Just finished this book and had mixed feelings about it. Levana, a secluded human princess, caught my interest from the start, but the rapid pace and instant connections between characters left me wanting more depth. While the storyline kept me hooked, I struggled with the lack of agency for the main character, especially regarding her forced marriage and sudden embrace/interest of vampirism. Overall, an enjoyable read, but it could have been even better with more nuanced character development and exploration of themes.

Karolina Wilde's Masters of Blood is a mesmerizing and dark fantasy romance that breathes new life into the classic Hades and Persephone myth. Princess Levana Rhazien finds her meticulously planned life upended when she is kidnapped by the powerful vampire king Orion Lothaire, throwing her into a world of danger and seduction. As Levana navigates the treacherous political intrigues and supernatural threats in the wintry north, Wilde weaves a tale of love, sacrifice, and power that keeps readers enthralled until the very last page.

This captivating retelling balances the allure of dangerous vampires with a lush high-fantasy setting, drawing readers into a world where love and darkness collide in a thrilling and romantic dance. Wilde's exquisite world-building, complex characters, and simmering tension create a riveting reading experience that will appeal to fans of Sarah J. Maas and other enchanting fantasy romances. *Masters of Blood* is a spellbinding journey that pulses with passion, suspense, and magic, making it a must-read for lovers of dark fantasy and mythic retellings that push the boundaries of traditional romance storytelling.

The premise of this book was intriguing and I liked the overall story arc. It is not the type of book I usually pick up, but I’m glad I tried it. I was surprised that I enjoyed the spicy scenes as much I did! However, I did end up skimming a lot of the book after about 40% in. There were a lot of grammatical errors which made it difficult for me to stay engaged. I also found some of the dialogue stilted and wish there was more showing, not telling (except I do wish there was more telling in regards to Orion’s appearance. I didn’t get a very clear image in my head!). Overall, I think this book has promise but needs some additional editing. Thanks Karolina and NetGalley for the chance to read and review!

❥ hades and persephone retellings
❥ arranged marriage
❥ vampire king
❥ stolen princess
❥ forced proximity
❥ political court intrigue
❥ dark high-fantasy setting

This read was dark, it was delicious and I cannot wait for more! I didn’t want to set this book down. I ate up every single page of this. We start by following our princess as she’s taken from her engagement (for her arranged marriage) dinner by our delicious Orion our VAMPIRE KING and man when I tell you that their spice and their chemistry and ALL OF THE THINGS between these two was perfect for me…I mean it. I loved it.

Secrets from Levana’s life start to unravel. I love how we get to see friendships within this book and I do truly love that there is found family aspect in here as well. I recommend reading the trigger warnings before going into this book because of course, that’s the responsible thing to do. Back to it…the storyline was fantastic, the development throughout this book was spot on and I can’t wait to configure this story into book #2!!

I usually don't read Vampire fantasy books. However, this book was dark, broody, spicy, and a page-turner. I can't wait to read the next book. Great plot and story

I actually really enjoyed this book!

We follow Princess Levana as she prepares for the arranged marriage to King she doesn't like, until she gets kidnapped from her engagement dinner by the seriously sexy vampire king, Orion, and forced into a marriage she learns to love.

This book kept me immersed the whole way through, The character development was good, we watch Levana really come into herself as Queen, challenging the rules she was so good at following as a Princess, we learn the truth about her parents, watch as Levana learns how to love, all with Orion by her side.
It had the potential to be turned into more books, but it wrapped up nicely into a good standalone.

There are a couple of spelling errors in the latter half of the book, a couple of missed letters, so maybe another editing run could help before release. Otherwise it was a good book!

I'm a new NetGalley user, and I was so excited when I got the approval on my first request. As someone who loves romantasy, Masters of Blood seemed to be right up my alley. Unfortunately, I could not get past the writing--to the point that I was distracted from the actual story being told. Every scene was telling me rather than showing me what the characters were doing. The dialogue was choppy and unnatural. The characters were underdeveloped and unbelievable. And I could not, for the life of me, understand what time period the story was meant to be set in. I fully understand the author is building a fictional world, but it still needs to be grounded in a specific moment in time. The royalty, castles, and customs felt medieval, but the language used throughout the text was too modern to match that. Ultimately, these factors + the typos and repetitive adjectives/descriptions (that were sometimes used multiple times in a sentence), made this book a less than enjoyable experience.

This is a Hades / Persephone retelling between King Orion, a vampire ruler, and Levana, a human princess who is betrothed to another king. Levana grew up with King and Queen parents who didn't care for her wellbeing and promised her hand in marriage to another ruler. King Orion kidnaps her and marries her in his kingdom. Throughout the story Levana starts to find her feet and become more confident in who she is as her own person.

What I liked:
- The plot. I loved the idea of a Hades / Persephone story
- The friendship between Anika and Levana. It was so nice to see genuine friendship between women and have it be an important part of the story
- The side characters. I sensed a "found family" feel amongst Orion, Saxton, Lestat, Anika and Levana
- The general dark and gothic vibes of the story. The author set the scene well
- The shadow powers of Orion. Who doesn't love a shadow daddy?

I would have liked the relationship between Orion and Levana to be fleshed out more. One minute she hated him and the next she was professing her love. I also wasn't a huge fan of the writing style.

Overall I would recommend it if you enjoyed books like The Serpent and The Wings of Night. I think it has a lot of potential and I would definitely read other books from this author. Thankyou Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ We begin with a prologue with King Orions pov and it is here we see him meet Princess Levana for the first time. For some reason she is the most beautiful person he’s EVER seen and he’s instantly in love and willing to break peace treaties over him even though the extent of their conversation is him saying hi and her saying “no thank you”…. Then we’re put into the mind of Princess Levana. *SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD* Seriously it’s not really spoiling anything as I only describe some instances that happen up to 30% in the book but just incase you want to go in blind stop now. We learn that her father is absent, her mother is abusive and her bestfriend is oblivious. I just feel like you should be able to pick up on even the slightest sign of abuse when you literally live with your bestfriends family. Anyway Levana is to be wed to a loser king from a poor land that she has no interest in but she’s the dutiful daughter so ofcourse she’s willing do go along with it. She talks about her blood boiling over it, she mentions not knowing how she will sleep with her husband because she’s not at all attracted to him but she’s willing to shut up and do what she’s told. During her engagement party she is kidnapped/recused by Orion and the first thing she does when she realizes is slap him and demand he take her back. Now don’t get me wrong I get it, he’s a stranger, a vampire, blah blah… but like home girl your life wasn’t that great to begin with and you like him so why the hardcore pushback. I’m not saying she should be fine with being kidnapped but I am saying she shouldn’t be demanding to be taken back to her sucky life so fast. 😂 Also give me a break, she’s meek, obedient, and cowers to everyone else in her life but I’m to believe she has all this bravado and defiance for this hulking, powerful vampire king whom she actually should be scared of? Then as she’s having the conversation with Anika where Anika tells her she’s allowed people to walk all over her her whole life and that maybe staying in the vampire kingdom might be better she just thinks, “Anika doesn’t know what it’s like to live with a mother who always finds reasons to punish me and a father who isn’t there” and it’s like ding-dong that’s exactly what she and all of us are saying…. Why are you so dead set on returning there?? Like I appreciate a stubborn MFC just as much as the next person but I feel she’s being stubborn just for the sake of being stubborn at this point and it’s holding the story back. I’m ready to move on Levana… if she was trying to escape to go off on her own I would 100% understand it but she’s claiming to want to leave because she doesn’t want to be in another “golden cage” but you’re running away right back one, one that was a whole heck of a lot harsher. Moving on we get to her failed escape attempt, who didn’t see that coming, and then the wedding date is moved up. Now I love a possessive MMC, but I don’t like that he straight up FORCED her to marry him. I can usually get with it if we have even a semblance of a real reason, like if it was for her protection or it was going to save someone else but he literally hardcore FORCED her during the ceremony just because she found her attractive. I will say all of this is only 30% into the book so it’s kinda dragging and I’m not enjoying Levanas character but whatevs. Next up on not really believable, we have previously meek and quiet Levana showing up to a council meeting to meet a bunch of vampires for the first time naked in hopes to “make Orion so annoyed he regrets marrying her” but like all I could do was roll my eyes.
Anywayssssss…….. this book has a TON of grammatical errors. Misused words, words using the wrong tense and so on. I would highly recommend having it edited again. I enjoyed the premise of the book, and it seemed like a good story that I would absolutely love if done just a tad better. Again, I did not like the MFC so that’s a bummer but what I did love was her bestfriend. Give me her book honestly! Lol. I would still recommend this if you can look past errors when reading. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC.

Levana has grown up in an unloving, controlling environment where she was something to be used as a pawn. It was amazing watching her journey to finally showing what she feels and acting out on it. The scence where she meets the council was priceless. There were times I really just wanted to shake her. In the end I loved the growth she went through and who she evolved into being.

Orion falls for her first and isn't going to let her go. He is so patient and understanding waiting for Levana. I mean he is ruthless and deadly but that is besides the point :)

This is a great romance with violence and really well done spicy scenes. I normally can get through a book this size in a day or two, with this one I had to slow down and really enjoy the ride. This had all the feels.

Hmmm! A vampire husband huh? I would love me some of that! Masters of Blood is a romantasy about the young princess Levana and the young, by vampiric standards, king Orion. The king falls immediately in love when he first lays eyes upon her, and decides to take action in order to stop the upcoming nuptials between her and Nikolas, the king of a neighboring realm.

And so the story begins. Some of the early advances of our beloved king Orion, that occur in the beginning of the story would definitely be considered toxic and criminal offenses in the real world, but in the romantic fantasy novels we turn a blind eye! It is a very cute love story, with heartwarming expressions of love like decapitating anyone who would be a potential threat, spicy scenes that would make you jealous but also happy about the lovers, and no boring chapters in between.

Even though I read it in 2 days time, I stumbled upon constant repetition of words and phrases like smirked smiles, rolling eyes, curling toes, cupping body parts etc, and the writing in general was not very profound. Also, at the start of the story I could not understand her attraction towards the king...no spoilers here, just my thoughts.

The love story is very cute (even though not that original), and I would really want to learn more about the princess’ best friend, Anika! I look forward to the second book of the series, hopefully with a tab more refined writing.

If you loved the ACOTAR universe, if you are crazy about an enemies to lovers vibe, if you think that a Vampire could teach you how to live (Orion definitely can, by the way), you will definitely enjoy this book!

2.5 stars!

I made it through the book, hoping it might get a bit better (it did) but the writing was not that great in my opinion. It's a small thing, but the lack of contractions used in the writing made a lot of the conversations feel very stilted and awkward (do not vs. don't would have made a HUGE difference in some places, for example). The world and the characters were really cool, but not fleshed out enough to have that emotional resonance. The characters had connections, but the big moments never felt earned, and I found myself wishing to be more connected to them.

The idea of a human and a vampire Hades/Persephone story had me so excited, and I would love to see more like this but hopefully just a little more fleshed out!

This is my honest review upon reading the ARC

2.5 stars

Not sure if this book was my cup of tea or even written for me but i definitely know there’s an audience for it. I went in expecting a romantasy with a plot that equals the romance and while there is a plot there I just don’t think it was that strong which is totally fine but that’s what I look for in the romantasy books i typically read.

im not a huge fan of insta lust/love so it took me a while to get into it given that they kissed not even 10% into the book.
There was times that the dialogue was a little iffy and it didn’t feel like an organic conversation was taken place.

the side characters were actually interesting and I found myself more intrigued when they showed up they were written well and had lots of personality.

The writing was also strong it’s very obvious that the author is a fantastic writer and has immense talent I’m just not sure that this book was ultimately for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this arc

If you like books that keep you on your toes, you will not be disappointed with this one. I really wanted to read this in one go, but had to split it between two days. All I can say is go into this one blind. Have zero expectations and let this author take you for a ride.

Dark romance, vampires yes and yes!! Gothic vibes. Hades and Persephone retelling one of my favorite so far.

Really enjoyed the story line and can’t wait for book 2!

4 stars. I've definitely read stuff with similar vibes but this was definitely good. Was not at all expecting what happened at the end, it was definitely refreshing tho. The dialog was a bit stinted in some parts. Anika has her priorities straight and I love that for her. The worldbulding was meh, but I loved the descriptions of the like individual rooms, gave me a very clear picture of the setting which I love. Saxon and Lestat slayed, Orion also did but tbh I liked his friends more than him. Was definitely smuttier than I thought it would be.