A Promise of Peridot starts off not long after the devastating and revealing events of Dawn of Onyx where we discovered that healer Arwen, the love of King Kane Ravenwood of Onyx's life, is the last full-blooded Fae, and therefore the only person capable of killing Kane's wicked Fae father, Lazarus. She also had an explosion of power burst from her during the battle of Siren's Bay in the kingdom of Peridot, decimating most of the enemies around her. And her mother also died during this mess. And, Kane knew that she was Fae and was using her to hopefully kill his father. Arwen is dealing with a lot.
Kane is also quite conflicted because while he does desperately love Arwen, he does need to kill his father in order to free the land of Evendell, since Lazarus has joined forces with the kingdoms of Amber and Garnet with plans to enslave everyone, as he has with the Fae land of Lumera. It's not great news, nor is it a great choice - the life of your love or the lives of your entire kingdom. So, Kane, Arwen, her brother Ryder, her little sister Leigh, Mari the witch (Arwen's bestie), Griffin (Kane's second), plus Amelia (Kane's former lover) and her father, King Eryx from Peridot, are all on a boat with the remaining Peridot refugees who fled the battle of Siren's Bay headed towards the kingdom of Citrine, in the hopes they will aid against Lazarus. Of course, Kane has history and backstory with Citrine and King Broderick and Queen Isolde hate him. It's also an underwater kingdom powered by Mermagic, because why not.
Surprising no one at all, the motley crew are not well received, complete with refusal from the King and Queen and insults from handsome Prince Fedrik, but Kane is able to get them to at least listen and eventually offer refuge for those fleeing Peridot. He convinces them he has a solid chance against Lazarus if he obtains the Blade of the Sun, a legendary weapon able to kill his father if Arwen is wielding it. Fedrik offers to join the quest for the blade, if only to watch over Kane, but he also has a growing crush on Arwen and she's not exactly refusing the attention. Drama ensues! But not before Kane manages to stir up a lot of stuff with a Citrine noble who is rumored to traffic in very young Mer girls.
Once the ragged blade-searching group is off and running, they encounter one obstacle after another, including a magic cave that won't let those who enter ever escape, as well as a prison island that is ruled by vicious criminals, who have enslaved a large black widow spider with the torso of a woman. Along the way, Mari falls into a coma, Kane and Arwen discover a young girl who is a seer and has much to say, and Kane discovers that there may be a way to save Arwen and turn himself into a full-blooded Fae, but at great cost. Kane and Arwen also finally consummate their long-suffering relationship despite the love/hate, push-me/pull-me banter that is their constant interaction. And when I say they consummate things, it goes across multiple chapters. So many pages... For me, it's a bit much, but I am not typically a reader of romantasy. I'm not a prude, but I really don't need to know every single detail painstakingly described across 30 pages or so, you know?
When A Promise of Peridot concludes, readers will be left in an even worse cliffhanger situation than the last book. I say this because while we do find out what happens to our young lovers, it ain't looking too good for them. At least Kate Golden gives us a hefty excerpt from the next book that answers a few questions and gives us an idea of what's to come.
Once again, Golden delivers a compelling and action-packed fantasy, albeit one with romance and sex filling your every hole. If this is your jam, you will love this book. If you were turned off by the steamy stuff in the first book, it is amplified in this one, so steer clear. While it's not my thing, I do enjoy Golden's writing for the most part and I do want to see how things play out.
