Thank you to NetGalley or the arc!

This book started out strong but found that it kind of lost the plot a bit by the end. A strength of this book was the world building!! It was very well written and I felt completely immersed into the world. It explained the realms, bloodlines, history, and more. Multi POV is always hit or miss for me because it can be confusing and I found that the situation here. I didn’t connect with a lot of the characters and frustrated by others. I found that the real plot of the book didn’t start until around 50% in and since I wasn’t connecting with the characters it felt like it took me a while to be interested in this book. I found the plot twist predictable and not worth the entirety of the book because it felt rushed!

This book had a lot of depth. It is a dark and twisty tale, with a vein of hope and love swirled within. It deals with issues of coming to terms with one's identity, facing trauma in your past, love, loss, toxic relationships, feelings of inadequacy, and the corruption of power. The overarching theme of "Fate" and whether it is good to know or not know what is in store for your future is woven throughout beautifully. I truly enjoyed the journey, the world was interesting and the characters had unique personalities. The composition of the world was very intriguing, a different take on how Vampires came to be and what effect they had on the world. The make up of the different clans of vampires and how they came to be was very intriguing, as were the yamaja people and how they function.

I enjoyed the pairing of Leyla and Najja on their epic adventure to the land of the dead, it had a lot of throwback feelings to Greek Mythos. The juxtaposition of the young vampire and yamaja's story of adventure and discovery vs the origin story of Favre and Thana was enticing and made you long for more content along the way, as well as forming some parallels between the two couples. Ultimately, it is a story about finding one's self, accepting who and what you're capable of, what is worth fighting for, and what you're willing to do for love.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

This was a pretty fast-paced and interesting take on vampires. Loved the Gods and vampire lore that we get in this. The overall tone of this was a great atmosphere building experience. I thoroughly enjoyed each POV, which sometimes in multiple POVs, it's hard to like them all honestly. A great cliffhanger at the end keeping me super interested and ready for another!

Ignoring all the typos, this book was just okay. The world building left a lot to desire. Pacing was very fast, and the plot twist was predictable. The idea of the book is great, I only wish there was more flesh to it, to really bring it to life. Of the main characters, I really liked Najji, but the rest were forgettable. I love the idea of a sapphic love story in a YA novel, but it felt rushed and lacked nuance.

Not a lot can be accomplished in just 250 pages. But knowing it’s part of a planned duology, there’s hope that maybe the next book will make up for it. But I won’t be jumping at the chance to pre-order the sequel.

Thank you Netgalley/Patrice Caldwell/St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this! As always, there are some definite strengths and weaknesses, and while the negatives sometimes outweighed the positives, I did feel like this was a decent, solid read, especially for a debut. This was a close book, there's no way around that. I put this book down more times than I could count but picked it up as I wanted to review it properly. If you prefer breakneck action in your books, I might recommend looking past this one. However, I quite liked the world building--vampires, gods, and so on, all woven together seamlessly in a way I enjoyed. This book felt like one of those duologies where you know the sequel is likely to be better, for, without giving spoilers, there was a lot of setup and foreshadowing, likely to culminate in a well put-together sequel. However, I felt that elements could've been sped up or streamlined in terms of scenes to be more enjoyable to read; it's possible this book will lose readers shortly after the engaging beginning.

Absolutely amazing. Loved every page. Interesting and unique story concept, loved the world building

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday books for the arc! It’s a shame when a book with such a strong start peters out by the end. That’s what I got here, unfortunately. Here are some thoughts I had:

The world building is well done and immersive. In my opinion, it is by far the strongest aspect of this book. The yamaja, different bloodlines, ancient tales and epigraphs, the realms, prophecies, vast history -fucking delectable. However, strong world building cannot make a book alone.

The sapphics are out in full force, and they are TOXIC. I love that for them

Multi POV in first person is definitely a choice that this author made! Was it successful? In my eyes, not really!!! I struggled to connect with the vast majority of the characters. Only Favre was distinct enough and characterized enough for me to latch onto. I did find her lore fascinating, even if some of the choices she made frustrated me. Of course, she is a victim even if she is also a true villain. I felt for her. Najja I liked at first, but was mostly apathetic to by the end; that being said, she has fascinating abilities. Leyla annoyed me the entire time, and that’s not completely intentional, unfortunately.

The plot didn’t fully kick in until almost halfway through. This I could stand if I was engaged with the characters, and the first half was very much character focused, but I wasn’t. As a result, I was apathetic and bored. Honestly, even when the plot did kick in I was apathetic and bored. Even if the world building was strong and immersive, it wasn’t enough

The ending and its twists were lame as hell. The payoff wasn’t there for me at all, and I was left frustrated as a result. It also seemed rushed. The amount of bombastic side eyes and eye rolls I did nearly gave me a migraine

In conclusion, this was sadly disappointing. There’s nothing that kills me more than a book with a strong start and weak finish. That is very much what we got here, so I am very much going to give this a middling rating -3 stars

Wow wow wow! What a thrilling fantasy. Absolutely loved this one. I'm not always the biggest fan of vampires in stories but this one drew me in! I'd 100% recommend this fantasy book to fans of the genre.

I'm a simple girl. All I want are vampires and lesbians. And girl do we have vampires and lesbians here!

Plot: a vampire princess and a death seer travel to the underworld, one to save her friend and the other to save the world (maybe). There are good lesbians. There are bad lesbians. There are mythical lesbians. This was just about everything I was in the mood for on this rainy fall day. I read this in one sitting, curled up like a shrimp in my chair.

I feel like I've aged out of the hero's journey plotline after binging YA fantasy when I was a teen, so whenever I sense a "journey" about to take place in a novel, I can't help but cringe a little. But this was exciting! We got vampire politics, vamp bloodlines (shades of The Masquerade with different powers), civil unrest, the scars of war, university activists, monsters, ghosts, mommy issues! Honestly I'm scared this is a duology because I want more and more, and most of this felt like a set-up for the sequel. The set-up was excellent though and I can tell the finale will be explosive.

This book was amazing I couldn’t put it down was completely drawn in from the first page and hooked. I loved the characters the writing and the plot so sad it ended

A wonderful love story that combines gods and vampires (it's so fun!), Caldwell shines in this expansive fantasy. A great addition to YA romantasy.

I was completely captivated by Patrice Caldwell’s stunning prose and emotional depth. From the moment I delved into Leyla’s world, I felt every pang of love and loss. The characters are richly drawn, and their struggles resonate deeply, making it impossible to look away. Caldwell’s exploration of sacrifice left me breathless, every twist had me questioning my own understanding of love and fate. This book is a dark, romantic journey that truly ignited my imagination and tugged at my heartstrings. I couldn’t put it down, and I’m still reeling from its impact. A must-read for anyone craving a powerful YA fantasy romance.

This had that vampire fantasy element that I was looking for from the description. I thought the use of fantasy elements were wonderfully done and that everything worked well overall. I thought the vampire element worked overall and that the characters were everything that I was looking for. Patrice Caldwell has a strong writing style and can’t wait for more from the author.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

This is super cool and I already can’t wait for the conclusion. This take on vampires + gods + humans and the mythos of how it all works is just really intriguing and I love the world this author has built. It did feel like reading a lot of set up and I expect more action in the next book, but it was worth it and I was kept engaged by just how unique this book is.

This book started off with such a beautiful and gripping dedication. I was hooked with that alone. The story itself is a unique spin on vampires and their legends. I also appreciated the introduction and background to the types of characters we would see!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers and author for providing a pdf of the book to review.
This first book in the duology is a relatively quick read, the author indicated in the prologue that the next book will be longer and include a HEA. This first book is grim; establishing the backstory of a world of gods, humans and vampires and begins with a live story from the point of a woman who sacrifices greatly to be with the goddess who says she loves her back but whose behavior becomes more and more erratic. The book then shifts to a later time with the main characters struggling against forces that seem stacked against them. The book ends on a cliffhanger but will definitely keep you engaged and wondering how it will all turn out.

A unique story and amazing world-building made this my favorite fantasy arc of the year to date. I love anything with vampires, but sometimes it is the same old thing over and over and can get boring. That was not the case with this book. Starting with the creation of the first vampire, and then following the story of humans, gods, and vampires over 1000 years, this book is phenomenal! It’s a take on vampires that I’ve never read before, combined with an Interesting mythological background. There are multiple points of view and time jumps, but I found it very easy to follow along. I can’t wait to recommend this to fantasy readers next year! Thanks so much for the opportunity to read!

OK. This is generally not my cup of tea. I wasn’t sure what to expect when the author gave an introduction, noting that the book might move a little slow, but that the pace was worth it. I definitely understood the sentiment. It was a little challenging to stay vested and interested in the characters. However, there was a point in which I did see where I think the author is going and became really intrigued with the storyline. I think that the authors writing style is rather different for me, so I’m sure that I missed a lot of foreshadowing or character reveals that I should’ve paid more attention to. But overall it was an enjoyable read,