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adventurous
challenging
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicide
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Okayyyyy this was GOOD!! I was a little intimidated going into this – high fantasy, really long book, from an author I’d never read… But, turns out, the book is just really fun!
There is A LOT going on in this story – orphaned prince of a colonized nation hiding his identity in the middle of the colonizers, being adopted by an important man who wants him to work as a spy, an academy full of secrets and cutthroat students, a cast system based on draining people’s energy through magic, a secret rebellion, a bunch of political intrigue – and the author managed to make all these storylines blend PERFECTLY!
The story was compelling the whole way through, and I’m reeeally excited to see where the story goes!
Vis was a great MC. He’s a bit of a Special Boy ™ (being super good at fighting and managing to rank up in the academy fairly easily), which could be annoying, but honestly I didn’t mind. His past training as a prince + the fighting he was doing for money as an orphan made it make sense, to me. I liked that he was curious and smart, so that I was never annoyed by him lol.
Callidus and Eidhin were great friends, and Aequa was probably one of the most intriguing SCs! I wish we’d seen more of her… Can’t wait to see more of these characters in book 2! 🙂↕️
Emissa, however, was kind of meh….. 😕 She just wasn’t that interesting, to me, and her romance with Vis was super boring. It doesn’t take up much of the story, so I didn’t mind, but I’m kinda sad that the author lost the opportunity of making the romance more interesting. It felt like Emissa was only in the book to serve as Love Interest ™; there was nothing much to her. Vis’ relationships with Eidhin and Aequa were much more compelling, and would’ve made for a much better romance!When, near the end, Emissa stabs Vis, I was actually SOOOOOO EXCITED! I thought it would turn out that Emissa was actually just manipulating Vis and getting him to be on her side so she could exploit him, since he was so good in every class. But noooooooooo. 🙄🙄🙄 I’m pretty sure that she’ll have a good excuse for what she did, which means that the author won’t actually use her character in an interesting way. Boooooooooooo! There is soooo much potential there! + If she doesn’t end up being the LI, we could put Vis with a character he has actual chemistry with… But alas. 😒
Anyways. That was genuinely my only complaint! Overall, I really liked this book! And the audiobook was sooooo good, too! I definitely recommend this!
There is A LOT going on in this story – orphaned prince of a colonized nation hiding his identity in the middle of the colonizers, being adopted by an important man who wants him to work as a spy, an academy full of secrets and cutthroat students, a cast system based on draining people’s energy through magic, a secret rebellion, a bunch of political intrigue – and the author managed to make all these storylines blend PERFECTLY!
The story was compelling the whole way through, and I’m reeeally excited to see where the story goes!
Vis was a great MC. He’s a bit of a Special Boy ™ (being super good at fighting and managing to rank up in the academy fairly easily), which could be annoying, but honestly I didn’t mind. His past training as a prince + the fighting he was doing for money as an orphan made it make sense, to me. I liked that he was curious and smart, so that I was never annoyed by him lol.
Callidus and Eidhin were great friends, and Aequa was probably one of the most intriguing SCs! I wish we’d seen more of her… Can’t wait to see more of these characters in book 2! 🙂↕️
Emissa, however, was kind of meh….. 😕 She just wasn’t that interesting, to me, and her romance with Vis was super boring. It doesn’t take up much of the story, so I didn’t mind, but I’m kinda sad that the author lost the opportunity of making the romance more interesting. It felt like Emissa was only in the book to serve as Love Interest ™; there was nothing much to her. Vis’ relationships with Eidhin and Aequa were much more compelling, and would’ve made for a much better romance!
Anyways. That was genuinely my only complaint! Overall, I really liked this book! And the audiobook was sooooo good, too! I definitely recommend this!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Xenophobia, Death of parent, Colonisation
Minor: Suicide
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Torture, Medical content
Minor: Xenophobia, Vomit
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Twists and turns everywhere!
World building is intriguing and easy to understand. The first pages hooked me and it has not let me go since.
The plot development is super intense and interesting, not wrongly paced at all. Main character Vis/Diago is easy to root for. Both him and the reader will be kept on their toes all throughout the journey. There were multiple occasions where I was just flabbergasted as the main character. The audacity of some characters.
"And if that were the case, you would be more a liability than asset."
The ruthless truth, it's just damned we're in this situation to begin with! It seems we were both strung along this wild rollercoaster. Vis/Diago seems have been used as a mere pawn by about everyone and now he has lost everything once again!
"I'm going to make sure you burn for this."
I surely hope you do! I will cheer in celebration once its done.
World building is intriguing and easy to understand. The first pages hooked me and it has not let me go since.
The plot development is super intense and interesting, not wrongly paced at all. Main character Vis
"And if that were the case, you would be more a liability than asset."
The ruthless truth, it's just damned we're in this situation to begin with! It seems we were both strung along this wild rollercoaster. Vis/Diago seems have been used as a mere pawn by about everyone and now he has lost everything once again!
"I'm going to make sure you burn for this."
I surely hope you do! I will cheer in celebration once its done.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicide, Stalking, Gaslighting
Minor: Vomit, Religious bigotry
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Blood, Classism
Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, War
adventurous
dark
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book deserves its unbelievably high average rating. It is so enthralling from start to finish. Even the slower plot arcs are fascinating because we get to be in Vis’ head, and Vis is a literal genius and an astoundingly good spy. He kind of reminds me of Light Yagami from Death Note but if Light had… morality. I love hearing him pick apart everyone’s body language and all the games they are playing, rising to the occasion even if he is the one being played with. There were so many layers of lies and espionage that I can’t even keep track of them. While the book was long, the plot never felt slow. If I had to give some other comp titles I’d say: Harry Potter, the Hunger Games, and Percy Jackson and the Heroes of Olympus. I’m so glad to have another book to put in the annals of epic YA fantasy (though this one is definitely on the dark and gruesome side for YA).
I eventually figured out that Callidus was going to die but that didn’t make it hurt less. Did NOT see the Emissa thing coming though. How I am going to wait until November for book 2 is anyone’s guess.
I eventually figured out that Callidus was going to die but that didn’t make it hurt less. Did NOT see the Emissa thing coming though. How I am going to wait until November for book 2 is anyone’s guess.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Suicide, Torture
adventurous
challenging
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There are popcorn books and there are 3 course dinner books. This one was like a Flintstones size bone-in ribeye: MEATY. There was so much going on and so much ground being covered, but no fluff - every interaction moved the plot along, every scene revealed some new information, everything that was planted had an important payoff.
My only issue is how good at everything Vis is. He tells us how impossible a task is or how bad a plan is, and then always manages to complete it. The stakes never feel super high because we're just watching him succeed.
My only issue is how good at everything Vis is. He tells us how impossible a task is or how bad a plan is, and then always manages to complete it. The stakes never feel super high because we're just watching him succeed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Suicide, Vomit, Grief, Classism
Minor: Slavery, Torture, Excrement, Death of parent
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
An ancient Roman Empire inspired fantastical, dark academia, spy thriller adventure. Thoroughly enjoyed the twists and shifting allegiances, to keep you guessing. I was strongly invested in the outcome the characters. The next in the series comes out in November 2025… so glad I don’t have to wait too long to get the more of the story
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Classism
Minor: Gore, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma