The Robin on the Oak Throne by K.A. Linde

This book. This book. 

Sometimes you read the first book and worry that book two won’t live up to expectations. You don’t have to worry about that here. Because this took everything I enjoyed about book one, and opened up the world even larger. Also this is your warning now. Anything that I say will be spoiler free for book two, but book one is free game now!

You want more heists? You got it. Well to run bigger heists… you need a crew, so have SO. MUCH. MORE found family vibes. You want realistic relationships where you’ll hurt each other’s feelings and have to communicate to make those feelings stronger? Yep we got those too. Truly we took two black cats, made them realize that having roots isn’t a problem and now you have to navigate trust, as well as Lorcan deciding that Kierse is now his. I am not always for a love triangle but this one has been so fun, and I am constantly guessing. Miscommunication is one of my least favorite tropes so to see good communication or miscommunication done well is just *chefs kiss*.

Also that tip on the goblin market we get right at the end of book one? It was nothing I was expecting. This just highlights the strength of Kyla’s writing as you realize yes, this is contemporary fantasy but while it’s set in our world the fantasy is so strong and seeing the layers of the magical world built within ours? Stunning. I also loved that Kierse and Gen go abroad and we got to learn more about other warlocks, as well as how other countries work with magic and the monsters coming out into the open. It was so fun to have new settings and see the strength of the world building in this way. 

Also somewhere in the middle of the book Kierse and Graves have an excellent excuse to dress up again and I have been obsessed with this dress since I had the chance to read it last summer and right now I am in the mockup/base layer stages of making it into a cosplay that means I will hopefully have it done by the time book three comes out, and to take to DragonCon to show Kyla! If you don’t mind being spoiled for that my not phenomenal sketch of what I am trying to accomplish is below!

What I will say is that the stakes are even higher in this book, new mysteries to unravel are coming out in the open and I hav no idea where she’s going with this. To pair that with the fact that books four and five were just announced, I am frothing at the mouth to see where this leads us and I am soooo incredibly excited. Book three will be out this June and I cannot wait to get my grubby little hands on it, or to be frank my ears on it. I listened to the audiobooks last summer as I was sewing and will be doing that as I build Kierse’s dress because Stephanie Nemeth-Parker is an absolute powerhouse reading this and hearing all the Irish names and terms said correctly was just stunning. 

I think it’s fair to say that my obsession with this series is going nowhere and I would love to have more folks to scream about it with!

Looking to find The Robin on the Oak Throne? Here you go:

Bookshop.org ~ Libro.fm ~ Goodreads ~ Storygraph

As a side note, some of the links to Bookshop.org or Libro.fm will either provide me or an indie bookshop I support a portion of the affiliate sales if you use them to buy a book I recommend!