Published in 2025, K. A. Linde’s The Robin on the Oak Throne is a romantasy novel and the second installment in the Oak & Holly Cycle, following the best-selling The Wren in the Holly Library (2024). The novel continues the story of Kierse McKenna, a master thief and the last surviving will-o’-the-wisp, a magical Fae race. As she seeks to uncover the truth of her magically erased memories, she finds herself again entangled with the powerful warlock Graves, the mythological Holly King. Their turbulent alliance leads them on a dangerous international hunt for the legendary Cauldron of Dagda, forcing Kierse to navigate treacherous magical societies and confront powerful figures from her forgotten childhood.

The narrative explores several key themes, chiefly Learning to Confront Trauma, as Kierse’s quest for answers proves to be a physically and emotionally agonizing journey that she must undertake to reclaim her identity. The novel also examines the nature of connection through the theme of Love as a Deliberate Choice, contrasting a fated, magical soulmate bond with a partnership built on earned trust and mutual vulnerability. At its core, the story champions The Sacredness of Personal Autonomy, framing Kierse’s struggle against the powerful men who seek to control her destiny as a fight for self-determination.

This guide refers to the 2025 Red Tower Books first edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of death, graphic violence, physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual content, and cursing.

Plot Summary

The story takes place in an alternate version of Earth in which humans live alongside beings like werewolves and vampires. Thirteen years before the book opens, New York City was torn by a Monster War between humans and supernatural species, and the conflict ended with the signing of the Monster Treaty. The series’ protagonist, Kierse McKenna, is a thief and the last will-o’-the-wisp (a race of ancient Fae). Previously, a powerful warlock named Graves hired Kierse to steal an artifact called the Spear of Lugh for him, and they developed a romantic relationship. However, she felt betrayed by him and broke off contact after discovering that he knew she was a wisp but hid this truth from her.

When this book opens five months later, Kierse is on a solo mission to uncover more about her mysterious past. She travels to Paris, France, during the Beltane festival. Her goal is to steal a goblin-made amethyst bracelet from Aveline, the Queen of the Nymphs. She plans to trade the object for entry into the illicit goblin market, Nying, to find a cure for her recurring nightmares. Her plan is complicated by the arrival of Graves.

Graves uses his acquaintance with the queen as a distraction for Kierse to steal the bracelet from Aveline’s wrist. They escape the palace grounds and go to the apartment of Estelle Beaumont, the “Game Master” warlock of Paris, whom Graves believes possesses the Cauldron of Dagda, one of four powerful Celtic magical objects he seeks. However, Estelle’s invitation is a ruse; she doesn’t have the cauldron but, after Kierse solves a riddle, gives them an invitation to a secret auction for the object in New York City. That night, Kierse has a vivid nightmare that Graves recognizes as a suppressed memory. They form a new bargain: Kierse will help him acquire the cauldron, and he will help her uncover her past.

After returning to her temporary home in Dublin, Ireland, Kierse reunites with her best friend, Gen, a High Priestess. Their other close friend, Ethan, is in Brooklyn, New York, training with the Druids, a magical order led by the Oak King Lorcan Flynn. As the Holly King, Graves is Lorcan’s eternal rival. It’s revealed that Kierse’s new friend Niamh is a “robin,” an agent for Lorcan. Despite warnings from Oisín, an ancient man who runs the bookstore that serves as an entrance to Nying Market, Kierse, Graves, and Niamh venture inside. The market proves treacherous; they’re chased by goblins and discover that a bounty has been placed on Graves, and Kierse is stabbed in a bar fight. She’s saved by Vale, a mercenary contacted by Graves. They eventually locate a memory-restoring potion. Back in Dublin, Kierse takes the potion and experiences a memory of her parents, Shannon and Adair, visiting Graves 20 years ago to seek his help hiding her from a mysterious “Fae Killer.” Graves sent them to a rogue Druid named Cillian Ryan and gave them a magical amulet.

In New York, Kierse, Graves, and their allies begin planning a heist to steal the cauldron during Monster Con, a major gathering of powerful magical beings. Kierse visits Ethan in Brooklyn but finds that he has been indoctrinated by the Druids and is now hostile toward her because of her association with Graves. She then confronts Lorcan, who reveals that they’re soulmates bound by a magical connection and that her magic is a reincarnation of his deceased wife, Saoirse. He kisses her, and she feels the overwhelming, almost compulsive power of their bond. Graves uses his magic to uncover Kierse’s suppressed memories, but she hits a magical block surrounding the night the memory spell was cast. A visit to Dr. Carrión, a monster psychiatrist, reveals a second, trauma-based block related to her parents’ deaths. Before the heist, Kierse learns of Lorcan’s plan to initiate a “binding ceremony” to make their soulmate bond permanent. When she confronts him again, he kisses her, and their magic nearly initiates the binding without a formal ritual. Kierse manages to break away by mentally fortifying herself and solidifies her choice to be with Graves.

The heist begins during a masquerade ball. The plan is disrupted when Gregory Amberdash, a wraith and Kierse’s former employer, reveals that he’s the new leader of the Men of Valor, an anti-human monster faction. The operation derails further when Gen is gravely injured and the guards don’t respond to the planned diversion. Kierse is forced to take out the guards herself and successfully switches the real cauldron with a decoy. As she escapes, she’s chloroformed and kidnapped. Her captor is revealed to be Cillian, who is also Jason, her abusive thieving mentor whom she believed she had killed. Jason reveals that the memory spell’s purpose was to siphon her wisp magic to fuel his own power. Enraged, Kierse unlocks a new phasing ability, escapes her iron bonds, and fights him. Jason gets away, but not before Kierse is shot. Bleeding and drained of magic, she uses her soulmate bond to call for Lorcan.

Lorcan rescues her but takes her captive to his headquarters in Brooklyn. On the night of the summer solstice, he initiates a forced binding ceremony, believing that it’s the only way to “protect” her from Graves’s mental manipulation. As the ritual nears completion, Graves, Gen, and Ethan crash the ceremony. Graves, wielding the powerful Spear of Lugh, kills Lorcan’s second-in-command, Declan. The binding is completed, but in the process, it severs Kierse’s access to her wisp powers, which Lorcan now controls. Amid the chaos, Niamh challenges Lorcan’s tyranny and sits on the Oak Throne, becoming the new Druid leader and exiling Lorcan. Graves rescues Kierse and takes her home. Back at his brownstone, the team uses the cauldron. It provides a cure for the infertility of their friend Nate’s wife, Maura. When Kierse touches it, it senses that her original magic is bound and inaccessible, so it grants her wisp powers she didn’t have previously, including persuasion, pixie lights, and magical intuition, as a loophole.

The following week, at Nate and Maura’s wedding, the celebration is attacked by the Men of Valor, led by Nova Lee, a werewolf and Nate’s rival for a seat on the Monster Treaty convocation. In the ensuing fight, Nova kills Nate. The attack signals the beginning of a new monster war. As Kierse and her friends grapple with their loss, she realizes that while she may have new powers, she must find a way to reclaim her original magic and break the binding to face the coming conflict. Elsewhere, Lorcan, now in exile, begins plotting to acquire the Stone of Fal so that he can regain his power and his throne.