Web of Vows and Vengeance is the first in a dark, spicy slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romantasy series, perfect for fans of Fourth Wing, The Serpent and the Wings of the Night, and Throne of Glass.
Stripped of power. Fueled by vengeance.
She lost everything because of his lie. Now the only way to save her sister is to win a deadly competition that could cost her the only thing she has left: her life.
When Prince Kyor twisted the truth about his mother’s death, Rose paid the price. Her family was stripped of their magic, cast into the slums, and abandoned by the kingdom they once served. Now her parents are gone, and her younger sister’s future hangs in the balance.
Rose’s only hope is the Tournament of the Gifting, a brutal competition held once a century, where the victor earns a blessing from the Goddess of Life. The catch? Every other contender wields the very power she was robbed of.
And Prince Kyor is among them. Commander of the armies. Rider of a bonded dire wolf. Wielder of lightning. He doesn’t just want to win for vanity – he wants the gift for himself. But what could a man who has it all possibly want?
Thrown into a world of magic, monsters, and merciless trials, Rose must fight not only for survival but for the chance to reclaim her future. Along the way, she’ll find unlikely allies, ruthless rivals, and a dangerous connection with her greatest enemy – one that could ruin or remake her.
The world building in this is perfect, we are shown, and not told what everything is like. We start in the slums with Rose and her sister Acacia. Wrohelm is set up in a ring system with the slums being the outer ring. Travel up to a higher ring is withheld from Rose because of her station. To even enter the trials she must sneak into the temple of Etta, make her plea to the Goddess of Life, and sneak back out. There is no guarantee she'll even be chosen. Not really spoiler; she is one of the chosen and is brought back to the High Hold where the Retterheld takes place. There she meets the other Rettlings, the son of a family friend among them, Jonas. She also quickly meets another Rettling who is out for blood and has already eliminated two other's she's deemed runts. Rose quickly learns the Retterhelm is as much about alliances as it is personal strength and dedication. She befriends a group of Rettlings that have come from the Eastern Isles. The found family in this book is some of the best I've ever read. The side characters are developed well and the relationships that form are relatable and dynamic. As it says in the blurb, Prince Kyor who was responsible for Rose's family's downfall is also in the Retterhelm. This creates delicious tension as Rose finds herself inexorably drawn to Kyor right from the beginning. She hates herself at first for being remotely intrigued by him in the slightest. Rose discovers that Kyor may not be what she thought he was. His father, King Korvane, is a cruel narcissistic dickbag, which is more or less known throughout the kingdom. His cruelty runs very deep and I assure you, you'll hate him by the end of the book. This is a tense emotional roller coaster and I absolutely loved it. Rose is a great FMC, she's genuinely smart, strong and fierce. I didn't find her grating or annoying at any point in the book. She never plays victim of her circumstances, she has a plan to get her magic back, restore her family name and protect her sister. She has a plan B in case she doesn't win the gifting at the end of the trials. I loved that for her. This is a spicy novel and a really nicely done one at that. A large part of my enjoyment of it had to do with the narration by Anthony Palmini. He absolutely nailed Kyor's dark, broody but totally obsessiveness with Rose. I also loved how he voiced Benny the defacto leader of the Easter Isle Rettling group. (I'm still not convinced only two people narrated this book.) These two narrators will be doing the next three books as well. This book has very quickly gone to the top of the list of great books I will be obsessing over.
I only have one small beef with this book. This will involve a spoiler so read on at your own discretion. Rose is extremely protective of her younger sister Acacia (Kay). She watches out for her in the slums, pays off someone to get her reputable safe jobs. When Rose enters the trials she arranges for Kay to go live with Jonas's father Artur so she remains safe while Rose isn't there to protect her. She also has a backup plan for Kay to stay with someone she trusted in the slums incase Artur can't or won't take her in. So my beef is this. There is a form of birth control in this world, a tonic, that is ingested. In fact Rose is taking it herself. Kay is 18 and Rose learns during the trials that Kay might or might not be messing around with someone. Kay is not taking the tonic. Why didn't Rose have her on it, or talk about that with her, its something that can be made. As one can imagine Kay ends up pregnant and the father of the child won't do "the right thing". In the Court to have a child outside of wedlock gets the woman stripped of her magic and thrown down in the slums. It happened with another Rettling's older sister. This is a major plot point and I'm leaving out another specific detail about this on purpose. So why, by the goddess, when the stakes were this high, didn't Rose protect Kay when she could have with the tonic. Especially when throughout the entire book Rose's main focus was her sister's protection and future. It's the damn pregnancy trope and I know exactly why everyone hates it, cuz I do too. Realistically its a minor beef on an overall fabulous book but that detail really grinds my gears. It's part of why the ending is such a punch in the gut.
Okay spoiler over. If you like enemies to lover, found family, forced proximity, deadly trails and a badass FMC, this book is for you! Go check out the audio if you can, it was such an immersive experience. Happy reading.
-Q
Comments
Post a Comment