Elf Defence Novel

Novel: Elf Defence

Author: Lisa Henry and Sarah Honey

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Romance

Released: 2020

Part of Book Series: Adventures in Aguillon #2

Summary: Royal envoys Calarian and Benji embark on a quest in the alpine duchy of Tournel. Things go rapidly downhill when the duke plummets to his death from the tower wall. Whoops—that’s going to be hard to explain. And it’s not as though they can just grab the nearest human and make him the new duke.

Or can they?

Enter one Lars Melker, a slightly gullible cowherd built entirely of muscles and sunshine, who happily accepts their word when they tell him he’s the duke now.

Soon Calarian and Benji are knee deep in teaching Lars how to fake it until he makes it. They’re also dealing with mountain trolls, a monster, a missing cow, and, most shocking of all, a growing realisation that their elves-with-benefits arrangement might be turning into something with feelings.

Add in their mutual attraction to Lars, and suddenly the hills are alive with the sound of emotionally compromised collectivist anarchist elves.

Also, what’s the deal with those leather shorts?

Post’s Author Opinion:
Note: This is a personal opinion, it does not reflect YaoiOtaku’s official position towards the novel.

Since I liked the first book of the series, I was pretty sure I was going to enjoy the second one just as much. Or almost. Elf Defence features Calarian and Benji who we met in Red Heir, and while I liked Calarian a lot, I was not sold on Benji. I mostly tolerated him in the first book and was glad he wasn’t around more, but I was stuck with him here.

The first half of the book was a challenge to go through when it comes to Benji. I did not like him at all. Not a bit. I did not like his attitude towards others, although I did know from the start that he was not actually honest. Benji was alone for so long it was easier to dislike everyone and call everyone stupid (ugh, if he was going to say that one more time…) than to make an effort and see past his prejudice.

Luckily for everyone involved, especially me, that started to change when Lars entered the scene. Lars is pretty close to the definition of a himbo. He was okay. He had his moments and he definitely fits in between Calarian and Benji, he gives them some sort of balance.

Calarian is, well, Calarian. I did like him more in the first book, he was more… elvish there. But then again, I guess that indeed proves that life at the castle made him more comfortable.

Thinking about the characters, I think I liked Hannah the most. Weird, you’d think I would at least say Gretchen, but no, Hannah is the one I liked. Gretchen had her moments too, though.

As I already said, I did not enjoy the first half as much, I did enjoy the later chapters a more, but something was a bit off. This time the comedy didn’t hit right. If anything, a few times I felt like it didn’t fit the scene, and it tended to be repetitive. Overall the book is just okay. After the first one my expectations were a tad bit higher. I was also expecting it to be hotter, but it’s surprisingly subdued. I was curious about what exactly were the double alchemist, the paladin, and whatever other sexual positions are there and with Calarian and Benji (and later Lars) being sex freaks I was disappointed to get none.

I definitely recommend Red Heir, it was funnier and Loth and Quinn make such a great pair, I was glad to have them for a bit here too. When it comes to Elf Defence I guess give it a try, but don’t have your expectations too high.

What’s your opinion on Elf Defence novel? Please let us know in the comments below.