A review of A Betrayal of Storms
A Beauty and the Beast retelling with a gay prince and a gender-specific curse.
A Betrayal of Storms (Realm of Fey) by Ben Alderson
With the political intrigue and high heat of A Court of Thorns and Roses and From Blood and Ash, A Betrayal of Storms is perfect for readers who enjoy stories full of magic, romance, and adventure... but with added spice.
Half-fey Robin Vale has grown up amongst humans, but that doesn’t save him from being captured for coin by fey hunters. When he’s rescued by a fey princess, he’s taken to Wychwood, the fey realm—where everyone is focused on preparing for war against the humans who hate, hunt, and kill them for coin.
Robin doesn’t understand how he fits into the fey’s plans—until he’s revealed to be the lost heir to the Icethorn Court. Aided by the unclaimed, destructive power of the Winter Court, which had been thought destroyed with Robin’s mother’s death, the fey ready their numbers for complete domination of the human realm.
But by claiming the throne with the help of his devastatingly handsome personal guard, Erix, Robin’s very presence opposes the long-planned invasion. Along with his allies—including Althea, a stern princess hellbent on stopping the human hunters from killing her kin—Robin is thrust into a world of betrayal, murder, and lies. He must survive long enough to have the choice—listen to fate and claim his family’s power, or let it wreak havoc on a realm that turned its back on him for becoming who he was truly meant to be.
Genre: Fantasy, fae, gay romance
Length: 456 pages
Representation: queer MCs
Publish date: 2 Jan, 2023
Although I had a hard time getting invested in the story at the beginning and had some issues throughout that easily took me out of a good immersive experience, A Betrayal of Storms had really good pacing, engaging action, heavy foreshadowing, and realistic characters. Ben paints a really good picture and uses descriptive prose to tell a story.