I’m not sure why I only now got around to reading These Hollow Vows by Lexi Ryan. It has been sitting on my shelf for quite a while, but somehow, it never got picked. I’m so glad I finally read it, though!
Attention: I will be reviewing both books of the series in this post (gradually), but everything apart from the first book will be hidden so that you will not see any spoilers for the rest of the series (unless you want to, of course).
These Hollow Vows
When Brie’s younger sister is sold to the king of the Unseelie court, she is desperate to do whatever is needed to get her back. Even if that means going to Faerie as a potential bride for the Seelie king, or making a dangerous deal with the Unseelie King. Tasked to search three magical items stolen by the Seelie court, Brie has to make a series of difficult decisions that will test her loyalty to her sister – and to the boy she’s loved for ages.
Faerie courts, bring them on!
The start of this novel gave me distinct Cinderella vibes: evil stepsisters, a girl being forced to do manual labour by a relative, a ball, magical gown, and the clock announcing midnight. After the ball, however, these parallels seem to have disappeared (or I don’t know the fairy tale well enough to spot them, that could also be the case).
I really like the duality of the Fae Courts (as I always do), and I was especially fascinated by the Unseelie Court (of course ;)). I also appreciated the way in which the Seelie Court was presented though. They might be “less evil” than the Unseelie Court is supposed to be, but they are still shown as dangerous tricksters, as befits a Faerie Court. I love authors who are well-versed in Faerie Mythology!
Make no bargains or ties with the silver eyes
This book uses several of my favourite tropes, including enemies-to-lovers and found-family. Furthermore, the romance is a love triangle in which the other leg has a friends-to-lovers trope. I admit I’m not usually the biggest friends-to-lovers fan, but it is so very hard not to root for Sebastian. Nevertheless, enemies-to-lovers is more my vibe, so I’m still hoping for a romance with Finn in book 2. I have to say though, that the “enemy” part remains very light in this book. This part of the love triangle is not nearly as dangerous as I would like it to be. I was (pleasantly) surprised that the spicy scene wasn’t fade-to-black. Although it wasn’t anything explicit, it was way spicier than I had expected for a Young Adult book.
A well-deserved four gemstones out of five:
Recap book 1
In the following section, you’ll find a recap that you can use to prepare for the next book. Of course, this is by definition full of spoilers, so it is hidden behind a spoiler tag. Enter at your own risk!
Want a recap before starting the next part? (click here, contains spoilers)
World: The story starts out in the human lands, but most of it happens in Faerie. There, you have the Wild Fae lands, the Unseelie realm and the Seelie realm. The Seelie Court is also called the Court of the Sun or the Golden Court. The Unseelie Court is also called the Court of the Moon or the Shadow Court. Main characters: Abriella/Brie: 17-year-old human girl. Jasalyn/Jas: 14-year-old human girl and Brie’s sister. Sebastian/Ronan: Prince of the Seelie Court Finnian/Finn: Prince of the Unseelie Court Misha & Amira : King and Queen of the Wild Fae Oberon : Former king of the Unseelie Mordeus : King of the Unseelie Arya: Queen of the Seelie Kane: Unseelie friend of Finn Pretha: Wild Fae friend of Finn. She was together with Finn’s late brother and has a daughter called Lark who has visions. Jalek: Seelie friend of Finn Tynan: Wild Fae friend of Finn Bakken: Goblin who helps Brie in exchange for some of her hair Plot: Brie and Jas are in ever-increasing debts, ever since their mother ran off to Faerie with her Fae lover, and they were left with their evil aunt. Brie has taken to stealing and seems to have a particular skill to blend into the shadows. Nevertheless, she’s unable to pay back her debts quickly enough, and her aunt decides to sell of Jas as a slave to the Unseelie King. Right around this time, it’s announced that human girls will be invited to the Seelie Court, to find a bride for Prince Ronan. Brie takes this chance to enter Faerie, but soon finds herself in front of the Unseelie King, who makes a deal with her: she gets her sister back, if she can find three Unseelie objects that were stolen by the Seelie Court. Brie agrees, even though she knows that this will mean betraying Prince Ronan, who turns out to be the boy she loves (who she thought to be a human). She makes him believe that she’s considering becoming his bride. Then, Brie is kidnapped by Prince Finnian, the son of the former Unseelie King who’s trying to win back his throne. It’s then revealed that Brie’s skill to blend into the shadows is actually a magical power. Finn and his group of friends start to train her to use her powers. Brie learns that the Seelie Queen has prisons (“camps”) for Unseelie Fae captured on Seelie land. The adults are forced to work, while children are separated from their parents and taught that they are “inferior” to Seelie Fae. Finn and his friends are rescuing children and sending them to the Wild Fae Lands. In the Seelie Court, Brie is selected as one of the potential candidates to marry the prince. She decide to use her bond with Sebastian to ask him the first of the three items she has to retrieve: a mirror that shows you what you desire. He complies, and she returns a fake to him instead (which he knows, she’ll later learn). The second item that Brie has to return to the Unseelie Court is a book. She figures out that it’s kept in a library in one of the other palaces of the Seelie Court, so she gets Sebastian to take her there (pretending that she wants some alone time with him). This leads to a difficult decision for Brie though, as removing the book will kill Sebastian’s mother, but she steals it anyway. Sebastian discovers that Brie has been working with Finn. He tells her to find Finn’s catacomb. Brie learns that Queen Arya has cursed the Unseelie because King Oberon fell in love with a human woman instead of with her. Because of the curse, all Unseelie fae age and heal like mortals (which explains why they are using their powers less). Their lives are extended by killing humans (“tributes”, Finn’s are kept in a catacomb). The Seelie Court paid a price for the curse though, as Seelie Fae cannot harm Unseelie Fae anymore. Furthermore, a Seelie Fae needs to be sacrificed each year to keep the curse active. None of the Fae can speak about the curse. In order to regain power over the Unseelie Throne, Finn needs to find Oberon’s crown. The third item that Brie has to steal is Oberon’s crown. Both princess know that Brie has it (even though she doesn’t know it herself). It turns out that Oberon was the one who saved Jas and Brie after a house fire that nearly killed them as kids. He was able to heal Jas’s wounds, but Brie’s were too severe, so he exchanged his life for hers by passing his power (= the crown) to her. The crown cannot be stolen, however, only given willingly (via bonding). Bonding with an Unseelie would kill a human, however. Sebastian pleads with Brie to bond with him instead. Brie, realising that the bargain said that she had to return the three items “to the court” and not “to the king”, sits down on the Unseelie throne (wearing the invisible crown). Brie then proceeds to kill the Unseelie King, after which she visits Finn’s catacombs and realises that he has been killing humans. She also learns that her mother disappeared because she sold herself in order to hide her daughters for 7 years (as she knew the Fae would come after the crown). Jas is returned safely to the human world, and Brie returns to Sebastian, agreeing to bond with him. The bond kills Brie, however, so Sebastian gives her a potion that will turn her into a Fae and save her life. The curse is lifted, and Sebastian becomes the King of the Unseelie (as he had not revealed that he was both Seelie and Unseelie, being the son of King Oberon and Queen Arya). Sebastian now has the crown, but Brie keeps her power. She runs before the coronation.Book 2: These Twisted Bonds
Review coming soon!
Notes on the These Hollow Vows Duology
Age Category: Young Adult
Representation: LGBTQ+ supporting characters
Do you want to discover more?
If my review inspired you to pick up the first book, don’t hesitate to check it out at Goodreads or at the below online stores:
Amazon.nl: Hardcover Edition
Furthermore, these books are popular enough to have their own fandom wiki. Definitely worth checking out!
Special editions
Fairyloot featured These Hollow Vows in their Young Adult Fantasy subscription of August 2021. Their edition has an exclusive cover, a reversible dustjacket, foiling on the hard cover, stencilled edges, and is signed by the author. The box also included an author letter. In 2022, they also published These Twisted Bonds, with the same customisations (but it did not come with a letter from the author). I have to say I’m not that impressed with these editions. The sprayed edges are very basic, there’s no character art, and there’s something off with the margins.
Similar to this
Fans of this duology are in luck: the author has published a second duology set of in the same world. This series starts of with Beneath These Cursed Stars and follows Brie’s sister, Jasalyn. I personally cannot wait to read and review this series as well!
If you loved These Hollow Vows as much as I did, you might want to check out the following books that feature our beloved Faerie courts. First of all, I assume you have already read THE faerie series of our time? I’m talking about the Folk of the Air Series by the amazing Holly Black of course. If you haven’t yet, or if you simply want to know what I thought, check out my spoiler-free series review here. Secondly, and remaining on the same level of fame, there’s the A Court of Thorns of Roses Series by Sarah J. Maas, which I also assume you’ve read (if not: my review can be found here).
Thirdly, if you want something a bit less known, I would definitely recommend Prince of the Sorrows by Kellen Graves. It tells the tale of a human man desperately trying to remain in the Fairy world. My review can be found here.
Fourthly, have you already read the Wicked Lovely Series by Melissa Marr? If not, you definitely should. This is early 2000s supernatural romance at its best. The interconnected books follow several humans as they get intertwined with the different fae courts. Simply delicious! My review of the first few books will follow soon!
Next, certain themes in this duology also reminded me of other books. The girls being trained to marry a noble, for example, reminded me of The Glittering Court by Richelle Mead, in which poor girls get elected to go to some sort of finishing school to marry up in the world (no Fae though). The theme of slavery reminded me of one of my favourite series of all time: The Plated Prisoner by Raven Kennedy. This Fae Romantasy, loosely based on the tale of Midas, has stolen my heart as of the very start. My spoiler-free series review can be found here.