2.5/5 ⭐️
This is good for anyone looking for a dark romantasy hades & Persephone story that feels kind of like a CN Crawford or Katee Robert story. Although the first 15% might be hard for you. Me on the other hand, liked the first 15%. It reminded me the most of the Bear and the Nightingale. But then abruptly changed tones that it felt like a completely different author was now writing this story. I like CN Crawford, but I have to be in the mood for their stories, not blindsided. And this story was just full of blindsiding. Like initially the real world was like a classic historical fantasy but then suddenly we entered the underworld and it was more modern with a ton of ear, nipple, & even dick piercings. I had to double check that I didn’t accidentally switch to a different book. Also the set up was strange. If he’s asking for her hand in marriage, why does she have to compete in trials. I think it would make more sense if she did the trials to win Çelui back. If she loses, she marries the lord of death. But besides that, this story just was not for me. The dialogue was cringey and I’m over the FMCs trying to be “brave” or have “bravado” but it’s just them being rude and saying things no one would actually say out loud. Like it comes across as obviously scripted. I’m also over them trying to be “snarky,” it never works.
Overall, I’ll probably recommend this to people who are looking for a romantasy that has the essence of a hades and Persephone story, the junk food, bingeable, CW kind. But know that you are either going to love or hate the first 15% and then expect a completely different narrative voice.
Thank you to NetGalley and Northern Lights Press for providing an advance reader copy of this book for my honest review.

I loved the setting in which Bride of Death takes place. We have the 'Above' and the 'Underworld'. 'Above' takes place in medieval Turkey (more specifically Byzantine Anatolia), if I were to take my best guess, that would be approximately 1,000 AD, give or take one-hundred years. That alone sucked me right in, I know nothing about that area of the world. F.M. Aden did a great job describing both the Above and the Underworld, which made it easy for me to visualize both.

The main character's name is Zerryn Özdemir and she ends up in the Underworld in order to save her village and somebody she loves. The antagonist is Erlik Khan, the Lord of Death and the Underworld (shout out to Turkic Mythology!) I knew nothing of Turkic Mythology going into this, I found myself going down rabbit holes just to learn more about it. Zerryn and 3 others find themselves competing to become Erlik's bride, and to win they must complete three tasks. Zerryn finds an unlikely friendship among one of the competitors, and I absolutely loved their friendship.

One of my holdups, which could have been a me problem, there were times that this book felt like it dragged or parts that seemed repetitive. However, I was able to read it in 3 days, so it obviously wasn't terribly drab. The descriptions of the Underworld and the things that existed there along with the witty dialogue definitely kept me intrigued.

Thanks to NetGalley and Northern Light Press for the ARC.

The Death and the Maiden motif is something I will never not wanna read. This is comped for fans of Naomi Novak and I do see why. The writing pulls you into a fairytale, however, I felt that the characters fell very flat and the pacing was too quick. I wish we got to spend more time getting to know and develop the characters and spent more time with world/setting development. And judging from early reviews, I’m not the only one who felt this way. this was a quick read and I think it could have benefited by being longer - or shorten it and turn it into a novella.

Thanks to Northern Light Press for the Netgalley eARC.

"It is I who come to you crawling, a rabid dog hungry for your attention."

An undecided 3.5 or 4 stars?

The major appeal of this book is the language. Beautiful prose, using descriptive language to truly flesh out the scenery and immerse the readers in the story. The language is the strong focus and pull of the story. With major arcs of the story focusing on 'trials' and 'adventures', I found that the style of writing worked really well in creating an atmosphere that draws you in. For any reader looking for a story that has dark, gothic imagery and a fan of heavily descriptive chapters this would be for you.

The characters I mostly enjoyed. I enjoyed the main female character and the struggle of her inner character and perceived fates. I found that the major love for the characters in the story, especially the main female character, came through in the scenes for necessarily including the two male romantic interests. The scenes and dialogue involving the main female character and her fellow rivals, to me, was more interesting than her interactions with others. The story just flowed more effortlessly and with greater characterisation and humour and I would have loved more of that. The romance between the main characters built nicely and it was nice to see the conflict play out in the development of their relationship but it ultimately just didn't work out for me.
The incorporations and focus on Turkish folklore for the story additionally added greater depth in the background of the characters as the exploration of these traditional stories and perceptions added to how we should view the historic 'villains'.

The hiccups of the story arrived for me in the final acts of the story. The pacing and the actions just didn't hold up to the rest of the story. I wanted everything to unfurl more neatly and unfortunately my feelings of the endings were that it was messier than I wished it to be - not personally a fan of characters' flip flopping between decisions.

Thank you to Netgalley and Northern Light Press for this eARC, I am voluntarily leaving a review.

First, a big thank you to NetGalley and Northern Light Press for the ARC of F.M. Aden’s "The Bride of Death" – “this unforgettable adult debut follows the journey of a young woman who seeks to defeat Death himself and save her village from his torment.”

“The Bride of Death” is nicely written and a standalone fantasy which is one of the reasons I wanted to pick it up. That and it sounded like a fun beauty and the beast revisioning, which I am a huge sucker for. Also, can we talk about that cover? Stunning.

The book follows Zerryn as she competes in three trials to win the hand of Death to save her village and the boy she loves. I am not familiar with the mythology or Turkish folklore, so I was excited to see this flushed out and brought to life.

Erlik/Death is an interesting character. He is definitely morally gray, but he has so many worthy moments. It was difficult to picture what he looks like although he seems more monster than human with multiple arms and eyes. Though his dialogue and pining make him very loveable. Zerryn our female main character had moments of quick-wit and great sass, but she was also a little dim, and is fickle throughout the book. It was challenging to make a meaning full connection with her because of this.

Overall, I was a little lost with the setting of this story at the beginning of the story as we follow Zerryn through her childhood, but even in the Underworld I wish that we had gotten more of this world.

The relationships did feel somewhat toxic, especially given the morally gray character and a love-triangle? Overall, this story is true to the romantasy trope.

Thank you, NG and Northern Light Press, for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

Giving this one a 3.75 out of 5. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

tldr; Great introduction to dark romatasy with one chili pepper of spice (anything past smooches fades to black).

Boy did this book give me lots of feelings (many good but some not so great). While not marketed as such, this definitely has big Persephone and Hades retelling vibes. Especially since Zerryn is visited when she is a child before the main plot of the story. I love the idea of her wanting to claim the throne to save her village and friends and family, but throughout her quest she cannot do this without the help of others and some clever cheats. The scorn that Zerryn deals with her entire life would cripple almost anyone else, but somehow she has persevered.

I enjoyed Zerryn and Erlik's relationship develop throughout, especially since Erlik is respectful of Zerryn and her feelings. Not to say there aren't the toxic moments, especially at the end, but for a dark romantasy it's one of the less problematic relationships I've read.

The ending definitely kept me guessing, as I couldn't decide what path Zerryn would take. However, the ultimate result left me wanting more and felt a little lack luster. This may be leading into a second book (but who knows).

I recieved a free e-arc of this book. Thanks to NetGalley and Northern Light Press

I give this book a 2.75. I was very much interested with the blurb bride of death, trying to save her village, trial for his hand sounds interesting enough but it drags so bad. There is so many new characters and words for a book that is less than 350 pages that it makes it hard to read. The story itself is okay but most of it is dialogue that comes off as flat with most interactions and the character build up for anyone is very surface level. The trials in the 2nd part seemed interesting but again comes off brushed over and then her interactions with Erlick isnt impressive to me I forced myself to finish. I found there was to much going on to make it impactful and make me care about the main character for how short the book was.

I absolutely adored this book. It was so rich in folklore and has such a beautiful old lit vibe. The romance was so deeply felt. The heartache, the longing, the pain… my god I feel like it’s crawled under my skin.

F.M. Aden does a phenomenal job finding a knife edge balance between good and evil, love and hate & beauty and morbidity to spin a truly enrapturing tale.

There is beauty in darkness.

I have so many feelings about this book! Both positive and negative, so I'm going to just offer you the run down and get to it.

Zerryn has a really great life, but when a crisis hits, she puts it all on the line to go through trials to win the heart of the Lord of Death and save her village and true love.

This is enemies to lovers. It's an adult stand-alone and has a love triangle. The love triangle is where my problem lies!!!! Just... make a choice! Sheesh!

Out March 1, 2024!

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!

Ended up having a lot of mixed feelings about this book but I went into this wanting an enjoyably messy and complicated "death and the maiden"/enemies to lovers/hate to love fantasy romance and this did deliver. For all of the issues I had with this book as a whole, the romance between Zerryn and Erlik hit the mark for me and I was ultimately satisfied with how their story ended up.

The summary for this book compares it to Uprooted and The Bear and the Nightingale which are two of my all time favorites so my expectations were high. Unfortunately, I don't think those comparisons are quite accurate aside from the Turkish-folklore influences, the death and the maiden trope, and an attempt at lyrical/flowery prose that didn't always work for me. The folklore and overall worldbuilding of this story was underwhelming and I never felt fully immersed in the story because of it. There's also this discordant feeling to the writing that made it feel as if the story wasn't sure what wanted to be - the beginning of the story feels like it's going to be a lyrical, fairy tale-esque historical fantasy romance story (like The Bear and the Nightingale but with more romance) but as the story went on the writing and dialogue began to feel a bit more like a standard "romantasy" story in the vein of Sarah J Maas (though a bit darker). I can enjoy both kinds of stories but only when the tone is consistent.

While I didn't dislike the characters, they're not going to stand out to me and honestly they pale in comparison to characters who fit similar tropes. While not completely the same, I think you can make a lot of comparisons between Zerryn, Erlik, and Çelik to Alina, the Darkling, and Mal from the Shadow and Bone trilogy though they are all far less interesting. Erlik was the most compelling of the three but I felt his characterization relied heavily on ~vibes~ rather than true depth. Çelik only felt like he existed to be a plot device and since he and his relationship with Zerryn wasn't interesting at all it was hard to care about his fate which is Zerryn's entire motivation for going to the Underworld - and since I didn't care about her motivation, it was hard to care about her. Zerryn didn't have much of a personality of her own and the book constantly tells us things about her but we don't really see it. For the majority of the book I could not understand why Erlik was so fascinated by her. She was his clear favorite throughout the competition and nothing she did made me understand why (other than her magic). Though, as I said at the beginning of the review, I did ultimately enjoy seeing their romance play out despite not being too invested in their characters individually.

I also struggled to care about the plot outside of the romance - and so I'm glad that this book was for the most part romance-centric. I never felt the stakes of the story Zerryn was his clear favorite of the competitors and based on the title you'll know she'll end up marrying him. Outside of Zerryn/Erlik's scenes together (which I always enjoyed), I didn't have much interest in the story and the world it created. My mind would drift quite a bit while reading and I honestly can't tell you much of what happened outside of their romance. I never felt any suspense or any real strong emotions while reading. There's a scene toward the end involving Zerryn, Erlik, and Çelik that overall was really great and brought me back but since I didn't care about Çelik one bit it didn't hit has hard as it could have.

Ultimately I feel like this book was enjoyable enough but had a lot of missed potential for me personally. I do think it may work better for other readers though - if you wish The Bear and the Nightingale was more focused on the romance, if you want a romantasy story with Alina/Darkling vibes (where the hero and villain do end up together), and if you enjoy the Hades/Persephone elements of A Court of Mist and Fury but want a messier/darker central romance dynamic, The Bride of Death may be worth picking up.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Northern Light Press for the arc copy in exchange for an honest review.*

This book was so much fun. It wasn’t perfect, and there were things that I’d change (like the ending, the fate of Zerryn’s magic, etc), but overall it was a good read.

I really enjoyed the idea of Death himself being won over by a colorful, and just good woman. The way he fell to his knees for someone so different than him, I ate it up.

Zerryn is so relatable. She meets Death himself and falls in love with him thinking she can change him. Change Death! We would all think the same thing in her place, myself included, let’s be real.

My favorite part of the book was the trials and the friendships Zerryn made while she was in the underworld. Competing for Death’s hand in marriage is much more fun than a boring ol’ proposal. And the friendships Zerryn made are far better friendships than she ever had in the human realm.

I enjoyed the author’s writing style. I think some parts could have handled a little more editing, but it was enjoyable nevertheless.

I personally think there could have been more betrayal or angst or drama of some kind. There were parts of the book where I was a little bored, but it didn’t take too long for the book to grab my attention again.

Overall, if you enjoy love triangles, grumpy x sunshine, touch her and die, and he falls first tropes, this should be a good choice!

3.5stars. This book had kind of a slow start and I struggled to get into it. However, it just kept getting better and better as I read. The plot was familiar in theme, yet the outcome was so much different than I expected going into it. I found myself not able to put this book down! Review has been posted to Goodreads.

I really enjoyed this book. It had a very interesting premise and followed it through with such depth. The characters and the world they are inhabit are written with such richness. The mythology is richly described, a delight.

I really loved the premise behind The Bride of Death, it is a beautiful adult debut that blends fantasy, historical fiction and romance. The writing draws you instantly in with the descriptive world building and captivating characters.

I did find the beginning to be a little slow and a few pacing issues it also took me a while to fully grasp the concept but once I did I found the overall gothic atmosphere and setting really engaging and hard to put down. It has twists and turns and a really interesting plot that is written so clearly you are able to understand what is going on, It weaves a whimsical fantasy world and romance together, as well as some dark moments.

I really enjoyed this book overall and recommend if you love a morally grey MMC a strong willed FMC and really gothic atmospheric read filled with beautiful thought provoking writing.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Northern Light Press for this ARC.

This book has a really interesting premise, using Mongolian folklore as inspiration and I really loved the world building. The writing draws reader in with beautiful, lyrical prose which reminded me at times of Rokshani Chokri’s “The Last Tale of the Flower Bride”. The story is very engaging and I loved the FMC. The characters develop and change in believable ways and I really enjoyed the character arcs of the MCs. There are some great quotes too, which I can see being very popular on BookTok; “I would see worlds burn for you. I would see empires topple to be here with you for the rest of eternity.”

My only complaints with this book were mostly to do with the editing (or lack thereof). Aside from a smattering of spelling errors, (which I have noted, if the author is interested), there are several places where commas are incorrectly placed or have been omitted where they are needed. There are also multiple examples of odd phrasing, making me wonder if the author is not a native English speaker. Sometimes this worked with the story and sometimes it read oddly, for instance; “Zerryn wondered if Erlik had kept his promise if he’d been with Lale to spite Zerryn.” (P83) References to his wings are also a bit bizarre, because they’re repeatedly referred to as “it” rather than “them”, which sounds really odd, e.g. “The servants touch my wings to clean it.” This ought to be altered to the plural. I also noted the very repetitive use of “said” in the spoken portions. Synonyms could have been used here to add interest and detail. There are also quite a few instances of run-on sentences, often beginning with “and”, e.g. “she felt his palm tighten on her thigh. And his eyes darkened with desire.” (P311), which could do with reworking.

I would also say that the beginning of the story is odd, as the narrative seems to switch POV in a confusing manner, beginning with Zerryn’s father, then switching to Zerryn. Given that the rest of the story is mostly told from Zerryn’s perspective, I think this switch could be made clearer. It is also confusing regarding Derya and how long she has been with the family. The phrasing suggests that Derya has only been with them for a fortnight, yet she has things she “usually” does, and it feels like she’s always been there… unless the phrasing was wrong (this would make the most sense), in which case, I’d suggest altering the word “ago” from, “His wife had died a fortnight ago” to “His wife had died a fortnight earlier/before”, which would make the timeline make more sense. The rest of the story would indicate that Derya did indeed arrive a fortnight after Zerryn’s mother died and has lived with them since, not for only a fortnight. I’d suggest making this change in phrasing to clear this up.

The other suggestion I’d make is that the transformation of Çelik could have been given more space on the page to build more tension and add more detail, given that it’s the catalyst for the ensuing events. It felt that this had been glossed over in order to move the story along to Zerryn meeting Erlik.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend. The world was immersive and rich and the storyline unpredictable and engaging. With the edits I’ve suggested I’d have no hesitation giving it 5 stars.

P42 “ascent” should be “assent”
P56 “It made sense that he wore Çelik’s skin he couldn’t walk the earth as himself” missing “if” or “as”
P70 “wax poetry” sounds odd using the noun here, usually it’s the adverb; “wax poetic” Repeated p281
P76 “succeed his little trials” missing “in” or “at”
P78 “draped his arms around her shoulder” should be singular “arm” because it doesn’t make sense for him to do this with both arms
P83 “anyone expected of harming another” should be “suspected” rather than “expected”
P84 “inhumanely strong” should be “inhumanly” (inhuman = not human)
P87 “inhuman game” should be “inhumane” (inhumane = cruel, without mercy)
P111 “dove like nocked arrows” actually “loosed arrows” would make more sense; a nocked arrow is held against the bowstring
P114 “distinguished metals dangled from his armour” think “medals” is intended here
P134 “reign her in” should be “rein her in”
P135 “old wooden comb with missing bristles” combs have teeth, brushes have bristles
P146 “slid their pinchers into her flesh” should be “pincers” repeated p261
P166 “pointed to her black pupil” Here, “eye” or “iris” would make more sense as pupils are always black.
P172 “so she could board him” usually you “mount” a horse, not “board” one
P174 “of an undermined age” should be “undetermined”
P178. “They children huddled” should be “the”
P203 “he sprouted such blatant lies” should be “spouted”
P214 “she left him touch her” should be “let”
P238 “scrapping her bottom lip” should be “scraping”
P279 “you are in my terrain” should be “domain”
P299 “single the end of the day” should be “signal”

The Bride of Death by F.M. Aden is an enchanting adult debut that beautifully blend's fantasy, historical fiction, and romance.
In this captivating read, the author masterfully weaves a narrative that is both engaging and thought-provoking. Through a blend of richly developed characters and a meticulously crafted plot. I loved the characters and the world-building, the storyline was spectacular.
The author's ability to evoke emotion and create a vivid, immersive world is truly remarkable, making this book a must-read for anyone looking for an exceptional literary experience.

Thank You NetGalley and Northern Light Press for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

I went into this read based on the cover only and it definitely was a good choice. I did not know a lot about some of the lore mentioned in this story so I plan on finding more information and stories along the same topics. This book had lots of adventure, rage, snark, and brutal games. I think this book has a lot of great qualities and I will be sure to share my thoughts on it with my friends.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Northern Light Press for this ARC.

This one is an unfortunate DNF for me. The first few chapters were great. I was sucked into the world of folklore and mystery and loved the main character. Unfortunately, one she left her father to live with her grandmother everything fell apart for me. We had massive time skips that didn't really tell us much of anything. She was introduced to the love interest as a child on one page and within a few pages they were grown up and in love, and I felt the transitions between scenes where very choppy and rushed. I wanted to love this so much, but within a few chapters of them moving into the underworld, I realised I just had no investment into any of the characters and decided to DNF at the 30% mark. It's a shame as the very beginning of the book showed so much premise

This book was right up my alley and I enjoyed every single second of it. This book wasn’t made for people who love spicy romantasy books. This book was made for those who want a sweet demon to whisper sweet words in their ears in a fantasy world.

The beginning of this book made it a little difficult to grasp the concept until I understood exactly what F.M. Arden was doing. You are guided through glimpses of MFC’s, Zerryn, life before our story begins. The first few chapters of this book gives you just enough context to understand her story and her life before we dive into the main plot.

Speaking of plot, oh my god… the twists and turns, the trials to be won, the fights to be had. The plot is so beautiful and is clearly written for those who enjoy the concept of high fantasy. Yes, if prefer more romance in your story than fantasy, you may not enjoy this book. This book weaves a whimsical tale of a fantasy world and romance together and leaves out the spice. The book doesn’t need it, the plot doesn’t revolve around it, and I believe that makes it a better book.

The characters are deep, emotional, and will make you feel everything. The MMC and his words… good god, I could drool over his words alone for days. Zerryn’s character development is perfect for anyone looking for a strong female lead who finds power in herself. Even the side characters introduced along the way had me falling in love with their charm, sass, and cunning whit.

Overall, this book just did it for me. It’s everything I enjoy in a book, the hint of romance with a dash of high fantasy that creates a beautiful story. I will be recommending this book to all my friends who enjoy this style of story just like I do.

The Bride of Death is a hard to put down intriguing gothic, fantasy, romance. Aden's prose is immersive and thoroughly engaging.