After reading the blurb, I was immediately hooked and was able to score a copy from my local library. I do have to say that even though it's tagged as an LGBTQ romance, the romance is very slow burn and I expect it to fully bloom in the next book. Don't go into this if you're looking for a fantasy romance.

That being said, it is LGBTQ forward, which I love.

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Anyone else's heart ripped out over the death of Calgir? Farvor's grief turned into my grief and the pure brutality of this queen to burn the body so Hellevir couldn't bring him back was just... heart wrenching, but I loved it?

I also loved that we have Death personified, which is one of my favorite things in fantasy books. This personification of death is not to be trifled with. He's not a shadow daddy; this guy is demented and angry,

Spoiler

but you can also feel his loneliness.

Like there's this scene fairly early on in the book where Hellevir takes a soul without his explicit permission and he meets her in a dream that is just... unsettling.

If you're an audiobook person, I highly recommend it. The narration is incredible and this book is thick. It doesn't look it, but the audio is 18 hours long. Kristen Atherton did a great job giving all of the characters voices that fit their personalities, including Death.

While I absolutely loved parts of this book, I did have some issues with the pacing. There were points where I grew bored or was uninterested enough to consider putting it down, but I'm glad I didn't. The relationship Hellevir has with literally everyone is interesting enough to keep reading about.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book and I think it's a great debut novel. The political intrigue is brutal, the passing into Death was atmospheric (as is the rest of the book), and the ending has me wanting to reach for book two even though it's not here yet!

I'll be purchasing a copy for my shelves for sure.