I picked up 'Throne of the Fallen' after a slew of unsettling short books.  I wanted it to be a long and well-sustained palate cleanser. 
Did I obsessively read the first 80 percent of it, while ignoring some of the repetitive and ‘tell-not-show’ aspects of the writing, up until the main couple hooked up? Yes, yes i did. 

Did I immediately get bored once the main leads did the nasty, said nasty being

some boring sex on the dude’s throne

? Yes, yes I did. 

Kerri Maniscalco has great ideas! I loved the setting and the ambience of the book and I thought that the combination of fantasy elements alongside victorian propriety really worked well. The chemistry and the banter between the main love interests were great and the spicy scenes leading up to the full on smutty scene were nicely built up but after that dopamine hit of them finally hooking up hit me in the brain, said brain could no longer ignore the issues with the writing. 

First of all, the book could have been significantly shorter and did not need as many secondary characters as it did. I think the latter criticism might be fall on me because I haven’t read the original series that this books act as a companion piece to so maybe, fans of that series really enjoyed the peek-a-boo’s from the Special guest stars. I don’t know- I ain’t hooting and clapping as the apartment door opens. 

 

The plot was quite intriguing in the beginning but the ending might have been betrayed by how well the build up to it was? The reveals towards the end of the book felt slightly anti-climatic. 

 

It was a chore to get through the last twenty percent but I do believe Kerri Maniscalco knows how to write a great romance and it would be even greater if she’d just trust the reader to know what she means