This is a book I have been highly anticipating and it did not fail to meet my expectations and even exceed them. I am a sucker for dark fantasy romance and Rose in Chains was the perfect recipe with a dark, morally grey male lead and a strong, unafraid to fight back against her circumstances female lead who tests the MMC at every turn.
The story is told from the point of view of Briony, princess to a Kingdom that has just fallen in war resulting in her people being forced into slavery and auctioned off to the highest bidder to be used as magic enhancers known as heartsprings. I’ll reiterate that the story is dark, as can probably be deduced by the above subject matter, so don’t go into the story lightly.
The world-building was interesting, with two different countries, Evermore and Bomard, magic users who generally use two different sources for their magic, and butt heads as a result of this. One uses heart magic, the other mind magic, each with their own unique aspects with strengths and weaknesses. The two countries are schooled together, changing location between the two with each school year as part of their treaty, and is how Briony and Toval come to know one another despite being from opposing sides. How they came to know each other is explored in flashbacks of their time at school and added so perfectly to the story, providing necessary context on their relationship and how they came to be in their current state in the present timeline. The flashbacks are heartfelt in seeing the ways that aloof, almost bullying Toval still looks out for Briony despite their peoples’ opposing stances towards one another, and it helps to warm the reader to his character in ways that can’t necessarily be seen right away in the present timeline that is rife with slavery and mistreatment of Briony and her people.
I will say, though I found the world itself and the magic interesting, it was a bit lacking. It was relatively bare bones with a surface level explanation but nothing super in depth which was a bit disappointing because I did find it so interesting and wanted to know much more. The story is very much focused on the experience of Briony in the fallout of her country being overtaken, and more centered on the relationship between Briony and Toven, and the harsh reality of an enslaved people being used for their magic than anything else. I would definitely like to see more actual world-building in future because I loved what I did see, and in particular would like more information and just generally knowledge on the magic system.
The pace picks up intensely in the last part of the book and I found myself becoming much more invested in what was happening as the plot seemed to intensify. The ending definitely left me wanting more and feeling like the story was really starting to go somewhere, making for a much needed sequel that I will be eagerly awaiting. In fact, I was quite sad to see the ending come as I wanted more of the story after reaching the point where it felt like answers were coming and things were about to start happening. All in all, I very much look forward to the sequel because I believe it could end up being even more interesting than this first book, which I very much enjoyed.
