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Rise of the Death Fae #1

Battles of Salt and Sighs

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Complex, savage romantic fantasy for Reylos, Darklina shippers, and other readers thrilled by dangerous, complicated men.

Two sisters.
Two dark fae male captors.
This is war, and they are the spoils.


Prantia Onivia used to be the pampered daughter of a senator, living in comfort on her family’s villa, waited on hand and foot by fae slaves.

Now, she is a prized captive of the slave revolt, thrown to some upstart half-blood fae centurion to be used as he wishes. Now, her father and brothers are dead, her sister captured, her body violated. Now, she belongs to Centurion Larent.

It’s cold comfort Larent seems reluctant to use her, that he is concerned primarily with making a show of it to uphold his status in the ranks, or that he negotiates with her for her favors.

Being owned is being owned, no matter if the man who owns her is a good man or not.

Onivia vows to get free of him, to save her sister Magdalia, whatever the cost. Her sister is Favored, in possession of a rare magic, important in a way that Onivia will never be. Her sister is spoiled and soft. If her sister is being treated the way Onivia is being treated, it will break Magdalia.

But Magdalia has been taken north and given to the Croith, the death fae’s Night King. He’s a necromancer who stalks long corridors wearing flowing dark robes, a hard man who can kill with one touch. He has been broken by years as a slave, broken inside in his mind, broken in a way he doesn’t care to fix.

And he was once Magdalia’s childhood playmate, the first boy she ever kissed.

Painful, passionate dark fae fantasy. Lovers and enemies all at once. Morally gray characters. Vengeance. Love that is more agonizing than hate. Magic. War. Slave revolts. Warnings for explicit content, mature language, and non-consensual sex. Not for the faint of heart.

267 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 25, 2021

133 people are currently reading
811 people want to read

About the author

Val Saintcrowe

23 books72 followers
Fall for the villain.

Val Saintcrowe writes new adult epic fantasy with a heavy romantic component. She enjoys high stakes, creating intricate new worlds, court intrigue, ice cream scoops full of angst, and exploring what happens when evil men fall in love.

Her name is a variant on her urban fantasy alter ego, Val St. Crowe. She also writes mysteries and thrillers under V. J. Chambers, romance under Jove Chambers, and Jane Austen fan fiction under Valerie Lennox.

She lives just outside Shepherdstown, WV with her son

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5 stars
59 (30%)
4 stars
59 (30%)
3 stars
50 (25%)
2 stars
16 (8%)
1 star
10 (5%)
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
4,471 reviews21 followers
August 25, 2021
This story was a bit crazy. It is the story of two sisters and what happens to them when a fae rebellion reaches them and they become part of what is going on. It was not a light hearted fantasy read yet still a bit addicting as I had to see what was going to happen to the sisters and how they would end up a part of the rebellion even though they should never have been involved. Taken as spoils they end up caught in the drama of what is going on. Plus I had to see if the rebellion would actually work and I really had to learn if the main characters would survive to the end. And what other secrets would be uncovered.
Profile Image for Priscilla Noever.
168 reviews1 follower
October 31, 2024
Nope, this wasn't for me. Why did I finish it? I have no clue, maybe the potential for an improving storyline. But nope, it wasn't what I hoped it would be.
Profile Image for Kreela.
656 reviews22 followers
November 18, 2021
Two sisters caught in a game of war

“He wouldn’t let her. He lifted her hand and placed it against his ear. He forced her finger over the pointed tip of it. She shuddered. He shuddered, closing his eyes as if her touch affected him, even though he was making her do it.”

Two privileged sisters caught in a civil war. A war in which the empire was battling two wars at once, both within and without. Inside the country a rebellion started among the plebeians and quickly included the Fae, who became the military leaders. One sister, Magdalia, had fae powers and was known to be childish and spoiled. She was taken to the capital to exploit her powers. The other sister, Onivia, was taken with other women as camp whores, but she was chosen to be the concubine of one of the leaders. Lorent seems kinder, but for some reason, Onivia refused to recognize just how good her situation was. She could have been traded around.

The world seemed to be based upon Roman times, with a similar army structure and terminology. The social roles might have been just as staid, with rampant racism and bias against the poor. Here is one example:
“Duranth was too good at making arguments, and it only served to further highlight Duranth’s natural wiles as an evil death fae”. The unseelie are considered evil because they want freedom, and they are different. Magdalia grew up infatuated with Duranth, played with him, and still believed just as her father taught.

This is villain romance at its finest. This is also an enemies-to-lovers romance. If you love Quinn Blackbird’s Dark Fae series, you will probably also love this.
Profile Image for Sonya Lano.
Author 29 books135 followers
August 26, 2021
Battles of Salt and Sighs is a dark fantasy romance that follows two storylines, with one pair (couple) capable of becoming ultimate darkness for their world, and the other pair struggling in a sh*t situation. (Well, so far, that is!) It follows four characters:

Larent - Good Guy in a Bad Place - Within the first 10% of the novel, we know that Larent is known for being easy on humans (the enemy) and not abusing them, and that he is having to do some things for show that he does not want to, but he does anyway. He is very definitely a morally gray character because he's basically a good man having to do bad things, and he's willing to do those bad things in order to keep the position he's won (presumably for a greater good, but I'm not sure if there is a 'good' side in this world haha).

Onivia - Good Girl (Woman?) in a Bad Place - Onivia is the young woman who ends up Larent's prisoner. She's also got good motives - she wants to save her sister; she doesn't think of herself as superior. She is pretty powerless, but she possesses a quiet, enduring strength. I think she grows most out of of all characters in the book, and at the end seems a stronger person for it. If I had to pick a favorite character, I think she would be it!

Magdalia - Spoiled girl teetering on the brink (of evil?) - Magdalia is portrayed as a spoiled brat. She's only eighteen, sheltered, and a lot of her initial reactions seem childish. Because she's so self-centered, she has a slightly disturbing tendency to not care about the lives of others. She, too, is pretty powerless, but she definitely has the potential to fight Duranth (her male love interest). Thus far, she is still a petulant child more than a resolved woman, but my guess is she will either become a total badass or she will descend into utter darkness with Duranth!

Duranth - Broken Man who embraces a lack of mercy - Here, I use 'broken' not to mean that anything has actually broken him, but that something (he admits himself) is broken in his mind. He's presented as a man from whom an essential part of humanity has been broken away, and he is totally not interested in putting it back. Sometimes he seemed pretty cool, but at others he comes across as unhinged, and I think unhinged might be closer to defining what he actually is 😃

So those are the players, and these are the dark elements they're playing with and that you should expect in this book:

Power imbalance: the women captives are not (yet) an even match skill-wise to their male leads, and there is little to no alliance between the pairs, although some grows throughout the book.
Dubious consent
There is some meaninglessly wrought death and violence - characters killed to show the darkness of the characters
Stockholm syndrome-like attachment between hero and heroine

Just be warned lol that I think the ending traumatized me a little 😃 though that may be an endorsement for some of you!
Profile Image for Autumn Heath.
14 reviews
December 3, 2021
The story was interesting. I really wanted to be more engaged, and enthusiastic going into this, but the way it was written sort of kept me from being completely engrossed.
Battle of salt and sighs follows two separate stories regarding sisters who are separated during a fae uprising. The plot is super interesting showing what happens when a marginalized people rise up, and flip the script. How they in turn use brutality in response to power dynamics, and how the sisters, who were once seemed as high class, deal with being captured and enslaved by people they deemed under Them. The author did a fantastic job writing some difficult situations to make them less triggering in some ways. My issue was how the jump from one character to the other was written. It's not an easy transition, and although I was able to keep up, it pulled me out of the story, and seemed tedious. There were points mid chapter there would be a character change, and others the chapter focused on one sister's story. It felt jarring and disjointed. The other issue I had was how the author relied heavily on flashbacks for world building. It would pull you out of the present story, and what was happening to the characters at that moment. Many of these flash backs were pages and pages long, and would dump you back into the present, where it would take me a moment to figure out is I was still reading events from the past or not.
Profile Image for D.L. Boyles.
Author 5 books9 followers
December 7, 2021
I was tentative about reading this. But, I jumped in and don't regret it. The story follows the line of two sisters--Onivia and Magdalia. Onivia has no magic, but Magdalia does. At first, I was worried that we'd only get to focus on Madga because of this, but Onivia is my favorite of the two, and I was happy she got so much attention.
This is war. And war is ugly. Often, I think things can be glossed over in books when it comes to war with a major focus on good vs. evil, but in this book, the lines are so gray that you can't help but develop attachments for both sides. Yes, this book had some very dark moments, but there were also a lot of lighter ones, too. And because the book left off with me wanting to know more, I picked up book two and found that I was even more surprised by the depths of depravity war takes mankind into, and I enjoyed the development in the characters. So...if you've read the first book, be ready because book two will rock you. And if you're debating beginning at all, I assure you, if you like magic, twisty plots, romance with a little heartache, and the idea that freedom comes at a cost to both sides in war (both the literal aspects of war and the internal wars we all wage), you'll love this series.
Profile Image for Valerie M.
271 reviews18 followers
August 12, 2025
I really wasn't sure going into this - but wow it ended up being a great series! Really enjoyed it!! One of the MMCs stole my entire heart.

Rise of the Death Fae (4 book series - Val Saintcrowe): all 4 books follow one story line, you get many MANY characters POV as its written in third person (so be ready to PAY ATTENTION, because you never know what character you will be switching to), its "dark-ish", romatansy, fea & humans, war, dark grey/black MMC, a very sweet/self deprecating MMC, an MMC who turns "evil", an MMC who becomes "enlightened", a FMC who's naïve and easily manipulated and is very manipulative herself, an FMC who is stoic and has a sharp tongue, 2 more FMCs who kind of come into their own, an FMC who is a loyal friend. Sisters, powers, €n€mies to løvers, tørtûre, mûrdêr(s), sp¡c€ and t€nsion, good pløt, man¡pulatiøn, r@p€, dub-con-ish, pregnancies (listen I am not the biggest pregnancy trope fan myself, it ruins a good story more often than not for me, but it works here and adds to the story).
Profile Image for Eleven.
41 reviews2 followers
August 31, 2024
Haven't found a fantasy book I've enjoyed so much since... I don't even remember when, but it's definitively been years. This was a surprise for me, since I usually don't enjoy fae stories, but this was a very different take on fae. The emphasis being on the morality, and what would you do in a certain situations, how strong would you be, what would be the limit? Great worldbuilding, strong characters, and believable situations. Loved it. And going immediately to buy the sequel (yes, it ends on a cliffhanger, which, for a fantasy series is not surprising. But in this case, it feels great, since the series is finished, and all it means is three more books to enjoy, without the dreaded waiting period. I sure do hope they don't disappoint, since this one set a high margin. Keeping my fingers crossed on that one. In the meantime, this one is even free (at least at the moment I'm writing this), so try it, if you enjoy it even half as much as I did, you'll not regret it.
Profile Image for Jeanny.
41 reviews
February 12, 2024
This was… so bad… There wasnt any plot, the whole universe is an excuse for two characters to f*ck. Its a weak ennemies to lovers. There are some disturbing things in it (14 yo has s3x and has the time of her life with a 19 yo? Suuuuuuure….) The characters names are worst than the others… i read the comments to see it was like a fanfic of “Darklina” and it really feels like a fanfic… but a bad one. Its poorly written and I get the author might have wanted to create the world’s own way of speaking but “cunny” to say “c*nt”, seriously? There is no explanation of the world build -if theres any- nothing about the hows and whys of the revolution/war ongoing -its mentionnend a couple of times but more details could have been good. I hate Magdalia and she deserves a slap behind the head… with a shovel.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Ann Adolphson.
173 reviews15 followers
September 1, 2025
📖 Battles of Salt and Sighs by Val Saintcrowe
Spice / 🌶🌶🌶
Two sisters.
A rebellion between dark fae and humans.
Captured. Enslaved. Everything they thought they knew? A lie.

This is not your lighthearted fantasy. It’s dark. It’s twisted. And you will never know what’s coming next for these sisters.

✨ Tropes you’ll find:

Enemies to lovers

Villain romance

Morally grey characters

Completely unhinged characters

⚠️ Dark elements:

Rape

Death/unaliving

Stockholm syndrome

Torture

Dubious consent

If you love your fantasy dark, messy, and unpredictable—this one’s for you.
Profile Image for Teresa Rogers.
27 reviews
September 11, 2021
Good Start

I am giving this a 4 star as I am curious as to where the author is going to build onto this series. So far there is the development of the two sisters with their Fae captors and so far it’s mostly of there sexual relationships between the characters with just a little bit of uprising of the fae slaves, don’t get me wrong I like the steaminess but I do hope the author does take the story of the war and uprising and build on that and of course the steaminess. This is the first book I have read by this author
Profile Image for Lit.
298 reviews7 followers
October 22, 2021
Quite the surprise

Now that I've reached the end of the book, I remember another I've read from this author. The Beast of the Barrens, I think?

I didn't consider this to be pitch-black, although it did have bits of darkness in it that were more referenced than completely fleshed out. And reading the trigger warnings was a bit of a bummer because the steamy scenes weren't as graphic as I would have liked. Not to say there wasn't steam, because there absolutely was.

Good plot, solid characters. Very nice read 👍
434 reviews
January 29, 2025
I found this hard to put down. I was in the mood for something a bit dark, and there is non-consent/ dubious consent that some readers might find hard to get past. The story follows two wealthy human sisters, who are very different, but find themselves separated and turned prisoners/slaves by rebellious Fae, who until recently, were slaves to the humans. This is part one of a saga, ending on a cliffhanger. It's dual POV, switching between both sisters, which kept the book moving quickly. The writing is good, I enjoyed the world building and the good mix of story and fleshed out characters.
Profile Image for Danielle Ash.
95 reviews3 followers
May 17, 2024
surprised

I loved this book. A totally new twist on the fae. I didn’t think I’d like reading the separate storylines of the sisters in the same book. But it turned out to be really interesting. The character development of the sisters as they progress from Domina to slave was fascinating. The themes of inequality and oppression only enriched the romance. After finishing this book I immediately bought the next three installments
15 reviews1 follower
Read
October 10, 2023
DNF @ 38%
The premise reeled me in but I couldn’t stay engaged. The writing turned me off, I don’t know if it was the awkward pacing or the infodumps via flashbacks, but I couldn’t do it.
Also, personal thing, but I’m over stupid clueless heroines, so that didn’t help it’s case.
3 reviews
February 2, 2022
I am going to read the series

Excellent story. The characters are very interesting and the sisters are so different from each other. But will they acknowledge who they love?
12 reviews1 follower
February 17, 2022
Hot damn

If you like villains and questionable choices this is the book for you. And it is nice to follow both sisters journey simultaneously.
Profile Image for Maria Fatma.
415 reviews4 followers
August 23, 2024
4.5 stars!
This book was really interesting. I loved the dynamic between the two couples and I would love to continue with book 2 as soon as possible.
Profile Image for Victoria Stiger.
69 reviews
October 7, 2025
Great book

I love it. This is a fantasy series. This book is good. I didn't want to stop reading. Will read the series.
Profile Image for Suba.
152 reviews2 followers
October 31, 2022
After reading rzymn series, i wanted to try other books by this author. But this is not upto my expectations. So much violence against women.. it's horrible to read..
6 reviews
October 19, 2025
This book was... interesting. The plot was overall not bad. I did not like Onivia and Larent's relationship. They seem like a good fit but don't like that he SA'ed her and that they still developed feelings for each other. The other main couple was better. It was like a forbidden, friends to enemies to lovers kinda of thing and i did like it. Also got frustrated about her denying that she likes him and being blind about the problem that was the humans using the fae as slaves. Didn't really see that much of character development as the story went on. I will probably read the second book to see if it gets better. Overall i rate it 2 ⭐️ because while the story has potential it still had things that i didn't like.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for frkingerlise.
45 reviews2 followers
April 7, 2022
The story is about two sisters caught in a fae rebellion. Each with a forbidden love interest. This is dark, yet intriguing. Topics tansferable to our society.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews

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