This book strikes the perfect balance of seductive yet dangerous vampires. It’s a really exciting read. The vampires are smart, capable and attractive, not just mindlessly violent or animalistic. Nor are they sanitised to the point there’s no tension in the book. These are powerful and cruel beings.

Our MC is a blacksmith who is travelling to sell a powerful sword she’s created that can kill vampires. While travelling they are attacked and she’s captured by vampires who take her to their fortress where she awakes at a lavish party to find she’s been crowned vampire queen. She has three days trapped at this party before they plan to kill her and use her blood to maintain the fortress through an old ritual. She’s in the middle of a sumptuous and debauched celebration desperately trying to find a way out and everyone there wants to drink her blood.

The setting was amazing, she has free reign of the fortress because there’s no way of escaping it. It’s a huge isolated building and she really is trapped at every corner. The juxtaposition of the lavish party with the constant danger worked so well too! With the MC encouraged to partake of the revelries and enjoy her last hours of life.

Our MC is strong and resilient and determined to survive and we watch as she attempts cautious alliances with those who may be willing to help her to fulfil their own agendas. Yet can she really trust them?

This was a fantastic vampire novel, tense, exciting. Would recommend!

I read an eARC of this book so thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley.

A vivid, wicked vampire tale, with everything you’d want from it: a moody blacksmith heroine with questionable morals; rugged protector Wardens, a mysterious Gothic puzzle-box inescapable castle; ghosts; a stolen sword; dark bloody magic; and of course, vampires: political, courtly, feral, masterful, insipid, gory, sexy, traitorous: in all the flavours you might want.

The prose is delicious, too - it just draws you on and in. There is a spicy scene (everyone is bisexual) after some slow burn. Not the main focus nor the best part of the book for me, but if you’re looking for it, it’s there.

Loved Kazan and her determination to survive at all costs: but can she do so without sacrificing her humanity?

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Angry Robot for the eARC!!
I loved this book! The writing flowed easily and even with all of the different threads of storylines, the book flowed well and all threads wove intricately together. You can feel the love and passion that Ciel Pierlot poured into this book from page one.


Kazan is a blacksmith, who has vowed to fight vampires as they torment humans in this magical world. Kazan gets captured and locked in the castle full of bloodthirsty vampires. She feels trapped, stuck, and scared...until she realizes that the vampires are, in fact, stuck in the castle with her. Can she fight her way out...?
The anger, the power, the fighting, all of it was a great adventure. It was also a breath of fresh air to read about court intrigue and politics in a new way, and Ciel Pierlot did this amazingly! Between all the vampire clans and unique character plots, his world sucks you right in and you have no choice but to hold on as the roller coaster twists up and down and side to side.
AND THAT ENDING??? HOLD ON TIGHT!!

I think my favorite part of this book was the character development of Kazan...it was great to read about a strong woman character bursting out of her shell, letting herself feel the anger, and destroy her shell. To learn that it's okay to go after what you deserve and want...as long as you're ready to face what comes after... *cue evil laugh*

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves vampires, rioting adventure, epic battle scenes, court politics, and a fantasy adventure with a dash of romance!!

This really scratched the vampire itch I had going on! Ciel Pierlot has crafted a whole world overrun with boujie, upper-class vampires and I am obsessed. I felt like the wait for that *one* spicy scene was agonising, but mostly worth it! The character arcs were well fleshed out for each of the three MCs and I grew to love them despite their moral discrepancies.

The ending was the dark, 1-to-100 craziness that I wanted, however there were a few tidbits of information I wanted to know but didn't find out. Like: what happened to the humans after that final big event?

Thank you to 2018 Ciel for writing this, and thank you to Angry Robot & Netgalley for the gifted e-book! I can't wait to get my physical copy so I can take lots of pretty picturessss

If you like vampire books you have to pick this one up. It’s a brutal and fascinating story about a woman trapped in a mansion full of vampires and what she will do to escape.

What I love about this book is that it doesn’t shy away from the brutality in the world Pierlot has built. Kazan is dangerous and intelligent and determined. She doesn’t get pushed around or bullied and she definitely doesn’t fall head over heels for a vampire and lose the ability to do anything on her own (which is such a common trope). It’s such an interesting read that asks the question - how far would you go to survive? I would highly recommend checking this one out June 5th, 2024 when it is officially published.

4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot for my review copy.

This book is full of anger. And I loved it. I love a cathartic story about anger and it enthralled me from the first chapter.

I found the plot to be very fast paced, as the majority of the plot took place over three days and I wanted to see how the schemes of the characters would play out.

The writing style was also very easy to read and I loved all the descriptions of the knives and blades that the characters wielded. All of the action scenes were very dynamic.

I enjoyed the development of the relationship in the book, though because the book took place over such a short period of time (like 4 days), it felt somewhat rushed, but the urgency is to be expected when there's many threads to keep track of. It was satifying to see all the backstabbing and betrayal that happened between the vampire houses/clans.

I enjoyed the court/political intrigue and how all the vampire clans interacted with the others and it's been a while since I read a book with that.

At it's core, this is a book about power and anger and the entitled rich. I loved seeing Kazam struggle with being placed in a position that would make anyone angry and her anger is justifiable and relatable and kind of cathartic to read and I loved seeing Kazam come to terms with herself and what she wants as a person and realise that she can do things for herself and she doesn't need to deny herself the ability to do what she wants and indulge in the things she wants.

I can't wait to see what Ciel Pierlot writes next.