The Robin on the Oak Throne is the second installment of The Oak & Holly Cycle series by K.A. Linde. Like with the first book, I picked up the limited edition copy, complete with sprayed and stenciled edges, illustrated endpapers, and a beautifully detailed case. If you haven’t read my review of The Wren in the Holly Library—which is a blend of Beauty & the Beast and Six of Crows—you may want to check that out first. I also recommend starting with that book before diving into this one, since this review may contain spoilers for the ending of The Wren in the Holly Library. That said, I won’t be going into deep plot details here, so there won’t be any major spoilers. Though a few minor ones might slip through as I share my thoughts.

Synopsis

The only thing worse than fearing a monster is falling for one…

Kierse McKenna just shattered the Monster Treaty. Again.

It wasn’t entirely her fault. The job was supposed to be simple: steal a goblin-made bracelet off of the Queen of the Nymphs in her own palace. Trade the bracelet for a way to uncover the truth about her past. Except everything goes sideways.

And then he shows up to save her.

Graves―the warlock who ensnared her, betrayed her, and left her to fend for herself. He’s a villain. A monster draped in charm and shadows. And gods help her, he always knows exactly what she wants.

But Graves never does anything for free. He has a job for his favorite little thief. One that will pit her against the most powerful monsters in existence, including his mortal enemy, the Oak King.

An ancient artifact has been located, and only together can they hope to steal it. She just has to let him in.

But once she lets a monster in, he’s impossible to forget…and even harder to resist.

Book Details

• Published: June 17, 2025
• Page Count: 400 pages
• Genre: Fantasy Romance

Thoughts on The Robin on the Oak Throne

Similar to the first book, The Robin on the Oak Throne is told primary from Kierse’s perspective, though we do get segments from Graves along with interludes from other characters to transition the story from one part into the next. While the interludes in the first book gave away a lot of plot twists, but this one didn’t. If anything, they rounded out that portion and set up the next. Which I appreciated as that bothered me when reading The Wren in the Holly Library, we would get future plot handed to us beforehand so it lost its impact later. So, it was nice to have interludes that added to the plot without giving things away this time. Or gave us more insight on some of the characters.

While the first book opened with Kierse breaking into the Holly Library, this time she’s stealing a goblin-made bracelet from the Queen of Nymphs. Her goal is to gain access to the Goblin Markets—a notoriously dangerous place—in hopes of recovering the portions of her memories that were blocked or erased. This heist brings her back into the path of Graves, and despite her hesitation, she ultimately agrees to work with him to steal another Celtic artifact: a cauldron said to cure almost anything. At first, Kierse considers using it to make herself a full wisp instead of half-wisp, but her desires shift over the course of the book. As she and Graves work together to confront her traumatic memories and uncover the truth about her parents, she slowly comes to trust him again—despite his earlier betrayal. What makes the difference is the way Graves has changed: he includes her in the planning, shares information openly, and allows himself to be vulnerable with her.

Beyond Kierse’s evolving relationship with Graves, the story also deepens her connections with her best friends, Gen and Ethan. As revealed in the first book, the three of them form a triskel—a magical bond between a Druid (Ethan), a High Priestess (Gen), and a Fae (Kierse). Ethan has been training with the Druids under Lorcan’s supervision, while Gen accompanies Kierse to Dublin to learn more about her heritage. There, they meet Niamh, another High Priestess who helps them explore their powers. Niamh is later revealed to be the robin, mirroring how Kierse is the wren for Graves. However, Ethan’s time training in isolation causes a rift between the friends, as Lorcan has fed him a bias version of history—particularly the story that Graves killed his sister (something that was mentioned in the first book). So when Kierse and Ethan are finally reunited, things don’t go smoothly, especially once Ethan learns she’s working with Graves again. This does play a major part to the ending on the book.

Amidst all this, Kierse makes another unsettling discovery: she is Lorcan’s soulmate—or rather, her magic is. It’s not a bond she chose or wants, but one Lorcan exploits to try to convince her to take her place as his queen on the Oak Throne. In his presence, the bond manipulates her thoughts and clouds her judgment, though the moment she breaks free of its influence her perspective flips entirely.Something about that bond isn’t right, and I know it will play a much bigger role in the next book given the ending. The bond also allows Lorcan to always be aware of Kierse’s exact location. Beyond being an obstacle Kierse must fight against, the soulmate bond also brings up the past between Graves and Lorcan as the reason Lorcan hates Graves is tied to the fact that Lorcan’s sister had one. I won’t give more details, but let’s just say it’s complicated.

While there were a lot of interesting plot points, the first 75% of the book was slow. A lot of what happened had nothing to do with the overall plot or dumping a bunch of information that may be built on later in the series. I’m hoping this is a trilogy as I cannot imagine this going anywhere beyond that. Honestly, it could’ve been a duology if a lot of things were cut out or tightened. The ending also felt rushed as the stakes that had been built up didn’t really have a payoff. It was kind of like “alright that’s done, now that’s take a turn that came out of left field.” Not that there weren’t hints to it, but it felt out of place given the other things going on at the moment. Especially since the main focus beyond restoring Kierse’s memories was the cauldron heist. It barely got more than a chapter. Though I will say it did make me question who to believe: Lorcan or Graves. As the cover of the book states:

Can you trust the dark, when you know that is lies?

I’ll be continuing with the next book in the series, though I do think this installment had areas that could have been stronger. In particular, I wish there had been more emphasis on the Celtic lore. Since both the main characters and the artifacts they’re pursuing are rooted in Celtic mythology. I mean, Kierse literally is the wren from one of those stories—it felt like a missed opportunity not to expand on that more, especially with the introduction of the robin. Still, despite those shortcomings, I enjoyed the journey and would recommend this book to anyone that’s interested in urban fantasy style books.

Love ya,

Mae Polzine

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