The Oak Wood Throne

San Amaro Investigations, Book 2

By: Kai Butler

Narrated by: Greg Tremblay

A new case won't solve Parker's old problems....

Parker Ferro needs a vacation. His boyfriend is MIA on a high profile murder investigation, the fae courts have him on call at all hours, and he’s still cleaning up the mess from his last big case. Of course, that’s nothing compared to the demands of the debt he owes the spirit of San Amaro.

So, when a wealthy new client contacts him to locate a stolen fae artifact, Parker’s hoping for a simple job. That the artifact in question looks eerily similar to the one that got him involved with a notorious criminal and almost ruined his life last year - well, that has no bearing on the decision....right? Not to mention the thief’s ability to enter high security areas without a trace and a few very suspicious deaths.

As his life continues to spiral out of control, Parker has to juggle what’s most important to him: his relationship, his need for revenge, or his life. Then again, no one said becoming the new Windrose would be easy.

The Oak Wood Throne is a MM urban fantasy with a HFN ending.

©2021 Kai Butler (P)2025 Kai Butler

Enjoyable

This is not a stand-alone. You must have read the first book in order to understand half of this one.

But if you did, it's relatively smooth sailing. Characters are consistent and the overarching story lines move forward at a fast clip. This book is less focused on their relationship, although it does definitely address it. Like book one, there is a lot going on. One of the things that's true for this series is that Parker NEVER has the luxury of solving only one problem at a time, but the seemingly disparate plot threads do spin together by the end.

Parker grows some in this book. He faces a few demons (figuratively and literally) and takes some emotional risks.

Tremblay is a good narrator, but not a personal favorite of mine. I mention this so you understand where I'm coming from when I say that he does a nice job with this series. I had reservations when I saw he was reading the books, but those reservations proved unfounded.

Good read but room for improvement

It's a really good book with a lot going on. At times, it feels like it's reaching the conclusion, only to start down another path. The world-building is great, but it sometimes feels like the author assumes we already know about the world, diving into Fae concepts before explaining them. Additionally, there are moments where obvious solutions to problems are overlooked by the characters.

Despite these issues, I genuinely enjoy the book and am looking forward to listening to book 3.

More antics

I really love Parker and the antics he gets into during his cases and navigating the new roll of Windrose.

Parkers relationship with Nick, Fae, not-a-cat and all the other characters that make us the story is funny, charming and sometimes a little sad. The author gives us levels within the story, always a mystery to solve as well as personal issues to overcome.

Greg does a fantastic job narrating this tale and making all the characters come alive.

fantastic story about struggle

Fantastic story about not only gay people but men and women striving to reach their full potential even though they've been damaged by life excellent story

Fun listen

This was a really fun story. I really enjoyed the banter between the characters and the mythology seems to be flushed out. Great LGBT+ relationships