Much is made, in other reviews, of the maps that begin this book. I agree; there is nothing like a map to make me feel the author's made a serious investment in their secondary world. I was very glad this story started on such a high note.

Ahna soon came to feel like every other embittered heroine in every other fantasy novel I've tried to read over the years. Her Scooby-group of friends, Kairen and David (Kairen's husband), are the relief from Ahna's darkness. The secondary world's well-enough built but, unless you're a big fan of fantasy quest novels, this one's not likely to ring your soul like a bell.

For the fantasy-loving crew, this woman-authored, woman-led series will ring bells all over. There are two more as of now. It's only $2.99 on Kindle so the risk to your budget is low.

This was, in every conceivable way, just fine. Not terrible, not great, but solidly middle of the road. Should have been like 75 pages shorter.

I really enjoyed reading this book, it was a fun fantasy novel and worked as a great start to the series. The characters were great and I really enjoyed the world that was built.

I must say that I enjoyed reading the book, even though it took me a bit of time.
The story takes you through Ahna journey against the tyrant. She is a rebel that fights for the freedom of her own kingdom and the whole story is packed with darkness and interesting characters. I have always loved novels that embark on epic adventures such as this one.
Definitely a good read if you are looking for something new.

I will probably read the next book "Castaway".

I enjoyed the setting and world building of this story and if you are a Tolkien fan you will enjoy this book.

The protagonist is a female dark elf named Anha. She leaves her life in hiding to join her "sister" in the revolution against the dark lord. The story contains many twists and turns that revealed secrets about Anha and the other characters that made them more compelling. Readers will love the characters and the adventure in this book. A great read!

This fantasy novel is about a group of revolutionaries rebelling against a dark elf king who want's to expand his kingdom. The fantasy world is really well built and multilayered. It is very fascinating but some of the terminology was hard to keep track off. I'm really excited to read the next book in the series.

I was given a free copy of Tempest of Bravoure: Kingdom Ascent by Valena D’Angelis (author), fabled ink (publisher), and Net Galley to provide an honest review. Kingdom Ascent is the first book in the series with Castaway being the sequel and is also available.

This review will be spoiler free.

I would characterize Kingdom Ascent a epic fantasy.

The setting of the story is straightforward and familiar. The world-building is serviceable to the story and does not distract or take away from the story. The story features an abandoned castle, a city, and other areas which are similar to what I have read and seen in other fantasy stories.

The magic system featured in this story is also somewhat familiar, but it added to the story. It appears the magic system contains both learning magic in school-type environment and ability to use magic is more innate within certain creatures such as dragons.

A real strength of this novel are the characters. The main character is a dark elf with a mysterious past who finds herself reluctant but develops a very important role for the rebellion. Most of the other characters featured in the story are also part of the rebellion. Each of the other characters is minor, but each of them is unique, and have something to do in the story. The villain hardly appears in the story, but Ms. D’Angelis does a very good job in making references to the villain that made him seem menacing and omniscient.

I also liked the story in this novel. The main story arc kept progressing at a steady pace and I was engaged from start to finish. Even though some of the writing is a bit clunky and possibly would benefit from another editing pass, I was never taken out of the story. Ms. D’Angelis wraps up the different plot threads at the end of the story while setting up things nicely for the sequel.

Ms. D’Angelis does a commendable job of writing a first novel in a series that is engaging, interesting, and makes me really want to read the sequel.

I would recommend Tempest of Bravoure: Kingdom Ascent to any reader who enjoys a story about a rebellion, finding lost family members, and magic.

I rate Tempest of Bravoure: Kingdom Ascent 4.5 stars.

I would like to thank Valena D’Angelis, fabled ink, and Netgalley for the free arc.

This was a solid read. I really enjoyed the story and the characters. There's lots of usual fantasy tropes which could be annoying to me but i don't mind them if it's well done, which was the case in this book. As a fantasy lover i would have liked a bit more informations on the world and its lore. But overall it was a great read !

I am usually not a fan of fantasy or science fiction. However, I am attempting to branch out into different genres. I thought Tempest of Bravoure was well written. The chapters flowed well. The action was constant and kept me engaged. A book like this shows a creative imagination on the part of the author. A few times I had to go over sections to ensure I got the gist of the plot. I would recommend this book if sci fi is your arena of reading.

So much happened in this book, and I feel like I didn't have enough time to absorb and appreciate it all. This is one of the few occasions I wish a book could be expanded, instead of 280 pages I would've loved to read an in depth 500 page version of this story to really get into the meat and bones of the characters a relationships.

There is clearly a lot of detailed history thought up in this story, which I loved, but I would've liked more situations of seeing instead of telling.

Still a great complex tale, and I'm excited to read the sequel.

Thank you Netgalley and publishers for giving me a free online copy in exchange for an honest review.

Meriel Ahn Arkamai is dokkalfur, a dark elf, on the run from her past, and heading into a future she’s very unsure of. Going by the her preferred name Ahna, she has kept her true identity and magical abilities safely hidden away for fifty years. The world she lives on is called Terra, but she’s a Dwellunder by birth, feared and respected in equal measure.


The war which led to the Prince of Mal, Xandor Kun, becoming the Dark Lord Sharr, took everything from Ahna: her home, her family, her reason to be. So she left it all behind, with only her friend, the woman who calls her ‘sister’, Kairen, keeping her from straying into total despair. Ahna has, for years on end, spurned Kairen’s call to join the Resistance, but another encounter leads her back into the fold. Ahna isn’t accepted by all, though. Her race leaves others suspicious of her intentions, as Lord Sharr is a dark elf himself, but she gets by because Kairen and her husband David trust her. Ahna doesn’t have the luxury of time to settle in with her new kinfolk, because the Resistance is plotting a new attack, focussed on Bravoure City, the fabled City of Gold.

Valena D’Angelis is a new author, and she debuts with Tempest of Bravoure: Kingdom Ascent, an intriguing addition to the genre of epic fantasy fiction. I finished it over the course of four days, frantically swiping my Kindle to find out where her story was heading. Sure, it has most of the tropes of the genre front and centre: there’s a prophecy; there’s the heroine’s journey; there’s a dark lord to be vanquished; there are diverse races living on or beneath an Earth-like environment; and there are monsters — dragons to be precise. So far, there’s enough here for fans of JRR Tolkien, Terry Brooks, and Robert Jordan.


Valena pulls no punches when it comes to her action scenes; they’re bombastic in scale, and as violent as anything you’d read in modern fantasy. She inhabits her world well with a decent number of likeable characters, important to both plot and main character, that when a couple of them inevitably meet their end, you mourn them. It’s easy to root for Ahna, and while the villain of the piece can be a little boo-hiss from time to time, he has a reason to be who he is and do what he does.

A major subplot I found compelling was the relationship between Ahna and Cedric Rover, a shrike captain, who’s initial loathing of both himself and the dark elf evolves over the course of the book, in a couple of very surprising ways. In this book, secrets are everywhere, but family, in the end, is everything.

One thing I’d like to say, though, is the world of Terra is vast and well-populated. It appears to have a history that goes back eons, with events important to the overall story mentioned briefly and then we move on. I would have enjoyed this book more if it was longer. I know a lot of readers don’t enjoy massive tomes, but in the fantasy genre especially, world-building is a vital part of what makes fans like me really get into a story. Here, there’s a lot of telling without showing, and a part of me was disappointed that there was no deep dive into Terran history, politics, and magic systems. However, I hope in the forthcoming books, we’ll get more exploration.

I give Valena D’Angelis all the kudos in the world for putting her book out there. I know in my heart that she will get better with each novel she publishes. She has made a great start here, and I look forward to reading the second book in this series, Castaway, some time in the near future.

“We live brave, we die free.”

Reading those lines in the description had me wanted to read Tempest of Bravoure: Kingdom Ascent. The world that D’Angelis created was interesting and well planned as seen from the maps and languages that she created. At times the story reminded me of Terry Goodkinds Sword of Truth series and I really hope we continue to get such a view into this new world. When I finished reading I did find myself wanting more information on the background of some of the characters as well as more details about how things ended up the way that they were. This story is one I would recommend and I am excited to find out more!

Darkness has fallen upon the golden kingdom of Bravoure. Once the beacon of an alliance uniting four races, Bravoure is now under the oppression of an elven prince from beneath the surface. Not even the Dragonborn from prophecy was able to stop him from conquering the land. Ahna, a runaway mage, rises above the decades of grief and returns to the fight, where she joins the united soldiers of the Resistance. Despite her origins, she is accepted by these brave heroes who will never let their differences stand in the way of freedom. She and the rebels soon embark on a covert mission to save the kingdom, but the past and the secrets she keeps will soon come knocking, and Ahna will face her demons as she faces the false king.

Great book . Really likeable characters that I cared about. The story keeps wrong footing you . Definitely worth reading . Can’t wait for the next one.

- A story about acceptance in an exquisitely crafted world -


As soon as the book starts I realized that D'Angelis spent a great deal of effort creating its world, from the beautiful maps to the languages of the different races. And while it may seem rather similar to traditional fantasy tropes there’s always something different about it to fascinate the reader.
The weakness of the book lies in its beginning for me, the small conflict between sisters seems to resolve too quickly and left me to question why it was there in the first place. But after that the book only went up, from the characters introduced to the adventures they had. I’ve never read a story about acceptance of all people in the realms banding to defeat a false king like Kingdom Ascent, and am quite curious about where does the story takes from here

I’m so conflicted on my review for this book! I actually read it through NetGalley, which I was really grateful for.

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“You must free yourself from the guilt you feel. When you become your own jailor, only you possess the key”

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I can’t deny, the second I saw the maps at the start of the book, I was hooked! Who doesn’t love a fantasy book where the author has spent so much time creating their own world with its unique places and their names. I definitely think this would be a good book for those who enjoy Tolkien and other similar fantasy novels.

In this novel we follow a dark elf called Ahna as she battles to overcome her own demons and join the resistance against the ‘false’ King of Bravoure. As she gets closer to battling the king, secrets from her past start to unravel causing tensions and rifts between her and fellow members of the resistance. This novel is filled with battles, dragons, elves, love, heartbreak and lessons that you can take away with you.

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This is a different type of fantasy novel to what I’m used to but I really enjoyed it!! The concept was really intriguing to me. I really liked how the rebellion was built on acceptance of everyone, every race and their common goal to vanquish the false king in the city. I found it really easy to follow as well, although the chapters are quite long. However, the chapters do seem to be separated into sections so it allows you to break it up slightly if needs be.

Furthermore, the addition of different languages I.e Elven and Dwarven into the story was an added bonus. It just show the amount of effort and care Valena D’Angelis put in to create such a complex and intricate world.

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It touches a great deal on racism and the prejudices that come with it, which I feel is apt with the systemic racism coming to light more regularly as of recent. It ingrains the important lesson that the colour of someone’s skin doesn’t devalue them as an individual or make them less worthy. Everyone deserves equal amounts of love and support regardless of their skin colour, you can and should change your opinions and prejudices.

It also touches on the importance of forgiving your past and the choices you made. They don’t matter anymore, what matters now is whether or not you let them anchor you to the ground so that you can’t move forward and better yourself. The choices you make now are more important to determine who you are and what you want.

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I just found this a very refreshing fantasy novel. Who doesn’t love a book that’s not only immerses you into the world but also educates you and gives you something to think about. At times I was worried I was maybe drudging through it rather than being completely immersed, but the plot always kept me going and I’m really looking forward to the next novel in the series.

Overall, I’d give this book a 3.8/5 stars (rounded up)