Valerin the Fair

Out of True #1

by Rien Gray

Follow a fellowship of sapphic knights as they’re seduced by witches, queens, goddesses—and each other—in a dark, lush fantasy inspired by Arthurian legend.

Under the reign of King Theomacha the Exalted, the Land of Maidens flourishes. Her knights protect and explore the realm, seeking artifacts lost to time and fending off wicked, cunning magics. 

Born in the isolated Brocéliande Forest, Valerin is raised as a warrior by druids of great power. Her unusual strength and invulnerability is said to be the blessing of a goddess, but when Sebille, a sorceress empowered by fire and rot, arrives to challenge her claim, Valerin must come to terms with her true nature — or fall to the seduction of the woman she's destined to kill.

Valerin the Fair is a 15,000 word high heat F/F fantasy romance featuring:

➼ a genderfluid butch protagonist
➼ an older high femme sorceress
➼ highly intimate duels and notions of chivalry
➼ consensual / body-affirming transformation

This is the first book in the Out of True novella series.

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Queer, Lesbian, Adult, Novella, LGBT

82 pages, ebook

First published December 12, 2022

About the author

Rien is a queer, nonbinary author of LGBTQ+ romance, erotica, and horror. They love writing charged sex scenes, consent-informed kink, and hot criminal love interests who revel in the above.

When not writing, Rien spends their time at the gym, making tea, or angling for yet another platinum trophy in a video game.

Newsletter: Free Novella Here!

Website: riengray.com

BSky: @RienGray

Reviews

[nikki | ཐི༏ཋྀ​​݁ ₊ ݁ . · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.25⭐️

an arthurian-inspired sapphic fantasy romance between a butch knight and a femme sorceress. set to exquisite prose with lush detailing, it's a fast burn, high heat short with enemies to lovers (magically gifted appendage included). i especially loved the druid and sorceress lore.

[Lu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tired of the same old medieval literature featuring a bunch of stale dudes being oh so heroic in saving helpless maidens?
Try this awesome novella starring a genderfluid butch protagonist, a hot ancient sorceress, great sword fight scenes, dark magic, druids, a luscious forest and beautiful prose.
If sapphic knights, kings and princes is what you've been looking for pick up this book, you won't regret it!

[Dan Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Invincible forest butch meets eternal flame destruction sorceress in the first installment of this Arthuriana-inspired sapphic series with gorgeous prose and genderfuckery galore. This is high fantasy the way the best of the medievals wrote it, Chrétien de Troyes and Marie de France but make it queer and steamy af. Anyone sleeping on this series is a fool.

[Dani Finn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Take the beginning of Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, make it lesbian, add tightly knotted modern prose and worldbuilding, and top it with exquisite intimate scenes and you have Valerin the Fair.

This is my 3rd read-through, and each time brings me closer to Nirvana.

[Peppa Targaryen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Valerin the Fair is a short, captivating fantasy novella. This 50-page tale is perfect for readers seeking LGBTQ+ inclusivity, featuring genderfluid and sapphic characters.

The novella’s strengths lie in its lush and vivid prose. The author’s writing is beautifully descriptive, evoking a timeless, classic fantasy feel. Unlike many of the (indie) fantasy books that are written way too modern 🥲

However, the main character’s encounter and romance with the sorceress felt rushed. The chemistry between them sparks instantly, lacking the slow-burn tension that I crave. While it’s understandable that a novella’s limited length imposes constraints on character and relationship development, the rapid progression of the romance felt abrupt. A bit more build-up would have lent more emotional depth and made the connection between the characters more satisfying.

I have a feeling that Martis the Brazen will be more my cup of tea 🤭

Overall, this novella earns three stars for its engaging prose, strong representation, and potential 🫶🏻

[Sydis0n · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not really sure how I feel about this. The opening was extremely slow and rather convoluted from the flowery language. In a longer story ,where this was paired with introducing the world and characters and gaining the readers interest, perhaps it would have felt less portentous. But, as it is, I could barely get into the story, as there was barely any story to get into.

There were only two points of real intrigue for me, and only one held up (in the most superficial use of the phrase.) The first was a fight and some interesting new characters, which quickly turned out to be for nothing because despite taking up a large portion of the only action in the book, they are never discussed again in any meaningful way, other than to segue to a sequel.

The other was—and I forewarned of its nature—the smut. It would have been better if I cared at all about either of the characters (which I didn't) and worse if I held any standards about such regards (which I don't.) In other words, lesbians doing lesbian things will almost always earn at least 1 star from me, no matter the quality.

[mall0rie666 · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5⭐️

apparently, all I need to revitalize my interest in the concept of the smútty novella are: Arthurian aesthetics; immaculate prose; and a fast burn enemies to lovers arc between an immortal butch knight and a femme top goddess of death and rebirth.

[guiltless pleasures · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars

Beautifully written novella (almost a short story) about an unkillable woman who is part of a Druid group that wanders an immense forest. It’s a hot sapphic fantasy world and the first in a trilogy of short novellas, and I’ll be reading the rest.

[meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

queer and silly (with druids)

[Natsora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the prose! It’s almost lyrical. And the smut? Hot af!

[пташатко · Rating 5 out of 5]

ця книжечка got to me on a visceral level... ✋😔

10000000/10

[Sophia Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

What Rien does with Valerin the Fair is ambitious.

The prose is sculpted, not unlike a poet weighing every word, every sense of timbre in how words interconnect, and every interposition of image to create texture. At first, this amount of detailed ornamentation can feel like a veneer, but as you continue it's apparent that the wordcraft is load-bearing.

Everything about Valerin the Fair is meant to invoke an ancient, mystic world, completely unencumbered by the familiar. We, as readers, are the ones entering this world, and once you're in, Rien draws the story around you.

And yes, it does live up to its reputation for being spicy. That spice, like other interactions of characters, is woven with the same care as every other element. The pleasure, as a reader, is the experience of being inside what Rien has created, and it's well worth a revisit.

[marleywrites · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can I just start off by saying that the prose in this novella is seriously immaculate? Seriously, the flow of the author’s writing style is beautiful. I was hooked by all the descriptions of the settings, the outfits, and the feelings the characters were experiencing. I highlighted so many passages during my read through; the author has this way of pairing words and phrases together in a manner that you feel like you’re living in the fantasy world yourself. As an aside, the smut was incredible, it was emotional and passionate. On a differing note, the relationship between Valerin and the druids was interesting to read, and there were mixed emotions during the later scenes. Overall, this author is quite talented and I’m looking forward to reading more of their works!

[J Y · Rating 5 out of 5]

I felt the narrative / plot is kind of rushed due to the nature of it being 50ish pages. (Marking as spoilers for the next statement I guess???) Tbh half this story was a sex scene but it was unexpectedly hot and super my jam so (once again I did not read synopsis and just went with random suggestions I see on social media). I also enjoyed the prose for the setting.

[Kelli Glazebrook · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is extremely my shit.

[avis03]

Flowery prose, didn't realize it was a novella

[Logan (loganslovelylibrary) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great queer novella with an interesting main character. I would have loved for this to be a bit longer, or for more of the content to be focused on Valerin’s character growth. The romance also happened really fast so a bit more build up would have been great! And lastly, the writing is excellent but a bit too metaphorical and flowery. Would be easier to read if that was toned down a bit, but overall a nice novella. I’ll definitely be reading the next one!

🌈Queer rep: FF main relationship, lesbian main character (possibly a trans woman, or genderqueer with changing genitals), queer female love interest. FF secondary relationships.

[ozias ♪ · Rating 2 out of 5]

this was just very meh. i mean, it was fine, but i didn’t care
this novella moves at a breakneck pace to the sacrifice of strong characterization and meaning, leaving it to feel undeveloped. if you want to write 15k word erotica (though i hesitate to call it that due to the very short, very mellow sex scene), that’s fine, just don’t try to build too much of a world at the same time because you won’t have the space to make it matter
the style of writing was nice, but a bit overwrought at times, with a lot of really obscure words just thrown in for what felt like the sake of it
i liked the fight with martis a LOT but it felt ultimately pointless

[lupine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I forgot I had this, but I am so glad I found it in my files! This was so well-written and it resonates so well in my brain! I didn’t know I was missing this but I know I’ll never forget it. I don’t reread stuff much (too much new stuff to read and all that) but I can see rereading this one often. If you have ever liked fantastical, vaguely medieval, nature-oriented sapphic romance, do yourself a massive favor and read this story!

[Calvin Coqui]

A beautifully sexy and luxurious start to a trans/nonbinary lesbian fantasy erotica series- starting with a druid prince butch and the flame sorceress femme whose spark of power was stolen to create her. Gray's prose, already beautiful when writing in a modern setting and voice, explodes into riotous color when unleashed into the high fantasy mode. If you like butch dykes with swords (which yes is a double entendre) and knight/liege kink then this one is for you.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a short book, and ends at the 75% mark; the rest is a preview of another book. There is an unusual and odd world with different kinds of people. A lot of characters are introduced, and some are intriguing, what with their origins and abilities. The prose is lovely but it seemed to end abruptly.

[Ike · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m obsessed. I’m not well versed in the medieval literature that this so clearly pulls from, but this novella really delivers on things I didn’t even know I was looking for. Pick this one up if you’re looking for something with a butch knight protagonist

[Andi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only thing I need to say is that I wanted more, it's already brilliant. The rest of the series is sure to deliver and some great stuff is already being set up with Valerin's story. Plus Valerin is such a good character.

[KappaBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really had no idea what I was getting into when I bought this novella, but it was really good! I’m not usually a fan of fast burns but the language really sold it for me. Unsure if I’ll continue the series but I will absolutely recommend this to sapphic fantasy lovers!

[Merlina Garance · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't read novellas much so I am always frustrated because by the time I get into it the story ends. But this is a beautiful piece of writing, every sentence carefully crafted. I hope to find out more about the universe and characters in the next instalments

[Ale H · Rating 1 out of 5]

If Valerin was made from Sebille's "essence" wouldn't that make them related?
Not a fan of the insta-love/power dynamic/age-gap given the possibility of them being technically related.
Also the duel was hotter than the actual smut.

[Moth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t know how I feel about this. It was very slow-paced despite only being 50-ish pages. And, while the writing is very pretty, it made me lose the actual story.
CW: violence; injury/blood; sexual content

[abby! · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was pretty good, but hard to read and follow along with at some points- but queer ladies 🥰🙌

[Kate (Feathered Turtle Press Reviews) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I'm obsessed with this series now, ngl

[J Kuria · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

The writing was just a hair too flowery for me (
( lover of flowery prose that I am), but I had a good time with this. Definitely curious about the rest of the series.