Okay, imagine if the Roman Empire got possessed by vampires and dumped into a blender with every soap opera trope you’ve ever seen—that’s this book. Four backstabbing brothers, power-hungry mothers, and an empire on fire? Yes, please. The vampire cavalry scene? Absolutely deranged in the best way. It had the creepy flair of a haunted coliseum. The drama is loud, the pacing is fast, and the ambition? Wild. I respect the madness of it all.

But let’s not pretend this book’s flawless. The characters feel more like mood boards than actual people—like someone just slapped “hot-tempered,” “broody,” and “chaotic neutral” onto Pinterest and called it a day. Some plot jumps had me flipping back pages thinking I missed something. Also, the dialogue can get real stiff, like everyone’s rehearsing for a high-budget Latin play. It's entertaining, sure, but if you’re looking for emotional depth or nuanced arcs—ehhh, you might end up side-eyeing it mid-chapter like I did.

Thank you Netgalley for the early e-arc!
This book was amazing! The character and world building was a bit difficult to understand at first, but once I was able to, the story just kept getting better and better. I recommend this is you love Roman history.

A rather heavy handed and not very interesting attempt at an epic fantasy. This story was hard to understand, and in my opinion, too cliche

This book was fantastic and really had an absolutely amazing plot attached to it! The world building, the story telling, and characters were really well crafted, making this book super easy to read and enjoy.

You dive into such a rich history through this book and it was so beautiful to read.

Definitely a book I'll be thinking about for months to come.

Thank you NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A fantasy book heavily inspired by Roman history. It felt at times like I was reading a history book about late Roman emperors, which I consider a good thing.