Restless Slumber by K.J. Sutton Was So Intense

That lingering feeling after finishing a good book is certainly one of those wonderful things to live for. Though the side effects are usually varied—you could end up grieving, sobbing, light-headed, giggling, you name it—the pain is generally one and the same. When reaching the ending doesn't feel so exciting anymore, it will strike you as bizarre that losing something to look forward to feels almost as painful as having your heart ripped out. In a way, the characters have been your friends for a certain span of time that it's difficult to brace yourself for an inevitable goodbye.

As painful as it was, I considered myself lucky to be able to experience that feeling all over again yesterday. Restless Slumber by K.J. Sutton was such an intense sequel that it left me astonished and dumbfounded by the time I reached the ending. How am I supposed to wait until December for the third installment? The cliffhanger ending wrecked me and I don't think I could wait that long after all that Collith, Fortuna, Laurie, and I have gone through.

Disclaimer: The following passages will contain spoilers for the first book. If you haven't read Fortuna Sworn yet, make sure to turn around and pick it up first.

Read my review of Fortuna Sworn, the first book of this series, here

After Fortuna finds out that Laurie is actually the king of the Seelie Court, Fortuna makes a bargain with him. She needs Laurie's help to bring her and Damon home while in return—after knowing the real reason for his regular visits—Fortuna swears to always summon him every time Collith is in danger. Soon, Fortuna finds it difficult to have a balanced life in between being a queen of the Unseelie Court and having a normal life with his brother Damon. Aside from the fact that Damon still hates her, there's something quite odd about his brother that she has yet to comprehend.

Following where we left off in the first book, Restless Slumber explored the dark dungeon of the Unseelie Court which in it caged the mysterious Viessa. Started out as thrilling as it was dark, both the pace and the world-building were quite similar to the first book. Though in this one, the characters seemed to reach sufficient depth and therefore more well-developed that I felt like I could resonate with each of their motives more (even Damon's, yes).

I had a feeling that Oliver was a part of a bigger riddle we would probably uncover in the later installments, especially when something was so off about the dreamscape and we still didn't have any idea why. Though, I'm not complaining. A larger part of this book was dedicated to Collith and this fact alone made me swoon over a hundred times. Collith became much gentler and kinder and so I liked him even more in this book than I did him in the first one. In contrast, Fortuna was getting more reckless the more we dived into the story. She made herself a lot of enemies that I stopped counting the tally at some point. But she still managed to make herself relatable somehow and by all means, I liked it a lot when she didn't know when to shut up and was in action all the time.

Compared to the first book, the twists in Restless Slumber were twice as many. As a part of the major ones, the cliffhanger ending shocked me to the core. Though unexpected, it felt rather significant and believable thanks to the well-constructed storyline. I wasn't aware that it would happen but in a way it had been sort of foreseen and well-prepared. Still, I was dumbstruck so I read the page all over again to make sure that I didn't get the wrong idea.

As much as I loved the plot, I was still left with another two unanswered questions and it would mean a lot if anyone could offer me some answers:

Question number 1: As the king of the Unseelie Court, Collith seemed to be very busy performing his unnamed responsibility in between visiting Fortuna. In the first book, he was even doing important papers for the court while Fortuna was taking a bath. My question is, why didn't Fortuna do the same thing as a queen? Collith had let her take as much time as she needed to adjust but wasn't there something important a queen needed to do besides participating in big events like the Tribunal or the Tithe? Or perhaps, the Unseelie Court was used to having no queen that all the duties were channeled to the king alone?

Question number 2: Even before agreeing to be Collith's mate in the first book, Fortuna had always been able to summon Collith by only saying his name. Why did the guards in the court send him a text instead of doing the same thing? Considering they had to go way up to the ground to get a signal, it was very impractical for some who couldn't sift. Was it because they weren't given permission to summon the king that way?

Given the fact that Restless Slumber was more about how Fortuna tried to rule and have a life outside the court at the same time, all along I couldn't dismiss the feeling that everything in this book would have something major to do in the next installments. For me, Restless Slumber felt like a necessary collection of events where we got to discover some constant developments before the true conflict burst out and actually took place. In conclusion, this book was amazing to the level where it deserved a five stars rating and a barrage of praise. I really can't wait to meet the characters again later this December.