I chose to read this book because of the beautiful cover and I always enjoy reading stories about gateways to other worlds.

Ava Sandrino is a knight fallen from grace, who now earns her living as a prostitute. When she shelters Sariel, an escaped vampire-like slave, he tells her of a gateway to another world - a place where anyone can make their fortune. In trouble for harbouring Sariel, and with an old enemy soon on her trail, Ava has no choice but to try to go on the run. But when she is parted from Sariel, how will she ever find her way back to him and this new world?

Brimstone is well-written and I particularly liked Ava as a character. However, there is very little world-building, meaning that either I couldn't work out what was going on or the story was slowed right down by having the characters explain who-was-who and what-was-what. The book is very short (166 pages, according to Amazon), making it novella-length, but as it finishes without resolving anything, it gives the unfortunate impression that it is a full-length book cut into three parts.

I should think fans of fantasy novels would enjoy Brimstone but be aware you would probably need to buy all three parts to fully appreciate the story.


Thank you to Justine Rosenberg for my copy of this book, which I requested from NetGalley and reviewed voluntarily.

Unfortunately, I did not finish this book, I was struggling with the characters, their relationships (insta-lust, literally), and the world. It was hard to keep track of what was going on because we weren't given/shown enough.

~~ I received a copy of Brimstone from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ~~

I think the most challenging thing about novellas (from the writer perspective) is having to tell a fully fleshed story in a condensed amount of time. You need to be able to show more than tell and build a functioning world in a much smaller space than you would in a full novel. Ms. Rosenberg definitely has a fully-fleshed world in Brimstone, but because of the size of her piece, it becomes super overwhelming in a very brief period of time. The world building plus incorporating the main character's back story were difficult to make sense of and I felt like I needed to write a whole graphic organizer to try to make sense of all the categories of creatures and characters in her story.

The premise is definitely interesting, and makes for a compelling story, but because of the condensed nature of the story, felt rushed and confusing. Much respect to Ms Rosenberg, but this book wasn't really my cup of tea.

I received this book from NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

This is a fast paced fantasy novella. I suppose you would say that it is a steampunk fantasy. This novella centers around building the world and characters of the series. The world is very interesting and the characters are likeable but Looking forward to the next book.

The synopsis of this sounded really good, but for me not enough present yet to draw me in fully, not enough world building and not long enough, of what there is the story fails to hold your attention, with some work I think this could be really good but not as it is.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

I received a copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers. The book was a fast paced novella, which allows the reader to jump right in to a caste system world. The reader meets Sariel, a fugitive slave, on the run from the desert mines, and from an Empire that is hungry for a new and mysterious metal that the alchemists call brimstone and Ava Sandrino, herself a knight fallen from grace, who works for The Paper House, which is a brothel. Then with mecy and grace, Ava decided to help and join Sariel escape to the only place that will be safe for his kind, The Northern Dark. Will they reach their safe haven or will the different dangers along this journey cost them everything?
Overall, while this book was short, it in no wise lack any of the essential parts of an amazing story. I enjoyed the details the author included in regards to the world building, the magic system, as well as the different characters and their races. I loved all of the different characters throughout this story and enjoyed the interesting details given to them especially Oliver's and Ava's connections. I liked how strong and independent Ava was especially in regards to her back story. This story is fast paced, but not lacking in a strong story line that a reader will devour in one sitting. The drawback of this book is that it was so short! As a reader, I wanted more!!!The chemistry between Ava and Sariel was a believable pull of lust and the characters able to identify with one another even though they had just barely met. I liked the complexity of the societal structures and how well the author places common threads within the book linking it to our real world. Overall, I believe this book sets up the series well for the reader to want to continue the series I know I will be looking forward to the next book!

Brimstone, The Metals Trilogy: Volume I, Justine Rosenberg

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Sci-fi and Fantasy

I was intrigued by the description of this, and as its a debut read there wasn't anything else by this author I could see to check whether her writing suits my reading. So I took a jump and requested.

Sadly though what I missed is its not even 100 pages, just 92 according to goodreads. That's far to short for me and the reason I never read novellas is I just find too much crammed in too small a space.
That proved to be the issue here. We're dropped straight in the world, not knowing anything about they people and creatures that inhabit it, or even the world itself, and its all so very different that it makes it hard to follow.
I wanted to know more about Ava, not just the bare minimum we get fed, but more details about her past with the Knights, and how she became to work in the Paper Houses. Then there's Sariel, and his people, who are slaves, the necromancers, the geomancers, and more. There's not just this world either, but others, and places in-between worlds. It became an info dump of places, people and events.

It has so much possibility, but was so complex without any info on who and what was/could happen, that I just couldn't get to grips with the story. To be honest, that's not a lot. We meet Ava and Sariel, the knights are after them, and they make a run for it with a couple of others....that's it folks, more to follow.
That's not enough for me to engage with the story or the characters, and its a shame because from the style of writing I think this is a series I could enjoy. To me its not so much a novel or a series itself, as a serialised novel, a story broken into small chunks and though others like that, I don't.

Stars: Two, sadly too much info in too short a space for me. Expanded it could be a story/series I'd love but as it is it just lost me.

Arc via Netgalley and publishers

This started pretty good, I could of used a bit more details/world building. I felt like I was just getting glimpses or an outline of a story. I liked the parts that were presented but it was a little confusing/ frustrating to not have a full picture of what's going on.

Even if the blurb is interesting I found the story flat and it didn't kept my attention.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Review copy provided by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This was quite a unique reading experience for me this year. As it is quite a short one, it is very easy to get through fast - or it should be...
Unfortunately, the book didn't work out for me and this is why:

The beginning started out great. We are thrown into the story directly, without much discussion, there's already lots of action and the main conflict, as well as most of the important characters are already introduced! GREAT! Love that, this is how we roll with something that's around 100 pages, is what I thought.
Weeeeeeellll.... somehow, after some 30% suddenly while technically things were still happening, it felt like nothing was happening at all.... We got dialogues that kept repeating themselves, a lot of talking here and there, finding out things about the world with lots of words and terms and names that we didn't have much time to understand and grow accustomed with... Aaaand yeah... that's also the same way that this book ended.
At some 70% into the book, I finally realized my issue with Brimstone - it tells, it doesn't show. Most of the time the characters talk about other characters that we never met, about some countries and worlds and magic and politics and strategies and what not... And I was just sitting there and waiting finally to get some perspectives from exactly those characters/ in those worlds/countries etc... .. to actually live what the characters talked about.
Which didn't happen.
Which made me sad.
Which is why I am giving this book a generous 3 stars rating, because I did not not like it, but also did not quite like it, so it is just there and I don't really know what to do with it otherwise. Very sad. I won't continue the series, but I hope that it does get better as the characters will venture into those lands that we readers did not get to know yet in this installment.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this book. I love diving deep into duologies, trilogies, and series but this one was just okay for me. The story almost felt a little flat.

It really lacked depth for me. It felt like the story started instantly and we really didn't get much of a backstory. I really wish there had been a bit more character development.

I did enjoy the main character. I am a fan of strong female protagonists. I really liked that this story shied away from the female lost princess warrior. The main character of this story is just a normal girl trying to survive.

I did not hate this story, but there is a lot of room for improvement. I hope that the next book in this trilogy. I will say that for a debut novel this was good. Coming out with your debut novel is a terrifying thing, but I think overall it was an okay start. I hope to read the rest of this story in the future.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for allowing me to review this title.

I absolutely could not get into this book, and I feel so bad because I was so excited about Brimstone. I want to try to read it again, but for now, I'm just not interested. I thought the characters were fairly one-dimensional, and the plot was very confusing, especially at the beginning.

This story ends in a cliffhanger, but it's part of a trilogy so that's understandable.
But if this is part of a trilogy then why, why, why is the story so flat? From page one the reader is thrown into a world, literally, with no context, no explanation, no nothing. There's no world or character building. The only person that is sort of three dimensional, is the female lead.

And then at some point everybody is running from somebody until the 96th page.

The cover is beautiful. But unfortunately the story doesn't work for me.

I had such high hopes for this book but I ended up mostly disappointed. The story jumps right in and keeps going full steam ahead while giving tiny breadcrumbs of information. I think that this could have been an amazing book if it had been longer and explored the world more. I will say it did a good job at making me care about the characters but the ending kind of ruined all that for me.

Thank you netgalley for providing me with an arc.

I really did enjoy reading Brimstone. This is definitely an adult book - some of the language and sex scenes may put off some readers, but if you are open to reading anything, particularly dark fantasy, you will love this story. Ava is a strong protagonist who knows who she is and what she wants. Sandriel is very interesting and complex. I enjoyed the situation, the plot, the characters. My issue with the work as a whole is that there is just not enough development for such a complex world. It feels like a snapshot - even as a part of a trilogy, it feels incomplete. There is a lack of building, explanation and back story to the world that makes it feel incomplete. At only 96 pages, there is definitely room for building further.

Justine Rosenberg is such a fantastic author! I have never read anything from her before and I honestly couldn't put this book down! Read it within a few days or so! A Great novel!

While the concept behind this novella is great, unfortunately, I just couldn't get into it. I didn't care for the way the book started out (essentially jumping right into the story). I struggled to follow along or feel any emotional connection to the characters, and I didn't care for the sex scenes. I would have loved some sort of map to understand the world that they were in. The Americas were referenced, but there were other places that were fictional, such as the Northern Dark. This story line would have been better served as part of a full novel, not rushed in a novella. I do want to point out that the author's imagery was what inspired the 2 stars, as she did a great job painting pictures for the reader. I'd be potentially interested in revisiting this if there was ever additional information and context added.

I often say that I love a book that just dives right in. Well, Brimstone is definitely a book that dives right into the story without much building. It felt as though I had turned to chapter 5 in the book and just started reading without knowing what was going on. That being said, I found it difficult to catch up even halfway through the book. I think this story has most of the ingredients to be an epic fantasy journey, but the fact that I struggled through book one leaves with concerns on how I will feel about the rest.

DNF 35% - This book draw me in because of the plot and book cover.

I liked how story started in the middle, it raised a lot of questions and I was curious to find the answers. But more I read, the plot progressed we learned new terms and new names without any explanation of the previous ones. A lot was not told and I just had to guess. I’d love this book to be 300 pages instead of 81 and have some more world building and character introduction.

The writing style was bad… I am not a native English speaker but I do have master’s degree in English and I lived in UK. There were a lot of words I didn't know. I had to open dictionary or let my fantasy to fill up the gap. This killed the whole atmosphere. Language is very descriptive but in wrong way.... "Iron walkway that arched over string of sewage pipes" aka… bridge. We don't need explanation of bridge we need to know what kind it is .With railing? Old? New? Shiny or rusty? I had to read these type of descriptions few times to understand what the author is trying to say and after that I still didn’t know what type of bridge we are talking about.

I did like the main character. I keep reading books where the female protagonist is amazing warrior, lost princes a special one selected by Gods...etc. This main character was a normal woman who tried to survive by working as a prostitute and that was very interesting. She felt real and it was refreshing.
As I said the story idea is great but there is space for improvement.

I received this book from netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

Ava is an ex knight, now working as a prostitute and her life changes when a fugitive hides in her House. He's a wraith, a creature the government use as slaves in fighting pits or mining brimstone. In a complex and peculiar world, she is taken by lust and compassion and decided to help him escape beyond the the Northen dark, beyond the Horizon into a new world. Helped by Oliver, who, she's suspect, Is from the Northen dark, and her neighbour Mrs Sullivan and her son, they start a journey, running away from the knights and their captain Shaw, who has a complex history with Ava.

I liked this story. It's interesting and captivating, even though I Wish It were longer and more developed.
The story is fast paced and I liked the characters.
Ava is a strong character and Oliver is funny and interesting. Sariel is complex and I can't wait to know more about this world and the next, about brimstone and the wraiths and magicians.