A spoilery review about Julie Soto’s debut romantasy novel about a princess held prisoner by a man who has been the bain of her existence – and the object of her infatuation
Hello and happy Wednesday y’all! Today we’re going to talk about a book that made me have some thoughts but also one I read a while ago – during my reading slump. (Yes, I’ve managed to sneak a few books in there.) I actually wrote most of this review after I read it back in… August? It’s been a while, but pretty much all I typed up back then is still true. I was actually hesitant to post this one because it made it seem like I was bashing the book and its origins. But I’m posting now because I think it’s an interesting discussion that I’ve seen pop up in the book world: Should re-written fanfic be in traditional publishing? I’m hoping my review will contribute to that.
First, let me throw in a quick synopsis: “Rose in Chains” is a romantasy from the author Julie Soto, whose previous works were more contemporary romance. She wrote “Forget Me Not” and “Not Another Love Song.” (I actually have a review of “Forget Me Not” on my blog here if you’d like to check it out!) Anyway, let’s continue…
The war is over. The Eversun have fallen to the Bomardi, and Eversun’s princess Briony Rosewood has been snatched from her own castle and held captive with other Eversun women in enemy territory, awaiting their fate. Soon, it’s discovered that the Bomardi are using the Eversun for their magic, sucking them dry to the brink of death for their own power… and Briony is the most desired due to her power and prestige. Her and other Eversun are on the auction block, Bomardi getting into a fierce bidding war for her magic and her body. The winner of Briony’s autonomy is none other than Toven Hearst, a rich and powerful Bomardi and one of Briony’s former classmates – and her schoolgirl crush.
Briony must be strong to find out how to escape the horrific world she and her fellow Eversun are forced into before her magic is lost forever. She struggles to learn the “new normal” where she is nothing more than a body and someone to give her magic to, and yet she can’t help but still be drawn to her captor, Toven, a man she should hate with all her heart. Yet he shows Briony glimpses of a man who is not only not evil, but a man who may be against the new regime.
The one small light in the darkness is the rumors that her friends have escaped and are still alive, and they’re creating the spark of revolution…
My star rating: 3 out of 5 stars.
I’m going to add a quick disclaimer. There are some extremely heavy themes in this book. Themes include violence, sexual assault, loss of bodily autonomy through means of magic, mind control through means of magic, non-consensual sex, forced sterilization, and just overall hopelessness in a world that gives off “Handmaid’s Tale” vibes. I won’t go into crazy details, but I will allude to it for context. Proceed with caution.
I’m also going to add another disclaimer that has to do with me personally: I have read “The Auction.”
For those who don’t know, “The Auction” is a fanfiction story in the world of Harry Potter. It is a Draco Malfoy/Hermione Granger story with the same synopsis as above, with a few twists that are from the world of Harry Potter. Toven is Draco, and Briony is Hermione. I can also match (in my mind) other Harry Potter characters with the supporting characters that are in this book. The reason I’m telling you this is because it’s pertinent to my review, because believe it or not, it did affect the way I read this book, and I want to be transparent about it in case there’s a feeling of bias. Because there probably is.
The first thing I want to talk about is the book itself. This is the first book in “The Evermore Trilogy.” (Book 2 is expected to come out December 2026.) The book begins with the end of the war. The King is dead (who happens to be Briony’s brother, Rory), a person who was prophesied to be the “hero” of the war and essentially unite the two factions and end the fighting, and Evermore castle has fallen. We are thrust right into the thick of it, following Briony and other Eversun as they fight to escape the castle. She is quickly captured and the story goes from there.
The big thing I didn’t like about the book is how the story is laid out throughout. We have the “current” timeline, and then there are chapters that are essentially flashbacks sprinkled in. Not a new concept, it’s seen all the time. It’s a way to get the backstory. But in this instance, it felt very thin. I wanted to know more about the magic system. I wanted to learn more about the difference between mind magic and heart magic. Why did the two factions use them separately? Why was one deemed “lesser” than the other? Why is one used in such a way where a person can turn into a “husk” of themselves and never get their magic back? There were too many questions, and it wasn’t as meaty as I would’ve liked it.
This is going to sound very odd, and it’s actually the thought that popped into my mind as I was reading this book: This book did not earn this story.
Bear with me, because this is where the fanfic “The Auction” comes in. I’m going to feel like I’m “mansplaining” this to you wonderful people, but I’m not sure who knows what in regard to the world of fanfiction, so here I go.
Fanfiction is a fun way to play in a world that’s already been created. You get the characters, you get the locations, you get the themes, etc. In the instance of fantasy/magical worlds – like Harry Potter – you get a robust system that’s been pretty well established in someone else’s novels. You get main plots and sub plots that can be used to give context to the original story you’ve already thought of in your mind. It’s a brilliant and fun way to delve into writing and honing those skills. Julie Soto wrote “The Auction” and other great fanfics over the years, and she grew in popularity, got book deals, and was able to publish her own original content. She is not the only author to have taken this path. “Fifty Shades of Grey” was originally a Twilight fanfic. “The Mortal Instruments” series was also from Harry Potter fanfiction. Ali Hazelwood’s “The Love Hypothesis” was a Star Wars fic, featuring Kylo Ren and Rey. Some of these are more separated from the original source material; Kylo Ren and Rey aren’t in a professor/grad student relationship in Star Wars. (Duh.) Maybe that’s why “The Love Hypothesis” worked. It was simply the characters used, not the world of Star Wars. Reading and writing fanfiction is a big thing, and it definitely was when I was in that world as much as 20 years ago. (Yes, I’ve written fanfiction. No, I will not tell you which ones. They go to my grave, my grave I tell you. Not because I’m ashamed, but because I was such a terrible writer back then.)
So back to “The Auction” and my thesis of “earning a story.” The fanfiction story of evil prevailing over good; men and women getting sold off as magical slaves, and the main couple being in this horrific dynamic of “slave/slave owner” while somehow falling in love is, weirdly enough, a story that fit in the world of Harry Potter.
“What the heck? Are you insane? Harry Potter is a children’s book series!” Um, okay. Once upon a time it was, but then the series evolved over the last few books and things got… scary. Are we all forgetting Charity Burbage getting eaten by a giant snake? Hermione’s torture? The whole concept of an evil villain literally wanting to eradicate an entire group of people because they weren’t “pure” enough? Yeah, it got bleak y’all.
If someone’s reading “The Auction,” you can surmise that they’re a Harry Potter fan. They’ve read the books, they’ve seen the movies, and they’ve most likely read other Harry Potter fanfiction. Julie Soto inserted this dark story into this world that was already pretty dark at the height of the war that Harry and friends fought in. The question she asked was, “What would happen if the bad guys won instead of the good guys?” This story was her way of answering this question, and she used the many tools and instruments from the world of Harry Potter to do so. It was a story that was new, but it made sense because it had elements from the beloved book series to help tell it.
Here are some examples: the tattoos the slaves have are reminiscent of the Death Eater’s tattoos in Harry Potter. They not only symbolized the Death Eater’s dedication to Lord Voldemort (the main antagonist in Harry Potter), but they had other functions. They could be used to communicate with the Dark Lord. They could be used to navigate to different places. They could be used to enter or exit places that Death Eaters didn’t want others to enter or exit. In “Rose in Chains,” Briony’s tattoo is used as exactly that. She cannot enter or exit a place without Toven being by her side because of this tattoo. It is used as a sort of electric fence, and if she crosses that boundary, the tattoo harms her greatly.
Another example that is more broad and used in a lot of books and other stories: the prejudice between the two factions. In “Rose in Chains,” the Bomardi are the aggressors, looking down upon the Eversun as if they are beneath them. They are “less than” and they deserve to be eradicated. In the years leading up to the climactic end of the war, many Bomardi classmates of Briony bully her and her friends, already signifying there is unrest between the two factions. It is bubbling under the surface… until someone takes matters into their own hands and does something about it. In the case of this novel, it is a Bomardi named Veronika Mallow, who moves up in the ranks through the usual channels. That’s right: manipulation, blackmail, and if that doesn’t work, just murdering people above her and taking their place. Fun times! Dictator-y vibes.
This book is heavy on the “enemies to lovers” trope; one that is used greatly in the Harry Potter subsection of Draco/Hermione fanfiction for obvious reasons. It is also used in “Rose in Chains,” although it feels a bit thin. Toven and Briony are on opposite sides of the war, yet Briony never truly thought of Toven as her “enemy.” He and his friends were bullies; he was not a nice person and didn’t treat Briony with the respect that you would expect for a princess. Is it the prejudice between the two factions? Is it his disdain for the more archaic monarchy the Eversun cling to in their hierarchical chain of power, as opposed to the Bomardi’s more… shall we say, “democratic” way of choosing power? (Sense the sarcasm in those quotation marks; the Bomardi’s “Ten Lines to the Seat” is chosen by power, prestige, wealth, and – oh, what’s that? Oh yeah – purity.) Is it because he simply hates people who are “others?” Is it because he doesn’t like know-it-alls trying to help their twin brothers cheat in school so they don’t accidentally make the future king look like a fool? Is it because he comes from the more wintry territory of Bomard and he has to keep coming to the summery, hot territory of Eversun every other year for school? Who knows; it may come up, it may not.
The “enemies to lovers” trope is, once again, rather thin here. Briony develops a crush on Toven, even though he’s rude to her and doesn’t stop his friends from being even worse bullies than he is. Why she feels drawn to the boy and can’t kick that gooey, crush-like feeling she has for Toven – even after the war has been “won” by the Bomardi and she is now his magical slave essentially – is something that I’m sure a licensed psychotherapist would love to try to unpack. Alas, I am not that, so I cannot even begin to figure out what’s going on in a fictional character’s mind.
Plus there’s the whole “Surprise! Toven’s secretly been in love with you for who knows how long and is desperate to save you from this horrible situation, but, alas, cannot show his true colors because he’ll be exposed and essentially killed and then no one will be there to protect you, oh nooooo…”
So there they stay, hating each other yet also not hating each other. A growing tension brewing between the two of them as they try to navigate this new world full of horrors and twists at every turn. A confusing yearning that is always simmering underneath the surface whenever the two of them lock eyes. A heartbreaking sadness within their souls, knowing that one or both of them are probably going to die when it’s all said and done.
Angst, y’all. It’s angsty, which is a theme that runs rampant in many Draco/Hermione fanfics. So it is only natural that it flows through the pages of this novel too.
But for me, it wasn’t earned. It felt rushed. I’m sure it’s because I, once again, have read the fanfic it’s based on, but it plops you right in the action and expects you to know what’s going on that I’m sure anyone who has not only not read “The Auction,” but even “Harry Potter” would not understand what’s going on. Especially with the magic system. I’m not even sure what’s going on. I need more information about the “mind” vs “heart” magic. I need more information about the “familiars,” the animal companions the Bomardi have that help elevate their magic. (Okay, so then why do you need the Eversun to siphon magic off of?) The idea of the “familiars” sounded great – awesome even. But it was just plopped in there without much fanfare. Why do the Bomardi get them and not the Eversun? Why are there certain elements of magic that are different from others depending on if they use their minds or their hearts for it? Is the magic that makes people prejudiced, or is it the people themselves?
This book was the first in the series, but it read like it was the second or third. I know the whole point of the book was to get to the part where the Eversun are auctioned off and we have the relationship between Toven and Briony begin to brew, but I think the lead-up to the capture, auction, and slavery should’ve been its own book. I’m not seeing this book be for a wider audience outside of the Dramione fans because of their knowledge of the fanfic that inspired this book.
Show more of the relationship between Toven and Briony before the downfall of Evermore. We get glimpses of it through the flashbacks, but it’s not enough to convince me of their romance. I’m not seeing it at all. Yes, Briony can have a crush on this boy growing up. He can be a meanie-head and push her at the playground and make fun of her bushy brown hair, but I cannot be convinced her feelings are true when she’s currently in a situation where she’s held against her will, her friends and family are being killed, raped, and tortured, and the man who owns her is the one she loves? There needs to be more.
Yes, it’s been shown that not only Toven, but his parents, are not huge fans of the current regime. Honestly, I feel like Toven’s father is going around like, “Yeah, I’m not a fan of this Mallow woman, she seems distasteful,” because he’s a snobby prick who’s also probably a misogynist. He has never been one to fight for the Seat of Bomard because he wants to pull the strings behind the scenes. He’s the most wealthy of all the people who are in line for the Seat, he doesn’t have anything to prove. But I feel like he’s not a Mallow fan because she’s in the way of what he wants. That’s the vibe I have. Toven’s mother seems to be friendly to Briony, so if anything she’d be the one to help when the time comes. It just depends on if her husband will let her or if he’ll keep her away from danger because it’s “not worth it.” While it’s not enough to stop the evil, Serena Hearst, Toven’s mother, did save Briony from being sterilized by attacking and killing the ones who came to perform the procedure. She took a big risk for Briony, all so she could have children in the future. It’s an interesting scene, because for so long you see the Hearsts as a family that’s just trying to stay alive and toe the line. Not draw attention and see how this all plays out. Protect each other and everyone else be damned. But Serena does this act, and it can expose them as traitors. All for Briony. Why? Is it really because of “true love”?” Does she want to protect the woman her son loves? Is it because she has a bigger heart than her husband? Who knows, stay tuned!
(Hello, Present Monica here! I want to add a quick note: I read “Rose in Chains” and wrote this review before the book “Alchemised” came out, which is another book stemmed from a popular Dramione fic called “Manacled.” [Which I also read – the fanfic, not the book.] This particular book seems to be popular amongst the romantasy world. It’ll be interesting to see how people feel about “Rose in Chains” versus “Alchemised” and why one seems more popular than the other. They have very similar vibes and tone; they were also both former Dramione fics. I may read “Alchemised” soon and do a review. We shall see!)
It’s kind of an abrupt place to end my review. But it fits, because the book ended rather abruptly too! Have you read “Rose in Chains”? What are your thoughts about it? How about thoughts on fanfics becoming more mainstream through means of traditional publication? Let me know in the comments, I’d love to hear from you.
Until next time, my lovelies!
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