Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

I want to start by saying I love Emma Hamm books. However, I just don’t think this one was for me.

The book started and ended so strong, but the pacing in the middle was tough to get through sometimes. I also had a hard time connecting with any of the characters and found there to be some info dumping with how the magic system works that made it confusing and very slow.

I do think the plot was interesting and a unique idea with the give and take of the god and witches. The cover art is also beautiful!

I think a lot of people will enjoy this, but I do think the pacing is my biggest issue with the book.

Emma Hamm can never do wrong and I love everything that she writes. This is one I know I will be picking up a physical copy of and wanting to read again. She is a comfort fantasy author for me and this book was simply incredible.

Shadow daddy alert! I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't sound the alarm for all my romantasy friends out there. The Deathless One by Emma Hamm also has:

• witches
• spice
• forced proximity
• traumatic pasts

Can I also say I just love this cover 😭

Elric my sweet baby death god who must be protected at all costs i too will become a villain with you. I am super intrigued to see where this story goes I loved that our all powerful Deathless God is a hopeless romantic full of pining and trust issues, he’s super emotional and super precious. Jessa is also precious and less emotional but also deadest on revenge so I am happy to watch them slaughter and burn their way to the castle. I am interested to see what is actually going on with the infected people so there are still a lot of questions. The overall plot was slow and leaves a lot of questions unanswered but that’s a problem for book 2 as for now I am excited to see what happens next for our formerly murdered princess and her bound god.

coverage: https://www.purewow.com/books/romantasy-books

goodreads:
"Okay I loved this one so much more than I was expecting to!! It had my attention from page one and felt like a unique romantasy read - the world building was easy to follow and I found myself really caring about the characters - I can’t wait to see what’s to come in book 2!"

3.5 stars

I started reading Emma Hamm's books this year and have been quite a glutton for them. This one felt a little off the mark for me, though it was still enjoyable. I enjoyed the magic aspect and how it functioned between the main characters. I'll read the sequel when it comes out.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

Killed for her kingdom on her wedding day, Jessamine makes a bargain with a god. The Deathless One will restore life and in return she must summon him. But Jessamine is more focused on revenge rather than raising him. Can he convince her to work with him?

Read if you like:
-Reluctant Allies
-Female Rage
-Revenge
-Gods, Magic, and Witchcraft

This was my first book by Emma Hamm and it will not be my last. I am obsessed with the way she crafted this story. It is so good! The blend of feminine rage and reluctant allies kept me hooked the entire way through and I'm eagerly awaiting the next book!

I had never read a Emma Hamm book so this was my introduction and it didn't disappoint.
It grabs you from the first page and after that you're hooked!
I really enjoyed the world building as well it was very well described. The book has a good balance between advancing the plot and not giving everything away but leaving you wanting more for a first book in the series, it was really solid, I can't wait for the next one!

So I am going to round this book up tp 4 stars but I did struggle with this one.

I felt like at a few points through out that the book was really dragging on and felt repetitive. I do wish the mmc had more personality. I loved the word choices used for a lot of the descriptions of things and it really painted a beautiful picture for this world/story! I think book 2 is going to be really good now that the mmc has been summoned I just felt like maybe it didn't need to take so long to get to that point!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC to review!
Rating (on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being excellent)
Quality of writing: 4
Pace: 3
Plot development: 3
Characters: 5
Enjoyability: 3
Ease of Reading: 4

Overall rating: 3 out of 5

I received a copy through NetGalley for review.

Well, this did not go as I was hoping. I love Emma Hamm's books.
And I was very excited for this one.

Jessamine is a princess in a kingdom facing an ongoing plague caused by witches. Who took most of the power in the past by killing gods that used to once walk the earth. All the gods are thought to be dead, except for one it turns out. The Deathless God, who is chained inbetween worlds in a place of darkness. Witches are hated, and hunted for what they did in the past.

Jessamine is getting ready to marry a prince of a neighboring land, the countered answer to the lack of food and resources, they could bolster their kingdom and save them. He's a real piece of work, and she has absolutely no interest in wanting to marry him, but she loves her people and her kingdom.
But in a massive coup he murders her on her wedding day and Jessamine finds herself facing The Deathless one, and turns out there is more to Jessamine than she knew.

Resurrected and stuck in a pact with him, they have an unusual connection. The more time they spend in eachothers presence the more solid he becomes. No longer just a phantom. But he needs her to be willing to resurrect him, releasing him back into the world.

The lull in pacing, and lack of moving along plot wise, the chemistry didn't quite feel believable to me, and came on too late for it to feel right for me. For a woman who was so angry at being murdered, she lost a lot of her fire, and became a passive character for much of it, and villainous all at once.

This is a compelling science fiction and romantic story that will keep you reading deep into the night.
“Deathless One” is book one of the Gravesinger series by Emma Hamm, published by Simon and Schuster. Emma Hamm is a USA Today best-selling author.

Princess Jessamine is murdered at the altar by her new husband's hand and wakes up in the realm of the Deathless One, a god with an interesting history.

This is an exciting tale of a slow-burn romance between a god and a caring but strong princess who does not yet realize that she has a special kind of power.
This well-written story is fast-paced, exhilarating, and full of adventure, but there is also a heartwarming side to this story.

The mystery that slowly unfolds as the truth is revealed had me glued to the pages.
There is a very satisfying happily ever after at the end of the book.

A special thank you to Simon and Schuster for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

Firstly, a big thank you to NetGalley, Gallery, and Emma Hamm for this eARC. Emma Hamm is one of my absolute favorite authors of 2025. I was so excited to get approved for this eCopy ARC of The Deathless One and it did NOT disappoint. I have read the first three books in Emma Hamm’s Deep Water series and gobbled those books up. While this book is in an entirely different world and is a series, it has the same romance, pull, and uniqueness that the Deep Water series has.

This book follows Elric, who is The Deathless One. A god that has served witches as their patron for hundreds of years. Without giving too much away, he has given more of himself than he has ever gotten in return. All the other Gods have been removed from the world and only he remains, but in his shadow world.

Enter Princess Jessamine, who is set to rule her queendom one day and is desperately trying to find a cure for the zombie like plague infecting her people. Trouble befalls her and lands her in the path of the Deathless One. Their story develops from there.

I love that this book isn’t about changing our dark and broody MMC into a golden retriever, but empowering our golden FMC to be her dark and witchiest true self.

There are some wonderful side characters, like Sybil, and a fun witchy familiar named Nyx, who I hope gets even more air time as the series goes on. I think people are really going to fall in love with this series because of the unique plot and characters that Emma Hamm brings to her inventive fantasy romances. Looking forward to book 2 and highly recommend this read.

OK, I have gone back-and-forth on what to rate this so much so that I think I’ve changed the rating six or seven times at this point.
So I think I’m gonna go with 4.5 rounded up to five because I really did enjoy the world building.
It’s a small area but you get to know this queendom very well. You get to understand what it’s like to live there, even though the book setting all takes place pretty much within the same area.
They don’t need to explore the whole land for you to get the gist that this queendom is festering from the inside out

There is a sickness ravaging this continent, and turning the people almost into zombies, but instead of eating the people, the main pull is just to make healthy people sick too. A single touch or touching something an infected touched would cause you to be infected. Like fantasy hand foot and mouth 😂
In an attempt to save her people by partnering with another country and marrying a prince she has known since childhood; our FMC has devoted her life to curing the illness, he’s willing to even marry a cruel man. She doesn’t want to kill the infected, she tries to capture them, she is kind and good.

Unfortunately, her betrothed thinks the key to “curing the illness” is to take over her queendom by marrying her then killing her and her mother, just to throw all the infected here before locking away the key. Using her land as a dumping ground.

All this is just the first few chapters!

She is brought back from the dead to find those that betrayed her, take back her Queendom and save her people.
There is a cliffhanger but it’s a light one, the job is halfway done to finding all of those that betrayed her. It’s not Iron Flame cliffhanger level at all. More the logical next step in a series.

Emma Hamm’s The Deathless One is a hauntingly beautiful tale that weaves mythology, romance, and magic into a tapestry that lingers long after the final page. This author excels at crafting lush, atmospheric worlds, and this book is no exception!! Every setting felt both otherworldly and dipped in rich, emotional truth. I loved it.

The characters are layered and compelling, especially the protagonists, whose relationship grows with a satisfying mix of tension, vulnerability, and strong connection. Emma handles themes of mortality, sacrifice, and the cost of power with such a refined word, never shying away from darkness but always offering glimmers of hope in the lives of her characters.

The prose itself is poetic without being overwrought, immersing readers in a world where death is not an end but a beginning. Fans of dark fairy tales, Slavic folklore, and myth-inspired fantasy will find much to love here. I know I did.

Highly recommended for anyone seeking a fantasy that is as emotional as it is magical!!

Emma Hamm has done it again. I DEVOURED this book

This has all the things I love......a revengeful FMC, unique world, shadow daddy, slow burn, spice, betrayal, witches... literally, chefs kiss

I am so looking forward to continuing this series!!

this book was so freaking good, my lord. i am obsessed with the deathless god and loved this story so so much! forever grateful to have received an early copy of this book and am forever an emma fan. if emma writes it im gonna read it and fall absolutely in love with her characters. jessamine was such a great character as well and i love how much of a baddie she was throughout this book, she fought for what she wanted and elric was there to support her every step of the way to make that happen. 100/10 highly recommend!!

3,25 ⭐

The Deathless One was a really interesting read. While I liked the dark fairy tale vibe and the way Emma built the atmosphere, it was hard for me to connect with the characters as much as I wanted to, and some parts of the plot felt a bit rushed or a little confusing.

It felt unique and a little haunting, which I loved, the atmosphere was dark and enchanting, but at the same time it's like I was reading behind a veil and not everything was clear. The idea behind the story was great though and kept me curious the whole time. I wish the characters were a bit more developed, not as them alone, but as them together.

Overall, I’m glad I read it, even if it didn’t completely blow me away.

DNF. I gave up by the end of chapter 3. I tried to be invested but by the end of the week, I was only three chapters in and knew it was no use. I’ll try again in a few weeks.

The Deathless One was such an interesting read! I feel like it really sucked me into the universe and held me there until the last page! Very much looking forward to the next book in this series!