Book Review: Glow
- Series: The Plated Prisoner Book #4
- Author: Raven Kennedy
- 705 pages, Kindle Edition
- First published June 18, 2022
Glow
We return to the story without a break in time. Auren is free, but at a high price. A fugitive accused of theft and murder. The heroine becomes an obstacle and a pretext for the actions of the rest of the kingdom. The kings fear her powers and want her brought to justice. After the horror of her last night in the fifth kingdom, Auren needs time to recover and master her magic. But they don’t have the time, and Gold doesn’t obey her at all. One kingdom rises from the ashes and is about to destroy all the others.
King Ravinger
The good news is that in Glow, the focus shifts to Rip. We learn a lot about Ravinger in this book. Who is he? Where does he come from? And what secrets is he hiding?
We learn about his past and the story behind the King of Decay. I thought it was great that we finally got a closer look at the mysterious Rip. In this book, the character gets even more in depth. We follow his past and all the events that made him ruler. He carried the burden of the crown and decided the happiness of his family. The character Rip is no longer the brutal killing machine, but a ruler who has to decide who to save and who to sacrifice.
The continuation of the story is good. The plot line ties in well with the previous books and gives a sense of integrity. Despite this, I found it a little unnecessarily drawn out at times. I definitely didn’t like Rissa’s story that the author included. I much preferred her as the vicious, determined concubine who survives against all odds. That’s an image that’s derogatory in my eyes.
And this book is about self-knowledge and battling the demons of conscience. Accept that you and the monster that sleeps within you’re one. Does it make you a villain if you give it full power and save the ones you love? And above all, can you live with this thought and this idea of yourself?
Fifth and sixth kingdoms
Again we have chapters where the view is through the eyes of the queens Malina and Kaila. They provide a great introduction to what awaits us in the next book. However, I’d have liked the focus to be more on what happened in the Fifth and Sixth Kingdoms, because I really missed what happened in Glow. We have two kingdoms without rightful rulers, and after all the cuts by Midas, things were put on the back burner.
You have to know that the plot in this book isn’t dynamic at all.
There were a lot of sex scenes. They don’t take up half the book, but they’re there and they’re pretty detailed. Things go from hot to hot…
The ending was great again.
How does Raven Kennedy always manage to shock and audibly slap me in the face. The final events of Glow are the greatest hook the author could come up with. I definitely didn’t expect it and I’m 100% convinced you won’t either…
I almost didn’t rate Glow 5 stars. Mostly because of the unnecessary stretching of the plot and the brief moments where I was really bored. Still, Raven Kennedy managed to pique my curiosity and make me look forward to the sequel.
“I was nothing but a road to Midas. A means to get to where he wanted to go, and I paved that path in gold.”
My life has been made up of gilded lies. But death has been shaped from rot.
Like a phoenix caught fire, I will need to rise from the ashes and learn to wield my own power. Because my wings may have been clipped, but I am not in a cage, and I’m finally free to fly from the frozen kingdoms I’ve been kept in.
Yet the world doesn’t want to let me.
That’s the thing when you turn against a king—everyone else turns against you.
Good thing I have a different king in my corner.
But even with the dark threat of Slade Ravinger, the other monarchs are coming for me.
So I will fight for him and he will kill for me, and if we need to become the villains, then so be it.
Because so long as I live in this world, I won’t be used again.
Please note: This is an adult fantasy series with dark elements that may be triggering, including past emotional and physical trauma, violence, adult language, and explicit romance. Read at your own discretion.
