Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of The Bride of Death in exchange of my honest review.

2.5 stars.

This book is a retelling of Erlik Khan of the Turkish mythology but it does have VERY strong resemblances with Hades and Persephone.
The story is about Zerryn, a village girl that always had been bad mouthed due to the fact she had received a gift from the god of death - her dark black eye.
Upon seeing the devastating aftermath of his actions on her village and possessing the body of the man she loved, she goes to the underworld to bargain with the deity to let him live, but learned that her only way out is to compete in a life-or-death competition to win the God’s hand in marriage.

This book took several turns and in so many points I was quite enjoying the fantastical and lush world the author portrayed. I love seeing death as a monster (literally), rather than a the beautiful man the Greek mythology portrays, and his complexity but utterly adoration of the FMC. We also have in this story several tropes that are favorites of mine, such as death and the maiden, he falls first, mortally grey characters, competition.. however the execution and conclusion of the story completely lost me.

We have a FMC that throughout the whole book was slowly learning things, having a slow burn romance with her enemy, discovering her own powers and becoming more confident to just throw everything out of the window at the 70% mark. I think I should have stopped right there, but I had hopes that we would turn this around. We didn’t. And that was super disappointing.

The MMC, Death, is a fascinating character and I LOVED his pursuit of Zerryn and, although he kept his behavior consistent, there was a point in the book that he felt very out of character which broke that image I had in my mind in a way that I just did not care for the character anymore.

Lastly, some of the friendships the FMC developed throughout her trial simply disappeared when she needed the most and came back at the end of the story as if nothing had happened, almost as if the author remembered they existed and had to include them at the end somehow. This plot hole also bothered me a little.

Overall this is an interesting tale that explore a mythology I was not very familiar with it and I had a good time with it until the 60-70% mark. The the prose was pretty, although a bit repetitive from time to time. Unfortunately, the execution and ending was just done poorly in my opinion.

3.75⭐️s. I was not expecting to love this book the way I did. It’s giving belladonna by Adalyn grace vibes and I’m here for it. Strong fmc torn between the light and dark within her. I did take me a while to get into the groove of the book but that is mainly due to my lack of knowledge of some of the language within the story. Love a morally grey love interest and I’m happy with the ending. The perfect villain origin plot line. Would definitely recommend

This is one of those books that you start with high hopes, but end up putting down over and over again.

I found myself engaged in reading the first parts of the story. Its world-building has been executed thoroughly.
However, as I got to the chapters set in the Underworld, everything fell off until the end.
The more I progressed throughout the story, the more I got annoyed.
I felt that I had to push myself to finish this.

I wasn't able to connect myself with the characters much. There's inconsistency with their characterizations, most especially with Zerryn. I don't see any real motivations for what she's about to do. Make up your mind bro, do you want to kill him or despise him or fight for him or love him or are you just plain stupid?

:(
The plot felt rushed. It would've been a great shot also to get to know more about the myth/folklore that has been based on, but there wasn't much to read. There is also more telling than showing which is why I wasn't that invested in reading. The romance wasn't that well-written. I find it corny.

SPOILER AHEAD:
The ending would've been maybe more realistic if 1. Zerryn eventually killed Erlik or 2. Zerryn died after she got possessed by Erlik when the village was about to burn her.

Seriously though, the story has potential! I just wish it had more 'substance' in it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3.5

Thank you NetGalley & Northern Light Press for this ARC

Was this book a little weird with 4 arms & eyes? Absolutely, but I was fully on board with it!

This was a uniquely interesting tale seeped in folklore & while Zerrya caused a little frustration here & there, I generally liked her character, she had a quiet strength to her that I admired

Erlik was just *chefs kiss*. I was a fan from the get go. He also had some of the best romantic declarations & his silent desire for Zerrya to loved him made me love him even more. I also loved Minay & Beyza, I only wish Minay was in it more

What generally impacted my rating a little was the ending that I felt was a little rushed. I think personally, I would have liked Zerrya to have had to grovel more. She was at her most unlikeable at this time & I don’t think really redeemed herself, leaving Erlik to pick up the mess

Overall, however, I consumed this book so quickly because it was a unique & interesting tale so would definitely recommend

The Bride of Death is reminiscent of Katherine Arden’s Winternight trilogy… through a darker and more delicious lens!

This book is deeply, and strangely, romantic! The enemies-to-lovers trope is at its best here, where we find the almost eldritch, immortal god of Death groveling at the feet of the village girl he is utterly obsessed with. Meanwhile, she plots to win his hand in a series of magic trials, in order to destroy him.

I love this book. The dark romance girls will love this book. The romantasy girls will love this book. Anyone who loves Naomi Novik will love this book. It is weird, and richly imagined. and an absolutely decadent read.

DNF at 30%. I am by no means the target audience for this book. I somehow missed the romance tag and oh boy is it romance. I will recommend this book to customers because it is well written, and very clever, but I had to dnf when things got too spicy and I read a euphemism for male reproductive organs and cried.

This book was a DNF for me. The writing was fine, the premise is interesting, but I couldn't get passed the timeline, which didn't make sense to me. I will probably try again to read it because I hate just abandoning books, but I couldn't concentrate on the story when my head was trying to figure out the order of events and how they worked together.
An example of this is a character "always" sent something to the market with the father of the household when he went to sell goods. But the character who "always" sends things had only been there two weeks. Perhaps less, I'm really not sure. How do they "always" do something when they just got there?


Thanks so much to Net Galley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley, publisher Northern Light Press, and author F.M. Aden for providing an ARC in exchange for a review! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3.5 stars

The Bride of Death recounts the story of Zerryn, a young woman who must complete three impossible tasks in order to become Erlik’s, the Lord of Death, wife and save her best friend and lover Çelik. F.M. Aden creates a beautifully written novel that reads like a real folklore story and captures you within its lines. It’s the legends, myths and gothic elements in that made the book stand out for me, as I wasn’t a big fan of the love triangle (and sometimes Zerryn rubbed me the wrong way too).

If you are a fan of Uprooted or The Bear and The Nightingale, then you definitely need to give this book a try! I’ll for sure be reading more titles from F.M. Aden.

This book wasn’t what I expected nor was it what I wanted to read. At the beginning I was engaged, the worldbuilding was interesting and the setting lushly imagined. As the story progressed I found myself getting more and more annoyed. Neither the plot or the characters impressed me, and I found myself having go really push to finish this.

A dark, sensual tale seeped in Turkish folklore following a young woman competing to be death's wife. On paper a book I thought I'd love, with a unique world and take on folklore, however it was let down by clunky writing, a rushed plot, inconsistent characterisation and lots of telling not showing. Pretty sure this is self published, which would explain a lot.

This is the first book I have read by this author. I was really intrigued by the premise of a human being a Bride of Death, especially how Death himself would be characterised.

The story is set in Eastern Europe sometime in the 13th or 14th century, best I can tell, but the world is different from our own. Superstition is rife in the little village where the heroine, Zerryn, lives and because she is strange she is shunned.

The beginning of the book is beautifully written and I particularly liked the tender relationship between Zerryn and her father. Zerryn is a magical child and the prose during this part of the book is whimsical in a way that reminded me a little of 'The Bear and the Nightingale'.

As the story evolves and Death (or the demon of the Underworld, Erlik) makes himself known to Zerryn the magical realism became a little more complicated.

There was plenty of action going on and keeping the characters and their myths straight was a little difficult for me. Still, as I immersed myself in the story, it became very interesting.

I thought there were times when the dialogue between Erlik and Zerryn was a little too flowery and there were moments when I couldn't get a handle on either of their characters. I could see that they were conflicted but they seemed to swing from intense love to hate like a pendulum.

I enjoyed parts of this book - the writing and the myths especially. But I did get a bit lost halfway through the book and rushed a little at the end.

Still, the book highlighted an interesting time and place in history that I would like to know more about.

I received an ARC of this book from Northern Light Press and Netgalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

first off thank you to netgalley and northern lights press for this arc! this was such an enjoyable read for me. a lush, gothic, turkish mythology rendition that I didn’t know I needed in my life. paced perfectly, and had me intrigued throughout. this is a perfect standalone fantasy that had me wishing it was getting a sequel. my only qualms with this is the main character who is a little annoying at times, and wishing that certain plot points were more detailed. aside from that, i really loved this novel and will definitely be purchasing a physical copy when it releases in march!

I couldn’t get into the world of this one, or connect with any of the characters, which made for a pretty difficult read. But the writing was great

This was good? The setting was good and the concept was good but I found the characters to be wholly insufferable. If you can deal with that, you'll probably love it.

“You must never wait for someone to save you,” her magic whispered. “Only you can save yourself.”

First, thank you NetGalley for this ARC! I absolutely loved this book! I love a good fantasy book and this was so great! In order to save her village and the farm boy she loves Zerryn must journey to the Underworld in the hopes of become the kings bride. To become queen Zerryn must compete in 3 trials each more challenging than the next. Her time in the Underworld changes Zerryn and she is more drawn to Erlik, the Lord of Death, than she would like. Zerryn learns so much about herself and the people she was trying to save.

I absolutely loved Zerryn! She has such a quiet strength about her that grows are the story progresses. The connection between her and Erlik was electric. I mean was it weird that he has 4 arms, more than 1 mouth, and extra eye…yes but it’s fantasy and I was on board.

The world building was imaginative and the premise was super interesting. The was great character development and the story moved and flows really well. Fantastic book

This will go viral!! Tik tok will go crazy over this book. So unique. Crafted folklore tale. 5stars

The idea for this book was a solid one but the execution fell slightly short. At times the story felt rushed and at other points it dragged on and went over a lot of the FMC's same angst to the point that I wanted to shake her and tell her to make her mind up.

The start of the book sets up a magical world and gives a lot of Zerryn's history, but it doesn't really seem to have much point beyond going "btw this girl has magic". Exactly why did her nursemaid tell her all those stories? Was she sent by death to prepare her for the trials? We don't know because she's never mentioned again.

It was also a really sudden switch from her being there for her best mate to him being this evil figure living in a castle. The time jump was really jarring. and it didn't seem to really fit.

Things definitely picked up in part two and it got more interesting, but sometimes Zerryn is too annoying to cope with. The character of Erlik was far more interesting and I think getting more of his point of view could have kept things moving.

There were hints that spice would happen too, but all the scenes just fade to black.

While I did enjoy the book, it did drag in places and it felt like there were way too many endings only for it to ultimately be incredibly predictable.

3.5 stars

Never expected myself to find some dude with fi-four eyes, four arms and * mouths hot but here we are.

Thank you F. M. Aden for introducing readers to more Turkish myths with this sophomore book.

While I absolutely enjoyed reading the novel and liked the characters, I couldn't help but notice certain glaring plot holes (hence the deduction in rating). There is time skip whenever the author feels like. You are reading certain scene and next, the game has started without any explanation about what the task is. Another disappointment was how we never got to know how her caretaker appeared, was she sent by Erlik? What's her story?

Now, about the characters, I love Zerryn even though she irked me at times. Spoiler Alert: But watching her character development (or regression) was a delight to witness. Erlik feeling human emotions was nice to read. The grandmother, Beyza and house spirit were the only other characters I adored. Celik irritated me the most with how he treated Zerryn, like she owed him something. The book also has nice touch on feminism at times, I have some quotes bookmarked.

Overall, the book is a good read for anyone looking for a gothic romantasy. It needs a few more editing before getting published as there are some spelling mistakes and grammatical errors too.

Aden succeeds in her endeavours to twist the folk lore and legends of Türkiye with stories and fairy tales that are more familiar too a western audience.

It wouldn't be right to call this story a straight up retelling as it seamlessly blends tales such as sleeping beauty, beauty and the beast, dracula, greek myth, fallen angels and I am sure many tales of spirits and heroines from Turkiye that I am ignorant of.

Aden also succeeds in bringing modern tropes to The Bride of Death. If you love enemies to lovers, Love triangles, trials and forbidden love then you are in for a treat. The tropes are not forced and fall naturally into the flow of the story.

I have only two real disappointments. The first is we never get beyond a certain level of spice which would be fine but there were so many hints that it would become a little more steamy than it did. The second comes from the conclusion, which I will not spoil but only say I would have preferred a little light to remain in the darkness.

I look forward to reading more by this author in the future

Unfortunately this was a book that I just couldn't force myself to finish. The premise was very interesting and I truly loved the Turkish inspiration, but I really struggled to get even as far into this book as I did (approximately 20%). I found the writing style off-putting. I believe the author was trying for whimsical, but it ended up just reading as stilted. The sense of movement or blocking of the characters were poor, and overall I just didn't find the storytelling cohesive. I really wanted to push through, since many reviewers noted early pacing issues and mentioned that the author found their stride further in the book, but I found attempting to read this felt like a chore and I decided to move on to other books that would be enjoyable for me.