Mistress of Lies

The Age of Blood #1

by K.M. Enright

FATE IS A CRUEL MISTRESS

The daughter of a powerful but disgraced Blood Worker, Shan LeClaire has spent her entire life perfecting her blood magic, building her network of spies, and gathering every scrap of power she could. Now, to protect her brother, she assassinates their father and takes her place at the head of the family. And that is only the start of her revenge.

Samuel Hutchinson is a bastard with a terrible gift. When he stumbles upon the first victim of a magical serial killer, he's drawn into the world of magic and intrigue he's worked so hard to avoid - and is pulled deeply into the ravenous and bloodthirsty court of the vampire king.

Tasked by the Eternal King to discover the identity of the killer cutting a bloody swath through the city, Samuel, Shan and mysterious Royal Bloodworker Isaac find themselves growing ever closer to each other. But Shan's plans are treacherous, and as she lures Samuel into her complicated web of desire, treason and vengeance, he must decide if the good of their nation is worth the cost of his soul.

Genres: Fantasy, Vampires, Romance, Adult, Queer, Horror, LGBT

432 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 13, 2024

About the author

K. M. Enright is a Filipino-American writer of fantasy romance. When not writing, he can be found playing too many video games, cooking, or listening to Broadway musicals. He currently lives in New Jersey with his spouse and their black cat, Zuko.

Reviews

[Samantha (ladybug.books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

… at least the Illumicrate copy is really pretty

[Melanie (meltotheany) · Rating 4 out of 5]

“And it's not your job to atone for his sins.”

i loved this debut. If you’re looking for a murder mystery, discussing classism, with characters feeling like they are being pulled between two different worlds, and… vampire vibes - please look no further! the writing was great, the characters were so endearing, i loved the rep in this book (especially one sex scene in particular), and i loved the celebration of filipino pride throughout this story, too!

the story follows three characters, one who has very unconventionally risen in power to her father’s position, while trying to find her footing in an empire who will not accept half of who she is. then, a royal blood worker who is forced with protecting the vampire-like dictator king. and lastly, someone who has lived their life somewhat in hiding, while figuring out that they have a power that could potentially change everything. and when they are found at the scene of a murder, mystery quickly ensues and these three come together in very different ways to figure it out.

i feel like this was a really amazing set up for what is to come and i can’t wait for book two.

author content warnings: Mistress of Lies contains sensitive material, including but not limited to: explicit sexual content, murder, patricide, gore, blood magic and bloodletting for purposes of magic, discussion of racism and classism, mentions of rape. There is a scene of explicit sexual content with a trans masculine character. Please note that trans people use a variety of different words to describe our bodies, for reasons as varied as there are trans people. The words used to describe Isaac’s body are the ones that he finds comfortable and validating, even though they may not be the words that every trans masculine person would choose. There is no transphobia, misgendering, or deadnaming.

trigger + content warnings: poisoning, loss of father, abandonment, magical compulsion, missing people, smoking, drinking, human trafficking, mention of suicide, colorism, human experimentation, panic attacks, needles, death, violence, torture, captivity

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[Lance · Rating 4 out of 5]

E-ARC generously provided by Orbit in exchange for an honest review! Thank you so much!

Combining an artfully and angst-ridden poly romance with a glimmering spider web of political intrigue, Mistress of Lies is a compelling and arresting debut from an author to watch.

[Jasmine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mistress of Lies had an intriguing start but suffered from a case of telling and not showing.

The book opens with Blood Worker Shan LeClaire committing patricide. She’s out for revenge and to rebuild her family’s reputation after her father squandered it. Then there’s Samuel, an unblooded, with a dark power who does his best to stay under the radar. However, when Samuel comes across a body horrifically murdered, he is pulled into an investigation of the murder alongside Shan.

I thought I would love this debut fantasy, but it did not work for me.

The pacing was a bit inconsistent. It dragged in the middle, and the ending was a whirlwind. I was not a fan of the direction it took.

The plot also seemed to be stretched too thin. There are a lot of side plots and not enough time to develop them all. The murder investigation often takes a back seat to everything else happening with the MCs and their love triangle.

The biggest letdown for me was the telling and not showing part of this novel. The reader is told that Shan is brilliant, but many of her choices are not well thought out or all that sneaky. When it comes to Samuel and his struggles, the reader is informed that he is progressing, but that occurs off-page. It would have been nice to witness his actual progression.

As for the romance, I didn’t see the appeal of one of the love interests.

While this book didn’t work for me, it might work better for you.

Thanks to Orbit for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.

https://booksandwheels.com

[aimee (aimeecanread)]

FILIPINO AUTHOR!!! This cover!!! Vampires!!! Heroine who kills her father!!!

[Genoveva Dimova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mistress of Lies by K.M. Enright is a dark fantasy the way it should be done: intricately built, steeped in political intrigue, featuring messy families, morally grey protagonists, and visceral blood magic. I adored the world Enright has created, following in the best traditions of vampire fiction but nonetheless twisting familiar tropes in unfamiliar ways, creating a secondary fantasy world rich in tradition with atmosphere so thick, you can slice it with a knife.

Despite how much I loved the worldbuilding, the characters are arguably Mistress of Lies's greatest strength. The novel opens with a patricide committed by one of our POV characters, which is one hell of an introduction--as someone who enjoys reading about messy women, I knew from the very first chapter, this will be a favourite character for me. After the explosive start, the rest of the novel didn't disappoint: I spent the entire story going between loving and hating certain characters, and cheering on for people who, by all accounts, were villains.

Finally, I have to mention the romance subplot which I really enjoyed--take three complicated people with separate, often opposing goals, and push them together in a series of life-and-death situations, and you'll get the high-tension romance of Mistress of Lies. I loved everything about it, from the trans rep to the, frankly, obvious solution to the love triangle. The ending was bittersweet and intriguing, and I'm so curious to see where the sequel goes.

[Sarah SG · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for the arc! I was really looking forward to this. It was one of my most anticipated releases of this year, so when I got the arc I went apeshit. Now I sit here so so disappointed to say the least. Let me break down my grievances.

This book has a HUGE problem of telling and not showing. Samuel’s power progression is one glaring example. There were some scenes of him trying to corral and control his power, but mostly he just magically improves a fuckton off the page. Another glaring example is Shan’s supposed brilliance. She’s allegedly this grand spymaster, but the decisions she makes in this book are questionable, and we get no true showing of Shan’s “brilliant” mind. I would have liked to learn more about her building her spy network. The last example I’ll use (even though there are many others): the unblooded people. We know they’re angry, and we get a taste of the many issues they face, but for this group taking up such a huge section of the (little) plot and world, it is lacking. For one of the mcs originally being of one the common unblooded, we still truly lacked that perspective. I want to know more about their hardships and daily lives, and I want you to show me it instead of making me accept the few things you tell me about them. Simple epigraphs would have helped.

The characters annoy me. They really do. I couldn’t connect with them, and I wasn’t buying what we were told about them. Shan is supposedly brilliant but does dumb shit. She’s also someone I’m supposed to feel sympathy for; I don’t feel sympathy for her. Also, I wanted more of her “revenge.” Her climax happens literally in the first chapter. In addition, we never even learn why she wants to topple the government. There are many things that are just not explained at all, but more on that later. Isaac is a shit for multiple reasons, and Shan is a grade A dumbass for giving him so many chances. Samuel is the most fine out of all of them, but I still didn’t connect to him and his character. There’s a lot of repetition when it comes to their feelings, and so much so it becomes ad nauseam. I also don’t buy their relationship. They had a much chemistry as a cracked bunsen burner. We get essentially insta-lust/love. No.

The plot: where is it? It started out so strong but dragged to hell by the middle of the book. There was simply no progression of any of the plot, and it became slowly focused on their dumb relationship. I know it’s a romantasy, but we can’t just abandon the plot. By the end, we had an underwhelming conclusion that pissed me the fuck off because the mcs were so ready to just forgive the culprit. What???? Especially when they were horrified at everything the culprit was doing, and obviously were furious. I don’t buy it! The court intrigue was underwhelming as well. The schemes were lackluster, and the characters were being used more than they were using others. I’m bored.

The world building…we get nothing. We get the names of some other countries and the fact that they don’t like blood workers, but why? What even is the magic system here? What are blood workers truly capable of? It was briefly mentioned in the “plot”and never explored. Secondly and again, nothing is explained and we’re just supposed to be cool with it. We hear a lot about Isaac and the LeClaire family’s Tagalan ancestry, but besides the food we get no sense of culture. We have no sense of the country at all either. Of course we also have no sense of any of the other countries at all besides names.

I will say, while there were too few descriptions for my liking, what we got was delicious. Silver claws, woven tapestries, magic-infused gardens -it is truly decadent. I will give credit where credit is due. I also loved the theme of the importance of secrets; I only wish it was shown more than told.

Overall, I obviously did not like this. I am very VERY upset. -2 stars

[jagodasbooks · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book ruined the demure trend for me, because ofc Shan was confident and bold, but she had to pretend to be demure and soft, and in some company she had to put a mask and be demure and i don't know if you understood, but she had to act demure - like gosh did this book went thru any editors? anyone heard of synonims?

same thing with reputation- it was constantly drilled into my mind that reputation was everything, that they had to maintain perfect reputation, that reputation was not only clothes you wear, but also how you act and that reputation was the most important thing - I UNDERSTOOD FOR THE FIRST TIME

it was Samuel who was slow and and constantly bitching that, oh no, I'm rich now, i don't belong here, I'm just a normal guy, i want to wear my old clothes and don't want to learn how to use my scary power, I'm a monster🥺👉👈, he was created to be the most "innocent" of the trio, but he was just naive and ignorant af

the whole world felt lacking and plot felt lacking, there was this murder mystery, but it was in the background and up front was what Shan was wearing today and how she was smarter and scheming and lying to everyone, because she was the only smart person there who understood how power play works

I would like chapters from Isaac pov, cus he seemed the most interesting character in this book

[AG · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

🌟✨/5

Mistress of Lies leaned more towards romantasy than I expected. Unfortunately, as is often the case with romantasy, logic, worldbuilding and character development were thrown out of the window in favour of the romance (which was...not great).

To begin with, this is very much a more telling, less showing kind of book. Also, whatever is told often contradicts what it shown on the page. We're told that Shan is a highly skilled spymaster but we are never told how she became the Sparrow and built her network of spies. The decisions she makes are stupid and lack clear motivations. I was expecting to love her character, especially because of the fact that the first chapter starts with her murdering her father. Samuel is one of the blandest, most one dimensional MCs I've ever come across. His character arc didn't really make sense. The 'romance' is just insta lust (not even love) in a wig. There was no chemistry between the characters, especially Shan and Samuel. I also hated Isaac with a burning passion because of what he did.

Secondly, the worldbuilding is non-existent. The setting had no clear boundaries and defining characters. We are told that other countries prosecute blood workers but it is never clearly explained. A little bit of history would've worked well. The magic system doesn't make sense. For example, we are never told how the Eternal King became immortal and why other blood workers cannot. I was expecting this to be a well developed high fantasy with lots of court intrigue, but...no. The Filipino rep isn't really well done. Besides a couple of mentions regarding food, we don't get to see much of Shan's Tagalan heritage. I know this is on me, I should know better and check if a book is romantasy. (It was marketed as a dark, romantic fantasy, though. The publisher should know that there's a difference between that and just romantasy). The middle was a huge slog to get through and the plot twists were predictable and quite lame.

Overall, this was a huge disappointment. If you, like me, are particular about fleshed out characters and we'll developed worldbuilding, better stay away from this one. I hate being so negative about a book, but I really cannot help it if it's this poorly written. I will not be reading the sequel.

[Ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

is there anything more tragic than a mid book that had potential to be awesome

[Alina ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

☆☆☆☆ (3.75)

Thanks to Netgalley and Orbit for this ARC.

“Mistress of Lies” kept me entertained from beginning to end, and that’s ultimately what matters most. K.M. Enright presents an innovative concept that feels like a breath of fresh air in the fantasy genre — the core idea is bold, intriguing, and full of potential.

Where the book stumbles a bit is in its execution. The world-building, while serviceable, never quite deepens beyond the surface. I often wished for more immersive detail to anchor me in the setting. The love triangle also felt like a relic from the YA boom of the mid-2010s — it didn’t offer much beyond what we’ve seen before.

Stylistically, there were some noticeable repetitions that pulled me out of the story. The word “demure” appears so frequently it loses impact, and the phrase “blood and steel” is used to the point of becoming unintentionally comical.

Despite these issues, the story itself was compelling and moved at a satisfying pace. However, the ending wrapped things up a bit too neatly for my taste — I would’ve appreciated more complexity or unresolved tension to carry into the next installment.

Overall, Mistress of Lies is a flawed but enjoyable start to a series with real promise. If you're in the mood for something fast-paced with a unique premise, it’s worth a read.

[Nathaniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mistress of Lies is a Superficial, repetitive and messy book with no substance.

The writing in this book is atrocious. We get things repeated to us repeatedly, things are being said rather than shown, and it often feels like the text wants to gaslight us into believing objectively false things.

- We get told Shan is “demure” 13 times throughout the book. I wish they could have used some variation since so many words could have replaced it. Some examples are: Reserved, modest, decorous, diffident, unassuming, timid, hesitant, meek, humble.

- The book has exactly one swear it made up for the setting “Blood and Steel.” We hear this 33 times. While they do use “fuck” sparsely those seem to be the only swears in the book. I think it’s a waste of a fantasy setting to not have at least a little variation in its swears especially since the setting begs for creative ways to swear about the king. ( I also would have loved to see the blood workers and unblooded have different swears ).

- “Clever.” We get told multiple times throughout the book that one of our main characters, Shan, is clever. This is never shown on the page.

That brings me to the main characters.

To start we have Shan LeClaire, A noblewoman and blood worker with a secret spy network where she goes under the name of ”The sparrow.”

The book wants us to think she’s this amazing spymaster, the spider in the web. Sadly every single move she makes is kinda dumb at best. Often making the text and actions contradict themselves. Not only does everyone keep calling her Clever, the name Shan also means “Wise” which the book clearly wants us to think she is. Sadly this is never shown.

- We have multiple scenes where she’s supposed to be undercover and is always in some ridiculous and impractical outfit/ disguise. The first time we see her as “the sparrow” she dons black leather pants and a black corset. An outfit we’re told will help her melt into crowds but also jump over roofs. She also puts a mask on while doing said jumping and takes it off in the crowd. We also see her dress up as a server/dealer in the gambling hell. By putting on a uniform and red lipstick. That's it. When her ex situationship recognises her she expresses shock and confusion.

”And while she slipped between the tables—between the Blood Workers she had grown up with, their brothers and sisters and cousins—not a single one of them recognized her.”
(Shan moments before being recognized)

”but the words died on her lips as she stared into a pair of familiar dark eyes.
“Shan?” Isaac breathed, so low and quiet that she wasn’t sure she heard it at all.
Her heart thudded in her chest—he wasn’t supposed to be here, and, even worse, he wasn’t supposed to recognize her. ”
(Shan moments later when she’s recognized.)

- She does not separate “Lady Shan Leclaire” and ”the sparrow.” We keep seeing her come in her spy garbs when she’s supposed to be * the* Lady Shan Leclair, Sent by the king to investigate. The use of the name is also a bit muddled when they use both her real name and her spy name. It just makes it feel like she’s playing pretend.

- She clearly is supposed to play this perfect lady in society. Like I said before, the book just repeats how demure she is.

- She is half Tagalan, this world's version of the Philippines.


Her politics are downright selfish and stupid. She talks and talks about wanting the unblooded to have rights but clowns on everyone who wants a democracy instead of a monarchy. She thinks revolutions are too violent and very clearly enjoys her own position of power. I will talk more about this later and how it affects the other characters and the plot.


Next, we have our second main character Samuel Aberforth. The Eternal Kings long lost great great great great grandson. He takes the role of the typical heroine we see in a lot of romantasy books. Sadly he mostly embodied the bad sides. While he starts with some sort of personality he very quickly loses it to become a very passive character for the rest of the story.

While I do appreciate the attempt of some sort of gender role reversal with Samuels character the book failed horribly to make him into a likable person. He very quickly falls for both Shan and Isaac but It's hard to see why. He also adopts Shan's disastrous politics making him straight up unlikeable.

He is also described as having this “dark power” inside of him. Making him able to command people with just a word. This is something he fights against for most of the book since he received said powers from his father who used them to rape his mother.

- We do get some odd scenes with these as well.
At one point he and Shan are about to fuck and he accidentally lets his power slip. This is very traumatizing for him but Shan just thinks it's hot. It's just kind of an odd reaction on her part.

“crawling up his throat as a single word tore past his lips—guttural and harsh and not at all him. “Mine.”
Shan locked up in his arms, her dark eyes wide and afraid, and he saw a second too late what had happened. The power he had tried so hard to deny had crept up when he wasn’t looking, when his control had slipped, and Shan slumped against the table, her eyes wide and vacant as she lay there, unresisting, unresponsive, unknowing.”

- Later we get a scene where the king trains Samuel. He wants to test the limits of his powers, to see how his powers can affect the body and not just the mind and the will. The king brings out an assassin who previously tried to kill him. During this scene we see Samuel go from not wanting to do it to straight up telling the man to die because he killed a few people in the process of getting to the king. I guess this could be an attempt at a corruption arc but it feels like his character just is kinda wishy-washy with no strong morals except killing bad ( except when he does it ).

”It’s not my inhibitions that are the problem,” Samuel snapped, with more venom than he intended, but it earned him a smile.
“No, it’s your fool heart.”


” “My heart is the only thing that has kept me from becoming a monster.”

-

”Samuel looked Erik in the eyes. “Do you regret? Their deaths?”
The answer was immediate. Erik didn’t even try to fight it. “No.”
The darkness stirred in his veins, and a single word fell from his lips.
“Die.”

Then we have the love interest for both of them, Isaac Delacruz; the Eternal king's royal bloodworker and Shan's ex.

Isaac is one of the more interesting characters and we’re immediately told he betrayed Shan in the past. This is another weirdly petty thing on Shan's side since the betrayal was him getting a good position, something he clearly could not say no to due to his lower status.

For some reason he still likes Shan and he almost immediately falls for Samuel as well. I don’t understand why honestly and it feels very random. I know the book wants to sell me on romance but it honestly made me feel nothing.

I do think he turned out to be one of the best characters in the end and his POV would have been much more interesting than what we got.

Isaac is also trans which is briefly brought up at a few points.


Then we have the minor characters.

My favorite of the bunch is Anton LeClaire, Shan's twin brother. I think his motivations and story are compelling and he’s just a much more interesting character than his sister.

Anton is born without any magic, a position that puts him in the minority among nobles. This is also Shan's only motivation to help the unblooded. We get to see Anton's frustration with society from a very unique point of view. He can’t get a seat in the House of lords, something he dreamed of since childhood, we see how Shan infantilizes him and refuses to tell him the information he should very much be privy to.

I think Anton's Pov would have been much more interesting than Shan's. Seeing her do things he didn’t ask for and keep secrets he ought to know.

Then there is Bart, Anton's boyfriend Who works for the LeClaires as a secretary. During the night he’s also Shan's “Hawk” in her little spy nest. This character honestly feels unnecessary despite the book telling us he’s important. You could remove him and nothing would change.

In chapter one he does help Shan kill her and Anton's father and this is also something Shan thinks Anton should never get to know. I thought this set him up to be more important but we only get a handful of scenes with him after that, none where he matters or could not be replaced by Literally any generic NPC.

Then we have the eternal king, our very obvious villain. I do think he’s one of the more interesting characters but I still think he could have been handled better.

I would have liked him to be a tad bit more mysterious. He feels so? Casual? And I don’t think that's the vibe the millennium-old eternal king should have.

He does seem pretty reasonable for an evil king though. Very firm on killing traitors ( something that shocks Samuel for some reason. )

Then we have Alessi, a guard, and one of Shan's birds. I'm only mentioning her since she does play quite an importance to the plot.


On to the plot. ( And heavier spoilers. )

- The book starts with Shan killing her father and assuming the role of the family head.

- She then finds Samuel, the long lost heir to the Eternal King's old family line. She brings him into high society and presents him to the king who is seemingly very happy about this.

- This is advertised as a murder mystery and early on Shan and Samuel get tasked with solving a gruesome murder.

- We get one scene as Shan clumsily talks to Alessi when she comes to see the body Alessi begs Shan to hurry up with her plans. She then tastes some blood and then goes home.

- After that, they both seem to forget the murder mystery to instead be horny for each other and Isaac. This is legit like... a huge chunk of the book where they do nothing of importance.

- In this huge chunk, we also get Shan complaining about unblooded wanting rights.

”Anton chewed on his lip. Blood and steel, but when had they grown so distant? He had always been interested in politics and frustrated that he could not actively participate in them because of his Blood, but she never would have pegged him as a democrat.”
( Anton isn’t allowed to go into politics since he’s unblooded and Shan thinks it's shocking that he would be pro-democracy )

”These Unblooded fools protesting in the streets and making their wild demands wouldn’t fix Aeravin. They’d only tear it apart.”
( Shan about very valid protests )

”For me to be King,” he said. “For anyone to be King, actually.”
She wanted to laugh. She wanted to cry. Perhaps she ought to give him a pen and send him off to write pamphlets. “Of course you’re a bleeding democrat.”
( Samuel and Shan talking )

- More murders happen and the only other thing they do to solve this is break in and go through some guy's apartment to find nothing.

- Once again, why is Shan investigating as the sparrow when its lady Shan LeClaire is tasked with it?
When a girl named “Sarah Dean” who worked in the gambling hell is killed they immediately suspect Anton of the killings. Since he happens to frequent the place she worked at. It felt very odd and it just shows how stupid our little duo is. The only connections he had to any victims were this and the fact he bought books from another. Very minimal things to suspect your beloved twin in my opinion.

”but if Anton was the murderer she’d put him down like the rabid dog he’d become.”

- When the king calls them after murder no 5 they're all surprised when he says they did nothing. Because well. They did not investigate. Sure, Shan went off a little on her own and found nothing. But they were specifically tasked as a team to solve the murders.

- The king also knows Shan is the sparrow like yeah with how badly she hides it I’m not surprised.
We then get to know the victims were all slavers / human traffickers who sold out their own kind to the eternal king. In what I think was one of the better scenes in the book.

- Here we also get to know that part of Isaacs's job is to empty the trafficked people of their blood. The blood is then used to fuel the city’s magic witchlights and just in general for the bloodworkers to use for whatever blood workers do.

- The king tells them that the next victim is Probably Isaac and that he will probably be targeted at the big celebration he’s holding the following week.
This finally makes the plot start up again and they decide to actually do some work.

- Shan follows Anton out of the house when he leaves suspiciously. Shan then discovers his secret, He’s a radical democrat.

”So this was it. This was the big secret that he had been working on behind her back. It wasn’t murder, it wasn’t illegal Blood Working. It was these damn radical texts that ranged from speculative to outright seditious”
( Shan finding out )

”In my plan,” Shan said, quietly, “there would be no innocent deaths.”
“There are already innocents dying.” ”
”But rioting is not the answer.”
( Shan )

”He looked up at her and Shan realized that this wasn’t some idle fancy, some fit of righteous passion, that had taken over her brother. No, this was a long-thought-out, carefully crafted plan. A revolution that had grown out of the problems that simmered under Aeravin’s facade.
Problems that even she—the Sparrow, with her dreams of making the country a better place for the Unblooded—had not seen. Had not bothered to look for.
Because she hadn’t truly cared about the Unblooded, not really.”

- In the end, Shan seems to accept this and we move on.

-They don’t find the murderer by the time of the celebration. This is when Isaac reveals it was him and the truth about what the Eternal King has been doing. This makes the unblooded riot for very obvious reasons.

- Shan and Samuel think he is wrong for this and decide they need to capture him.

”I know. But we bring him in, alive, and then we will see what we can do.”

- This is after multiple scenes showing that the king likes to torture traitors.

- We get a scene where the king imposes new laws that give the unblooded even fewer rights.

-Isaac shows up at Samuels's house and tries to talk to him. This does not go well since Samuel is an idiot and a class traitor.

- Isaac then makes Samuel Fall asleep and kidnaps him.

-Shan uses blood magic to stalk and find them and gasp! Alessi is there working with Isaac.

-Isaac manages to remove Samuel "dark powers” and Shan kills Alessi.

”So, yes, we killed to stop the trafficking, to make a point to the King. But we also used those deaths to ensure that we can actually take him down.”
Samuel couldn’t bear looking at Isaac—not after that. “So you are a monster after all.”
( Samuel calling Isaac a monster for killing 5 slavers who are responsible for hundreds, if not thousands of deaths )

”Murderers and slavers! Do you know how many Unblooded they sent to their deaths for just a bit of money? If it gave me the power to help you, isn’t that worth the price?”
“That doesn’t matter.” Samuel pulled at his restraints, a snarl on his lips. “That does not justify it! This kind of Blood Working is still an atrocity!”
( I think this one speaks for itself )

”And what did you do?” Shan said. “But cause death and destruction?”
( once again, he killed 5 slavers to save thousands )

”fueled by the blood of others and Isaac’s delusions.”
( The delusion of wanting equality)

- Isaac escapes but gets captured and Shan gets his job. the end.

Seriously though, the politics in this book are so weird. Shan keeps yapping about wanting change but in reality, she only wants what's good for herself and her family.

I'm not sure what the politics in this book is trying to tell me but I'm pretty sure it thinks revolting against your oppressors makes you just as bad. Which is a dangerous sentiment.

And last but not least. Everything I could not fit into a section before & things I want to elaborate on.

- I'm a huge fan of Necromancy and necromancy-adjacent magic so the blood magic of this book was a major pull for me to buy the book. It was a huge disappointment to discover that the magic is underdeveloped and underused.

The rules for the blood working are kinda vague and I would have loved a better explanation as to what it can do, what the limits are, and what it's used for.

I would have loved to see Shan use it to change her appearance slightly when she did undercover work. Since her disguises clearly failed her.

On the same note, I wish we knew more about what the blood workers do. Maybe some more distinctive titles for different blood worker jobs and such to make society feel more real. It just feels a bit muddled since everyone who can use it calls themselves a blood worker but it also seems to be an actual job.

- The fashion. I like when fantasy books at least try to have some sort of ground in reality when it comes to the clothes but this book is all over the place.

We don’t really get any societal rules when it comes to hair and fashion. What’s appropriate? What’s appropriate for different social classes?

The book also seems to forget the few rules it set up. One of the first dresses we see is sleeveless so Shan will be able to move her arms freely for blood work. Something the book never really mentions again.
Ngl I think the author just has bad taste and a minimal understanding of historical fashion.

”She loved her gowns and her dresses, she truly did, but such outfits did not help her move through Dameral at any kind of respectable speed. So, she slipped into her leather breeches and corset, strapped an unholy number of knives to her person, and covered it all with a dark cloak, thankful the nights were still cool enough for such an outfit. ”

”Her dress was short—scandalously so—and the bodice was little more than a tight corset with decorative lace frills. It was black as midnight, studded with fake diamonds that would catch in the light. And around her neck, she wore a simple necklace in the shape of a bird in flight—a sparrow for a Sparrow.”

- The underuse of Tagalan culture for Shan and Anton was honestly just a waste. We’re told very early on that their heritage is important to them, it clearly impacts their lives in multiple ways but we only get to see it in very vague racism aimed at Shan ( where she gets told she’s one of the good ones ) and the food they eat.

The book could easily have included more of Shan's feelings about other aspects of the culture like language. Does she speak it? Understand it? Is she fully alienated from it? It would have been great to include a scene with some of her birds being Tagalan to show how she would interact with them. I just think it would add so much more life to the setting.

- All Shans close connections are men. I think it could have added quite a lot to have maybe one important woman shan was actually friends with.

Like seriously the only woman she talks to is Alessi and she kills her.

Making the only trans character the ”bad guy” is kinda odd even if he’s right. Free Isaac, my man did Nothing wrong.


My conclusion to this is truly just don’t bother reading this book. It’s not worth it.

[K.M. Enright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hello!

Now that ARCs are available to request, I decided to come over here to list out the CWs.

MISTRESS OF LIES contains sensitive material, including but not limited to: explicit sexual content, murder, patricide, gore, blood magic and bloodletting for purposes of magic, discussion of racism and classism, mentions of rape.

There is a scene of explicit sexual content with a trans masculine character. Please note that trans people use a variety of different words to describe our bodies, for reasons as varied as there are trans people. The words used to describe Isaac’s body are the ones that he finds comfortable and validating, even though they may not be the words that every trans masculine person would choose.

There is no transphobia, misgendering, or deadnaming.

Happy Reading!

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 Stars
Video Review https://youtu.be/MpVgI5x-87A

I enjoyed this dark fantasy story. I found the characters and the story to be quite compelling. The story was not entirely unexpected but it felt complex and well executed. I enjoyed the darker aspects to this story.

This is the first in a series and I would definitely read more I would recommend this one to readers looking for a well written fantasy debut.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

[Bethany (Beautifully Bookish Bethany) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was great!! Dark political fantasy with a true love triangle that has the potential to be polyamorous and morally grey characters engaged in blood magic and revolution. Mistress of Lies is a book about power, class, love, and what is worth the cost for political revolution. Set in a world where the elite are able to use ingested blood to perform magic and everyone else is an oppressed lower class, we follow three main characters.

Shan is a powerful blood worker from a disgraced family determined to claw her way to power with a network of spies. She discovers Samuel, bastard of a noble with a dark secret. What he doesn't know, is he is actually the only living descendant of their immortal king... Then there is Isaac, the royal blood worker with split loyalties. He and Shan have a romantic past, but he betrayed her. And there are sparks flying among all three of them. But there are also plots to overthrow the despotic ruler, and poor people turning up dead and drained of blood.

I loved this and think a lot of other people will as well. Isaac is a trans man and all three of the main characters read as queer in some way but it's fairly normalized. They are complicated people and love is not necessarily what's most important to any of them. The ending is kind of devastating and I'm so interested to see what happens in book 2. If you're looking for darker political fantasy with steamy romantic elements you should definitely try this! I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher, all opinions are my own.

[blank ⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm nothing if not a supporter of women's wrongs, so with Mistress of Lies opening up how with does I was bound to have a great time.
I loved Shan's complexity, the slow peeling back of layers to reveal what she does for the people she cares about (although admittedly she does make a few questionable decisions for a spymaster at times), and how well her personality worked with Samuel's, at times so different from one another and yet so similar, but Isaac, I'll admit, is my favorite out of the three, and I'm very curious to see what the author does with them next because Mistress of Lies lays opens up so many juicy possibilities.
The take on vampires and blood magic felt refreshing and was one of my favorite aspects of this book, though the magic-system was a bit hard to follow at times, mostly since there didn't seem to be too many set rules, and sometimes I got the sense that characters got certain abilities because it was convenient. I have one major issue with something that happens with one of the character's powers because for the build-up it got it was resolved a lot quicker and easier than I expected, but I won't go too much into that because of spoilers.
Mistress of Lies will likely appeal to readers who greatly enjoy character-driven stories and don't mind too much when the plot isn't as tight as it could be, which is where I happen to sit.
The vibes and viciousness were on point.

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit for the ARC.

[Jo⁷ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for providing a digital review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was one of the books I’d been looking forward to the most, but it wasn’t anything like I expected. I knew there was going to be romance, but I didn’t think it was going to take up so much page time. The time spent on Shan, Samuel, and Isaac should’ve been spent on the very non-existent world building and character development. Even with all the time spent with our main characters, none of them grow or learn at all. Samuel gave golden retriever energy so I liked him well enough, but Isaac was bland and if I’m being honest, I didn’t like Shan at all. She’s supposed to be a spymaster, but made some really stupid decisions throughout the book.

This book also suffers from the curse of telling and not showing. There were so many conversations and so much inner dialogue that was unnecessary. Just write a cool scene, just put some world building in. Give us something outside of these four locations and let us use our brains; I promise we have them. Mistress of Lies was so promising. It could’ve been something really special if it’d stuck to the story rather than the romance.

[Billie's Not So Secret Diary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mistress of Lies
by K.M. Enright
The Age of Blood #1
Fantasy Political
NetGalley eARC
Pub Date: Aug 13, 2024
Orbit Books
Ages: 18+

Shan LeClaire is the daughter of a disgraced Blood Worker, and under his strict and abusive control, she perfected her blood magic and built a network of spies under the name Sparrow all to protect her twin brother who was not born with Blood Magic, an Unblooded. With the death of her father, Shan's plan to fix the system, while still years away, begins in earnest, but when she finds Samuel Hutchinson, a bastard born with a terrible gift, who is a key to her plot, she promises to help him protect the Unblooded. He agrees to help her with her goals, even though he knows he is only a pawn in her game.

But the Eternal King orders them, and his Royal Blood Worker, Isaac, to find the identity of the killer who is mutilating the unblooded, so to stop the unrest among the Unblooded.


Politics... Political games... That's what this book is. One woman's game to change a corrupt system. Rich vs. Poor.

It's not a bad story, it does move at a good pace, but I got bored because it's all politics with hardly any action, so there's a lot of 'telling' because there's really nothing to 'show'. The idea of blood magic and the hint of vampires grabbed my attention, but I would not call these magic users vampires.

Maybe in the next book there will be more 'vampiric' activities, but not in this one. (Though, I don't remember the word vampire ever being used to describe them in the story.) The blurb is a little misleading when it says she is 'bloodthirsty' with the word 'vampire' in the same sentence. She's not as in the definition that she needs blood to survive.

Also, the magic system wasn't really explained, the story was about the politics, the Unblooded being controlled and by the Blooded; Communism.

Then there was the porn because that's the fad nowadays. And it lost a star because of it. I don't care about romance, that's a part of life, but those kinds of details should be left to the imagination. So because of this, it's only suitable for readers 18+, if it had been left out readers a few years younger could've read it, but alas...

The author did do a really good job creating the MC. She has layers to her personality, but the other characters not so much. Samuel needs more since he is a key in helping her achieve her goals, and Isaac was a little flat as was her brother.

Will I read the next one? Only if I can get it on the cheap.

A very low...

3 Stars

[Zana]

DNF @ 46%

It was a lot of political scheming and I didn't care enough about any of the characters to see what would happen next. I kept having to rewind my audiobook because it couldn't catch my attention. The worldbuilding also felt minimal.

[Sava (Fang Runin’s version)]

Who did the author sell soul to in order to get this cover?

[Svea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh how much I wanted to absolutely love this novel. Mistress of Lies was a really anticipated read of mine, but sadly, it couldn't quite give me what I wanted from it.
I did like some of what it was doing. The characters are generally interesting, the setting and its politics very on the nose but still intriguing, and the writing style is easy to read. There are some great aestheticts, too. The themes are important, be it the racism two of our main three characters have to endure or the abuse of power by an authoritarian regime, headed by a godlike dictator.

Sadly, I feel like none of these themes were explored fully or with any nuance. The main conflict between the powerful ruling class, the Bloodworkers, and the poor and abused Unblooded seems superficial, mostly because the Bloodworkers are almost comically evil. There is much more nuance to systems of power like these, but it isn't explored at all. There's barely any world-building. The central plot is basically a murder mystery, but it never really felt important at all. Much more time was spent on the relationship between the three big characters, Shan, Samuel and Isaac. And sadly, the romance between them is just... not good. It's incredibly instalusty from all sides and there is no emotional, romantic chemistry between any of them. This is partly to blame on the pacing and the book's probably biggest issue: it's incredibly heavy on the tell-don't-show.
We are told constantly how brilliant of a spymaster Shan is, but her actions very much show otherwise. If you want me to believe a character is so terrifyingly good at something, you have to show them being terrifyingly good at that thing or I just don't believe you.
We are told constantly how Samuel's training progresses, but because there are time jumps of a few weeks like every next page we see none of it.
We are told constantly how the relationship between the three has developed but we aren't shown any of it because of aforementioned time jumps and all-over-the-place writing.
We are told constantly how abused the Unblooded are and how the ruling class treats them, but we feel very little of it because we are only shown very few scenes in between of how they actually live and what the Bloodworker rule means for their lives and how all this anger they feel developed.

All of this means that I didn't feel any emotional attachment to any of the characters nor was I emotionally involved in what was happening. There's more I didn't enjoy, but these come down to very personal dislikes and wasted potential. All in all, I really had high hopes for this one, but stark pacing and plot issues, easy but simplistic writing that I just personally didn't vibe with, forgettable characters and an overabundance of telling instead of showing made me just not enjoy my time with it.

Many thanks to Orbit and Netgalley for the arc!

[Mel (Epic Reading) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m rounding up… this is like 4.3 stars and I’m rounding up because the concepts, triad, and other blood (vampiric but also not) elements. I want to say it’s perfect, but that would be a lie. It has some minor flaws, but so do many books I rate 5 stars. Usually because they speak to me, connect with me, or are just macabre enough to be my kind of thing. Mistress of Lies is one of those. I’ve read a lot of books, and a lot of paranormal vampire books (as well as even more fantasy books) over the years; but none of those vampiresque books have ever been quite as distinct as Mistress of Lies.

I was having trouble finding reading time at first, and as the book progressed I realized that I loved the dynamic between our three characters so much I was savouring it. Then the last 50 pages was intense, wild, and so great I stayed up to 3am to read it!
In fairness, I may also be obsessed with the lack of focus on sexuality or gender conformity in the bedroom. As a bisexual woman there are just attractive people to me. What pieces they have is not relevant. I love the way Enright quickly portrays this message to readers and keeps it consistent throughout. Our characters don’t ever get hung up on liking a man or a woman, just people, no gender specifics needed. It’s refreshing and a huge boon for me to read characters who think about romantic partners in a way close to how I do.

As for plot, we have a lot of it. I am proud to say I called who the murderer was about halfway through. I didn’t guess the whole set-up; but definitely had a moment when I was sure it was a certain person. A few wrenches thrown in had me doubting myself at times, well played Enright, but in the end being correct when I was tickled me a little bit. (lol) It’s important to note that I didn’t feel cheap having sorted it out early which was really great and a nice change to how I usually feel about murder mystery type plots.

The cake was iced for me when I randomly stumbled upon an Illuminate crate exclusive in my home city for an amazing price! Beautiful sprayed edges, gilded hardcover, and amazing artwork front and back means I now have the perfect copy of this. The ultimate praise I can ever give a book is to add it to my personal physical library, and to add a fancy version is even better.

Who will like this?
Well you need to be okay: with unique romantic arrangement’s, with macabre magic involving blood and/or a sense of sacrifice, with questionable morality, and kings whom are almost likeable even if slightly evil. There’s a lot to unpack here and I just cannot wait for book 2!

Final thought:
If you read the opening two chapters and are turned off by the ceremony the King takes part in the public square then please be forewarned this slightly gothic, fairly bloody (not gory… but blood sacrific-y) book is not likely to be for you. If instead you’re intrigued, and wanting to know more then please read on and enjoy this unique fantasy (almost but not quite) vampire book with flawed characters I think you’ll get caught up in. I know I did!

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

[Panda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nope.

Unfortunate selection of grouped words.

[mace · Rating 1 out of 5]

When I started this book, I was genuinely convinced it was going to be my new favorite thing. It has a lot of ingredients I enjoy in fantasy books; a cool magic system (blood magic!), a magical murder mystery, a central queer polyamorous romance, a trans love interest written by a trans author, and a group of people working to take down systems of oppression. Unfortunately, I didn't end up vibing with the way the book was written.

There are two central POV characters in this book. The first one is Shan, who steps into the title of Lady after murdering her father. She's a member of a disgraced aristocratic family, but also secretly runs a spy network as the Sparrow. The second is Samuel, a normal, poor citizen, whose life is suddenly upended when he comes across a murder scene through a series of events following that discovery, finds out he's the heir to an ancient bloodline. This also leads to the main characters crossing paths.

The country these characters live in, Aeravin, is divided into two classes: those with blood magic, the Blood Workers, and those without, the Unblooded. The latter class are oppressed and treated horribly by the former, especially because they don't have anything to match their blood magic. The worldbuilding was fine, nothing groundbreakingly original, but it served its purpose for this story.

My main problem with this book lies with the characters and the central plot. I couldn't stand Shan in the slightest. We're constantly told she's very perceptive and smart, but instead of focusing on the murder mystery she's supposed to be solving with Samuel, she's distracted by Bridgerton-esque high society balls and events, as well as her love interests. She also believes that the Eternal King, who's of course very evil, should be replaced with another king in the form of Samuel, who turns out to be a distant descendant of the Eternal King. She's a monarchist who believes the Unblooded should get more rights, but still wants a new Blood Worker king. Yeah. Many of the side characters challenge her monarchist beliefs and her blindness to the true suffering of the Unblooded, but we're still as readers forced to spend an entire book watching Shan realize how blind and privileged she is. Mind you, this woman runs a spy network full of Unblooded spies who tell her about the things happening to their class. I simply couldn't stand her character arc, nor the way we were told she was very perceptive, even though she was incredibly blind and privileged.

Then there is Samuel, who does want to reform the entire country, but is instantly obsessed with Shan and does literally whatever she asks of him. He becomes exactly the Lord that Shan wants him to be and also loses track of what actually matters—finding out who's killing Unblooded and standing up for their rights. I couldn't stand the way his entire personality seemed to vanish at times, purely because of his feelings for a person who doesn't even share his ideals.

Then there's Isaac, the king's Royal Blood Worker, basically his personal assistant, but also much more, as we discover towards the end of the book. He's the third person in the central polyam triad, yet also the only one without a POV. I understand, for plot reasons, why he didn't have one, but I still was disappointed by that, because he was by far the most interesting character to me. There's a kindness and dedication in him that was refreshing to see, but it was also incredibly clear that he had a lot to hide.

The central plot is a mix between romantic buildup and the characters going to various places to find out more about who's killing Unblooded. The problem for me was that neither storyline managed to capture my attention. No progress in the murder mystery investigation is made until the final portion of the book, and the romantic buildup felt somewhat empty to me. My favorite bonding scenes were those between Samuel and Isaac, but we didn't nearly get enough of those compared to scenes between Shan and both men individually. I didn't personally like Shan's dynamic with either Samuel or Isaac, so that was a great disappointment to me.

I would like to give credit where it's due; I really did like Shan's twin brother Anton and his scenes with Shan and Samuel. I almost wish he'd also gotten a POV, considering we find out he has his own (very interesting) hidden agenda and an interesting dynamic with several of the central characters. I also would've loved to learn more about his boyfriend, Bart, who also happened to be Shan's second-in-command within her spy network.

All in all, this book was a massive disappointment for me. I didn't like the POV characters, the central romance, or the magical murder mystery. I considered giving this book more than 1 star because I believe craft-wise, it's genuinely not a bad book, but unfortunately the way everything came together was a big disappointment to me personally, hence the 1-star rating.

Disclaimer: I was provided with a free eARC by Orbit UK through NetGalley for reviewing purposes.

[fatma]

DNF at 10%

sorry but the writing is...Not Good, and everything suffers as a result: the characters feel juvenile, the characterization is flat, the dialogue is contrived and doesn't flow. had high hopes for this (that cover!!!) but this is very much Not For Me.

[Ninni · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ah yes, because the best way to dismantle an oppressive system is to obediently follow the dictator’s every whim.

But seriously, I couldn’t stand Shan. She’s a terrible character—not just in terms of her actions but also in how she’s written. Despite being framed as the heroic protagonist, she’s more of an enabler and seems to enjoy playing the role of the oppressed when it suits her. Samuel’s character arc is a disastrous attempt at a rags-to-riches story, and he’s far too passive and falls into Shan’s naive “No violence” approach. No, Shan, revolutions don’t happen by obeying the law.

Honestly, the only characters who made any sense were Anton and Isaac—and look how that turned out.

[Ladz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read an early blurb copy
Content warning: patricide, blood, insurrection, body horror, self-harm for magic use, vomiting, murder, dead bodies

My official blurb as Ladz author of The Fealty of Monsters on the Hachette site for the book:

“Mistress of Lies is a honey trap of romance and royaltycore that leaves no corroded stone unturned when delving into the corruption at the heart of monarchy.”

Decadent in a way that honors both its vampire horror and fantasy romance roots, Mistress of Lies tells the story of a young woman who brings a bastard with a deadly gift to get into the good graces of the centuries’ old despot, the Eternal King. While navigating the cut-throat world of Blood Worker politics, there’s a killer on the loose taking advantage of every bit of political tension throughout Dameral, pushing the city ever closer to revolution and civil war.

This post is going to be a moment where my author self and my reader self will overlap, because this truly is the romantasy of all time.

This book manages to straddle three different genres perfectly. There’s romance, there’s mystery, and there’s fantasy. The romance central to the series is between Shan, Isaac, and Samuel, at different levels of romantic heat. Shan and Samuel, having just met in this first volume, burns faster than Samuel and Isaac, with not as much of the angst as the exes-to-lovers that is Shan and Isaac. The plot does not move at all without the tension between these three, and the pay-off with how that romance meshes with the mystery and the fantasy is so tasty.

Tugging at the strings connecting those three vectors of attraction is the mystery that propels the story. A spate of murders among the Unblooded, citizens who cannot perform Blood Work (i.e. magic), lead to increased panic, whispers revolt, and even more tyranny from the ruling classes. The politics in this are so twisty, and it’s so fun to see Shan be a sexy, ambitious young woman attempting to restore her family’s name and learning the hard way that political rot cannot be undone with the elimination of one despot. The aesthetics lure into the reader into an anti-monarchy trance, which makes this read absolutely delightful for those who love villain protagonists.

On the fantasy side, if you want dark magic and court intrigue, it lies at the heart of both plots. This is a secondary world with all the trappings of magic casually used throughout all of society, including in gender-affirming medicine and transition as depicted through Isaac’s POV.

Mistress is a decadent, multi-faceted delight of a romantasy whose revolution is just getting started, and I’m so excited for everyone to experience it for the first time.

[vivian · Rating 2 out of 5]

dnf @ 62%

Mistress of Lies started out promising at first with Shan taking over as the new LeClaire heir and with a strong desire to fix her late father’s long list of mistakes that pulled the family apart. But shortly after that the book went into a steady decline that eventually lead to me putting the book down. As a connoisseur of slow burn, the promise of slow burn mentioned in the tropes got me excited. To my disappointment, this was a prime example of a blow torch burn, an incinerating romance that spells insta-lust/love. The characters could not get their hands off of each other and somehow there was a need to add one spicy scene before a turning point in the plot (with a subscript p).

What I did like: I enjoyed the inner turmoil that Samuel is facing as he found himself caught in the court intrigue. He is one of the few characters who actually sees there is a major concern for the non blood workers (people without blood magic) and their living conditions. I also liked the bits of Tagalan culture brought in for Shan, her twin brother and for Isaac but I wanted more! I thought the costume designs were interesting, especially blood workers wearing silver claws on their fingers.

What didn't work for me: There were countless out of character moments and their interactions felt very much like check-the-box and call it a day solutions. Samuel has trust issues around people like Shan and Isaac with his newfound status. At times it was evident. But there would be random moments where he would change his mind suddenly without informing us as to why. I also could not see any chemistry between Shan, Isaac, and Samuel. I’m a little more forgiving for Isaac and Shan for their past history with each other. But girl, why are you giving him a second chance if he broke your heart in the first place. And Samuel, oh Samuel. I wish I can tell you with confidence if he is just insanely touch starved or he just easily gets the hots for people. Either way he needs to make up his mind. Because the book is so focused on the relationship between the three of them more so than the plot, I became bored with the prolonged unanswered questions. My last dislike is the lack of world building and the underdeveloped magic system. There was very little mention on how blood magic works and the scale of the ability, which makes it frustrating to follow in the book when it is such a huge part of the world building.

I’m glad there’s an audience for this book but unfortunately it didn’t work for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit Books for the ARC!

[Andi]

I like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me a chance at jumping into a new series.

You remember when Game of Thrones was pitched? "Fantasy for people who don't like fantasy?" Well, how about a vampire story / series for people who don't like Vampires?

This is that book. I am pretty bummed on how much I was not enjoying this. I made it 75% through and I just threw in the towel.

The plot of this book is pretty simple. Girl kills her abhorrent father in chapter one. She gains his rights to court and the money of the estate. She takes care of her brother who has no 'blood talent'. Some vampires have talents they use. And that's as vampire-ish they get. They're pretty, sure. They live long lives, yeah. But what do they do? Absolutely 100% nothing. Call them everything BUT vampires.

There are people who are ... vampires ... and there are people who are ... vampires ... but without blood powers. Those without powers are poorer and that's where the focus of our story comes in. Apparently there is a poor vampire who has powers, is the last remaining family line of the Vampire ruler, and our girl finds him. She wants to use him to get closer to the king of vampires and do away with him.

Our pal who is a ... vampire ... doesn't want to use his powers and doesn't want to be rich and etc. He wants to speak up for the people and go about his merry way. Oh, and he develops a crush on this gal who tells him who he really is. ... He also develops a crush on her ex-boyfriend, who now works for the king as the second in command.

The book is just political scheming and romance, very little plot or agency as to why these people are dying and or the reason / world building of why things are the way they are. What is this world like outside this city? What is the backstory? Why don't we see more of this political uprising? Why are we more obsessed over who is fucking who?

That was why I had to dip out of the book. I just stopped caring. Next time, a book about vampires needs to have more than just vague blood powers and immortality. I want to see some fangs, death, and real bloodbaths.

[Ally · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got an arc from the publisher

Oh this is WILD and I loved every minute of it. Absolutely decadent and blood soaked and not for the faint of heart, if you like terrible people doing schemes and kissing each other then this is the book for you