Review: Endurance: The Triad Series: Book Two by Cari Z

Rating: 4.75🌈

With Endurance, Cari Z’s Trilogy, The Triad, just overcame the second book hurdle and became stronger and more moving a story.

Changing her format here, the author divides the book into three sections, one for each of her main characters and members of the polyamorous relationship. This arrangement where each man receives an equal amount of narrative time with the reader allows her to explore each personality so much more in depth than previously seen.

The story has moved forward, the men now in a loving polygamous relationship but only two of them , Princes Symon and Petur, legally married, the third , Deyvid, the ex Harrior warrior bodyguard being seen by others outside the triad as a hidden lover.

The stakes facing them are high as the Harriors, Deyvid’s former Head of Clan , are coming for all the other Kingdoms, using assassins, betrayal, and political attacks. Including one killer very close to Deyvid.

Petur’s nephew Prince Arven’s wedding, an alliance necessity, into a Kingdom whose culture doesn’t welcome or respect shifters or same sex relationships is adding unbelievable stress . Especially as attacks happen that seem to try to prevent them from getting there for the marriage.

And Symon is getting sick , and thinks it’s his mother’s debilitating curse attacking him.

The author handles all these important issues so well, letting us see how the untold stress , the unrelenting pressure is impacting each man and their relationship. From the attacks on each other and their bonds, to the expectations that they think they must live up to, their own responsibilities, their obligations, and the new revelations each event seems to throw at them, we get to see how, well or or how badly each man tries to deal with the fluctuating reality of their situations.

In Alliance, Symon and Deyvid were clear favorites. Petur had less narrative page time, so we really didn’t see him clearly as a man, ruler, or true member of this polyamorous group.

But in Endurance, Petur becomes seen, an equal partner, a man who’s capable of showing both his strengths and admitting his weaknesses and fears. And there’s plenty to be fearful of in this book. All his beloveds are being threatened. His very marriage and family are at risk. We see his foundation being shaken. And not just his.

As we go from man to man, threat to threat, deep fears and the anguish of loss permeates the entire storyline.

Symon and Deyvid have strong compelling stories of their own here that intertwine with all the complex plotting of their other mate, Petur’s.

The end is both a cliffhanger and a heartbreaker. It makes us quickly yearn for the finale to come, Dominion.

I highly recommend this story, but it’s one that must be read in order for the characters, their relationships, the the complicated plot developments to make sense.

This is just beautifully done all the way, in every aspect. I hope she keeps the new format as it has really captured her characters fully and made the author’s imagination and plot soar!

Triad Series:

✓ Alliance #1

✓ Endurance #2

◦ Dominion #3 – June 13, 2023

Buy Link:

Endurance: The Triad Series: Book Two

Description:

Three royal lovers, one goal: to make an alliance with their neighboring kingdom before war takes away their chance for peace.

Now that Symon is happily married to his husband Petur and in love with Petur’s longtime lover Deyvid, things should be easier…right? Not with the Harrier clans of the north stirring up trouble. Tasked with escorting Petur’s nephew Arven to his wedding in neighboring Mersaighe, Symon hopes that things will go smoothly.

He ought to know better.

Not only are they heading into a nation where shifters like Petur are distrusted, Petur and his nephew fight constantly, an assassin is still trying to kill Deyvid, and Symon is hiding a secret of his own…one that could mean his days of happiness are numbered before a family curse drives him insane.

With enemies to lovers, graphic violence, snarky humor, and explicit sexual content, Endurance is a polyamorous M/M/M fantasy that will keep you on the edge of your seat!