A Vow So Bold and Deadly brings Brigid Kemmerer’s Cursebreakers trilogy to a satisfying end

Brigid Kemmerer’s “Cursebreakers” trilogy initially began as a reasonably simple Beauty and the Beast retelling, albeit one with its own intriguing spin on the traditional tale that included a tortured prince, his loyal guard, and a modern girl with cerebral palsy who finds her purpose in a world far from her native modern-day Washington, D.C.  In A Vow So Bold and Deadly, it concludes as a sprawling epic that brings neighboring kingdoms to the brink of war and sees long-lost brothers face off for a throne.

Not entirely where we all thought this was going when we started, is it?

When the second novel in Kemmerer’s series, A Heart So Fierce and Broken, shook things up by introducing Grey (the aforementioned loyal soldier) and Lia Mara (princess of a rival kingdom) as POV characters it came as a shock. After all, it’s rare that fairy tales ask the question: What’s next? Of course, most of them also don’t involve subplots where the loyal soldier turns out to be the true heir to the kingdom and brother to the tortured prince.

But much of A Vow So Bold and Deadly is concerned with the answer to that question, as Harper and Rhen struggle to repair their relationship in the wake of his violence against Grey and their impending war against Syhl Shallow. Meanwhile, in that kingdom, Grey and Lia Mara are navigating what it means for their relationship that she is now queen in a country that fears magic when the man she wants at her side is one of the last known magesmiths.

Neither couple has an easy road of it, but one of the best things about Kemmerer’s novel is that it never truly feels like either relationship is in jeopardy from external sources. No, their problems are all entirely internal ones and relate to the need to translate a fairytale connection to real-world situations. As Rhen struggles with the bone-deep fear of magic Lilith’s years of torture and abuse have instilled in him, he often finds himself lying to or resenting his love. Harper, you’ll remember, helped Grey escape in the previous novel, and spends a significant chunk of this one wondering whether she’s right to stay with and support a man who keeps making choices she doesn’t agree with.

Nothing is any simpler in Syhl Shallow, where Grey trains to use his magic for good, but struggles to get the soldiers he’s meant to lead to trust him because of it. Lia Mara, for her part, is doing her best to be a different kind of queen than her mother was, and rule without violence. But after facing insubordinate advisors, a populace that doesn’t respect her, and the growing unrest among a faction that would like to see her dead, she’s unsure if that’s a vow she’ll be able to live up to.

But it’s the relationship between Grey and Rhen that ultimately powers this novel — the torture they’ve gone through together, the connection they share that others will never really understand, and the fact that they loved each other before they ever knew there were family – and there’s plenty here to make fans happy by story’s end. Unfortunately, the two are forced to spend most of the book at odds and usually at great distances from one another, and if the Cursebreakers ending has a significant flaw it is this.

The return of the evil sorceress Lilith makes for several cruel and bloody interludes as she uses torture, violence, and the threat of both to keep Rhen pushing his country to war. There are a couple of flashbacks in which we learn more about the way that Lilith was treated by Rhen’s family, but at this point any attempt to give her character depth feels fairly hamfisted and pointless. (Possibly becuase we immediately see her ripping people’s throats out afterward.)

The continued presence of Lilith also gives Rhen’s fears a more tangible and immediate focus – she’s literally in his home torturing the woman he loves – and spares the book from having to deal with his prejudices toward magic users in the in-depth way some (read: me) might have liked.

But don’t worry. For those of you who have enjoyed the “Cursebreakers” ride so far, A Vow So Bold and Deadly is a propulsive, satisfying conclusion that allows all our favorites moments of grace and growth.

A Vow So Bold and Deadly is available now in print, digital and audio formats. Let us know if you’ll be adding it to your must-read list this month!