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4.48 AVERAGE
4.48 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
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 N.E. Davenport & Avon and Harper Voyager for providing this ARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
This book dropped me straight into the Aether Kingdom and refused to let go until the very last word. If you have plans, this book will cancel them!
This is my first jaunt into romantasy and whewwwww, N.E. Davenport turned me every which way but loose. While it hits all the marks of a high fantasy (magic systems, court politics, ancient powers), the characters are completely relatable -by the end, they'll feel like people you know and love.
There's morally grey realness. There's a red wedding that will leave your jaw on the floor. There's spice that would make Auntie blush. Davenport gives you tension, release, and emotional depth that makes it all hit harder!!!
Let's talk characters real quick-
Kadeesha: Caught in the games of kings, but never a pawn. She's powerful, perceptive, and emotionally sharp. She's no damsel, she's the storm they didn't see coming. Her strength doesn't always roar, but when it does? Whole thrones shake!
Malachi: Layered like grief itself. He's got rage in his bones and revenge on his breath, but he's also just a man trying to survive the wreckage of loss and be the best leader for his people.
Watching him navigate the tug-of-war of what's best and what will satisfy his hunger for revenge, while being unapologetically powerful, is just.... chef's kiss! He's not your standard love interest; he's a force with a heartbeat.
What I absolutely love is that this romantasy is BLACK. I'm talking locs, grills, cognac-in-hand Black. Davenport gives us characters with flavor, culture, and bite.
This book dropped me straight into the Aether Kingdom and refused to let go until the very last word. If you have plans, this book will cancel them!
This is my first jaunt into romantasy and whewwwww, N.E. Davenport turned me every which way but loose. While it hits all the marks of a high fantasy (magic systems, court politics, ancient powers), the characters are completely relatable -by the end, they'll feel like people you know and love.
There's morally grey realness. There's a red wedding that will leave your jaw on the floor. There's spice that would make Auntie blush. Davenport gives you tension, release, and emotional depth that makes it all hit harder!!!
Let's talk characters real quick-
Kadeesha: Caught in the games of kings, but never a pawn. She's powerful, perceptive, and emotionally sharp. She's no damsel, she's the storm they didn't see coming. Her strength doesn't always roar, but when it does? Whole thrones shake!
Malachi: Layered like grief itself. He's got rage in his bones and revenge on his breath, but he's also just a man trying to survive the wreckage of loss and be the best leader for his people.
Watching him navigate the tug-of-war of what's best and what will satisfy his hunger for revenge, while being unapologetically powerful, is just.... chef's kiss! He's not your standard love interest; he's a force with a heartbeat.
What I absolutely love is that this romantasy is BLACK. I'm talking locs, grills, cognac-in-hand Black. Davenport gives us characters with flavor, culture, and bite.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
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
“The enemy of my enemy is my lover"❤️🔥
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
This book was everything I want in my romantasy reads!👏🏼 The characters have strong personalities and strong relationships. I was hooked from chapter 1. If I’m honest, even before that. I was hooked when I first came across this book on Threads. The author shared some character art and I knew this book was going to be for me!
Our Vicious Oaths is a standalone, but N.E. Davenport has created such an epic world and does a fantastic job detailing this world & the characters, I’m hoping this turns into a series of interconnected standalones!🤞🏼
•What to expect•
💜Found family
🖤Morally grey shadow daddy MMC with a grill🥶✨
💜Stabby fire mommy Princess FMC
🖤Enemies/reluctant allies to lovers
💜Forced proximity
🖤Political court intrigue & scheming
💜Black fae
🖤Stand alone dark romantasy
💜Unique world/magic system
🖤Spice🌶️
💜Dual POV
*there is a trope I do not like in this book, but I won’t add it because it’s a HUGE spoiler & is pretty essential to the plot. BUT the author handled it very well!*
Thank you to NetGalley & Harper Voyager for the eARC of this book!
adventurous
dark
emotional
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
⚔️🖤 Bookish Thoughts
Six stars. I read this in one sitting.
The worldbuilding was immersive, and I was obsessed with the magic system! Our MCs were powerful, unhinged, and morally gray. And maybe a little bit toxic, but I was into it.
Kadeesha was a baddie from the start. Determined, stubborn, and always ready to throw fire (literally). Her sisterhood with her squadroon warriors was everything! I wish we’d spent more time with them.
Malachi, is my new favorite shadow daddy. Very deadly with his shadows and it was hot! He was arrogant but damn he was smooth! Their tension was next level, and those spice scenes? Yeah. 🔥 🔥🔥🔥 Don’t get me started on their first time meeting!
I’m so sad this is a standalone. It’s strong on its own, but I would live in this world for an entire series. I wanted to know more from the other courts and the magic system!
✨ Favorite Quote:
“If anything happened to you, I’d drown the world in shadows that would devour it and every living soul.”
🖤 What You Can Expect:
- Shadow daddy
- Stabby Princess FMC
- Enemies to lovers
- Forced proximity
- Political court scheming
- Black fae
📅 Pub Date: October 28, 2025
Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.
I love finding a good fantasy standalone! I'm so used to series when it comes to fantasy so it's always a nice surprise to find a fantasy standalone that is a complete story perfectly wrapped up in one book.
And this book really does have it all. If I wrote a list of my favorite tropes this has basically all of them lol. Enemies to lovers is always a favorite of mine, but add in fae, a morally gray MMC, and a warrior princess FMC and I'm sold! I also love how N.E. Davenport wrote such strong found families. Don't miss this one when it comes out!
Thank you Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC!
And this book really does have it all. If I wrote a list of my favorite tropes this has basically all of them lol. Enemies to lovers is always a favorite of mine, but add in fae, a morally gray MMC, and a warrior princess FMC and I'm sold! I also love how N.E. Davenport wrote such strong found families. Don't miss this one when it comes out!
Thank you Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC!
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Kadeesha has spent her life with a prophecy hanging over her head that her marriage and the child she bear will lead to a unified fae. As part of that, she has been promised to Rishaud her entire life. The day of their wedding, everything falls apart and she is thrust from princess to political pawn.
Malachi has also had a prophecy hanging over his head his entire life, a prophecy that means the end of his people. In attempts to prove himself, and to get revenge and be a stronger, more aggressive ruler, Malachi decides to kill all those inviting the death of his parents and become the high king of the fae, dragging Kadeesha into the chaos with him.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story; enemies to reluctant allies to lovers with political intrigue, assassination attempts, and interesting magical systems all wrapped up in a spicy affair. The attraction between the mmc and fmc was delightful, as was their spite and vicious words with each other.
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
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
It has been TOO long since I’ve read such an immediately-invigorating and well-balanced high fantasy romance. I’m scolding my past self for not discovering N.E. Davenport’s work sooner. I’m beyond honored to have read Our Vicious Oaths as an ARC and I’m thrilled for its official release. Kadeesha is an unapologetically formidable and badass female protagonist without falling into the “strong female lead” stereotype that readers have began to grow weary of (not me! But I understand the sentiment). Meanwhile Malachi truly nails the “villain gets the girl” morally gray love interest role to the degree where the reader’s feelings begin to mirror Kadeesha’s. You’ll have moments of truly hating him all while lamenting how much you grow to love him. I think many authors struggle with crafting this kind of character — either making them not morally gray enough or too immoral to be likeable, but N.E. Davenport proved that this was no challenge for her in writing Malachi. If Daenerys Targaryen was combined into two people, it’d be Kadeesha and Malachi. I love a couple in which both are equally formidable and fierce. And while their chemistry was firey, the political aspect to the plot was captivating and intelligently crafted without becoming too convoluted to cause boredom or confusion (a complaint I often have with politically intense fantasy). My primary qualm is that this story wasn’t long enough. Part of this is my own fault, as I thought this was the first book in a series as opposed to a standalone. The world building so interesting and I wouldn’t have minded it being further expanded on, and there were so many supporting characters whom I wanted to know more about, including more time with the main characters’ personal development. The politics of the various courts and the history/lore of the fae and their wars, as well as the gravity of the current danger in the plot, I felt were too interesting to be left at just one book. I do think if another book were to follow, a lot more conflict would need to be created and if it wasn’t as interesting as the first book, it might make for an underwhelming sequel, so maybe even an extra 50 pages might have solved the issue. That being said, that qualm in no way at all dissuades me from picking up another of this author’s work. She is now on my radar and I’ll definitely be picking up her other published books. N.E. Davenport writing reads with a smooth ease that few authors master, especially in fantasy. The world she created in Our Vicious Oaths (though I’m sad it’s over so soon) came to life on the page as well as her fighting/battle sequences. It brings me so much joy to not only see black characters in fantasy but to see plots and worlds built from them utilizing tropes and themes that have so long been part of stories void of BIPOC individuals. Not only can I not wait for others to read this book, but I’m on the edge of my seat waiting for N.E. Davenport’s next work.
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a VERY spicy romance in a fantasy setting, with no cliffhanger. It has a lot of tropes and stars a brooding possessive alpha male, and a badass warrior female. This book was brutal and intense. The romance was more insta list than love, but got there eventually.
At times this book felt like a fanfic mash up of everyone’s favorite fantasy and fantasy romance novels. We have serpent riders that communicate telepathically with their beasts, a red wedding, shadow magic, and a throne scene.
This book is long and I felt like the author could have edited out some of the overly complicated descriptions of the clothing everyone was wearing at all times.
Even though this book was a little smuttier, and the plot a bit more predictable than I usually like to read, I still thoroughly enjoyed it.
Those like their books hot and spicy, and heavier in the romance than the fantasy, will love this book. The romance was written well and kept me engaged.
Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Harper Voyager for the Advance Review Copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Harper Voyager for the Advance Review Copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is great for the romantasy girlies who like a mixture of swoon worthy romance and battle filled action scenes. There was a good balance in the story between romance and relationship building scenes and war politics/battle planning/action scenes. There are also unique fantasy creatures that differ from anything I’ve read before! I appreciated the main characters’ strong/badass energy. She sticks to her beliefs and values and doesn’t back down on them. I loved the enemies to lovers relationship between the main characters as well. There was also a lot of positive character development and growth. I appreciated and enjoyed reading about diverse characters and cultures. I would highly recommend adding this book to your TBR!