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4.32 AVERAGE
4.32 AVERAGE
This book has a good pace to it and all three characters are likeable and related.
It personally wasn't for me as I prefer more plot based books rather than character driven. I kept forgetting who's POV I was reading as it kept changing often.
Overall a well written book. If you love character driven books then definitely read..
It personally wasn't for me as I prefer more plot based books rather than character driven. I kept forgetting who's POV I was reading as it kept changing often.
Overall a well written book. If you love character driven books then definitely read..
emotional
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:
Yes
Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review; so there i was, pulling a lever labeled “casual romantasy with medieval vibes” and five seconds later I was free-falling into my feelings, screaming “WRONG LEVER, KRONK!!” …Or was it?
Because this book? I absolutely loved it!!
From the very first page, I was hooked on this broken, brooding, banter-filled trio. We’ve got:
👑 Jory, the princess being politically pawned off to a rival kingdom
⚔️ Ky, the warrior king who just wants to save his people and maybe banter his way into someone’s heart
🗡 Asher, the assassin who’s sworn himself to protect her, quietly dying inside because he knows he’ll never be able to claim her
And the chemistry? It popped off the page faster than I could say “diplomatic tension.” That first meeting between Jory and Ky had me grinning in public like a fool. It was the exact type of witty, sharp, flirty banter that I craved! By the time I hit 25% I was already obsessed. Like, fully feral and rearranging my plans in order to continue reading obsessed.
Now, I will say: the story developed a bit differently than I expected (hello back-to-back chaos!), and things did slow down around the midpoint. But the emotional depth and how intimately we get into each character’s head made up for it in spades. Three POVs might sound like a lot, but it never felt overwhelming! Asher especially had my whole heart. His trauma, his fierce loyalty, his quiet hope even when he’s convinced he’ll always be on the outside?
“He’s broken too. He’s just broken in a different way.”
Sir, please stop it I’m already sobbing!
AND THEN!! The 90% mark hits and suddenly the spice level goes from “slow burn” to flaming inferno. I was literally reading the scene at a McDonald’s and had to put my Kindle down before the ice cream machine wasn’t the only thing breaking because of overheating. It was THAT good!!
Warrior Princess Assassin is a beautiful, emotional, occasionally stabby ride through trauma, healing, loyalty, and longing. These three characters are all just doing their best with the broken pieces they’ve been handed, and I loved being on that journey with them.
I cannot wait for Book 2! Please bring on the fallout, the politics, the world-building, and all the messy, complicated feelings still to come.
Because this book? I absolutely loved it!!
From the very first page, I was hooked on this broken, brooding, banter-filled trio. We’ve got:
👑 Jory, the princess being politically pawned off to a rival kingdom
⚔️ Ky, the warrior king who just wants to save his people and maybe banter his way into someone’s heart
🗡 Asher, the assassin who’s sworn himself to protect her, quietly dying inside because he knows he’ll never be able to claim her
And the chemistry? It popped off the page faster than I could say “diplomatic tension.” That first meeting between Jory and Ky had me grinning in public like a fool. It was the exact type of witty, sharp, flirty banter that I craved! By the time I hit 25% I was already obsessed. Like, fully feral and rearranging my plans in order to continue reading obsessed.
Now, I will say: the story developed a bit differently than I expected (hello back-to-back chaos!), and things did slow down around the midpoint. But the emotional depth and how intimately we get into each character’s head made up for it in spades. Three POVs might sound like a lot, but it never felt overwhelming! Asher especially had my whole heart. His trauma, his fierce loyalty, his quiet hope even when he’s convinced he’ll always be on the outside?
“He’s broken too. He’s just broken in a different way.”
Sir, please stop it I’m already sobbing!
AND THEN!! The 90% mark hits and suddenly the spice level goes from “slow burn” to flaming inferno. I was literally reading the scene at a McDonald’s and had to put my Kindle down before the ice cream machine wasn’t the only thing breaking because of overheating. It was THAT good!!
Warrior Princess Assassin is a beautiful, emotional, occasionally stabby ride through trauma, healing, loyalty, and longing. These three characters are all just doing their best with the broken pieces they’ve been handed, and I loved being on that journey with them.
I cannot wait for Book 2! Please bring on the fallout, the politics, the world-building, and all the messy, complicated feelings still to come.
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
⚔️ Fantasy romance
👑 High stakes politics
🗡️ Forbidden attractions
⚔️ Simmering tension
👑 Trilogy multi-POV
🗡️ MMF
Characters: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Plot: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️/5
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨/5
I love the foundation of this! I love that the name of the book is literally about the 3 MCs. I love that we get all 3 POVs throughout the book and different situations explained as events unfolded. The tension between the 3 is palpable. The backstory for Asher had me crying multiple times.
I felt frustrated by the plot. I can't fully explain the feeling I'm feeling. The best way I can describe it is this book was a really great setup for the plot in book 2. It was worldbuilding, relationship-building, and lore building... but nothing really truly progressed anywhere in my mind.
Even the answers you get are half answers left with more questions. I'm not expecting perfect characters or plot arcs wrapped up because it is book one but they truly just started to continue the growth of the characters and then it ended.
Will I continue reading this trilogy? Absolutely! It was easy to keep reading. This was a good first book and I hope the second is even better.
Thank you Brigid Kemmerer, Avon & Harper Voyage, and Netgalley for my advance reader copy! This is my honest and unbiased review!
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wow, this book was amazing from start to finish! Fast faced plot with frequent unexpected turns. Sometimes I really had no idea what they would do to get out of their situations. Lots of assassination attempts. Struggling kingdoms trying to form alliances and navigate the politics of avoiding war.
The book has complex characters working through their own issues. I was so invested in every single one of them. They had depth and were flushed out. The warrior was my favorite though! Put me under his spell with his calm, captivating authority like it did to the other characters. The Princess is naive, but she has a desire to learn and a strength to her that prevents her from being a damsel in distress. The assassin has endured a lot of trauma. He’s the slinky acrobat in black that’s deadly and also broken. There was so much tension between the characters. The spice at the end was fantastic and left me dying for the next book!
Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher Avon and Harper Voyager for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
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:
Yes
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for the ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.
When King Maddox’s kingdom is slowly burning and his fire magic can’t save it, he desperately needs a marriage alliance with Princess Jory of Astranza, whose family controls weather magic that might help his land flourish again. Plot twist: both kingdoms are hiding major secrets. Only Jory’s father can wield their family’s weather magic and he’s dying, while Ky needs to keep quiet about how the fires really started. Meanwhile, Jory’s childhood friend Asher has gone from palace troublemaker to professional assassin, and guess who just got a contract to kill the king and princess? Cue the moral crisis, because apparently even assassins have feelings when it comes to their first love. It’s political intrigue meets magical disasters with a hefty side of complicated romance.
Okay, but can we appreciate how Kemmerer managed to make me care about all three of these complex characters? Ky trying to navigate his kingdom’s crisis while being genuinely thoughtful with Jory had me invested in their developing relationship, even knowing Asher was lurking in the background with his conflicted loyalties. The character development was absolutely on point. Watching Jory grow from dutiful princess to someone who actually owns her power was *so* satisfying. And the way their relationships evolved throughout the book? The romantic tension was perfectly balanced with actual plot development, which is harder to pull off than it sounds.
This book hit that sweet spot where I was genuinely invested in everyone’s journey, even when they were all keeping secrets from each other. The pacing kept me glued to the pages, and honestly, the complex web of loyalty, duty, and feelings between these three was fascinating to watch unfold. My only complaint is that now I’m sitting here desperately waiting for book two because I need to know how this emotional situation resolves itself. If you’re in the mood for fantasy romance with actual stakes and characters who feel like real people making difficult choices, definitely grab this one.
When King Maddox’s kingdom is slowly burning and his fire magic can’t save it, he desperately needs a marriage alliance with Princess Jory of Astranza, whose family controls weather magic that might help his land flourish again. Plot twist: both kingdoms are hiding major secrets. Only Jory’s father can wield their family’s weather magic and he’s dying, while Ky needs to keep quiet about how the fires really started. Meanwhile, Jory’s childhood friend Asher has gone from palace troublemaker to professional assassin, and guess who just got a contract to kill the king and princess? Cue the moral crisis, because apparently even assassins have feelings when it comes to their first love. It’s political intrigue meets magical disasters with a hefty side of complicated romance.
Okay, but can we appreciate how Kemmerer managed to make me care about all three of these complex characters? Ky trying to navigate his kingdom’s crisis while being genuinely thoughtful with Jory had me invested in their developing relationship, even knowing Asher was lurking in the background with his conflicted loyalties. The character development was absolutely on point. Watching Jory grow from dutiful princess to someone who actually owns her power was *so* satisfying. And the way their relationships evolved throughout the book? The romantic tension was perfectly balanced with actual plot development, which is harder to pull off than it sounds.
This book hit that sweet spot where I was genuinely invested in everyone’s journey, even when they were all keeping secrets from each other. The pacing kept me glued to the pages, and honestly, the complex web of loyalty, duty, and feelings between these three was fascinating to watch unfold. My only complaint is that now I’m sitting here desperately waiting for book two because I need to know how this emotional situation resolves itself. If you’re in the mood for fantasy romance with actual stakes and characters who feel like real people making difficult choices, definitely grab this one.
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
|| Thank you to NetGalley and HarperVoyager for providing me this arc in exchange for an honest review ! ||
It was awesome and I really am happy to find here again Brigid Kemmerer's killing point in all books I've read (3 series) : a character-driven story. And I love it /so much/.
It was slow. There's not a lot of plot twists. It's more political than magical. But the main characters!! Their character growth is really subtle. We get to learn more about them, their fear and their history, we get to see them grow in such tiny changes. We get attached to them, a lot. The one with the biggest and more visible character growth is Jory, but Asher's one is also really impressive but way more subtle, and I actually really enjoyed seeing the difference between them. Ky's growth is even more subtle, as it can almost been seen only through Jory and Asher's eyes.
Also ooooh gosh I'm so so happy the romance turned to be polyamorous!! It was just perfect, and I'm so happy the author did it that way and not a weird love triangle.
From the political side, I was really into it. There's not much really happening besides the beginning when the 3 of them meet, and some attacks after that. But here again, politics was way more subtle that usual. I got to ask myself what happened, trying to solve the puzzles about everything along with them, taking in each small infos. Trying to find who's behind all of that. We learn with them, we ask questions with them. We get to understand every single betrayal, hidden things, cold stares, reluctances between all 3 MCs. And that is what was making the plot addictive.
The ending leads toward an even more political plot for next book. And just like every single Brigid Kemmerer books I've read, as soon as I end a book, I want to read the next one... and get sad waiting.
It was awesome and I really am happy to find here again Brigid Kemmerer's killing point in all books I've read (3 series) : a character-driven story. And I love it /so much/.
It was slow. There's not a lot of plot twists. It's more political than magical. But the main characters!! Their character growth is really subtle. We get to learn more about them, their fear and their history, we get to see them grow in such tiny changes. We get attached to them, a lot. The one with the biggest and more visible character growth is Jory, but Asher's one is also really impressive but way more subtle, and I actually really enjoyed seeing the difference between them. Ky's growth is even more subtle, as it can almost been seen only through Jory and Asher's eyes.
Also ooooh gosh I'm so so happy the romance turned to be polyamorous!! It was just perfect, and I'm so happy the author did it that way and not a weird love triangle.
From the political side, I was really into it. There's not much really happening besides the beginning when the 3 of them meet, and some attacks after that. But here again, politics was way more subtle that usual. I got to ask myself what happened, trying to solve the puzzles about everything along with them, taking in each small infos. Trying to find who's behind all of that. We learn with them, we ask questions with them. We get to understand every single betrayal, hidden things, cold stares, reluctances between all 3 MCs. And that is what was making the plot addictive.
The ending leads toward an even more political plot for next book. And just like every single Brigid Kemmerer books I've read, as soon as I end a book, I want to read the next one... and get sad waiting.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As with all Brigid Kemmerer books I feel like I am part of the story from the get go, it’s like coming home. This is no exception. I was constantly skipping paragraphs because I needed to know what happened next. It was an effort to remind myself to slow down and savour the story.
I fell in love with Ky straight away, Jory grates on me at times but I think she will develop into a great queen and Asher is the quintessential’I want to fix him’ character. Brigid weave a beautiful and tentative love story between them that I just kept wanting more of. The romance and the political intrigue were beautifully knitted with the perfect sprinkling of fighting and action.
I am looking forward to more of this trio and watching Asher heal and Jory develop…I feel there is much more to Ky and I am here for that!!
I fell in love with Ky straight away, Jory grates on me at times but I think she will develop into a great queen and Asher is the quintessential’I want to fix him’ character. Brigid weave a beautiful and tentative love story between them that I just kept wanting more of. The romance and the political intrigue were beautifully knitted with the perfect sprinkling of fighting and action.
I am looking forward to more of this trio and watching Asher heal and Jory develop…I feel there is much more to Ky and I am here for that!!