Please note this review contains spoilers for the former books in this series, A Crown of Ivy and Glass & A Song of Ash and Moonlight, and contains references to some of the events in this sequel. Read with caution.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
As the Middlemist weakens—the protective barrier between the new country and the old, so have olden creatures found their way into Edyn. The last line of defense is the Order of the Rose, a sect of female warriors tasked with protecting the Middlemist for generations. Mara Ashbourne has been bound to the Middlemist for twelve long years, ever separated from her family and built to be a weapon in the hands of its Warden—the famed leader of the Order who can call her Roses to battle through the bond they share, transforming them into a mix of warrior and beast. Though monsters run rampant through Edyn, it is the awakened gods who present a far greater threat. Hunted by a vindictive god named Kilraith intent on destroying them and harnessing a war on humanity, these awakened gods are the next stage of Kilraith’s assault. As demigod daughters to the goddess Kerezen, Mara and her sisters are the ones tasked with hunting them down before he can. When a sect of scholars arrive in Rosewarren to provide aid, Mara faces the rakish, fiercely intelligent Gareth Fontaine, librarian and close friend to her sister. Cloaked in a facade of confidence, Gareth’s experiences speak to a greater sorrow that mirrors her own, and he decides to help her in her task. Torn between protecting those she loves and her alliance to the Warden, while a deeper connection builds with Gareth, Mara toils to bridge two worlds before the Middlemist falls and with it herself, bound to its fate.
Regency style romance in a fantasy world with awakened gods, cursed artifacts, rival families, and a legendary group of female warriors tasked with protecting the barrier between realms are integral to Claire Legrand’s Middlemist Trilogy. A true romantic fantasy jewel, A Rose of Blood and Binding is this trilogy’s final battlecry as the middle Ashbourne sister Mara and the delightfully rakish librarian Gareth Fontaine get up to shenanigans while on the path to uncovering the cursed objects of a violent God. Legrand has an innate talent for the middling spaces—where romance meets fantasy, fantasy meets historical, and all three intertwine in a potent atmosphere in her Middlemist trilogy. The stakes are unquestionably elevated after the events concluding A Song of Ash and Moonlight, in which our crew destroyed the human embodiment of a god alongside Kilraith’s cursed object. But who better to pick up the unbearable weight of it all than a middle sister am I right? Bound to the Middlemist and taken far from home, Mara Ashbourne is our slightly broody, sometimes avian, and decidedly bisexual heroine tasked with saving the day and bringing this series to a close (no pressure though). As the Middlemist weakens and our characters stand united, Claire Legrand evinces that it is our bonds that far outweigh any evil, and in fact they may be the very thing that saves us end-all.
Something about the warrior scholar pairing is really working overtime this year and A Rose of Blood and Binding is no different in that regard. Maybe it’s the contrast between blood and violence of the warrior and the buttoned up bespectacled hero thrust into the action, doomed to come out the other side irrevocably changed. Either way I am into it. With crumbs for her future romance arcs scattered across the narratives of her past novels, imagine my surprise in the reveal that Mara Ashbourne would find romance with our resident librarian Gareth Fontaine. Up until this point, Mara was an enigma, a presence flitting in and out of the narrative, followed by an aura of immense sorrow. That and undeniable middle sister energy. I was elated for all things Mara in this finale and Legrand does not disappoint. A Rose of Blood and Binding sees the barriers of the Middlemist weaken and Mara in the center of it all, to confront the danger or succumb to the unbearable weight of her charge. Soldiering the burden meant for her younger sister twelve years past, Mara is for all the middle sisters out there, speaking to those who bear the weight so that others won’t have to do the same. Burdened by duty and unable to see a way out, this finale is as much about bringing an end to Kilraith’s assault as it is liberating Mara with a life of her own choosing.
Behind every fearsome woman with a sword (who can also turn into a bird) is a bespectacled scholar who will do anything to save her. But first, a reluctant alliance must emerge. To establish this dynamic between Gareth and Mara, Claire Legrand pulls a classic historical romance move: a ball where our two characters come face to face. The vibes are anything but light (I mean the Middlemist is breaking apart and everyone is stressed), the flirtatiousness is dialed up to the max, and Mara doesn’t really want anything to do with Gareth—who is nothing more than a prickling annoyance in her side. It was at this moment that I was entirely invested. Legrand has always been adept at her character dynamics, because beneath their facades there is always something more. Mara and Gareth seem to have absolutely nothing in common past a desire to solve their godly problem, but it soon becomes evident just how similar they really are. Beyond their fragile alliance to hunt down the cursed objects of Kilraith, Gareth and Mara are haunted by past traumas and lingering depression—Gareth after surviving the horrors of Mhorghast where his body was used against him, and Mara through her continued isolation and loss of autonomy at the hands of the Warden. Legrand juxtaposes this struggle with autonomy and the conflict of perseverance between Mara and Gareth both and it is as essential to their romance as it is to themselves.
Bewildering, stoic Mara faces down olden creatures, gods, and her corrupted mentor, finding solace with an opinionated scholar and notorious flirt while on the path to destroy an ancient god. In Claire Legrand’s, A Rose of Blood and Binding, her cast of characters confront an ever fracturing world as they attempt to bridge their places within society with their link to the gods—before Kilraith descends upon them and lays waste to all they hold dear. A Rose of Blood and Binding is certainly the darkest of the three novels, set in the time after freeing their companions from Mhorghast and destroying another of Kilraith’s anchors. Legrand contrasts these darker themes against a budding romance between Mara and Gareth, and continued moments of sisterhood from our core trio. But where this third novel particularly excels is in its representation of depression, centered around Mara and Gareth both. The struggle with mental health and depression is an irrefutable reality for both of these characters and is a large part of this final journey into the Middlemist where they must reach past their traumas to claim a life side by side. Mara and Gareth, while initially an unlikely pair, find comfort, commonality, and finally romance together. This green flag of a man who loves books and appreciates a good stew is perfectly paired against a brooding warrior used to soldiering everything alone. A romance filled with all the tension you’d expect from such a pair and the angst Legrand is known for. Dark, hopeful, and irrefutably romantic, A Rose of Blood and Binding is an unparalleled fantasy romance with a beating, yearning center. A true delight from start to finish, and a series to hold close for all time.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance review copy.
Trigger warnings: discussions of self harm, suicidal ideation (both passive and active), depression, torture, blood, death, murder
Months after surviving a deadly New Years Eve party, Kembral Thorn is tired. All she wants is to be home with her newborn daughter and to have time to romance her former rival turned girlfriend, Rika Nonesuch. But as a member of the Hounds she is called to weigh in on an important will reading by a friend in dire need. At a decrepit mansion on an island accessed only by low tide a wealthy matriarch has died, leaving behind an unlikely inheritance. Brought to the island to witness, Kembral comes face to face with an unlikely group—her friends from childhood, most of whom she has not seen since, and all of whom are the potential inheritors. When the will is read, a violent inheritance is revealed concerning three relics, a ledger, and a coveted wish gained by crossing off all the people in the ledger until there is a lone victor. With no choice but to solve the case before her friends are all killed, Kembral finds herself back in the action and at her side, her girlfriend and rival, Rika Nonesuch. But uncovering the mysterious lantern of souls and the wolf who guards it will require Kembral to return into the dangerous echoes only a few months after naming the Crux year. Her blood will be a beacon to all beings across the echoes, but getting ahead of the machinations of an immortal foe will require scheming and quite a bit of danger of their own, if they are to survive.
Melissa Caruso’s, The Echo Archives returns with The Last Soul Among Wolves, commencing a mystery involving cursed relics, rival sapphic agents, and empyric beings, across multiple layers of reality. After the absolute triumph that was The Last Hour Between Worlds I wondered how this sequel would fare against such an exemplary series debut. A locked room murder mystery across a repeated hour of New Years Eve is hard to beat. Yet Caruso holds true to her characters, introducing a new layer to an already compact narrative and another impossible mystery to solve. A new locked room mystery of sorts is at play in The Last Soul Among Wolves, with a sequestered manor and a race to track down a wolf and a lantern of souls before time runs out and everyone is killed. Characters Kembral Thorne and Rika Nonesuch find their balance in this second installment, seasoned to the lower echoes and the conspiracies present at all levels of reality. But true to Caruso’s style, this mystery is anything but typical and as new elements are revealed they are forced to compromise and take unconventional steps forward. For anyone loving a well plotted mystery cloaked in numerous realities ever increasing in weirdness, The Echo Archives has this formula locked down. The romance is romancing, the mystery is uncanny, and all of it aligns a perfect finale like dominos ready to fall.
The Last Soul Among Wolves is just: two former rivals now girlfriends finding themselves the victim of yet another locked room murder mystery. Where solving said mystery is contingent on them returning to the alternate layers of reality only two months since they almost died. The Echo Archives would not be nearly as strong as it is without its solid character work. From our main perspective Kembral Thorne—Hound and mother, to her enigmatic rival: Rika Nonesuch, our potential murder victims, and a babysitting Elder dragon, Caruso has it all in hand. Alongside these individual character arcs, what makes this sequel so great is the unveiling of just how much the first novel laid the foundation for the second. Taking fruition in the depths of reality with an empyrean—the most powerful of all Echo beings— intent on control at any cost, The Last Soul Among Wolves reveals its holdings lie prior to the events of this novel. Caruso’s twists always land with the finesse of a blink step and unsettling as the very fabric of reality shifts and resettles. Digging deeper into the empyreans, the echoes, and the heartwarming relationship between Kembral and Rika, this sequel reinforces this unique fantasy world and all its idiosyncrasies. Even with new characters to discover the heart and soul of the Echo Archives remain our disparate but remarkably compatible duo finding romance between the danger. Often with no regard for the danger itself.
The intersection of mystery and fantasy is being well supplied this year and Melissa Caruso is the one leading the charge with her Echo Archives trilogy. The Last Soul Among Wolves is second in a line of extraordinary fantasy mysteries featuring unconventional characters at the helm and bonkers plotting (in the best kind of way). A little bit of Knives Out, an abundance of murder and contrasting realities, and you’ll find there is nothing quite like this mystery series. Though connected to the first novel, The Last Soul Among Wolves is an entirely new pitch than its predecessor. For one, we’re no longer stuck at a New Years Eve party for an entire book, but instead a will reading hosted in a mansion with cursed heirlooms and a collection of mismatched personalities stuck inside the manor until the case is solved. After an entire book orienting us to the Echoes and the dangers present at the lower levels of reality, it’s refreshing to get more insight into the runnings of this world and the inter Guild politics. A big part of this sequel is reconciliation for Kembral and her friends from childhood, and Rika and Kembral pursuing a romantic relationship while staying true to their Guild alliances. It’s a tough line to straddle and Caruso makes sure to tie it to some of her larger revelations. With The Last Soul Among Wolves the main word that comes to mind is “exceptional.” It’s the kind of book to venture into boldly and enjoy recklessly like all the best adventures are.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance review copy.
A devout acolyte trained in iconography, Maeve has dedicated her life to upholding the saints through her artistic talents. Sequestered away at the Abbey, Maeve lives in a constant state of isolation, prayer, and devotion. After a decade in the Abbey and many years honing her craft, the opportunity to replace the lead iconographer, Brigid, is finally within her grasp, until her mentor, Ezra, gives her a daunting task. Far away from the Abbey’s walls a saint lives in exile, defiling the Abbey’s teachings and tainting the miracles of the saints. His name is Jude and he has long lived under the Abbey’s thumb, never far enough to escape its influence. Maeve is tasked twofold: paint an updated likeness of Jude while using her place within his household to acquire information on his wrongdoings. Desperate for a chance to prove herself, Maeve leaves behind the Abbey and travels to Ánhaga, a house on the outskirts of the Goddenwood. There, Maeve meets Jude, and he is nothing a saint should be. For one, he is just a boy dabbling in heretical notions. Second, Jude is intent on driving Maeve away, by any means necessary. When Jude discovers that Maeve possesses the very saintly abilities coveted by the Abbey, he realizes they have more in common than he initially thought. Together they could bring the Abbey to its knees, provided they don’t betray each other and can avoid becoming martyrs themselves.
The Sacred Space Between is a miraculous novel, far exceeding the tainted magic of saints to place an expert brush upon the experiences of loneliness, religious trauma, and the ever constant quest for belonging. With reverent hands Kalie Reid constructs her Abbey, its spires reaching ever upward and its arched cloisters replete with devout acolytes sequestered away to pray and to serve. It is here that Maeve, an iconographer, will be sent out on a mission to spy on a saint in exile and come to uncover the truth of the magic bequeathed to their saintly figures and the rotten center of her faith. Interrogating faith and its power to uplift and to subjugate, Reid’s debut dares to tear away the facade from religion, exposing the lies and the many lives impacted in service to those in power. The Sacred Space Between is about systems of power, yes, but it’s also about the power found in human connection and the moments where we find belonging and kinship with others. It’s a story full of immeasurable yearning—yearning for things to be different, yearning to find your place, for your autonomy, and yearning for the unfriendly exiled saint you are forced to spy upon in an isolated gothic manor house. Kalie Reid’s The Sacred Space Between is exquisitely rendered, drawing readers into the contentious space between a heretical saint and a devout iconographer that is not just reverent but holy.
While The Sacred Space Between is a romantic fantasy, at its heart it is a gothic with all the brooding atmosphere and descriptive imagery to move me unlike any other. The wildswept fog ridden moors on the outskirts of the Ánhaga, its wallpapered walls, and the hidden library of memories all paint a desolate picture of loneliness and melancholy central to Kalie Reid’s larger commentary. The house, Ánhaga, is a physical manifestation of the corruption at the heart of their faith, yet comforting all the same in these small spaces where tainted faith cannot reach. This is felt by Maeve and Jude’s perspectives both, but it is Maeve’s character in particular who presents an aching loneliness and an alienation tied so intrinsically to her beliefs. Her desire to be seen and trusted and remembered is a stark contrast to Jude, whose very faith has been perverted through his sainthood and physical abuse. The greatest desecration of someone’s faith is the abuse through faith itself, from the physical impact of Jude’s torture at the hands of the Abbey figures to the spiritual abuse of Maeve from her mentor, Ezra. Reid’s journey instills the necessity of faith as to question, to be allowed curiosity and have that accepted. But faith, sainthood, and iconography exist in a twisted cycle that exists to satiate the powerful and control those who dare to question the system they are a part of.
In The Sacred Space Between the way to break free lies in the hands of an exiled saint and an iconographer who hate each other (just a little). Trapped together in an isolated house with nothing but their conflicting agendas and personal ghosts for company, Maeve and Jude clash and retreat immediately and boy is the tension magnificent. Reid instills all of my favorite things into this romance, divisive views as a source of greater tension, overwhelming pining, and everyone’s favorite component: romantic yearning. As a lover of conflict in my romances, Maeve and Jude were constructed to drive me insane. Everything is held captive by their differing views as they interact and desire to know more about each other and that in turn only furthers the tension driving them apart. Yet Reid unites Jude and Maeve in a profound loneliness centered around their beliefs, initiating a quest to destroy the Abbey and return the magic siphoned from their saints. With Jude and Maeve’s bond cementing, so does our understanding of this faith and how saintly magic is controlled. Reid ties this all to religious iconography and it’s nothing short of marvelous. Religious iconography already harnesses its own kind of power, but adding in the layer of memory magic, and Reid’s stance is forever ingrained in the very paint used to bind the saints—and their magic, to the church.
The Sacred Space Between is its own artistic masterpiece. One that grabs you with two hands and forces you to look upon all that it has to reveal. For Kalie Reid that is the lasting impacts of religious trauma and abuse and the personal power found in taking something back for yourself. This novel presents many essential ideas around organized religion—how martyrs further religious fanaticism, the danger of blind faith, and the control gained in building someone up from nothing. This connects perfectly into the concept of memory magic harnessed through the iconography of their various saints. Art has power too, and here it acts as a gateway between saint and elder, magic and the believers. Memory in turn, allows these elders to abuse and control with impunity, as there is no one alive with the memory of what was truly done. If memory can be controlled so can these elders shape their acolytes and in effect own them and their faith. I love reading books that cause me to question, the ones that linger for days after I finish reading. This is essential to Kalie Reid’s debut. Even with all the romantic yearning, the kneeling, and the groveling, there is so much to sift through not just on the surface of the narrative, but far beneath. Limned a dark gothic atmosphere, this thought provoking romantic fantasy novel delves far into religious subjugation, iconography, and the weight of sainthood. Fleeting as mist, but made permanent through memory and saintly magic, The Sacred Space Between is one story to remember and find your way back to time and time again (just like Maeve and Jude).
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing the advance review copy.
Trigger warnings (provided by author): blood, death, religious trauma, gaslighting, emotional abuse, child abuse, scars, discussions of past self-harm, fire injury, panic attacks, suicidal thoughts
There is an island in the sea that subsists itself entirely on stories retold. Lifetime after lifetime the characters from these tales are reborn to play out the narrative in an endless cycle, else the isle shall fall. For some this means fame or fortune, but for others its life in an enchanted wood as the evil sorceress, or a knight doomed to first kill his great love before killing himself. When she first arrived on the shores of this great Isle, Simran knew she was destined to play out the tale of The Knight and the Witch as the powerful sorceress incarnate. In this tale, a knight and a witch are doomed to love and to die at the other’s hand. Simran will do anything to escape this fate, but a story is a powerful thing and not even a determined witch can outrun it forever. One fateful evening, Simran encounters Vina, a dutiful knight to the Eternal Queen and undeniably the knight set to win her heart and end her life. Escaping Vina’s clutches, Simran travels home where she immediately confronts a murderous assassin intent on ridding the island of the stories that fuel its survival—and her story is next. Stealing away her close friend from childhood, Hari, the assassin gives her a task: find out his name, and discover why he cannot die. Too insurmountable of a task to accomplish alone, Simran must ally with Vina, her knight and intended killer, to discover the true beginnings of the isle and if they can rid themselves of its deadly fate.
Ensnared by a story takes a literal sense in The Isle in the Silver Sea, in which an island endlessly rebirthed through stories is doomed to fall unless a reincarnated supply of characters follow a tale eternal—down to the very letter. Tasha Suri’s newest fantasy standalone brings queerness, sapphic lady knights, witches, and sprawling libraries into the center focus and goddamn if it didn’t leave me wanting to fall into a never ending cycle of story (wherein I fall for a hot butch knight). That and exploring old books in a library hidden away in an ancient forest. Romance and violence are a double edged blade in this novel, as a witch and knight face down a fate that can only lead to one thing: their death. But knowing your fate is to die does not mean you cannot yearn at unprecedented levels, and Tasha Suri takes that challenge at its utmost. A pale assassin stalks the stories that have let the island prosper, but it is a set of archivists serving as the very architects of history that feel the most sinister. Tasha Suri examines the preservation of history, from those determining the fate of certain narratives to the construction of a nation. In a fictitious Britain intrinsically tied to story, Suri swings her sword at myths, monarchy, and a vicious nationalism intent on controlling the narrative by any means necessary. Even riding a nation of its “otherness” and anything antithetical to its agenda.
The Isle in the Silver Sea poses an essential question: who decides what stories are told, how they are designed, and how they are disseminated—and what happens when there are those that threaten this goal. Britain stands as the bedrock for Suri’s inquiry where stories are a fuel, both in the literal sense to ensure the island’s survival, and for the rhetoric that is kindle for an ever burning flame of a nation. Archivists pour over a plethora of the island’s written information, preparing a narrative where nation is everything and the crown triumphs because incarnates do their duty. There is no room for heresy, or outsiders questioning the way forward, and they are dealt with in a quiet violence as they are cut from the narrative. Certainly what unites the lady knight books of this year is the examination of storytelling as a deliberate act of mythmaking, and how stories can serve as a stepping stone for higher powers forcing their sinister agendas. It’s not that stories aren’t beautiful— when they have the space to flourish unrestrained—but that those that are carved out for some higher purpose will in turn be wielded as a weapon. Epigraphs at the start of each chapter mark a process where archivists determine the acceptable tales for mass consumption, and those that are a threat to the narrative they’ve constructed. It’s deliberate, it’s violent, and it leaves no room for new stories to take hold. After all, what is a nation if not a collection of narratives molded together to suit its own image.
Ruled by a queen everlasting, this island constructed by story sees otherness as the true threat. No stories emerge from the outside, and no outsider is able to take up a prominent role within the narrative. Simran Kaur Arora, a witch from elsewhere, is thus a contradiction. A blip in the cycle that should have ensured a blonde and blue eyed witch play out the tale of The Knight and the Witch. But otherness is strength, as we well know. Against her deadly fate, Simran meets Vina, a valiant knight raised in service to the queen everlasting. If you’ve read a Tasha Suri book before you’ll be prepared for the friction between reluctant allies who maybe also want to kiss a little. That’s Vina and Simran in a nutshell, yearning for what cannot be while avoiding their feelings. When one’s fate is tied to their lover, to kill or be killed, you’d think there’d be no room for yearning. Tasha Suri is here to show us just how wrong that is—in fact it makes the yearning that much stronger. Between trekking through a disappearing forest, cutting down trees while exasperatedly saying your lover’s name, being captured by a group of rogue witches, and trying to save the isle, these two imbue romance. Some of my favorite passages with Vina and Simran are where the romance is unexpected and relates back to a crucial part of memory: the act or desire to document. This is essential to all that the Isle in the Silver Sea is trying to impart and just makes these interactions all the more romantic.
Tasha Suri’s legend crafting prowess is a vital part of The Isle in the Silver Sea: a story all about stories themselves. I’m not sure anyone else could have constructed such a glorious tale of reincarnated lovers breaking free from the narratives designed to control them and an island built upon stories. Ink stains, tattoos, old libraries, forests, and legends broken apart and remade are the scattered pieces brought together and unified within this novel. At the heart of this are the stories themselves, and Suri makes it clear: diversity of perspective and experience are what truly keep the island alive. In all parts of my reading experience, I viewed The Isle in the Silver Sea as a love letter to those who not only painstakingly preserve history but make it widely available. Not just the archivists, but the librarians who toil endlessly to help make information accessible (and are very much under fire right now). The Isle in the Silver Sea is another essential reading for the times we are in. Where inaccurate information is widespread and individuals are handed a narrative to suit someone else. In this regard, to question is necessary, and to seek the truth is a key part of resisting. The Isle in the Silver Sea shows just how affirming a story can be when entrusted to the right hands, and how dangerous when in the wrong ones. That otherness does not mean you cannot build a community or a story of your own, if you can at first pick up the pen.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing the advance review copy.
Please note this review contains spoilers for the former books in this series, Shardless & Acolyte, and contains references to some of the events in this sequel. Read with caution.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Talya Caro survived an entire year within Queen Azura’s time loop, honing her magic for the threat to come, of which she knows precious little. Now reunited with Skylen and his wounded and demanding brother Kato, the three have begun the long trek back to Ryme through the wilderness. As Taly, Skye, and Kato return it becomes imperative they maintain the narrative that Taly is human and not the last of the time mages once hunted to extinction. Still reeling from the Shade attacks, Ryme has refortified but now a plague is sweeping through the human populace threatening so much more than just the shardless. In spite of the unrest, Taly is finally back with Skye, her friend and great love, and her family, which would be enough if not for her magic placing a target on her back. For Skye the knowledge that Taly will always be hunted draws him down a dark path where he risks harnessing a bloodcraft power that could destroy him from the inside out, if he is not first caught and imprisoned. Something stalks the shadows biding its time, and with the Aion Gate close to alignment Taly knows time is the one thing she doesn’t have—before lines are drawn and she is forced to decide what side she’s truly on.
Just me and my emotional support thousand page fantasy novel I’ve waited five years to read against the world. Dawnbringer is the long awaited third installment in Stephanie Fisher’s Tempris Pentalogy, a fantasy series set within an island sundered by magic where time mages are hunted and citizens are left bereft of the magic needed to travel between realms. A hodgepodge of fae realms—modern and fantastical, time mages gone rogue, zombie-like threats, and mages of all kinds mark this rare romantic fantasy series. Encompassed in a steampunk-esque world with regency social strata, it’s safe to say Tempris is atypical of anything else within this genre. Five years since the book that started it all, Shardless, and the cliffhanger of its successor, and this third installment is unquestionably worth every wait. Simultaneously the most romantic and traumatizing thing ever, Dawnbringer raises the stakes with a deadly plot spanning worlds and our spunky hero Taly at the center, trapped between her old life and a predetermined fate. Stephanie Fisher reunites her lovers Skye and Taly on the brink, with dark bloodcraft magic taking hold and timelines colliding. With time magic in the mix, the tension and angst are dialed up to the max and nothing is more devastating than being left in its wake.
After five years and six rereads of the first two books in this series, who is to say I don’t have a soul bond with the entire Tempris series? From discovering it during the depths of the pandemic to now, every time I reread Tempris I’m reminded of how excellent it truly is. Stephanie Fisher has a firm hold on her world building, character arcs, and romance—a virtuoso painstakingly taking apart her narrative and layering in lore, timelines, and differing streams of magic. Dawnbringer takes everything from the first two books and elevates it in an overwhelming mix of romance and emotional devastation. And I expected nothing less from Stephanie Fisher. We have timelines colliding, interdimensional beasts, a big bad threat: Aneirin or “Bill” (a nickname only Taly could have come up with), and just general tomfoolery ensuing. In the time since the first two books were published we were left with many questions. Mainly: what is the great threat closing in on the island of Tempris. At long last we have an answer, and the threat is indeed cataclysmic. With Taly facing down her fate and attempting to have it all, Dawnbringer acts as a stepping stone for the next stage of this series where its titular character is the deciding force in a timeline set before her birth. The secret recipe in this novel is tension, tension, tension, and it can be felt in every facet of the narrative.
Dawnbringer proves that families that destroy together stay together—for the most part. Where the first two books dealt primarily with Taly coming into her identity as a time mage and reconciling a violent past that led to the death of her biological mother and her uncle, Dawnbringer is altogether different. Back in Ryme, Taly reunites with her adoptive parents, Ivain and Sarina, and her cousins, Aiden and Aimee, friend and general nuisance respectively. There are plenty of difficult conversations and the reorienting of previous dynamics now that Taly’s heritage has been made known, but we finally get to see this family unit be just that—a team. How else are you supposed to trick an entire population of fae into believing a time mage is not walking amongst them? Two characters stole most of my attention in this sequel: Aimee and Kato, the brash brother of Skylen. Kato has been an unequivocal favorite of mine even before this novel but I can now confidently say I am begging for a romance between him and Aimee. Something about arrogant men and the mean women who hold them in check is a dynamic I crave deeply. As Dawnbringer progresses, timelines layer and future versions of our characters flit in and out of the present. In an action packed final act, Fisher tests her found family in a violent stand against the Sanctifiers as the opening of the Aion Gate looms ever closer and Taly is caught between her past and the choice hinted at so long ago. It’s as painful as I anticipated and yet somehow that did not prepare me for the weight of it, nor the aftermath.
Five years separate the publication of Dawnbringer from the beginning foundations of the Tempris series, but you wouldn’t be able to tell from the seamless way Fisher integrates her three novels and dawns a new era. Everything in this novel is heightened: the fate of multiple worlds, the precarious balance of the central timeline, and of course our star crossed lovers, Taly and Skye. While her family faces down a plague and an organization dedicated to eradicating those that can manipulate time, a darker threat emerges intent on harnessing Taly’s magic. With a thousand pages (at least in the ebook), no amount of page time is wasted as Fisher dives into the inner workings of Tempris and begins to uplift her previously called upon events—like the reveal of what Taly was asked to say no to by Queen Azura all those months ago. The interjections from Cori, the lil homage to Orphan Black, and the cute moments with Calcifer brought on some necessary humor to outweigh the darker parts of this novel. Speaking of which, Skylen’s descent into bloodcraft magic tied as an extent of his love for Taly. That he would willingly twist himself from the inside out just to have a chance at protecting her was not just thoughtfully developed, it was romantic as hell. In Dawnbringer, the last of the time mages takes a stand and Stephanie Fisher proves she has the power to not only take this series to new heights but to new levels of pain inflicted upon her readers. This series continues to be far too underrated for my liking. I lament both the ending and the fact that I cannot commiserate with others on that incredible cliffhanger.
Her tale has been retold countless times, her sword a symbol for a nation unfettered, but where it all began is where it starts to get complicated. Scholar Owen Mallory has long been fascinated by the tale of Una Everlasting, a legendary knight who brought glory to Dominion through her quests and eventual death. One thousand years since and her tale remains entrenched in the minds of every citizen. Since then, wars have been waged, lost and won, to uphold Dominion and further its might. Returned from war scarred and irrevocably changed, Owen pours all of himself into researching the figure of Una Everlasting. In dreams, he finds himself lost in her story where he bears witness to her death countless times as if he was there. One day an unexpected item finds its way to Owen: a book—the book, which details the true events of Una’s life from the perspective of an unnamed but invested observer. Before he can get far into his research, the book is stolen, and Owen comes face to face with the person running Dominion behind the scenes, and her plan hinges on Owen playing a part he has evidently played before. Stabbed with a letter opener, thrust into the story, Owen finds himself beneath a tree with a sword against his neck, and the wielder of the blade is the woman that started it all. Una and Owen are an unlikely pair, but to break the cycle and wrest control of history they’ll have to hold fast to each other and a love that is worth so much more than the tragedy already written for them.
No, don’t be forever doomed to the cycle of violence where you die over and over again in my arms. You’re so sexy aha. Beneath the yew tree a knight and a historian meet, but they have no idea they’ve done this all before, the story is already written, and they’re doomed to follow it to its bitter end. Spanning the course of a thousand years in a never ending time loop, Alix E. Harrow’s, The Everlasting brings a lens on the inner workings of a nation and the bedraggled battle-worn knight as its Atlas, upholding its gilded promises. Like a beating machine with a rotten core, Harrow constructs the kingdom of Dominion and its stronghold obtained through a simple story, The Legend of Una Everlasting. In this tale an orphan becomes a knight, becomes a legend, raised to the side of a queen and struck down to further her reign. Told through various iterations of the deaths of Una Everlasting, Alix E. Harrow unfurls the power of stories, the cost of bearing witness by way of the pen, and the agendas of tyrants written into the very fabric of a nation’s history. The fantastical has its roots buried deep in Dominion and through this labyrinthine tale is the truth of a decaying land made known. The Everlasting is an Ouroboros, a tale with no true end or beginning, but for Harrow the cycle is a reflection of a violent nationalism and the story a sword to be wielded to further its complete and utter domination.
Tis the year of the lady knight and nothing pays testament to that quite like Alix E. Harrow’s, The Everlasting. Trapped in a time loop with a hot knight weary of her duty? A bespectacled scholar doomed to tell her tale and follow her to its bitter end? This is all I needed to hear to know that The Everlasting was going to be another unimaginable feat from Alix E. Harrow and one of the best new fantasy novels of this calendar year. Harrow had previously struck a deadly blow with her mere thirty-one page short story, The Six Deaths of the Saint, so I was already in the afterlife before I even began reading this extraordinary tale. There’s something so devastating about the inevitable, and in The Everlasting inevitability is the blade held to the throats of a knight and a scholar brought out of time to birth a kingdom and its sinister agenda. Contrasting the perspectives of Una, our knight everlasting, and Owen Mallory, a former soldier turned enthusiastic historian, Harrow constructs a story of heroic feats and the power in weaponizing the words upon the page. Fearlessly layered with innumerable stories within a story, The Everlasting holds a mirror to the narratives we cling to and the identities and ideation birthed through their telling. A story is a powerful thing and for the Everlasting the importance lies in its construction and every event continuing on in an endless cycle.
Told almost entirely through second person, The Everlasting allows the reader a chance to feel the catalyst of a story becoming myth. Myth-making is an active task within this novel, and part of that is the writing of the story, where every word is poured over and deliberate in its casting. Battles are embellished and the very essence of Una Everlasting pared down to prop up Dominion and one woman’s hunger. But it is Una Everlasting who truly upholds this nation. Her body bears the physical brunt of the wounds of the land and its assimilated peoples, her scars a reflection of the true violence being inflicted. Reading The Everlasting is to confront the abject pain of the writer addressing this figure, accompanied by a keen sense of loss in knowing that Una will forever be doomed as a martyr. Behind every myth is a person bearing witness and Harrow highlights the narrative as a reflection of the teller—a sum of their fears, wishes, and innate biases. For Owen: the desire to deny Una’s death in some manner, to make it mean something. Minor details within this tale aren’t so minor, and one of the more clever moments is in the character motivations and backstories that shift with every iteration of the cycle—leading to protests in the present day, rampant xenophobia, and calls to reinstate the monarchy. The justification in the othering of entire communities through hateful rhetoric isn’t just an intangible idea in the Everlasting, it’s baked into the story underpinning this nation and its citizens.
The Everlasting is not just an inventive fantasy novel, it is a crucial warning for our time. Lady knights, time loops, and an anxious chain smoking historian whose job it is to bear witness and love her across time is just the pinnacle of this narrative exposing the roots of story and laying bare the flawed parts of a nation. With so many intricate layers entangled in one novel, The Everlasting is as interconnected as the rings within an aging tree, but altogether much more convoluted with the recurring time loop of it all. There’s dragons, a mysterious yew tree, romantic yearning, and of course many occurrences of a tall buff lady knight wielding a sword and ending up on top. I would also be remiss to not mention my king Owen punching a fascist in the face. Thank you, Owen! The Everlasting takes a winding approach in exposing the power of a single story in burgeoning a nation’s fascism. Victims extend far beyond our star crossed duo with professors, battle-scarred citizens, and children bearing the brunt of Dominion’s harm. Owen’s perspective in being part of a country that will always hate some part of him is an agonizing truth to this story where rhetoric is not so easily changed even as history transforms. Concerning stories and their ability to affirm, justify, and embolden our views, The Everlasting returns the sword to the hands of a weary knight shaking off the mantle of a martyr to become something entirely of her choosing. Like most Alix E. Harrow novels, The Everlasting left me sobbing and I can find no desire to pick up the pieces and leave it all behind. I’ll be beneath the yew tree if you need me.
Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Books for providing me with an advance review copy.
Trigger warnings (majority provided by the author): blood, death, violence and injury, war, racism, homophobia, xenophobia, sexism, pregnancy and childbirth, animal death (off-page), dysphoric emotions about gender, imperiled/abandoned children
I cannot believe it has been six months of 2025 already, but one more turn around the sun just means I now get to do one of my favorite blog tags: The Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag! For those unfamiliar, this tag is just a fun way for bloggers and book creators alike to reflect back on these six months as we look to the remainder of the year. I had THE best time doing this tag last summer (albeit a bit late), and I eagerly awaited getting to do it again the coming June. To me, this tag is my Oscar’s. I pour over the hundred or so books I’ve read with the audacity of the academy, but with a scathing unrivaled and conversely, many, many tears. I will cut one book off without a second thought, and cry when choosing between two books like I’m choosing between my children, there is no in between. I’m honestly just so excited to share these books with you all because somehow the books this year are even more stacked than the previous one. So let’s dive right in (pun very much intended, particularly with my first choice).
BEST BOOK OF 2025
If you’re surprised by this one you’ve either been living under a rock or you have not been privy to me yelling about this book at every opportunity. Kalie Cassidy’s debut is a glorious rageful song concerning one siren’s ambitions for freedom, not to be curtailed by the man she binds herself to to secure it, nor the forbidden feelings running beneath their siren bond. Kalie Cassidy has reenlivened the intersection of romance and fantasy, with an emphasis on romantic yearning, much to my delight. Whether you consider this romantasy, romantic fantasy, you name it, Cassidy excels at it all and yearning is very much the reason why. Imogen and Theo had me struck dumb at times with their arguing, misunderstanding, and achingly romantic interactions. One of the hardest things to do as a romance author is to build and maintain that tension to move the story and the relationship forward. Add in fantasy and it’s a whole other ball game. Kalie Cassidy’s, In the Veins of the Drowning is a masterclass on how to develop romantic tension while integrating that romance with plot within a fantasy world. This should be on your TBR. It should be on everyone’s TBR. The world is not ready! Read my review.
BEST SEQUEL OF 2025
Yeah uhhh we gotta get a book on here that tore the heart from my chest with zero remorse, or it’s just not accurate. Sara Hashem said “Hi that’s me” with the sequel and finale to her Scorched Kingdoms duology, The Jasad Crown. This one picks up right after the events of the first novel with hidden identities revealed, a violent showdown, and Kitmer’s taking flight in the melee of the broken citadel. Few series have embodied true enemies to lovers quite like Sara Hashem, who makes a point to start her characters Sylvia and Arin on completely opposing sides of a war on magic and a scourge against the Jasadi magic wielders—initiating a reluctant alliance and eventually a romance between them. Of course this would not be possible without bringing an end to Arin’s world view, a veil which Hashem gradually brings down into disillusionment and then finally decisive action. This duology does an incredible job depicting the violence of colonization and in growing up in hiding in the land of your oppressors. Identity is a huge theme for this novel—how we are shaped by our surroundings & upbringings and what it takes to truly change. From the magic, the world building, the character arcs, to the romance, The Scorched Kingdoms duology is extraordinary. Prepare yourself for plenty of angst, yearning, and an epilogue that will destroy your emotions. Read my review.
NEW RELEASE I HAVEN’T READ YET
So it’s pride month which means I have a huge TBR right now and no way of actually getting to them all. One of my most anticipated books from 2025 was certainly the new Ashley Herring Blake, Dream On, Ramona Riley. This kicks off her brand new small town romance series, Clover Lake. Following Ramona Riley, an aspiring costume designer stuck in her dead end town and Dylan Monroe, an actress and her first kiss as they reunite and spark a romance. I’ve been excited for this one since it was first announced and it is a crime that I haven’t picked it up yet. You can blame my Libby hold which has yet to make it into my library. All of Ashley Herring Blake’s former romances have been hits for me, so I have high hopes this will deliver. Whether I manage to read this in Pride Month or beyond, tune back in later for my thoughts.
MOST EXCITED FOR IN THE SECOND HALF OF 2025
2025 is the year of the lady knight and we have been blessed by the queen of sapphic fantasy herself, Tasha Suri. The Isle in the Silver Sea follows a knight and a witch doomed to destroy each other in every lifetime who try to break the cycle when a deadly assassin begins to target similar tales like theirs. Can they break the cycle, or are they doomed forever to the same fate that haunts them? Suri describes this as her exploration into British folklore, Arthurian legend, monarchy, myths, in one queer reincarnation love story and I can safely say I am obsessed with all of it. If there is one thing I am, it’s a reader obsessed with tales about breaking the cycle, or attempting to do so. Characters standing against the cycles of generations, or even time, is a compelling center of focus for any tale, and I know Tasha Suri will make it a worthwhile if not heartbreaking read. Sapphic knights and reincarnation is a combination I did not know I needed, but now I’m not sure if I can live without it. I already know Suri’s propensity for morally grey sapphics from The Burning Kingdoms trilogy, so it is actually impossible that this will not serve. I will even go as far as to say this is shaping up to be the best of the lady knight books being published in 2025.
BOOK THAT SURPRISED ME
One of the best books of 2025 certainly, but I have a rule about featuring a book more than once, so “a book that surprised me” is what is the most fitting for Antonia Hodgson’s, The Raven Scholar. Heavy on the mystery, intrigue, and fantasy, The Raven Scholar features a deadly series of trials to determine the empire of Orun’s new leader and a central mystery running underneath it all. Neema Kraa, our main character, unexpectedly finds herself as a contestant when a murder leaves the raven house without a contender and she steps in to take their place—all while trying to solve the murder herself. This book is a whopping 700 pages but every single page is so well thought out I never felt I was reading such a large tome. Perfectly paced, plotted, and expertly crafted in all, The Raven Scholar is unlike anything I have ever read before and deserves its spot on the best books of this year. What made this one so surprising is the content, yes, but also the myriad layers Hodgson weaves beneath her narrative that make themselves known at key moments of the text. Just when you think you’re getting the hang of the story or even the overarching whodunit, Antonia Hodgson will appear to show you just how wrong you are. I actually pictured her as a specter at certain points in the novel because some of these reveals were actually so diabolical. With the addition of an unhinged animal companion named Sol and a bunch of omniscient ravens observing the events of the book to round it out there is so much to love about this book. Everything about The Raven Scholar points to it being a fresh new type of fantasy novel, one I hope will take flight in the coming year. Read my review.
NEW FAVORITE AUTHOR
Harper St. George is a new to me author as of the past few months but I can safely say she is an unrivaled talent in the historical romance space. Focusing mostly on the Gilded Age era and following a series of American heiresses who travel to England, Harper St. George carves out a new arena through which she constructs her romances. I sped through her Gilded Age Heiresses and the first in her Doves of New York series after I saw Lydia Lloyd recommend The Stranger I Wed on her Instagram. That one was marriage of convenience excellence and just so so fun. But as a lover of the yearning, the aching for something that can never be, my favorite is decidedly, Eliza and the Duke, coming out next week! From the longing, the tension filled carriage rides (seriously youre not ready), every part of this novel felt written for me specifically. Harper St. George knows how to balance her romance, history, and external plot and the result is an exquisite historical romance. Whether you are a seasoned hist-rom reader or new to the genre, Harper St. George is a great author to try. I’ll be reviewing Eliza and the Duke soon so be sure to keep an eye out for that.
NEWEST FICTIONAL CRUSH
Me, Sybil, Rory, and a gargoyle named Bartholomew (a match made in heaven). In true bisexual form I am here to say my new fictional crushes are both Rory and Sybil from Rachel Gillig’s, The Knight and the Moth. Draped in divination and drowned in the fetid spring upon the tor, this gothic romantic fantasy brings new meaning to the cycle of power and religious subservience through Gillig’s two main characters Sybil Delling and Rory Myndacious. I love to see two characters at odds, especially when they are narrative foils for one another. It’s giving: you hate me because you can see yourself reflected in me, and that is rife for romantic yearning and conflict. Though we only get Sybil’s perspective across this story, I really loved following Rory, her love interest, who is on his own journey alongside hers. The devotion Rory has to Sybil is unparalleled and I promise you won’t leave this book without being completely obsessed with these two and their dynamic. Gillig had me from the moment Sybil tackled Rory (to his complete surprise). Anyway I love both of them deeply and the fact that Rory is based on one of my favorite singers, Tamino, just further proves he is worthy of half of my favorite fictional crush status. I’ll also file this under the lady knight books of 2025 for good measure. Read my review.
FAVORITE FICTIONAL COUPLE
When you have a man fighting a woman, who leaves him completely bloody with a broken nose and all he can do is smile? Oh we had a hit on our hands. The winner of my favorite fictional couple is without a doubt Sarah Hawley’s, Princess of Blood. Specifically her main pairing Kenna, princess of the newly established blood house, and Kallen, a former executioner and spy. This was going head to head with The Knight and the Moth for a good while, but given that Princess of Blood is a sequel it ultimately won out. That’s to say that I have spent more time in this world with these two characters and their dynamic has been able to grow substantially across two books. The character arcs of our duo really have the chance to blossom in this sequel after a coup leaves the throne empty and the fae houses divided. Princess of Blood questions leadership and if we can build a better world without violence, and Kenna and Kallen are at the center of this. As they are given the chance to become something, somebody other than what they were forced to be, the two find solace in their friendship that eventually develops into a romance. Kallen is giving that pathetic (affectionate) brooding love interest and Kenna is a powerful, yet somewhat frightened young woman thrust into a position she never expected. These two fight (verbally and physically), they comfort one another, and they lend each other a hand when they need it. Devotion and longing are always going to be sexy to me and Kenna and Kallen know nothing else than complete and utter devotion for each other. Don’t just trust my word, read The Shards of Magic series for yourself and find out! Read my review.
NEWEST FAVORITE CHARACTER
Do you want dark fantasy romance centered around two feral bisexuals? Well S.A. Maclean’s, Voidwalker is here to answer the call. When I first sat down to run my list for this tag, I immediately knew Fionamara Kolbeck was going to win the title of Newest Favorite Character. A smuggler who traverses a shattered world to make a living, Fionamara becomes embroiled in a coup to oust the ruling daeyari—a monstrous species that must consume human flesh to survive. After a bomb is detonated in the capital, Fi comes face to face with Antal, the overthrown Daeyari who insists she join him to make things right. Even when she is caught between a rock and a hard place, Fionamara still manages to get back up and fight for her survival, and the survival of those around her. Not only that, but she still has time to apply her cracking eyeliner, carry a powerful void blade, and look incredible. I admire her even more for falling in love with a pathetic freak (not a) man who hangs from the rafters in a bathrobe and hides inside a snowbank as not to bother her. Yes she romances a monster but she never compromises her principles and that is what’s important y’all! This book is all that I crave from fantasy and its main character easily the best I have read about this year! Read my review.
BOOK THAT MADE ME CRY
Never in my life have I cried at a book like this. If you want a book that makes you bawl with zero remorse, then may I present Jenn McKinlay’s, Love at First Book. When she is given the opportunity to assist her favorite writer from childhood in finishing her final manuscript, librarian Emily Allen uproots her life from Martha’s Vineyard and travels to Ireland. Once there, she meets Siobhan Riordan, beloved children’s author who has yet to complete the tenth book in her acclaimed fantasy series, and Kieran Murphy, her son and manager of the local bookstore. The last thing Kieran wants is another crazed fan following his mother around and enabling her unending writers block, but that won’t stop Emily from getting the job done, and worming into his heart in the process. On the surface, Love at First Book appears to be your classic small town romance, but it is that and so much more. This book is about old and new beginnings as we follow a young librarian fleeing her narcissistic mother to a new life, a terminally ill writer trying to complete the final book in a series that was a love letter to her son, and a bookstore owner desperate to keep his life intact. Love at First Book showcases the power in the written word in bringing unlikely people together, to better themselves and find community. It’s romantic, tragic, and an aching portrayal of loss. If you’re in need of a good cry look no further.
BOOK THAT MADE ME HAPPY
Sophie Kim’s sequel in her Fates Thread series, The God and the Gwisin, recently published this year and it has the honor of being dubbed, the book that made me happiest. For those of you who have read this series it may be a funny category to give the second book, but after such a tragic end to book one, the only way to go was up. Seokga, a fallen trickster god lost the love of his life, Hani, after she helped him destroy a demon of darkness. Yet, all was not lost as Seokga was promised the chance to reunite with Hani when she reincarnates to her next life. Searching for years in vain, Seokga’s fellow godly beings vote to send him on vacation—a cruise to be more specific, one that traverses the river in the underworld with the spirits of the recently departed. On board, Seokga meets Yoo Kisa, a deceased Gwisin working off a life debt, and Hani reincarnated. Only problem: she doesn’t remember him. Sophie Kim had a lot to live up to in this sequel and somehow she managed to outdo herself entirely. The God and the Gwisin is a phenomenal fantasy romance that manages to pose some intriguing questions alongside it’s overarching murder mystery and reincarnated lovers plot. I spent the entire time worried something terrible was going to happen to our main couple, but by the end I was so so happy. Seokga and Kisa are given the loveliest ending and I really could not ask for more. Read my review
BOOK TO READ BEFORE THE END OF 2025
When I think of a series that has been a complete and utter delight to read, Erica Ridley’s The Wild Wynchester’s comes to mind. In this chaotic historical romance series we follow an unconventional family, the Wynchesters, a set of orphan’s adopted by an eccentric Baron who in adulthood, use their combined powers to fight injustice and aid the working class. Each of these siblings is unique and given their chance to shine in their own romance, but I have been eagerly awaiting Jacob Wynchester’s book since the series began. Jacob charmed me with his beloved, if not inappropriate, animal companions and his proclivity for poetry. What I love about this series is how Ridley makes each novel a reflection of who these siblings are at their core and this one is primed to be a reluctant allies to lovers romance between Jacob Wynchester and the advice columnist who hates him. If this is anything like the other five, it’s sure to be a wild ride.
PRETTIEST BOOK BOUGHT
Am I breaking a rule by featuring a book that is not yet published? Maybe. But I preordered this so I am counting it towards my “Prettiest book bought” category. Alix E. Harrow needs no introduction. After her devastating 31 page short story, The Six Deaths of the Saint, was revealed to be a test for her greater story concept in her upcoming novel, I knew I was in danger. The Everlasting is on the list of lady knight books for 2025, featuring a lady knight doomed to a time loop and the determined historian attempting to change their fates. I don’t know much else about this novel and that’s kind of the way I like it with Alix E. Harrow. I snagged an advance copy of this novel and will be reading it in the next month or so. But in the meantime let’s admire that cover. I mean come on!!
Please note this review contains reference to some of the events in this novel. Read with caution.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
When she left behind her coastal village to attend the illustrious Marchmain Academy, Lacrimosa “Lark” Arriscane never planned to return home. Certainly not before securing the heavily coveted postgraduate curatorship at the city museum. On the cusp of achieving all she’s worked for, Lark is expelled from her boarding school for a violent incident and sent home. In a windswept cottage by the sea, Lark and her family have prayed for generations to Therion, the chthonic god who lords over the tides, the salt, and the woods bordering their lands. Upon her return, Lark learns that the salt mines that have afforded them wealth and security have run dry and her family is on the brink of financial ruin. The only way out is a bargain with Therion, their god, who promises to restore the mines in exchange for Lark’s hand in marriage. Against her family’s wishes, Lark agrees, but when the ritual goes wrong, Lark is left bound to a god and dragged in between the mortal and chthonic realm. Lark can no longer deny she needs help, but her only allies lie in Alastair and Camille Felimath, her former childhood friends and the family to whom the Arriscane’s owe a tremendous debt. Bound to a demon and drawn to her demise, Lark seeks to sever her bindings, but she may not survive the fate she was promised, nor the loves rending her heart in two.
Pulled in and weighted by a heavy tide, Lyndall Clipstone’s Tenderly, I Am Devoured is a reassuring ballad to the broken-hearted and anyone on the cusp of something strange and unknown. Rigged with brambles, salt, and sea foam, this perilous novel embodies a keen and overwhelming longing for that period when everything seems possible and yet somehow still entirely impossible to grasp. Tenderly, I Am Devoured has all the trappings of a story on the edge, what with its main character, Lacrimosa Arriscane, stuck between the mortal and chthonic realms, an old life and a new, and two loves competing for her heart. Ruinous as the very sea that borders the lands of Verse, Tenderly, I Am Devoured is a gothic horror romance that aches to reach a resting place forever out of reach. One I could not help but feel swept up in myself as Clipstone tethers her heroine to demonic gods and the unwise bargains they make with mortals. Tenderly, I Am Devoured is the gothic-horror-academia sibling to Ava Reid’s, A Study in Drowning, but given Clipstone’s unique authorial voice and intent. Transient as the middle place between adolescence and adulthood, the past and present both, Lyndall Clipstone traverses the places between—where myths are made real and where love is our strongest act of defiance.
Lyndall Clipstone’s, Tenderly, I Am Devoured is an evocative work of art. There’s no other way to describe a novel so carefully designed. It’s as if every detail was poured over and sculpted into this sharp gothic and dream fugued lighthouse to those lost and in need of sanctuary. Clipstone plants herself firmly in what she calls “Flower-threaded” horror and I think that is an apt comparison for a novel that so exquisitely bridges the amalgam of beauty and horror. Significant details play the boundary between beauty and grotesque—the chthonic liqueur staining the teeth in some kind of irrevocable marking of the divine, the power of the sea to buoy or to suffocate, and the dark salt mines made for prayer and for dark bargains. Every portion further imparts Clipstone’s unique blend of horror-romance and the contradictions she explores at the center of her work. Tied up in all of this is Lark herself, an Aphrodite-esque figure crafted through the power of the sea, clinging to a life of her own if she can free herself from a chthonic god. Very much here for the soft hearted heroines who don’t have to be perfect to be worthy, the ones who make mistakes and take charge without compromising the core of who they are. There’s power in softness and I know how personal it was for Clipstone to represent this through her main character. Lark wears her heart on her sleeve, and her depth of feeling appears boundless, a trait that echoes in the very fabric of this story and its decisive end.
Bordered by an intriguing mythology, a dash of academia, and disastrous bargains with the divine, Tenderly, I Am Devoured binds together a great deal in just one gothic fantasy novel. Yet, there’s considerable intent behind every single facet of this story and they are as tangible as if one could reach into the page and experience them firsthand. In concluding Tenderly, I am Devoured, bleeding hearts are laid bare as the past is exposed and the future safeguarded for our core trio. Lyndall Clipstone somehow manages to tie everything together in a way that is hopeful without veering too far into the realm of implausibility. There are costs for our characters which is true as life itself where going after anything you value is worth some kind of personal sacrifice. Among the weather-worn cottages and the luring waves, Clipstone reinforces this notion that part of human nature is to be adrift, but certainly we’re not meant to be alone. Chthonic gods, polyamorous romance, cults, and myth make up this gothic romantic fantasy that called to me like some kind of dark offering. From its intense academic setting to the haunting coast of Verse, Clipstone tests what we can weather if only we hold fast to each other against the storms ahead—even if one must at first give in to a god.
Thank you to Book Forward and the author for providing me with a physical advance review copy.
Trigger warnings: death, blood, murder, drowning, physical abuse, child abuse, death of a child, cults
Cybil Harding is cursed. The latest in a string of firstborn daughters fated to bring an end to the Harding family line, Cybil was not meant to live beyond infancy. Against all odds, Cybil survived. Raised in the isolated Harding Hall estate, Cybil is all aware of her strangeness, the various deaths in childhood she feels she orchestrated, the flames and shadows leaning towards her as if in prayer, and the whisperings of the servants within its halls. Miriam Richter is a creature of hunger. A mere shadow in human cloaking created long ago for dark purposes, Miriam must subsist off of human souls, and never has she seen a soul as alluring as Cybil’s. Souls have to be freely given however, and Cybil is not inclined to relinquish her soul—not even for the chance at removing her curse. But when an accusation of witchcraft leaves Cybil dead and Harding Hall in flames, all she wants is another chance at the life cruelly stolen from her. Thus the two bargain. Cybil will get as many years back as she lived and in that time must seek a cure for her curse, or her soul now magnified by her reincarnation will be Miriam’s to collect. Across the lifetimes, Miriam hunts Cybil intent on taking what’s hers, but the centuries have only emboldened Cybil to retain her soul, even if it means she must at first offer up her heart and what little remains of her humanity.
Drawing together Faustian bargains, gothic splendor, and reincarnation across three distinct periods of English history, As Many Souls as Stars is a historical novel for the ages and Natasha Siegel’s masterpiece. A witch desperate for survival bargains away her soul, a demon endlessly hungering for souls discovers the brightest, and both will be ruined in their association by journeys end. The Faustian bargain is not a new concept, not in the slightest, so to stake claim on such a tale is to promise something inventive and unique in the telling. In As Many Souls as Stars, Natasha Siegel ingeniously twists the Faustian bargain into a lesbian game of cat and mouse spanning multiple centuries and incarnations as an immortal and a witch engage in a toxic romance tinged with obsession. Cybil Harding and Miriam Richter, witch and demoness, hunger both—for love, for souls, and for the continuance of their survival. Drawn into a demonic bargain to suit their purposes, neither intends to lose the parts of themselves they believed intrinsic, nor ill-fated love taking flight. Questioning fate and personhood, Natasha Siegel’s As Many Souls as Stars is a tangled dance of violence, hunger, and destructive romance, in everlasting opposition as misguided bargains can ever be.
As Many Souls as Stars is a dark, resplendent jewel immersed in the gothic tradition and draped in midnight hungers. Demonic bargains gone awry, witchcraft, and obsession mark the beginnings of this expansive saga in which Natasha Siegel mercilessly binds a demon to a young witch clawing herself back from the dead at the cost of her soul. Where some novels take time to settle with you, As Many Souls as Stars is decidedly not one of them. A prologue illuminating the origins of our demon, and the opening lines “Cybil Harding was born on Christmas Eve, 1576, under inauspicious stars” immediately signaled to me Natasha Siegel’s storytelling caliber and exactly what was in store with this extraordinary tale. Siegel does not hold off a whit in building up her gothic romance that leans heavy on the enemies to lovers side of things. It’s been ages since I read a true enemies to lovers’ romance, something that threads the needle in between love and hate with a capable hand. As Many Souls as Stars takes that challenge and gives a lesbian relationship overflowing with want and drawn towards destruction, where the star-crossed love of a witch and demon comes second to their other desires.
I love a story traversing multiple genres, and As Many Souls as Stars takes up a bold space between historical fiction, fantasy, and gothic romance. Natasha Siegel has a firm hold on her narrative, depicting the three reincarnations of her character Cybil Harding and glimpsing Miriam’s interludes at key moments of history. Traveling the centuries, Siegel orchestrates the dance between these two fickle beings and their decline. So slow it could even be unnoticeable Natasha Siegel begins to track Harding’s descent into the loss of her humanity—in consequence to what was done to her and the bargain she made, and Miriam’s inexorable transformation towards it, drawing to her unmaking. The love brimming with hatred, the devotion that leads to violence, these are all things that appear entirely contrary, but Siegel proves in essence belongs to Cybil and Miriam’s volatile love. Cybil and Miriam clash and retreat across the years, a battle of wills neither will concede and made all the more precarious by their developing romance. I was immediately struck by their conviction, Cybil’s desire to survive and take back her life and Miriam’s commitment to her demonic ways. Misguided perhaps, but essential for their conflict and the incredible transformation brought about by its end.
In all of Cybil’s reincarnations as she is hunted by Miriam, Siegel explores the dichotomy between love and hate and its natural end—with only one of them holding the knife and the other destroyed. There’s always been hatred seething beneath Cybil and Miriam’s interactions but that is essential to the love they find together. Destructive love can be freeing in a way, and for Cybil it tethers her to a life of her own design, one she will fight for at any cost. Covering three lifetimes of Cybil reincarnating, Siegel questions not just if the cycle can be broken but if it can be accomplished without Cybil and Miriam as each other’s undoing. The natural end to any cat and mouse game is when one is caught, and Natasha Siegel gives us that with her fervent final act upon a ship headed towards New York. The setting of a ship with the salt spray and the incessant rocking was fitting, with Miriam and Cybil completely cut off from their resources and nowhere to escape. Miriam and Cybil were always going to destroy each other, we’re told that from the start, yet witnessing that destruction play out firsthand is something else entirely. I found my screams well matched with that penultimate scene on the crows nest, but just as shocking was Siegel’s life-altering final twist that cleverly flipped the script and sent me reeling.
As dangerous as a bargain and as haunting as any loss, As Many Souls as Stars is about hunger in all shapes and forms, and the risk in losing ourselves as we chase it. Sometimes you read a novel that feels torn from the very fabric of your soul, and how could this not be that. We’ve got sentient shadows, a lesbian demon who can turn into a raven (caw caw), gothic locales, and an enemies to lovers tale with a wonderfully unhinged ending. Basically Robin catnip. Natasha Siegel’s gothic historical fantasy echoes with female rage and a wild and unrestrained magic in the hands of an isolated witch and sardonic demon caught up in a battle of wits. Fashioning such a saga is an immense challenge, and it’s felt in every overwhelming detail of this novel. Immortals being humanized! Hungering for the very thing that can destroy you! Things coming full circle! This novel has all that and more. The singular pieces that come together to form this story are striking all on their own but together they have ruined me for all other books. As Many Souls as Stars is so many things, but it’s largely a story about what we’re willing to give up for our autonomy and where we find the power to take it. All other gothic fiction aspires to be like this and I will continue to be haunted in its absence.
Thank you for Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance review copy.
Trigger warnings: blood, death, death of a child, gore, murder, suicidal ideation, misogyny, homophobia,
Please note this review contains spoilers for the former book in this series, Servant of Earth, and contains references to some of the events in this sequel. Read with caution.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Put forth to be executed, betrayed by the man she thought she trusted, Kenna Heron expected to die by the magical shards that grant the fae their immortality. Instead a balance was righted for the destruction of Mistei’s Sixth House half a millenia ago, and Kenna, formerly human, is granted the mantle of princess to the once decimated Blood House reborn. Awakening to her new circumstances in the middle of a violent takeover, Kenna manages to kill Mistei’s corrupt ruler, King Osric, yet the power vacuum in the aftermath of his death only threatens further unrest. With her former lover and Void House’s heir aiming for the throne, Kenna knows not who to trust—except Lara, her exiled mistress and Kallen, the former King’s Vengeance. Kenna holds the deciding vote in who should rule Mistei but has reached a stalemate, while the six houses are fracturing against divided loyalties, and a distant cousin of King Osric is vying for the throne. All she ever wanted was to survive the cruel land of the fae, but in the footsteps of her death and rebirth, it’s no longer just about her own survival. With a deadly assassin haunting her steps, and Mistei teetering on the edge of civil war, Kenna will prove once and for all if she can bring balance to Mistei, or fall into darkness like those of a long forgotten house.
Sarah Hawley’s, Shards of Magic entraps six opposing fae houses beneath the earth to grasp at power and immortality while prey to the machinations of a merciless king. This series put down precarious roots in Servant of Earth, when Kenna Heron, a young woman, braved the treacherous bogs to cross into the fae lands, becoming servant and spy to the ignoble Earth House. Princess of Blood returns us to a world reeling in the aftermath of a bloody uprising and hinging on a civil war as loyalties sunder and forbidden love takes root within the cavernous underearth. With few weapons in her arsenal Kenna, newly turned fae, stands alone as princess of the broken Blood House. Armed with Caedo, a shapeshifting talking dagger with a thirst for blood, and two unlikely allies—an excommunicated Earth Fae rendered powerless, and a murderous Void Fae and executioner, Kenna will confront her new charge in a world seeking her destruction. I already knew the Shards of Magic series was doing something special back in book one, delicately connecting tropes and story cornerstones to deliver a unique fae touched tale of rebellion and survival. Princess of Blood is where my heart latched onto this series for good. Sarah Hawley brings a sequel into being that is bloody and unapologetic, equal parts brutal as it is a hopeful beacon for change.
Princess of Blood opens on the edge of Mistei’s uprising, as Kenna, formerly a servant of Earth House is irrevocably changed into a fae and must lead a once annihilated house out of the shadows. Where book one was entirely concerned with her survival, the overarching theme for this sequel is just as transformed—the characters left to fend for themselves within the shadows being thrust into the light, to change for the better or die trying. Sarah Hawley’s character work is at its prime in Princess of Blood as those broken against a cruel crown fight to create a better world. At the center of this is Kenna, whose startling persistence and narrative voice ensorcelled me from this series’ very beginnings, but who takes to newfound heights here in this sequel. Confronting betrayal, death, and now rebirth, Kenna walks the knife’s edge between success or failure for most of this novel, and like the knife itself steels herself against the violence that comes with her position. Kenna’s force of will is impenetrable even as she dodges assassination attempts and hedges her bets to reestablish a broken house. Princess of Blood challenges Kenna’s identity and personal loyalties at every turn, amidst a poignant query into leadership and the personal costs of rebellion.
Princess of Blood is exactly the kind of follow up I love, all about characters who concentrated on surviving for so long confronting a tumultuous future side by side. This sequel concerns all kinds of unconventional alliances, but none is more unexpected than that between Kenna and Kallen, an enigmatic void fae and weapon to a fallen king. Prior to this novel, the interactions between these two were few and far between, yet they were charged with something I couldn’t quite name. Kallen and Kenna have always been predisposed to be something more, and nothing, and I mean nothing, made that more evident than his awe at her coming into her power and murdering Mistei’s king, Osric. Their relationship may have begun with a wee bit of blackmail and cynical chats, but Princess of Blood elevates them to equal standing. Reeling from her new circumstances, cut off from the man who made his life, both Kenna and Kallen are a bit out of their depths with the current state of things. And god do I love how these two are entirely stripped bare of the roles they occupied prior to the events in this novel because that is where the real magic happens.
Now we all love a mysterious fae man with shadow magic, and Hawley provides this with Kallen, a man who has made the shadows his home for so long they are all he knows. More than a bit lonely, wishing for something he can never have, Kallen is the pinnacle of the tortured romance lead. His hidden depths gave this sequel a necessary anchoring, while slightly twisting the archetype of the brooding fae love interest. Despite the blackmail of it all, Kenna and Kallen’s relationship dynamic in Servant of Earth was deeply intriguing to me (maybe because of the blackmail if I’m being honest). Yet, it wasn’t until Princess of Blood that I unequivocally fell in love with his character. He was the breath of fresh air this book needed, getting oddly excited to spy on people in the catacombs, sparring with Kenna, and just giving her the support she needs as she faces her new situation. Kenna is entirely in control of her choices, but Kallen is someone she can rely on who gives her the space to breathe and say the things she often keeps inside. United in the loneliness of their stations and their call to bring about a better future for Mistei, Kenna and Kallen find solace in one another, and their ensuing romance is just as intimate.
The contrast Hawley draws between Kallen, a man born to be a weapon, and Kenna, a woman who had no choice in wielding the power she was given is a compelling center to the eventual romance. At the mercy of a violent king, Kenna experienced first hand the impacts of Mistei’s tyrannical regime and in Princess of Blood, sets about reckoning centuries of abuse. Kallen has always been hiding. From his father’s brutality, a king’s abuse, and his brother’s secret, all he has ever known is secrets and shadows in a world where to care about anyone is a weakness. This extends into his relationship with Kenna, who in his mind is someone who could be wielded against him if he allows people to see the depth of his feelings for her. Just as Kenna confronts her place as Blood House’s leader, Kallen confronts if he can ever leave his shadows behind to be more than just a weapon to be wielded. Love as its own kind of weapon is the vehicle for most of the conflict between Kenna and Kallen and I was eating up the tension like water in a desert. I am nothing if not predictable, but these two brought a different name to romantic yearning. I was enraptured by the dances, the heavy gazes, and the sexual tension teeming beneath the surface of their interactions. This sequel is for the real yearners because Sarah Hawley knows the hottest thing in the world is a man undone, and that man is Kallen.
Princess of Blood is a calculated dance of moves and countermoves, building to a blood soaked showdown not unlike its predecessor, but singular in its torment. I have this thing where if characters are getting overly optimistic about the future I start to hear alarm bells ringing and that was happening at several points in the final act of this novel. I went into the last few chapters with eyes half closed because I knew Hawley was going to pull something along the lines of the Servant of Earth ending—and I was right to. Currently seeking financial compensation for the emotional damages incurred (Sarah Hawley will pay for her crimes). Even knowing this, Princess of Blood is an all around phenomenal sequel. We get to see these characters challenged by their traumas, surmount difficulties, and ultimately be transformed by its ending. The Shards of Magic series is for the feral woman tearing down a flawed world to build a better one, while being loved for all that they are. In Princess of Blood, Sarah Hawley interrogates the complex morality of immortals and what we owe to those who suffered under the abuses of a crown. With a determined heroine and her bloodthirsty dagger on the scene, Princess of Blood is a chaotic continuation of The Shards of Magic series and will no doubt leave many on the edge as it certainly left me reeling in its wake.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this advance review copy.
Literaryrobin 