The Dark Orchid Omnibus Edition by Auryn HadleyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Superb Polyamorous/Reverse Harem Fantasy Series
I’ve reviewed all three books in this trilogy individually before and as can be read, if you choose, I really enjoyed all the books. It’s definitely one of my favourite Reverse Harem series and it’s really more of a Polyamorous series than a Reverse Harem one.
This box set has recently come out and as a subscriber to Auryn Hadley’s newsletter was able to get my hands on the box set at a severe discount on it’s launch day. Of course I got the box set as I’d only read the books on Kindle Unlimited and knew I’d want to re-read them in the future.
I decided to re-read the box set almost straight away and I’m so glad I did. This series is wonderfully written. I love the idea of the gods dying and the magic being passed onto mages over recent years. The system of magic is very clever and well thought out. The magic system sits along side the world building that is Auryn Hadley’s true strength. Her imagination knows no bounds and she is always consistent within her created social, political and magical creations.
The book is about a prostitute, Jaeda. She lived in a town that is being attacked by a mage, to conquer it for his Sultan. She doesn’t know which mage it is but after living through two other such events before landing in this town she’s not keen to go through it again. She is captured and brought before the mage, Lord Jackal, the Lord of Lust. In order to protect a young girl she captures the Lord’s attention and volunteers to be part of a spell that binds the town to the mage. As you can imagine the spell requires her to incite the lust of members of the town.
This spell is the start of Jaeda’s adventures. Her whole life is transformed by that one act of trying to protect a young teen. After meeting the mage she realises that the mage’s are not as all powerful as they would have normal people believe and their lives are dangerous and difficult. Jaeda finds herself befriending the mage and his assistant and they form a tight bond based on acceptance and understanding. They help Jaeda grow into her strength as a woman who owns her own sexuality and uses it.
If you want to know more about the individual books, then you can read the reviews for those books, but I do recommend you buy the box set because these books really shine as a trilogy read back to back. It’s more a story in three parts than three books.
As you can tell from the subject matter, this is a very sexual series, however it is also about love, friendship and community. It’s also about society and the power of the individual. It’s quite a deep set of books so if you are just interested in a smutty read you may feel a little overwhelmed and alternatively if you are interested in a straight fantasy you may find all the sex a bit in your face. If you can accept both sides of the coin you will relish this series as much as I did. It’s a fabulous read that I know I will read again and again.
Reviews of the individual books can be found here:
Power of Lies
Magic of Lust
Spell of Love
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