LOVED THIS. Rorax is what we want in a FMC, and the MMC in this is ultra swoon worthy, and perfectly dark and mysterious. I felt the action in this was well written and could not put it down.

When I tell you I could not put this book down... I mean it!
This book was impressively written, especially for a debut novel. It was informatively written without being too overwhelming, and I was able to get a good picture of the world almost effortlessly. Don't get me wrong, this is a book you want to take your time with, but I never felt like I had to push my way through the world building.
This was such an interesting mash-up of elements, the characters were absolutely lovely and well-rounded, and I am eagerly awaiting book two, because I have SO many questions. Excellent writing, story, pacing, characters... just excellent everything!

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

This book is phenomenal! I couldn’t put it down! This is the first time I’ve read a book with multiple perspectives and enjoyed it. Let me be clear, I’ve read books with multiple perspectives and always hate them… until now. The way you become invested in not just the main character but the side characters too is a sign that this author is incredible.

Enemies to lovers. Slow burn. Good spicy scenes.

Can’t wait for the next one!

Thanks NetGalley for the Arc of this book!

'She burned down their cities and now she needs their protection'...

Wow! Where do I begin.

I quite enjoyed this book! I knew from the cover and the blurb, that I would love this book.

It was everything I expected and more!

The book had tons of world building that was nicely done. This made it a little bit harder to get into in the beginning because it took real concentration to understand everything. I wish I would have had a map to help, but with it being an arc it wasn't easy to see, but I saw another review mention seeing one on the internet so I looked it up too and it helped a lot to clear some things up. This book had a slow burn and steamy romance, that really added to, and didn't take away, from the story.

This is a spine, chilling, mafia, dark romance novel and I generally fell in love with this, but I think it was great. It was grumpy sunshine. I actually really loved the plot of this book as it was quite heavy. I would definitely highly recommend especially if you’re a dork romance girly, but if dark France is not your thing I would definitely say miss this book. I’m not read anything from us. All the force was quite intrigued when I saw this and it did not disappoint. She is now one of my favourite authors, and I’ll definitely reading more of her backlog future.

It took me a few attempts to get into Atonement of the Spine Cleaver but once I got into it I enjoyed it. Rorax was a solid heroine and I enjoyed reading about her development. The side characters were well characterised, especially Jia and the House of Death crew. I did feel that Ayres was a bit generic and could be easily substituted for any of the male leads in many popular fantasy romance novels. He was powerful, good looking, good fighter and occasionally cruel. I was actually more interested in the Rorax-Raegnar backstop that was hinted at but alas a hint was all we got...hopefully F.E. Bryce will expand on it in the sequel along with the Sahana plot that came out of nowhere and fizzled away just as quickly. Maybe I'm impatient but that's what I didn't like about the novel, I wanted something more concrete in 700+ pages. The ending was also very abrupt, seemed unfinished. The book is mainly about the Choosing and it doesn't even finish in the novel. Rora has some personal growth and comes to a big decision (not a surprise), war is still stirring, the Choosing is ongoing, nothing is resolved. I could forgive that if book 2 was already released but alas I have to impatiently wait for the sequel to be released in 2024.

This book is AMAZING! I couldn’t put it down! I loved the multiple perspectives and enjoyed it. It gives you a different perspective on specific scenes in the novel. It becomes easier to love a character when you get into their brain and FE Bryce did a phenomenal job doing that. Literally you become invested in not just the main character but the side characters....even the animals LMFAO.

It has all my fave tropes: Enemies to lovers, forced proximity and Slow burn. Amazing spicy scenes.

Can’t wait for the next one!

Thank you Netgalley for sending me this book for an honest review.

Bryce has truly crafted a remarkably intricate world!
This story captivates you from start to finish.
The world's queer normative nature enhances the way characters express themselves and view others, which I find to be an admirable aspect.
In alignment with this fresh perspective, the story progresses without any concern for the characters' genders.
The main female and male characters exemplify moral ambiguity, which adds depth to their personalities and their connection, making them easy to relate to.
Furthermore, their relationship develops in a genuine way, avoiding any signs of being forced for the sake of romance.
The Author displays great skill in blending a storyline focused on personal and relationship growth, filled with thrilling adventures and a significant amount of violence, while ensuring it retains a tasteful quality throughout.

This is really 3.5 stars. I had mixed feelings about this one, as there were a few times I found myself not being called to dive back into it again, but then by the end I was invested and the renewed pacing drove me through to the end.

Rorax is a tough main character because she plays the martyr a little too much to keep relating to her throughout the story. I also had a hard time with her being a total badass in every other aspect of her life, and towards Ayres, but then suddenly was simpy as soon as they dropped their clothes. It kind of makes sense with her arc, but it was a little too much for me.

I thought the world building was great, the premise was intriguing, and the descriptions were decent, so 5+ for all of that. The dialogue was a little rough, but it moved quickly enough to not matter.

All in all, solid 3.5 and I’ll probably look for the second book to know what happens!

Well, I had to take a few minutes after finishing this book, because, OMG, WHAT WAS THAT??
This book is simply beyond amazing, and, honestly, one of the best books I read in my entire life! The characters are imperfectly perfect, the magic world is simply *chef kiss*, and I can't even tell you how many times I've cried with Rorax.
It blew my mind to know this is a debut novel, because, honestly, I felt like I was reading a SJM book. Rorax, to me, reminded me of Aelin, of Scarlett, that's how amazing this was.
Do yourself a favor and READ THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW!
Perfect, perfect, perfect!!! A thousand stars.

This book is an absolute masterpiece and it’s in my top reads this year. It took me a bit longer to get through and it’s the longest book I’ve ever read, but I’m so glad that I finished it. I’ll be thinking about this book a long time and I need more of that steamy romance and I hope that I’ll get access to the sequel.

I went into this not knowing what to expect, and I left not really knowing much more. I really wanted to enjoy this one but I struggled so much in the beginning that when nothing started to fit together, I had to dnf it. The writing style wasn’t for me but perhaps I’ll revisit it in a few months to try again.

This story really does have so much to it that I know a lot of people will enjoy it. I simply like lighter, shorter reads, narrated in a ‘less is more’ sort of way.

Found it hard to get into, dont know if that was me or anybody else has that same . Writting was good, but dnf' it.

Thank you to the author, F. E. Bryce, for this eARC via NetGalley!

Let me introduce you to my new favorite book. Atonement of Spine Cleaver is F. E. Bryce's debut novel and I'm absolutely enamored with it.

Don't let the serious title scare you. This epic high fantasy is for the SJM girlies. The world building is unique and the writing is sophisticated. There's a level of depth throughout that I've only encountered in other top romantasy series. Overall, this book is a treasure trove for avid romantasy readers.

I loved Rorax's found family and their hilarious banter. I enjoyed the super slow burn and tension between MCs. I also appreciated how different characters processed emotions related to trauma, grief, shame, and forgiveness. This book also covers almost all of my favorite tropes including: friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, slow burn, hidden identity, assassin/martyr FMC, overprotective MCs, multiple POVs, morally grey, deaf representation, "touch her and die," traumatic past, queernormative world, and political intrigue. This book is also spicy!

I don’t think any review I write can do this book justice. All I can say is Atonement of the Bone Cleaver is a must-read. I cannot wait for the rest of this series!

I went into this a little intimidated, my last read was just over 400 pages and it felt like it took forever to get through. This was over 600 pages and it flew by!!

At the start of the book you will notice there are three extremely detailed maps and a link to a glossary on the authors website. For me, it put me off a little. I honestly thought this was too much and that I’d never remember everything. I was wrong! Although the maps still seem too detailed to me. I don’t think all three were needed for this book.

The characters are amazing!! Rorax has to be one of my new faves. Her grief and guilt is so easy to connect to (for me anyway) it was a view point quite rare in Fantasy IMO. I always love a strong female lead and boy did Bryce give us that.

The story, is based on a series of trials called The Choosing. This part of the book gives slight Hunger Games vibes, but so much better. I feel Bryce chose wisely when she needed to go into detail. In the past when I’ve read similar situations, the trials etc sometimes go into too much detail. It makes the trial/test go on much longer than needed and really drags. That doesn’t happen with this! Each one is, for me, the perfect length.

I can’t wait for the next book in early 2024.

HOLY HELL

This is an epic high fantasy, and I am so proud that this is a debut that is of this level of fantasy.

This is a chonky book and was easy to read and follow.
I read it alongside my Instagram ARC bestie and we both agreed it was a 4.5 star, only because we found some early chapters to be a little "too" overly descriptive by use of repeating the scene through so many different perspectives (when only 2 or maybe 3 times was enough to build a picture).

However, the story and characters and plot and romance and ALL OF IT was so good and enjoyable that I gave it an overall rounded score of 5.

Look, its big, it took me a while, but if this got made into a movie (which I sincerely hope it does), I would be getting my non-book lovers to watch!

If you love Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas, you'll enjoy this book.

It's like The Selection and Fourth Wing had the most perfect and amazing love child! This book should be the next big release! Don't let the page count fool you, once you get sucked in, the nearly 800 pages will not be enough!
The first chunk of the book is all character and world-building, and the story is told from multiple perspectives. I will be the first to say that sometimes the story gets lost with multiple POVs, but in this case, it is the best thing. Each POV has a different piece of the bigger picture and you get to watch each character struggle with how they feel about Rorax and where they stand with her on her journey.
And the enemies-to-lovers storyline....obsessed! Two people who are basically mortal enemies forced to work together, each as equally dangerous as the other, and who fall equally as hard for the other! This has been one of my favorite arcs to have the privilege of reading from NetGalley and waiting for the next one is a new type of torture.

I read about 15% of this book and I'm not finishing it. I won't write an in-depth review but here are some of my notes.
>Why is there cereal? That's such a blatant anachronism that I can't stop thinking about it and not in a good way.
>The wedding doesn't add anything to the story. I don't care about any of the characters involved because I just met them. It just adds more filler to an already enormous book.
>If the blood oath is so important, shouldn't the person the Heilstorms swear their blood oath to not be in the field?
>I cannot stand when accents are written out, e.g. you are being written as yer, must-a, nothin', etc
>I'm just incredibly bored overall with this book and it doesn't make narrative sense