Member Reviews

Oath of Fire definitely hit a lot of the right spots for me. Sapphics, an interesting twists on Greek Gods, the MC plays mmorpgs, family drama, and the vibes were right. I loved the sapphic twist on the Eros and Psyche love story.
Tho I’m definitely not usually one for falling in love fast plots the way it happens in Oath of Fire seems to make sense when it happens, along with Eros also being a god I feel like it wouldn’t be hard falling fast for a God. I did feel a bit confused throughout the book especially the beginning, I thought that I was missing parts of the lore/story, why some people know about gods and a few other parts didn’t seem needed or fully fleshed out.
Overall I would definitely recommend this to someone who enjoys Greek retellings, queer fantasy or spicy sapphic vibes. I’m excited to see Bondi’s story in the future…

Thank you Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Was this review helpful?

I took a chance on this because I was sent a widget and it sounded fun, but this is a very quick DNF for me.

I could immediately tell the writing was not going to work for me, so I debated immediately DNFing, but figured I'd give this a little more of a shot. Then our main character gets fired from her job because she's a therapist who's outed a trans client to her parents. And she genuinely seems to think she's simply being misunderstood. How am I meant to sympathize with this character after that, as a non-binary reader?

Was this review helpful?

I love sapphic romance and I love Greek mythology so I was super excited to read this! I enjoyed the descriptive writing, especially around the Courts and gods, the pacing of the plot, and the ending totally hooked me. My main issue is that none of the relationships had depth - Psyche and her sisters and friends, her relationship with Eros. In particular, throughout the book I kept doubting her relationship with Eros. Their initial obsession felt forced and I wasn’t convinced that they were so deeply in love. I ultimately didn’t understand who Eros was as a character so it was difficult to buy in to her devotion to Psyche. I also thought the spicy scenes were a little meh. All in all a fun read, though! I enjoyed it.

Was this review helpful?

Psyche is a therapist and influencer feeling a little lost after losing her job, ruining her reputation, and having issues with her family. When she receives a personal invitation to a mysterious party from an alluring stranger, she figures she has nothing to lose. The party is more than just a little mysterious, as Psyche finds herself thrown into the world of Courts, suddenly surrounded by entirely new worlds, oaths, gods, and plenty of new rules. Among the gods is Eros, the embodiment of passion, desire, and love itself. Eros is instantly drawn to Psyche and her interest is only further piqued by Psyche’s boldness and selflessness, even when it comes to gods, and she immediately swears an oath to protect her. Psyche becomes further entwined with Eros and consequently, the rest of the gods as well.

I should probably preface this by saying I don’t tend to read fantasy. However, I’m willing to give any genre a shot, as long as it’s queer, so I was still interested in this. I thought some aspects ended up falling flat though and probably made it more of a 2.5 star read for me.

One thing I loved was Eros’ devotion to Psyche, but it would’ve been more impactful if their relationship had felt more developed. I get that she’s a god so things are going to play out a little differently and develop more quickly, but as a reader, to feel more invested, I need them to have more of a reason for being so devoted to each other. The oath sort of gets rid of that need but again, from the outside, I need more. Having a deeper development for them would’ve made the more emotional scenes hit harder.

I also had an issue with the occasional overly ornate prose. I could’ve understood if it came more from the gods, but it would just be thrown in completely random, simple scenes like Psyche going to sleep. I did like the way the gods and their Courts were described though. Like I said, I don’t read much fantasy, so I could have easily had difficulty picturing some of the aspects, but I think everything was detailed enough to really allow me to imagine how grand, fantastical, and otherwordly everything looked.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

Summary: All Psyche ever wanted to do was help people, whether it's in her job as a therapist or online as an influencer. So when a mysterious invitation arrives from the most captivating man she's ever seen, asking for her assistance, she can't refuse. But Psyche soon finds herself in a world of Courts, full of debauchery and treachery, where her only option for survival is to swear a strange oath to a mysterious masked woman named Eros.

Now Psyche has to figure out how to fulfill her end of her bargain with Eros, while trying to navigate having a flame-winged goddess show up in her tiny Brooklyn apartment. But how long can she keep her curiosity at bay when Eros makes her heart tremble?

Revew: This is a less daring/spicy version of Neon Gods. I love my retellings and have to say this was a fun one!

#OathofFire #NetGalley

Was this review helpful?

I devoured this book in a day, which is a testament to how much the plot drawn me in and kept me enthralled. This has great writing, the complexity of characters and emotion, it all makes for an excellent book. Would highly recommend if love mythology retelling.

A special thank you to NetGalley and Forever for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

Oh hey it’s meeeeeee I’m reading this for work! Aaaaaaand there's a character limit on reviews here are some more words

Was this review helpful?