Book Review: Between Two Kings

Last summer I read Kiss of the Basilisk by Lindsay Straube because there was so much hype for it. I did not love the book, but i still wanted to know how it would all end. Hence, why I am sharing my book review for the sequel and conclusion to the duology, Between Two Kings. Some light spoilers ahead!

The novel picks up shortly after the ending of Kiss of the Basilisk. Tem has decided to stay with Caspen, forsaking her relationship and marriage with Leo. She had crested Leo at the end of the first novel and told him to go look for Evelyn, his first love who had disappeared from the village.

At the start of this novel, Tem is living under the mountain with Caspen and happy with him. She’s learning about the basilisk culture and way of life and still in love with Caspen. But, something is missing and she feels incomplete. Despite being in love with Caspen and enjoying her basilisk life, she misses Leo and still loves him. When she receives a letter from him inviting her and Caspen to the castle for dinner on a weekly basis so they can work together to create a good relationship between their two kingdoms, Tem’s love for Leo and her missing of him becomes more evident to her. She knows she has to see him for the good of the people, but it’s not easy and she has to see him with his fiancée, Evelyn. Meanwhile, unrest is growing with the basilisks. Caspen is a drakon and the seneca basilisks want to take power and overthrow Caspen.

In addition to all this, something is not right. She can’t control how much she misses Leo and feels split in two with her love for Leo and Caspen. And she has not been able to transition into her basilisk form. Leo is looking tired and weak when she sees him each week. After a visit with her parents, she learns from her father that Leo looking worse for wear and her trouble transitioning are linked. When she crested Leo, they were in love, which formed a bond. If they do not consummate that bond in a timely manner, she will never be able to transition again and Leo will die. Basilisks are very sexual and free with their bodies. In fact, Caspen encourages Tem to have sex with other basilisks, including his brother Apollo (who I actually love), who was a very interesting and mysterious and charming character. Since they are so free with their sexuality, you would think Tem could sleep with Leo and solve the problem, right? Nope! She learns from Caspen that his mother was killed by his father because she had fallen iin love with someone she was sleeping with and that goes against their blood bond. Basilisks can sleep with whoever they want, but you cannot love anyone other than your mate, so if you have sex with someone you love other than your mate than the blood bond forces your mate to kill you. They have no control over it. So, if she doesn’t sleep with Leo he will die and she will never transition again, but if she does then Caspen will be forced to kill her. How will she solve the problem and will the senecas overthrow Caspen?

I went into this book with every low expectations because I didn’t love the first book and really did not like Tem – I thought she was extremely annoying. Multiple people told me they hated the sequel and thought it was dumb, so I had low expectations. I actually didn’t hate the book. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it and thought it was fine. I actually didn’t hate Tem this time around and found her a lot less annoying. She didn’t bother me. The storyline was interesting although still a little comically outrageous. And while there was still plenty of sex in the novel, I didn’t find that it was gratuitous like in the first book where it was just nonstop on almost every page for no reason. That being said, this book took me a very long time to get through. The book is just over 500 pages and it took me 2 weeks to read, which is a long time for me. I just could not get through it any faster, so that will give you an idea of how interested I was in it and how readable it was.

Overall, I didn’t love it or hate it. The premise was interesting, but didn’t hook me in. I just wasn’t that invested, however the ending was a little emotional to me so that was probably the only part that I felt a connection with the characters. I’m glad I read this book to see how it all ended, but it did take me a while to get through.

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