions run the gamut, and once again, I found myself appreciative of Edgmon's wit and humor as well as his sense of timing. It helps temper some of the violence and graphic descriptions. I'm pretty jaded, and some of the things described and talked about here got to me, so that's definitely something to think about. This is young adult fantasy, but for younger teens, I'd say it depends on the level of maturity. That said, I enjoyed getting to spend time with Wyatt and company again. Wyatt and Emyr have their ups and downs and their personal growth is impressive. I don't want to give spoilers, so I'll just say the story is exciting, the characters are well-rounded, and the duology comes to a satisfying conclusion. I'll be interested to see what this author does next.

Thank you to NetGalley, Inkyard Press, and H.E. Edgmon for the opportunity to not only read The Fae Keeper in exchange for an honest review, but to be a part of the blog tour as well.

This book is the conclusion to The Witch King duology. While I didn't get the same enjoyment out of this second installment as I did the first novel, it was still an enjoyable read that had a lot of focus on LGBTQ culture.

In this novel, Wyatt works with Emyr to reform the ruling governance and laws shadowing over the kingdom of Asalin. With a new threat to face, Wyatt is continually thrust into the events of his past, needing to learn to face them, as well as still going through the struggles with his body image, being a trans man, and exploring what his own future will look like piled on top of everything he is going through.

The quest to meet with other fae leaders, after an assassination attempt on Emyr's father, becomes a driving force for a good part of the novel. Wyatt and Emyr still struggle to find equality for witches among the fae world, only to learn from a resident of the original faery that the way they live in the Earth realm is not exactly the most honest governance of the fae kingdoms (but what government is honest with its people, really?).

On top of maintaining his friendship with Briar and keeping a newborn witch safe, as well as living through their own attempted assassinations, Wyatt, along with Emyr, still has a lot to learn about himself, coming to terms with his past, and finding the right path into who he is and how his future will look. But he must survive the onslaught against Asalin first!

I really enjoy the LGBTQ aspects of this book. There are many different terms and pronouns used, as well as the fact that Wyatt is trans, and the reader gets a glimpse of what that experience might be like, for those who are not or do not know how that would feel. The struggle with body image in relation to how one sees themself is an important aspect of Wyatt's character.

The story itself seemed somewhat lackluster compared to the first book, but sure enough, the ending has some interesting perspective shifts and some insane twists and action that really brought this book to a heart-pounding closure. I love the fact that this is part of a duology, as I find duologies to be more focused and both books tend to play an integral part (without the stretch of a middle book in a trilogy or some aspects of long-winded series). This is a perfect end and a great series.

This is an excellent conclusion to this duology and I loved it much more than The Witch King. The characters and the style of writing are excellent and I loved the plot and the storytelling.
It's a gripping and compelling story.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Asalin is still in turmoil even after the door to Fae is shut. Emyr and Wyatt are hunting Derek and Clarke after abolishing the corrupt Guard, and are trying to convince the other kingdoms to follow their lead. They uncover the hidden truth about the witches' place in fae society, revealing that the problems are deeper than anyone knew. And this may be more than the two of them can fix.

This is the second part of the Witch King duology, taking place right after the Witch King. Transgender Wyatt had to decide if the witches were more important than his own freedom in the United States, and he faced many betrayals along the way. This novel opens up soon after the first finishes, and there is a lot of fallout for Wyatt to deal with. He has been constantly on the move and on the defensive, unable to really learn much about his witch heritage or how to control his magic. Emyr is traumatized, changed by the events at the close of the first book, but at least their love remains intact.

Within this novel is discussion about the spectrums of gender and sexuality, and the appearance people have that gives them certain privileges. We also learn about the source of fae and witch magic, and how each of them served a role in the sense of magic. We also get a glimpse at what the true citizens of Faery were like, as well as the other kingdoms on Earth. This is a story that sucks me in so that I keep thinking "One more chapter" and keep going long after I should put the book down and do something else. I guessed one of the plot twists correctly, but not the rest. Wyatt connected with his powers and faced a lot of his self-doubts and fears. I'm happy to see his growth, as well as the other characters. Their future will be complicated, but I know they'll be up for that challenge.