A excellent YA fantasy novel, with good characters and plot! I definitely recommend to those who think it sounds good!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher

Kendare Blake's Champion of Fate introduces a cool concept: the Aristene, an order of female warriors who train heroes but remain shrouded in secrecy. Reed, our protagonist, is determined to join their ranks. However, the journey to becoming an Aristene hinges on her ability to guide a new hero, Hestion, to victory.

The hero-trainer dynamic is interesting, and the world-building holds promise. But the pacing can be slow at times, and some plot elements felt predictable. The romance, while sweet, takes a backseat to the larger conflict.

Overall, Champion of Fate is a decent read with a strong female lead. However, for a more gripping experience, it needed tighter pacing and a deeper exploration of the Aristene's mysteries. If you enjoy fantasy with a focus on female empowerment, this might be a good starting point.

This book took a bit of time to get into but once I was in, I was fairly enganged and wanted to keep reading. While this is different from Kendare Blake's other mythology/fantasy series, this book has more of a mythology feel than the Three Dark Crowns series but not as much as The Goddess War series. I definitely felt the book was missing something, it felt slow for much of the book and it wasn't until much later that I felt I connected to the characters and would lose myself in the story. I have a this hope that the first book was just a large build to the second book where there will be more action and we will feel greater connection to the characters. The characters aren't a lost cause. Only towards the end did we really start to see Reed do more than just be defiant for the sake of being different, and we started to see that the Aristene can be more than just tools for fate to enact as it sees fit. I am excited for the second book and think that this duology/series might become something I regularly recommend to people. We will have to wait and see though.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

CHAMPION OF FATE by Kendare Blake is the first book in the Heromaker duology, and it follows Reed, a young woman who survived a brutal attack on her village and was taken in by a group of legendary warriors called Aristene. Reed has one chance to become an immortal Aristene herself: she must guide a chosen hero to glory.

I loved Reed's character and her story. She's fierce, loyal, smart, and determined, but she also struggles with her past, her identity, and her feelings for Hestion, the hero she's supposed to help. She's not perfect, but she's relatable and admirable. I also enjoyed the dynamic between her and Hestion, who is kind, brave, and charming, but also has his own secrets and challenges.

The world that Blake created is rich and fascinating, with a lot of history, mythology, politics, and magic. I liked how the story incorporated different cultures, religions, and perspectives, and how it explored the role of the Aristene in shaping the fate of others. The plot was engaging and suspenseful.

Overall, I think Champion of Fate is a fantastic start to the Heromaker duology, and I can't wait to read the next book. If you're a fan of slow-burn and immersive YA fantasy, you should definitely give this book a try.

I'm not sure how to review this book, as it took me a while to finish it because I would say I was going to DNF, but something kept pulling me back in. I think that something was to see where the potential of our FMC, Reed, would take her.
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Reed is an orphan who was rescued by legendary female warriors and taken under their wing to train and become a member of their order, the Aristine.
The Aristine are heromakers, they literally choose a potential hero and do everything in their power to make sure he attains the status of hero.
✨️✨️✨️
Reed's first assignment sees her paired with a prince, who has a reputation among his people as a great warrior, but she needs to guide him to become a hero.
This relationship has Reed facing a choice she doesn't want to make, her order or her heart.
✨️✨️✨️
Things I liked:
-I appreciate the fact that Reed made the hard choices, and we didn't get a cookie cutter ending.
- Strong sisterhood and female friendships.
- Zena Warrior Princess vibes.

Things I could have done without:
- some of the more mundane scenes could have been left out.
- there were some unresolved issues between our FMC and MMC

I love a great fantasy that has a strong female main character. In Blake's new book, Champion of Fate, mytical female warriors are trained and sent to protect mortal heroes with the help of a goddess. There are a lot of questions about loyalty and justice as well as some fierce lady friendships.

The action is great, the fight scenes are intense, and the characters are ones that you will not soon forget.

Great read!

I hate you you are looking forward to a book, the description has lighted the fires of anticipation, only to have the actual reading experience fall short. There was something about this title that just did not work for me. I may have been the (literal) writing. I felt like the flow of the sentences was just off. There were multiple times that I had to re-read a sentence to understand it. In any case, I did something I rarely do, I put this book down unfinished. To be clear, I think I am in the minority here. I think this book is well liked by many. That is fine, at times we stumble across a book that just fails to make that connection with us.

I am not sure what the point of this book was. There were women, there were horses and that was it. It took me days to get through this because the plot moved very slowly. Since it took me so long to read, I had a hard time getting truly invested in this story.

I think this book is a good mid level book, it’s not gonna be anything I rave about but I also didn’t hate reading it

YES! Kendare Blake, thank you. Give me ALLLLLLLL the female warriors you can write please. Give them armor and swords and make them heroes. Their story must be told.

The summary sounds way better than what I got listening to the audiobook, but I gave it the ol' college try. I don't think I had enough information from the start to understand the intricacies of the world and the quest that needed to take place. It was a DNF for me though I'm sad because I like a strong female character!

Orphan, warrior wanting to be immortal, and only ever wants to be one thing...the immortal group of warrior women. Then our orphan, now 16, takes on the quest to join the ranks but meet the love interest that shows her a new way of thinking. Is it what she's always wanted now what she really wants. dun...dun...dunnnnnn. I just feel like this is the same think every YA fantasy is about and I just feel like it is becoming overdone and I need something new.

I really enjoyed this book I gave it a three out of five stars. I enjoyed the storyline and the characters.

I was really hoping to love this book, but I struggled to get through it. My main issue was that I couldn't connect to the main character, Reed, which made it hard to root for her and make my way through the book. I really liked the premise and the plot was promising, but unfortunately it fell flat for me.

Thank you NetGalley and HarpersCollins for this free arc in exchange for my honest review.

I missed the Anna Dressed in Blood craze back in 2011 and 2012. But I did read Three Dark Crowns and One Dark Throne. I liked the synopsis, but the execution of these books fell flat for me. I decided to DNF the series after book 2. With that said, I went into Champion of Fate hesitantly. After series like Throne of Glass or Fourth Wing or shoot even The Hunger Games and Divergent, the synopsis behind this book had a lot to live up to as well. I was nervous that the execution would fall short with this book as well.

Champion of Fate had a slow start with the three girls training. Reed and her two friends are as close as sisters. Of course, it's easy to be that way when they are the only ones around to be friends. Reed has this spark that's somehow visible to some of the Airestne warriors. She was chosen at an early age to train. Lyonene is the most natural of the three girls. She is fierce. Gretchen is perhaps the nicest. They are all working towards becoming Aristene Warriors.

The concept of the Aristene tripped me up at times. They are the force behind many men and women destined to be great throughout history. But the Aristene themselves are not to be remembered. I didn't see how this concept was possible. Reed connects with so many other people besides Hestion. I can't think of any specific examples at the moment, but as I was reading this book, I kept thinking that there were holes in the concept of the Aristene.

Hestion and Reed have been fated since Reed was young, and she saw his face in the well when she wasn't supposed to. He's been in her dreams ever since. Because of this, she feels a connection to him. She feels like she knows him. And while it isn't forbidden for an Aristene and her warrior to have a relationship, the relationship can't last. The Aristene always move on. Mortal as they are, the warriors will eventually die. Hestion is all about trying to have a relationship with Reed, but Reed fights it. I think because she knows that if she allows herself to go there, she will fall and fall hard.

Just as I was getting interested in the story and the characters, things started taking a turn in a direction that I wasn't excited about. And the ending left me feeling uninterested in continuing the series.

Favorite quotes:
-...you are so afraid to fail. But if you don't fail here then your first failure will be real--and you will be dead.

-"If you fight only for glory I will tell you now: the glory isn't worth it."

Ultimately, Champion of Fate fell a little flat for me. The beginning was slow. I was driven for a while by the potential romance. But the ended left me wanting...not in a good way. And I felt like the concept of the Aristene had some holes that didn't make sense. All of that left me uninterested in continuing the series. Champion of Fate gets 3 Stars. Have you read Champion of Fate? What did you think? Let me know!

Love me some Kendare Blake! Loved the Three Crowns series, so I'm hopeful for this one as well. I'll be ordering the next one too.

I’m a big fan of this author, and I’ll read anything she cares to write. Discovering this was the start of a new series thrilled me.

What a fantastic premise. Immortal female warriors, the Aristene, who are the guiding force behind heroes. Throughout their lives, they’re assigned one hero after another to lead to glory on the battlefield. Reed has trained nearly her whole life to join the order and is finally assigned her first hero. If she succeeds with him, she becomes an Aristene. If she fails, she loses the only home she’s known.

Reed is an easy character to like and root for. She witnessed horrific events as a young child and still carries the memories of those atrocities, but is tough enough to move on with her life. I loved her strong friendships with her Aristene sisters. I also have to give a shoutout to Silco, her feisty, snarky horse. I’d consider it an honor to be bitten by him. Reed’s hero, Hestion, initially has doubts about her, but after witnessing her abilities on the battleground, he’s the first to defend her with other skeptics. His loyalty to his men and his brother, the crown prince, is admirable.

Becoming an Aristene is Reed’s dream, but it involves more than she’d expected. She’s put in an impossible situation that forces her to make choices resulting in devastating consequences. It’s a heartbreaking scene, and I’m anxious to see how these characters move on from here.

With complex world-building, strong friendships, and a dynamic characters, this novel held my attention from beginning to end. It certainly didn’t feel like 400+ pages, and the sequel is on my list of most anticipated reads.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I received this book for free for an honest unbiased review from Netgalley.

I wish more books were this well written. Characters were witty and the setting fantastic.

Champion of Fate by Kendare Blake is a fantasy novel following the story of a young orphan named Reed who witnesses the barbaric murder of her family during a raid. On the brink of being sacrificed by the raider’s deity, her fate changes when some female warriors called the Aristene save and raise her to be a warrior herself. The Aristene guide heroes on their paths to glory and victory to worship their God, Kleia Gloria. Their heroes are the type of people whose stories get told around a campfire: rebel leaders, princes, pirates, etc. It’s the Aristene that are the reason for their success though. As Reed prepares to become an Aristene, feelings for her first hero arise and complicate everything.

I have mixed feelings concerning this book. Initially, I had high hopes because the blurb was really interesting but I am left disappointed. The whole concept is quite invigorating but it could have been executed better by delving into the fantasy world in depth. The plot is drawn out and confusing at times to follow because of the pacing. In my opinion, if it is a little more fast paced it would feel less tedious.


The worldbuilding was very complex and intriguing, but I think it should have been further explained to make it more comprehensible. Champion of Fate takes place in a fantasy world. The Aristene have a complex magic system. Since Reed isn’t a full member of the Aristene, she has to borrow magic through a complex ritual and only has limited power. The Aristene live in a city called Atropa, that is separated from the rest of the world by a mystical barrier. As you can imagine, the worldbuilding is quite complicated. This isn’t inherently a bad thing. However, it makes the story rather confusing since the world and magic system isn’t explained in enough detail to fully understand it. The mystical city of Atropa was confusing and I didn’t really understand why it existed or how it fit into the rest of the world. Also I had trouble understanding the limits of Aristene's magic as it was never really explained.


The characters in this book played a crucial part in making the story more entertaining. The main characters, Reed and Hestion’s relationship was essential to the progression of the plot; However, it lacked proper development. Their relationship and supposed love for one another drives the plot. It was hard to understand what motivated the choices Reed made throughout the book, because their relationship really didn’t feel that deep. Their relationship seemed very surface level and superficial. They didn’t know each other very well and their attraction seemed to be mainly physical. If their relationship had been better fleshed out, by showing their emotional connection instead of just physical attraction the story could have been much more beautiful to read.


The connection Reed had with her mentor, Aster, is something I truly appreciate. They are very close and Reed sees Aster as a mother figure. I think their relationship greatly enhanced both of their characters and substantially enriched the reading experience. Reed and Aster were very different, strong characters on their own. Aster is a very powerful Aristene but doesn’t blindly follow the order. For example, she’s in a relationship with Veridian, who used to be an Aristene but has since turned her back on the order. Reed has a very close relationship with her horse, Silco and finds family within the order. Reed and Aster’s personalities complimented each other very well and as we got more insight into their relationship, I found myself relating to each of them more.


In my opinion, other characters, like Hestion, her friend Lyonene, and Aristene elders Tiern and Ferreh, would have strengthened the story more if their personalities and backstories had been further explored. Lyonene is another girl preparing to become a member of the Aristene, and we don’t learn much more about her other than that. Tiern and Ferreh are the elders of the Aristene, but we never really learn how they got that position or what that even means.
To conclude I’ll say though the plot initially seems intriguing, it loses its potential. Though the concept of a young orphan turning into a warrior amidst danger seems enthralling, the story leaves room for improvement. The plot suffers from moments of confusion making it difficult to fully engage with the story.