4.5 stars

I DEVOURED this book. Seriously, I think I ended up reading about 90% in one day while at work. It was just fun and intriguing and a bit chaotic (mostly because of one of the characters), and I was just having a lovely time. Actually, I’ll be honest. I had like three reads in a row that were just such a fun reading experience for me.

It has been such a privilege to be back in this mood, this obsession, with reading. I’ve missed it, and in trying to read all these new and upcoming releases, plus some reads from the past year or two that I just put off because of slumpiness…there are just so many books that I am reading and loving right now.

So this one is a fantasy world inspired by the Eastern Roman Empire, and that’s obvious by some of the names and titles and such. But what really interested me was the different forms of magic.

And, of course, following Selene and Iliana, especially after they got pulled into this political intrigue/political marriage competition (sort of) scheme. Because this introduces them to Marduk and Belisarius…and wow, was that entertaining for me.

Selene is basically just chaos. She is crass and forceful and doesn’t much care for the behaviors of the nobility, and doesn’t really care to pretend to be some preening damsel type. Plus, with her thieving ways and her poison magic, she can get away with a lot. Then there’s Iliana, who is sweet and compassionate, but also has this core of molten iron (which is appropriate because she is a metal mage).

I don’t know what else to really say about this. It’s not the first Roman inspired fantasy I’ve read, and it probably won’t be the last. But I’ve really been enjoying all the Middle Eastern and Asian and African and Latinx inspired fantasies that have been coming out with more frequency the past couple years.

Still, I’m glad I read this. I am adding the sequel to my TBR, and I’ll be picking up a finished copy after release day.

I really enjoyed this book! My favorite magical aspect of this was the poison mage. I thought the concept of it was so interesting and cool. I just wanted to keep learning more about her powers. I really enjoyed the plot. At times it was confusing with all the jumping back and forth between what character was being focused on during that scene, but that also could've just been my own mind not keeping up. This book was filled with adventure and fight scenes and political intrigue. I loved how this book was also kind of a girl power book. It really showed how women could stand up and get what they deserved whether the men liked it or not. I am really intrigued to see what the next book will be about since this one kind of seemed nicely wrapped up.

As a verified Black Cat Personality, Selene really had my heart the whole way through. Her bristly personality provided the right amount of humor in the midst of the flowery formalities of the rest of the court. The relationship between Selene and Iliana is so great. Years of only being able to count on each other have created this indestructible bond that shines through. I love how they play off of each other and so many of our favorite romance tropes (grumpy/sunshine, touch her and die, I hate everyone but her) get played out in their friendship. The romance was great, with nice spice build up and pay off. Things end off in a "happy for now" while still leaving plenty of room in the plot for the next installment to have somewhere to go without feeling like you're forcing a sequel.

The writing is very flowery and high-brow. I struggle with whether or not to include this as a bullet point because on one hand, I spent a lot of time looking up definitions and trying to get my brain to focus on the plot despite the language. On the other hand, the characters are mostly high level nobility and would be very educated and speak formally. So I'm not sure what wins out - ease of immersion or consistency to world building? I'll leave that for other readers to decide.

Some plot points could have used a bit more development to really give a good pay off at the big reveal. Some better clues peppered in on the Big Bad, maybe further discussion about the history there, as well as some motivations. Looking back, there are some good little hints in what they say, but maybe just a few more breadcrumbs would have made that reveal sing.

There are some truly loveable side characters who add so much to the story and really help support our mains along the way. The Emperor stole my heart and had such a great character arc with his son. And....there's a shit talking griffin. I need him to be in every single book connected to this world forever, and possibly for him to have his own spin off.

All in all, I really had a great time hanging out with these characters and am ready for the sequel!

READ IF YOU LIKE:
🗡Bridgerton Style Banter
🗡Magical Elitists Getting Owned
🗡Fake Engagements
🗡Court Politics
🗡Supporting Women's Wrongs

Thank you so much for the ARC!

I struggled to click with this one just because it felt very much in a YA fantasy style, which is not what I was expecting from the blurb or comp titles! The female leads feel very young, and at times the modern language was a bit jarring for me; I struggled to stay immersed in the world because it never felt quite realistic. Ultimately, it wasn't quite what I wanted, but I think fans of Susan Dennard and Jennifer Estep's sassy heroines would genuinely love this.

The magic and political system of this book were done well and were intriguing, but overall I found this book difficult to finish. I liked the world and fantasy elements - although some parts definitely needed to be explained more - and the overall plot is a standard, enjoyable, fantasy plot about intrigue, blackmail, and enemies-to-lovers.

My main issues are that pacing was slow - something that's frustrating when the plot is generally quite obvious - and the general writing style lacks nuance and comes across very young. The latter point in particular is something I struggle with in books, but if someone is more used to reading the YA style and unpolished descriptions, then this book would be much more enjoyable. For me, this would probably be closer to 2 stars just for my own pet peeves, but being more objective standard fantasy enjoyers would rate it closer to 3.

This was an enjoyable debut fantasy romance novel! I loved the world with elemental mages and magistrates tied to different gemstones. The two FMC were strong and clever. Selene and Belisarius had great banter while Iliana and Marduk were very sweet together. I felt there were some loose ends (what happened to there being a stronger silver tongue than Alexandra?) and I wanted to see more of Selene and Belli’s relationship. Overall though there was plenty to enjoy and I look forward to the next book the author releases. I will be reading it as well! Thank you NetGalley, Victory Editing, and the author for the arc.

This book follows Selene, Iliana, Marduk and Belisarius while each of them fights for their lives and their world. Belisarius in the prince of the Lethe empire, Marduk is his strategos and Iliana and Selene are both bastard daughters of two magisters of Lethe.
Selene and Iliana are kidnapped by their respective fathers to impersonate one of their a sisters in the bridal show Belisarius is throwing to choose his wife. Only this event is a ruse to uncover a plot against Belisarius and his father. He wants to reveal the traitors and for that he needs to make everyone believe he has chosen a wife.
Selene and Iliana find themselves involved in the prince’s plot with the promise of riches and freedom but that’s not the only things they’ll gain.

Overall this book was very enjoyable, the story it’s interesting and the characters if not lovable at least were intriguing. The language put me off a little bit because it was too modern for my taste and Selene’s attitude felt most of the time too immature for a 25 year old woman.
It’s not perfect but is good enough to make me want to keep reading the series. Especially if the author fixes the few problems this first book had.
A solid 3.75 read rounding up to 4 for Goodreads.

💫 3.5/5 | 🌶️2.5/5| Enemies to Lovers | Fake Engagements | Fantasy Romance | War & Magic | 3rd person narrative | Family Dynamics | World Building

I really enjoyed reading this book! This is about a Kingdom with its different provinces where Elementalists & Mages exist with otherworldly powers. There’s a lot of great characterizations and I enjoyed each one of them – even the villains. A lot of action and politicking that will keep you engaged, and I liked how we get introduced to so many different aspects of the kingdom and its characters.

There’s a lot of character development with the FMCs and I loved the contrast between the two; best friends Selene and Iliana are mages that found each other in their journeys. Selene is a highly skilled poison mage and Iliana a metals mage. Both are bastards and in hiding from their fathers who are powerful noble magisters in the kingdom. They both get found / kidnapped and made to pretend to be their half-siblings to avoid any interest in the whereabouts of those half-sisters during an event called the Bride Show arranged by the Crown Prince.

We get introduced to Darius (Emperor), Bellisarius (Crown Prince), Nicephorus (Praetor) & Marduk (Strategos). I loved these characters, they all brought something to the table. Belli and Marduk become the love interests of our two FMCs. I loved the quips between Selene and Belli (lots of tension and slow burn); the relationship that Selene has with Darius was so good, I honestly wished we got to see more! Marduk and Ileana was more of an instalove romance giving us beauty and the beast vibes.

The book had a lot of potential for a higher rating but the 3rd person kind of got confusing sometimes shifting between scenes and characters and multiple POVs. Also, I wanted MORE. More background of the kingdom, the different provinces, types of powers and more about Mercurius. I felt like the author forgot to touch on that first chapter and give us a background of what really happened. The author did a good job laying out this world that she created and I’m hoping we get to see more in the next book. Included is an appendix for terminology used that’s very helpful.

Poisoned Empire starts with a wonderful action-packed prologue. I'm not going to recount it because you need to read it, for it is absolutely fantastic.

After that we encounter Selene and then Iliana. The friends have been living together hiding from Iliana's powerful father, who tried to murder her more than once.
This society values magic as it was money, determining people societal status. But not all magic is valued equally. Elemental magic is the desired magic for any authority figure, like the King and their children, or the Magisters and their children.
Selene is no elemental mage, but a poison one, and Iliana is a metal mage. They are children of two of the most powerful Magisters, Amethyst and Sapphire respectively.

We also have the perspective of Belisarius, the crown prince. And that's how we find out that he's pretty much facing a silent coup. But as he hasn't been able to figure out who organized it or how to dismantle it, he decides to have a every Magister send their unmarried daughters for him to choose a bride, and find out what they're planning and, if they're indeed using forbidden magic.

This was one of the most fun I've had with a book in a long time.
The characters are well done. Selene is fantastic. She has such an easy way to her character and her interactions with Iliana are so cute and sweet. You can tell both of them love each other fiercely. Their friendship is one of the most heartwarming ones I've had the pleasure of reading.

In the beginning, Belisarius is hard to relate to, as he's very cold, but after a while you understand why. My favorite secondary character, Marduk is such a great example of serenity and concentration in battle, and it doesn't hurt that he's a gentleman.

I really enjoyed the romance and steam. It provided a much needed rest from the breakneck pace of some parts. The plot is complex, even though the twist was predictable, it did not tamper with my enjoyment.

The characters make many scenes so funny even in the circumstances not in their favor.

I feel that we could only see such an small portion of the world in this book, that I just want more. More of the world, more of these characters, and more of the magic system.

Poisoned Empire is a fantastic first book in the Mages of Oblivion series. It has an amazing magic system, high stakes, fun characters and a great plot twist. I highly recommend it and cannot wait to see how the story continues.

The story is about two FMC mages who are forced by their fathers to impersonate noblewomen to help the Prince expose traitors in court.

While I enjoyed the ideas and concept of the story.. I wanted a bit more romance. Even though the banter between Selene and Belisarius was entertaining. I felt it was missing the world building and more details of court life.

Other than that, it was an intriguing story about friendships, betrayal and love.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The illegitmate daughters of two prominent magistri, Selene and Iliana, have been hiding from their fathers. However, when they are discovered, rather than facing certain death, they are given a task: to travel to the royal palace with their half-sisters and participate in the prince's marriage competition by pretending to be a noble.
Since his mother's passing, Belisarius, the crown prince of Lethe, has been in charge of keeping the empire together. He decides to host a tournament to choose a bride as a façade in the effort to draw out traitors when Marduk and Nicephorus, two of his closest friends and advisors, uncover a new conspiracy that has the potential to destroy the empire.

Poisoned Empire captured my attention right away and had a compelling plot, rich characters and wonderful comedy and banter. This colourful and captivating tale skilfully combined court intrigue, politics, romance, and magic, it's a really fun book to read especially with the light-hearted writing. The world-building was intriguing and the storyline was gripping and exuded female strength. Bloodlines played a part in the magical element, which was quite distinctive and well explained giving the adventure, plans, and overall plot even more complexity. Selene was intelligent, capable and independent. She was fierce and her ability to wield poisons was unmatchable, along with Iliana’s metal affinity. The bond and sisterhood between Selene and Iliana was wonderful, they were completely aware of one another's thoughts and stopped at nothing to keep the other safe. I enjoyed their inside jokes and snarky undertones, they were just so endearing. Even during difficult times, they continued to care for one another, and even after they found love, they didn't care for each other less. Due of the multiple points of view in the novel, two very distinct romantic relationships are also developing throughout, which made for an interesting contrast.

This is a really fun and entertaining read! I'd recommend to anyone wanting to read something lighthearted with court politics, strong FMCs, banter, and magical whimsy.

I think the strongest aspect of this novel is the dialogue. Every character interaction is highlight-able (I know, because I did highlight nearly all of them, and that was while practicing restraint). I caught myself laughing out loud, especially during Selene's scenes. The prose itself is easy-reading and humorous.

There are two romances featured: one that is all fire and passion; one that is warm and cozy. (Two different couples; no love triangle.)

While this novel is overall enjoyable, I do wish the character relationships and worldbuilding were given a bit more depth. I don't know if this felt lacking in those regards because of the multi, third person-POVs, or the fact that this read like a rapid collection of many, small scenes, but-- I didn't feel totally immersed while reading. With a fantasy novel, I want to feel plunged into the lives and world I'm reading about, and I didn't feel that here.

All said, I'm glad I picked this book up and I'm certain it will be someone's favorite!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the eARC. I leave this review voluntarily, and all opinions are my own.

Poisoned Empire is the debut novel and the first in a series by Elyse Thomson.

This definitely falls into the ‘New Adult’ category of fantasy as the YA tropes we all recognise are present, but there are adult themes and graphic content.

I feel like this book started out well, even though I found the world building/magic system/titles of characters confusing (I’m still not sure what it all means tbh?). The author doesn’t seem to spend much time explaining all of this, so I was grateful for the glossary of terms.

Our main characters are Selene & Iliana, two illegitimate daughters of different Magisters who were cast out and are now hunted periodically by their fathers. I really enjoyed their sisterly relationship and banter with one another. Being constantly hunted for years has thickened their skin and caused them to learn how to defend themselves. They are both gifted with magic, Selene is a poison mage and can ingest any poison, which she can then re-use and attack with whenever she likes. Iliana is a metals mage and can manipulate any metal as well as enchant it to perform various things.

They eventually fall into a trap and are kidnapped by their fathers who imprison them. It is then revealed that if they wish to live, they will need to each pose as one of their half-sisters (who are both suspiciously absent) and attend a bride show that the Crown Prince is hosting in the hopes of finding a match.

Once situated in the palace and competing for the Prince’s affections it becomes clear that all is not as it seems in the Empire. Both the Prince and his High General have an ulterior motive for calling forth the noblewomen and Selene & Iliana may be the only ones who can help them.

It’s quite clear from the get go who the author preferred to write about, as I feel one character in particular gets more ‘screen time’ than the other. Selene’s sarcastic and witty banter at the beginning I soon found grating the more the book developed. She was constantly getting into situations that she knew would get her into trouble. But she either had no self-preservation instincts as she thought herself invincible, or she had no care about the harm she caused to the people in her way. I feel like the author missed a chance here for some real character development, as even by the end of the book she was still taking reckless risks that had deathly consequences (with only very little remorse or acknowledgement)

The romance was okay, I definitely preferred Iliana & Marduk’s pairing than the other and would have liked to have spent more time in their POV. Speaking of which, I feel like the chapters should have concentrated on one POV at a time. I had to re-read several passages as the POV would switch up mid chapter (we sometimes got 4 POV’s in one chapter) and I would lose my place in the story.

Overall, I think this was quite an ambitious book but it doesn’t quite work for me. There is a lot of potential which is a shame, as the world/magic system could be really interesting if developed more.

3 stars

Thank you to NetGalley & Two Laurels Press for the opportunity to read this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy of poisoned empire this was wonderful and i ordered it for my store.

Thanks to NetGalley and Elyse Thomson for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
I loved this story! Yes, there were some spelling and grammar issues, but the story was really good. It was fast paced, full of action and magic, some steamy romance and a few laughs. I really enjoyed the character of Belisarius....I think he was my favourite....his character arc was so satisfying. Selene irritated me most of the time, but she was wild and fun, and oh so sassy.
I did struggle a bit with soooo many POV's, I think it could have been better if the POV's were just Selene and Belisarius, as I think their characters and relationship could have been explored and developed more fully. Overall, though, I really enjoyed the story and just couldn't put it down. I am looking forward to the second instalment of the Mages of Oblivion series.

4.5⭐️

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley and thoroughly enjoyed it! There were some typos and places where I felt a thorough copy edit could remove repetitive phrases etc, but these may be fixed by publication.

I liked the blend of romance and fantasy here, this felt a little bit like Ang The Last Airbender meets Dark Shores! If you loved Dark Shores (DLJ), A Fate of Wrath and Flame, or The Foxglove King, then definitely pick this up!

I enjoyed the multi POV and the way the romance and plot built up. I do feel that some aspects of the plot/mystery could have been tighter and just a smidge more development between Selene and Beli’s relationship would have been beneficial too.

Overall, a fab book filled with murder, romance, and magic!

For the most part I did really like this book.
I liked the sisterhood (feeling) between the two main characters. Their stories were very interesting, and I loved the idea of how the world functions, and the world-building.
Iliana is a really good character, and I would say she was my favorite. I wanted to like Selene, but I really feel like at times she was almost unbearable to read.
There is just a trend of making your FMC a complete brat and then labeling it as “she’s so strong-willed,” and “nobody controls what she does.” And somehow she manages to charm the MMC this way, and for me I have just never liked this trend.
Selene being bad-mannered just isn’t appealing to me, though I doubt many readers are like me in that regard.
I found her first meeting with the King to be… really ridiculous honestly.
Want to know how to charm the ruler of a kingdom? Just try to kill him with your magic after he catches you stealing an ancient tome from his library.
Just seems silly to me.

Overall I really liked the world, the story, and the romances, but Selene is what brought the story down for me.

I rated this book 3 stars!

The beginning was very captive and I was really excited to start reading it but after 50% I started skim reading a bit. I just noticed the story getting a bit more boring for me, the plot lines didn't really do it for me and the plot twist was not my thing.

However I really liked the writing style, I would add Elyse Thomson to my list of authors I'll immediately pick up books from because she did manage to catch me in the beginning. I like the magic system and the overall vibe from the book. (The cover is also really gorgeous)
Also the steamy parts of this book was so well written and I was caught in the moment.

My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Characters: 2.5/10
Enjoyment: 4/10
Plot: 5/10
Worldbuilding: 5/10
Writing: 9/10

The main character in this book is Selene, a bastard daughter of a magister, along with her best friend Iliana, also a bastard of noble blood. They’re kidnapped by their fathers to impersonate one of their half-sisters, who are summoned by the prince to participate in basically a bride contest. He put on that farce to find out who’d been using their daughters in some kind of illegal ritual and discover who is conspiring against him. The crown prince Belisarius chooses Selene to be his pretend bride, and his strategos takes the role of courting Iliana. Of course, they abandon their plans to leave the empire as they fall in love with their suitors and get caught up in the conspiracy.

I don't think the prologue was needed, especially since it kind of spoils a certain plot twist. The second quarter of the book was the part I enjoyed the most, and everything after just went downhill. Unfortunately, almost everything about this book was underdeveloped. But what bothered me the most were the romantic relationships. I am not a fan of instalove (or heteronormative romance elements). The romance kicked off too abruptly after their first meeting with the love interests. The couples were also immediately attracted to each other, which isn't my thing. By the time half of the book was over, one of the characters was already engaged to the man she'd known for a few weeks at most. Their romance was at least a bit more convincing as they spent time being stupid around each other. Selene and the prince, however, had this enemies-to-lovers thing going on, except they skipped the part where romantic feelings develop. They go from insulting each other to banging, and all of a sudden, I'm supposed to believe they're in love.

The characters were over 25 years old, but they didn't really act like adults, especially Selene. The dialogue felt too modern, and the banter was cringe at times. Selene was indeed feral, but not in a good way. I love a good snarky character, but her behaviour was very standoffish. I’d understand she was rough from growing up the way she did, but she didn't go through any character development. She just behaved like a horny teenager and constantly provoked everyone. Iliana was her opposite, and I preferred reading about her. Belisarius wanted to rule Lethe fairly and radicalise it (also insert some feminism by the courtesy of Selene) yet he didn't seem to care, or anyone for that matter, that his father was a literal tyrant. He condemned him for abandoning him—as if he weren’t capable of ruling alone as a fully grown adult—in his grief after Belisarius' mother's death, not for being a cruel emperor. I just couldn’t get on board with the attempted wholesome father-daughter-in-law relationship. The strategos who was considerate and protective, was the most likable character out of the bunch.

The romance, luckily, wasn’t the main emphasis, but as I said earlier, the court politics and worldbuilding were lacking. A lot of plotlines got lost, like the ritual plotline and whatever happened to the older prince, or abandoned. The griffin could have played a more important role. I don’t think the whole population was mages, but almost every character had a magic gift, so I’m not too sure. These gifts were a bit overkill in my opinion. I wish there were some limitations to their magic and consequences. For example, someone's hand got chopped off, but then a healer just attached it back. Selene could replicate and produce any poison and go around poisoning people left and right. It's a wonder there wasn’t more crime in this world.

Arc provided by publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Great concept and setting. Would have liked more character development and detailed world building. I can be very hit and miss with romantasy and this was slightly more miss since the fanasy elements took more of a back seat to the romance, which was also not as developed as I would have liked. If you’re looking for a quick, undemanding fantasy romance with an original set up then definitely give this a go.