Court of Ravens and Ruin

A Brides of Mist and Fae Novel (The Shadow Bound Queen, Book 1)

De: Eliza Raine

Narrado por: Lia Holland, Gabriel Thorne

A defiant human woman. A dark fae Prince. Two enemies bound to a marriage that could destroy their world.

Reyna was born a valuable slave to the Gold Court, imprisoned her whole life in a glittering palace by sadistic, greedy fae.

When the palace is raided, she takes her opportunity to escape. But the raid is led by her worst nightmare. The Prince of the most feared fae of all; the Shadow Court. And he wants one thing.

Her. The copper-haired, rune-marked human.

Reyna doesn’t know why the Prince has kidnapped her. But when he announces her as his betrothed, she knows that she must escape before she is eternally bound to the monster behind the mask.

Only, when he takes the mask off, he isn’t what she expects. He’s lethal, beautiful and exudes sin. And he needs her.

Drawn into a deadly world shrouded in secrets, and desperate to keep her own hidden, Reyna must find a way out. If she doesn’t, she risks more than just death. She risks giving everything to her intoxicating captor.

This is the first book in the Shadow Bound Queen series, and is inspired by Norse mythology and Vikings. Sexy fae Vikings. It has Hades and Persephone, Beauty and the Beast vibes, and is slow-burn enemies to lovers fantasy romance with a burn-the-world-down-for-her hero. The series builds in steam and is filled with magic, myth, and delicious tension.

Brides of Mist and Fae is a brand new world from Eliza Raine, unconnected to the Dark Gods of Olympus.

©2022 Eliza Raine (P)2025 Eliza Raine

Interesting storyline killed by unimaginative VA

The voice acting killed this for me. I liked the world building and character development (though there wasn't a whole lot outside the main character). Some of the core characters felt superfluous to the story. I am intrigued by the plot so I an hoping for more in the next book.

The voice actor was just incredibly one note and didn't really have a lot of emotional inflection or emphasis. It felt off kilter. They did put effort into the character voice differences for distinction but it was just hard to listen to.

Couldn’t get past the narrators

Maybe I am getting to be a narration snob, but the female narrator sounds like a robot and the male narrator’s interpretation comes off fake sounding. Just couldn’t get past it.

Slow pace, AI voice

This first story is extremely slow- It would have been more appropriate to be the first half of book one versus the entirety of book one. The enemies to lovers doesn't go anywhere. There isn't pining on his part and her pining is as basic as "he's hot but he's also a bad guy so I won't". There are also a lot of characters that are supposed to be allies who just spend their time diminishing the FMC. It gets really old having everyone call her stupid all the time. The only strength the author gives her is that she can get stubborn. sometimes. The whole thing falls flat. Additionally, the female narrator's voice sounds like bad, rushed AI. For the first half of the book, I i had to slow down the speed to make it sound more human.

Blah

This had a great foundation for a really good story, it just dragged on. Nothing really exciting happening. Didn’t love the narration. The book also ended in the middle of a chase scene which was weird. Just really underwhelming. Not sure if I will get book 2. Don’t really want to audible it.

Had so much potential......

This book needs to be "remastered/revamped" and re-read with a new narrator!!! When I read the synopsis, I was so excited to listen to this book, but I was so underwhelmed by the first 6 chapters, I couldn't even finish it. From the very beginning everything feels so rushed, and the world and characters development is so lacking. The narration of this book only enhances this book's pitfalls. The narration of the king and many other characters makes it sound like we are listening to a children's book. " You there. I will have you with the copper hair" "She will be mine" "Oh no. You didn't get picked did you?" "What are you going to do?" "Silence!!!!" "I will run away" and the narrator is so monotone when reading, that it just makes it painful to listen to :(