Kaz removed the paper to reveal a hat just like the previous one she had ordered for him nearly a year ago, but of even better craftsmanship. He picked it up and turned it over. The inside was lined in black suli silk identical to what Inej had worn tonight, but just inside along the seam, stitched in red silk thread, was a ‘K’ next to a heart. The font was the exact replica of a playing card. The ‘K’ did not stand for ‘Kaz’. It stood for ‘King’.
The King of hearts.
We’ll be Kings and Queens, Inej. Kings and Queens.
Spoilers for Shadow & Bone trilogy, King of Scars, Rule of Wolves, and Six of Crows duology.
Dealing with Our Demons
First published in December 2020. 712,128 words, 158 chapters.
Summary from the fic: Inej’s first letter back to Kaz after she leaves on her journey to hunt slavers.
This is an epic, slow burn of a fan fic. It starts, as the summary says, when Inej starts writing to Kaz while away on her first long journey hunting slavers at sea. Between that initial, hesitant letter, and where the story is now, there are plenty of new and exciting things to explore in this world and with these characters. It’s a fun read. As the title implies, if they want to be together, they have to deal with a myriad of challenges, both in Ketterdam and in the greater Shadow and Bone universe. This story shows them learning how to trust and grow, individually and as a couple. There are a few, but not too many, original characters. There is plenty of Crow time ™.
We get time with Inej’s family and learn more about the parents, cousins and extended family members who raised her. We get some lovely interactions between Kaz and Inej’s very religious but ultimately supportive family. There are also plenty of sweet and bittersweet moments with Jesper, Wylan, and Nina as their stories continue from where they left off after Crooked Kingdom and Rule of Wolves.
If you love the characters and are okay with their relationship progressing from tentative, lovesick teenagers exchanging meaningful looks across the dinner table to much more adult activities, then this has that as well.
The good: We get the continued slow burn from the books, without the requirement of staying within YA parameters. The books dealt with some extremely brutal and traumatic scenarios, so that is not new. But, for the purposes of this story, the conversations and interactions are shown through the lens of an adult relationship.
The bad: I get annoyed at how perfect both Kaz and Inej are. They are both the most beautiful. They are the most cunning, and the most deadly, the most brilliant. His skin is like ivory and marble and hers is, well, lots of descriptions of caramel eyes and bronze body parts. I am not into the way the author describes their physical attributes. And, to be fair, the author has improved in these descriptions as the story has progressed. But yeah, it bothers me.