The Heart of the Lost Star (Tales of the High Court) (Volume 3) Paperback – August 23, 2017

I love the world created in this series. With each book we learn a little more about the society. This one shines a spotlight on the acceptance of gender fluidity and lack of traditional male female roles . I have to admit to not realizing Kamir was trans until well into the book during a sex scene. It is listed on the site so that’s my bad. It did kind of jar me because I wasn’t aware of it at all until this point making me ponder what I’d read the previous 100 pages. I do like that there is no prejudice in that regard in this world. There is prejudice however. One of the MCs Jadar is looked down upon for where he comes from. Jadar is the first man from the Islands to be promoted to his rank in the army. He’s also friends with the King and Consort. Basically he’s pretty important. He still faces racial slurs and stereotypes. He’s bisexual. Jadar’s was brought up in a very different society than the one he’s living in. In his society people can choose to have many lovers. They also think very highly of mothers but not in a traditional sense. I won’t try to explain it here but I did find their culture interesting. It kind of sculpts who Jadar is. He also has a history that will be explained in the book that I found pretty interesting.Kamir is young. He’s been shunned by his family for running off with a man who abused him and didn’t offer his family any form of income. His mom is basically a money grubbing social climber and Kamir failed to deliver the golden goose of a husband the youngest child in the family is meant to score. Kamir’s family and ex are awful. What he did gain from his impulsiveness was 2 amazing children that are his world. In fact they are who gave him the courage to leave the Ex who pops back in his life trying to extort him in this book. He has a best friend from the same island as Jadar. Other than that he has no one to depend on but himself. He has a crush on Jadar but based on his social status and the label of divorcee he thinks that’s a dream that will never come true. Jadar does notice him however and a courtship begins. Kamir is struggling with so much in this book. He decides even if it’s just a fling he wants this one small thing for himself. I did like the couple together. Jadar is powerful and confident. Kamir is sweet and good. They made a really good match. Jardar just takes his sweet time realizing how good they are together. I do have to say I wish they had been able to be together more. A large portion of the book has Jadar far away on a diplomatic trip while Kamir suffers on multiple fronts from home. Sarrica was pretty disappointing. I get he’s being protective but he went WAY too far. I liked how Jadar doesn’t waver from who he is and that he’s a little cocky. I felt so bad for Kamir but respected that no matter what he picked himself up and carried on.This one was pretty sweet. The courtship is slow and is mostly done in letter form as absence seems to make Jadar realize it’s more than just lust between him and Kamir. I loved Kamir’s best friend and body guard. His ex was a little OTT and his mother was vile. There is some adventure and action in this one but not as much as I’d have liked. Overall it was good but not nearly as good as the first one IMO.

I’m just a bit confused about gender in this series. I thought Derr made a world where men could get pregnant, but in this story we learn Kamir is a transgender man so he has all his lady bits and obviously gets pregnant and already has two kids (who are both trans). Also Tara is pregnant in this book who is feminine and eccentric, is he trans? So my question is, are all the men who have been pregnant trans?Please explain the Dames to us clearly Derr, are they the biological mother of the children they carry? Do they have intercourse with the father, because Allens Dame was his fathers sister. This story has a pretty bad ending, Jader leaves about halfway through the book and returns at the very end, we don’t see him and Kamir being a couple at all, we don’t see the birth of their baby, there’s no epilogue. Pretty disappointed.

I feel a bit like an ass in only giving this book 3 stars, because I loved the previous two, and Megan Derr is one of my favorite m/m authors. Writing-style wise, Tales of the High Court is one of her best, at least that I’ve read. I’m all for trans, non-binary, and gender fluid representation. But I guess I just felt a little…misled. Kamir is adorable, don’t get me wrong, and I think it’s great Megan built a world where gender is a non-issue. It’s pretty freeing. But, I was expecting m/m (cis), so I guess I was just a little thrown off. The tags are misleading, since such tags are often used in gay romance, so I didn’t think much of them. Perhaps it just goes with my personal reading preference? Like I said, I feel a bit like an ass here, especially after reading some of the other reviews. I just prefer to read m/m (cis) romance. Then again, in the first two books, I thought the references to men bearing children meant there was going to be mpreg (a subgenre of m/m I’m not too fond of), so this book cleared up a lot on that front lol.That said, Kamir and Jader were quite likeable, and most of the time, I just wanted to give Kamir a hug. Even though I would have preferred them to be together more, I actually enjoyed the letters they exchanged, and found myself anticipating the next one as much as they were. Thereon and Kamir’s family are truly detestable, and I was so glad they got what was coming to them. Kamir’s handling of it also showed his maturity, and how he deserved so much better than Thereon.And Jader...what's not to like about him?In spite of what I said in my opening paragraphs, it really was a sweet story, and if you have read the previous two Tales of the High Court books, definitely read this one.

Firstly i adored the other two books in this series and I eagerly awaited this one. Loved seeing the other characters. My biggest problem was that both MCs were separate from each other for nearly half the book. They left after a couple of sexy times. Jader hoping to continue their relationship. Then they wrote to each other - a lot. By the last letter Jader was saying he "loved" Kamir so basically they fell in love by mail. Which made me feel cheated. I wanted their story not 6 letters which is basically all we got. The same incredible storytelling wasn't present as was done in the other two and it felt rushed, but in the main i felt like i got cheated out of their story.

Oh my goodness, this book made my heart sing. The MC is trans, with identical twin children, a girl and a boy, which makes my little enby heart weep with joy. And the existence of non-binary people was explicitly acknowledged in the book!I feel such a kinship with the MC and all he's suffered. The book was so good I had to force myself to put it down in order to sleep. The conflict was based on conflicting personalities rather than misunderstandings.The word building continues to be incredible. After a book starring a translator and one featuring a pirate, I never would have thought this book could top them, but the author outdid herself. I continue to love all the discussions of language and grammar. With the rich depictions of culture, it makes the world seem so real.

Megan Derr adds another perfect and heartwarming book to her wonderful Tales of the High Court series!The Heart of the Lost Star does not have your typical plot. Similarly to book 1 of the series, the main couple, here Lord Kamir, a young noble on the verge of being disowned and Jaden, High Commander of the Imperial Army, actually spend most of the book apart after their first encounters and getting closer to each other.It works very well for the plot (that I will not spoil, aside from a warning about not-entirely-past abuse in Kamir's storyline) and the sweet letters they exchange make up for their lack of banter and interaction. Equally helpful is the abundant cast of side characters, most of which are already known from book 1 and book 2, though there are also a few new additions (one of which will be a main character in book 4!)There was one brief appearance of a previously unimportant character that first left me shocked (and a bit scared) and then intrigued - I can't wait to see what will come of that!In my review of book 1 I mentioned how much I loved the completely natural inclusion of various sexual and gender expressions in this fantasy world, especially that of trans* characters. This book furthermore cemented some of the customs that were hinted at during the other books of the series: In the Empire of Harken (and possible all the other parts of that world too) children are raised gender neutral - they decide their gender wholly on their own as they grow up, be it male, female, both, neither or fluid.Kamir is a trans man, though the terms trans and cis do not exist in this setting. His gender or being trans is never made an issue - it's completely normal that some men and women can bear children while others can't, etc.Marriage and unions between all the genders are normal, and couples who would not be able to get children through intercourse are known to either adopt or have sires or dames (who often are part of the relationship/family too) to help with that.It's so refreshing to see that in a fantasy world, especially since most authors make a point to make theirs extremely sexist and/or homophobic (and racist or simply lacking any characters of colour at all. The world of Tales of the High Court features many characters of different skin colours, religions and also believes of how a country is run best).I appreciate that immensly.Despite the trigger warnings for abuse and occasionally violence, this (as well as the whole series) is a very light-hearted, emotional, exciting and feel-good read that I recommend to anyone!

There is something about this series that I really love and enjoy. I waited what felt like years for this book to be released, regularly checking. I was not disappointed. Amazing read, although I wish there was more about the pair together, rather than being apart. The reunion was far too short and many questions left unanswered. Still a 10/10 read

My only negative critic is that i would have liked this book to be in two parts and have the conspiracy in Benta not resolved so quickly. It would have opened us to more Islander politics and customs, etc. The end was a bit sharp too.Still I am impatient for the next installement coming out in 2018.

I enjoyed the first two books and loved seeing more of this intriguing world, I fully believed the romance between the two MCs in this story and thought it was lovely and sweet. I loved it.So, I only have a couple of gripes, the first is editing, not just the typos and spelling mistakes, but the grammar, punctuation and flow: I was dragged out of the story a quite a few times because something just didn't make sense and I had to reverse engineer what the author meant. I understand these are probably self published, but they are good books and not getting a second eye on them detracts from the author.The 2nd is that I was completely confused by Kamir's gender, I was expecting to read a M/M romance, and most of it was exactly that, but was surprised to find the sex scenes included female bits. It was not explained, I concede it may have been referred to in the previous books, but I didn't remember, so I was lost, as everything else labelled kamir as male. I have read other books about Mpreg, bi gendered, fluid gendered and post op transgendered through the M/M Genre before, but it's usually explained. I wondered if this is some sort of statement? Is it not mentioned and explained because it is a political statement about the expectations of the world on two genders? I have no idea, except that it spoiled the book by half a star for me.I was expecting Kamir to have both male and female traits, and assumed that was what the author was trying to convey, but the details given in the sex scenes describe a normal human female, even if that was not what was intended. If m/f is an issue for you, skip the few intimate scenes, and u won't notice any difference (ahem, apart from the mpreg). But you have been warned :)Saying all that, I think this series has some of Megan Derr's best work and look forward to the next one.

This read a bit like the first version of The High King's Golden Tongue, albeit longer. It didn't feel as well paced as the longer version of THKGT nor The Pirate of Fathoms Deep. The politics behind it was also less intriguing to me than in the previous two books and very quickly resolved.The romance between the two main characters is basically one is in love for ages, the other doesn't do relationships. But there's no real explanation of why in either case. Relationships growing from booty calls or one night stands is fine if you write it that way. This was somehow incomplete.Additionally, this book was guilty of a pet peeve of mine. The editing was bad. Both the sub editing and the overall editing seemed rushed and incomplete. I will read the rest of the series but I do hope for a little more from the next one(s).