Ruled by Blood is a bind up of both books in the young adult/new adult fantasy called the Noblesse Oblige Duet, by May Sage. I don't know about you, but I love a bind up of a duet, trilogy or series. I love being able to read the books back to back, and bind ups make that so easy. I read Ruled by Blood as if it were one long book, and I loved the way the story flowed from book one to book two, even though there is a time jump between the books. May Sage did a great job explaining the jump and getting readers right back into the story. Ruled by Blood is a  fae romance where the main character Vlari finds herself stuck between the queen, fae court and her own agenda.I really enjoyed this duet and I couldn't believe how many twists and turns there were throughout the story. It certainly kept things interesting. Overall, this was a solidly good fae centered fantasy that will keep readers entertained and on the edge of their seats!

In Ruled by Blood we meet our main character Vlari. Vlari is a mixed breed- part fae and part pixie. Overtime we learn more about Vlari. She is the granddaughter of the ruling fae queen, and when Vlari was young the royal court discovered that she has a powerful ancient magic inside of her, a gift from her very powerful ancestor. The queen binds Vlari telling the world that it is because Vlari is dangerous, but in reality it is because she doesn't want her to be more powerful than she is. I will admit that there are a lot of players and moving parts to the world that May Sage created, and at the start of the book I was a bit confused as I gained my bearings in the story. It took me a little bit of time before I understood the layout of the world and how all of the different courts and kingdoms of the world worked together. But once I figured that out, the rest of the book flowed quickly for me.

I found Vlari's power to be fascinating. I'll put it in a spoiler box so I won't ruin it for you, but it felt original and different and equal parts terrifying and awesome!

She calls her power a void power. She can essentially suck power (and life) from anyone or anything she wants and then refocus that new power and energy in different ways. Her power seems almost limitless and the possibilities of what she can do with it seem endless. She can use the power to halt death, bring people to life grow things, kill things, bind things. It's intense!

The romance in the story is also great. The end of the first book and the whole second book took me completely by surprise. I was coasting along nicely in the story when the initial war and fight broke out of no where and took the story in a totally different direction than I was expecting. I loved it! At times, I found the story a little rushed, and I was hoping that things would slow down and we could flesh out some scenes more and some character motivations more but overall I had so much fun while reading Ruled by Blood. I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more from May Sage in the future!

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