Deathborne

by S. Kay Lanphear

Deathborne follows Nadraya, a desert princess kept locked away as a precaution against the deadly plague that has ravaged her kingdom for generations. When her sister falls victim to the disease, she makes the reckless decision to sneak away with a band of strangers headed north, where they hope to find evidence of a cure. Together, they create a mismatched crew—a runaway princess, a retired assassin and his two disorderly cohorts, an incompetent wizard, a reluctant knight just trying to do his job, and a ranger cruelly exiled by his people. Their differences separate them as clearly as sand from water, but as their quest spirals out of control, those differences begin to fade in favor of unlikely friendships.

Faced with bandits, dragons of lore, dark magic, and a growing army of undead, they discover more during their quest than any legends of old could have prepared them for. Even Nadraya, who has always been troubled by unpredictable visions and disturbing dreams, is shocked at the dark secrets that threaten to unhinge the entire world of Vraed.

Genres: Fantasy

950 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 14, 2023

About the author

Hi! I'm Kay! I like to write all sorts of things!

Reviews

[Laura Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very welcome surprise.

As an avid Reader of female lead fantasy, and a huge fan of Tamara Pierce I decided to take a chance and pick up this book. It's meticulously paced, and all the characters have incredibly distinct personalities in the ensemble cast. The language is old fashioned enough to not break immersion but not so modern that you get lost reading it and losing comprehension in the process; it strikes the right balance to be concise and interesting without being floofy.

My favorite thing in this book is the focus on growth and friendship during the adventure instead of romance for the sake of romance. There's a really natural flow to the conversations happening and the action when it occurs that make the read smooth; I was almost 300 pages deep my first day without feeling the hint of a mental drag. Overall, I think this is an amazing YA book and an excellent debut.

[Lilja · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was familiar with the author's work before the release of Deathborne so I knew to expect excellence and was not disappointed.

It's been a long time that I've read a book that captured my attention this strongly or left me feeling so stunned at the end. The text flows forward like a river, once you pick the book up it's hard to put it down again. The pacing is great, nothing drags or moves along too quickly. The plot has many familiar fantasy elements yet they are explored in a way that's new and keeps you guessing. Many things I didn't know to expect at all, things done in a way I haven't seen in other works. It explores themes rarely visited in the fantasy worlds I've read. The thing that really sets this book apart is the characters, however. Every single one is very distinctly their own person. If you're like me and fall in love with fictional characters then prepare yourself – this book will get you invested, both in the story and in the fates of the characters.

It's truly the best kind of fantasy book. So glad I found it and got to read it and experience this amazing journey with these characters – and I cannot wait for book two!

[Anime549 · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 rounded up to a 4
Spice: 0/5

Having enjoyed the author's fanfiction in the past, I was immensely proud when I discovered that she'd released her own novel. I was drawn into the book's setting fairly easily, and even though I'm a slow reader (usually just doing one chapter a day), I found myself reaching for this book time and time again. I actually cared about the characters and their journey. The twists weren't too easy for me to predict (i.e. I only predicted them like one line before they happened). And even though the romance is miniscule in this first volume, once I figured out who the love interest would be, I kept anxiously waiting for he and Nadraya to have on-page time together ❤️

My main drawbacks were mostly editorial. I found a handful of typos. The wrong form of there/they're/their was one I can remember. Also, I had a hard time picturing some of the more dreamlike sequences in my head. So, those knocked my rating down.

Overall, I'd recommend this book to others! I already have, lol. I'm excited to see where book two takes us.

[Bianca Duarte · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of the best in fantasy genre, I simply couldn't put it down! The story and the world are both very well built, and the characters are presented to the reader in a way that feels very seamless in the book narrative. The characters are incredibly well-written, every single one of them is very human and has flaws and qualities, be it a villain, a hero or in between, and you feel like you can put yourself in almost everyone's shoes at some point, the immersion is really good. The writing is worth mentioning because it's way more cohesive than most books I've read recently, specially the ones in the YA/Fantasy genre. My favorite thing about it is that it doesn't sound modern, in a way that breaks your immersion (and unfortunately that's ore common than one would think), but it's also not too ancient-like in a way that would get in the way of understanding for the average reader. The cover and the illustrations at the beginning of every chapter are beautiful, you can see in every page that it's a book made with a lot of care. I'm already so excited to read the next one!

[Karen Lee (Hawkes) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent self-published story. It has an unusual setting from what I usually read, which drew me in, and the beginning started off strong with an interesting protag in Nadraya. Must admit I found it a bit of a slog in places, bogged down with too much of nothing, and occurrences of 'as you know bob' and stilted dialogue, but otherwise an entertaining tale. I'm rather fond of Siateve. Could have been shorter than it was.

[Melara Dark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, a decent read. A little slow-paced in some areas, a few typos (road in place of rode for example), could have been a little shorter and a little tighter, but overall I enjoyed it.