Thanks to NetGalley and Samantha Gonda for the early copy of A Reign of Blood in exchange for an honest review!

What started out feeling like a darker, more magical Little Mermaid quickly grew into a story that stands entirely on its own.

The cast of characters is large and layered, each with their own unique motivations and perspectives. At times it was a challenge to keep up. However, it made the story richer and more engaging, and I’m hopeful it will all come together even more in future installments.

I especially appreciated the way the male and female characters reflected each other—balancing strengths and flaws, and often bringing out the best in one another during the lighter moments.

That said, Raask’s shift in the middle of the book left me a bit puzzled. I found myself wanting more insight into what drove his change in behavior.

Still, I’m really looking forward to what comes next. There are so many wide-open threads, and I can’t wait to see where the story goes from here.

Reign of Blood promises a world rich with mystery, magic, and romance, drawing readers into an intricate tapestry of spirits, forbidden powers, and an emotional conflict that could unravel the very fabric of reality. At its heart, the novel boasts an alluring magical system that manipulates the flow of energy through emotions, forging bonds between people, creatures, and even entire realms. It’s a concept that could have made the book a standout in the genre, offering both depth and a unique take on magic.

Unfortunately, the execution is where the novel begins to lose its way. With multiple typos and grammatical errors, the editorial mistakes are a huge distraction from the story.

Reign of Blood is also burdened by an overabundance of viewpoints. While multiple perspectives can enrich a story, in this book, it detracts from the emotional core.

Overall, I would give this book a three star rating.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an advanced copy of this book!

You love him you hate him you love him you hate him. Aria is thrown for a loop amd so was I. Then she did us just as dirty

A Reign of Blood is a unique and interesting romantasy with creative world building and morally gray characters. From the start, the reader is thrown right into the action. Aria is discovered almost drowned on the shores of the Dahs by the charming heir to the throne. Raask takes Aria back to the palace, where they begin to bond. While Raask immediately trusts Aria, his older brother Viggo does not. Unfortunately for Raask, Viggo is spot-on. Aria faked her drowning in order to infiltrate the palace with the sole goal of taking down the royal family and getting revenge for the deaths of her people. The story is told through multiple POVs, which really added to the overall plot. Each character is well-developed, and I found myself looking forward to each character's next chapter. I also loved the development of the relationships between Aria and Raask, Raask and Viggo, and Viggo and his group. While the world building and magic system are quite complex, the author does a great job of advancing both throughout the book. There is no huge information dump. I do think the book could use a bit more editing. There were quite a few typos and some repetition throughout. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the concept, the characters, and all of the action. And that ending! WHAT!?!?!?! I cannot wait for the next book.

thank you net galley for the arc. so this story was intriguing. you have a kingdom run by humans (morloks)i felt some parts were slow, other part were rushed. i enjoyed the duel pov.

Aria comes off as a strong independent woman who knows how to play her cards right. I liked that she has a mind of her own. I loved that we got multiple POV’s.

Some inconsistencies were hard to overlook (a single drop of purple blood as a dead giveaway, but not when one loses an arm?) I also had a hard time with the quick switch in character traits from our male leads and the overall foreshadowing that was laid on pretty thick.

However, the book did go an unorthodox route with the plot, although strongly foreshadowed it did felt original. A book that thrives on the badass FMC and its originality, but could use some more overall refinement.

I received this eARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley for the review opportunity!

I think this author has potential, but it wasn't for me. It was readable, but I was mostly bored. At first, I didn't mind the multiple POV but I'm afraid it'll be too much in the future book(s). Here we have 4 main POVs so it was easy to follow and interesting but did I need the last new POV? Not really. Too much telling, not enough showing.
But I do think it's a good debut book. It still needs some editing (repetitions, typos -I usually don't notice them so if I do, that's really an issue-) but I know it's too late for this one so I hope the author will learn from this one. It has potential but to be honest, I was a little confused sometimes. Magic system is cool, I wish we learned more in the story than in the glossary (that I'm lazy to check), about the different creatures... instead of wasting time in some character's head.

By the way, the book was marketed with a <i>bloodthirsty heroine</i> it was said a lot but I didn't really saw that part of her so I hope it'll be more shown in the next book? I also didn't see the need of saying it's a twist on the Little Mermaid, the FMC(s?) are just sirens. And I don't get the Hades and Persephone part either (that I find overused in the way authors are marketing their books). Sometimes being simple is fine too. I admit I was first drawn to this book because I saw aesthetic posts of it and absolutely not because of the tropes. Like, she managed to fit the famous <i>"Who did this to you?" at one point and it felt so pointless at that moment. But that might also be because I'm not sold on the main couple, if that's the actual couple in this trilogy. And it's not because of the absence of steam, I like a good slow-burn. But it's messy. I didn't get the attraction of Viggo for Mayta either, was it like a fated thing? And maybe I wasn't focused enough but the only age I did get from this read is Viggo's. I have no idea how old are the others characters exactly.

I don't know yet if I'll read the next book, but I do wish the author good things, she was nice on her socials.

A great start from Samantha Gonda. Her debut novel is rich and impactful and the world building is really well explained I loved Aria’s character and all the lore about the Dahs. I did not particularly enjoy the romance part but she can build her story with a sequel.

From the very first page you are thrown right into the action of the book and I am here for it. Some may say it's a little confusing in the beginning because of that, but for me, I love not having to wade through the first couple chapters before being hooked.

This book had a ton of surprises and a ton of little "I did not see that coming" moments. I loved the main characters and the magic system. They truly felt so unique. I'm really excited that this is the first book in a new series because I am already ready for more.

A very special Thank You to NetGalley and BeRead for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

dnf

Writing the next words hurt me. But this was a struggle for me. I couldn't get pulled into the world. The third POV I feel that it's ruining the story. Too much telling instead of feeling. Too
I liked the magic system. First time hearing about 'lythe', a magic-infused substance based on colors.
I'll definitely give this a second chance another time.

✨ thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review✨

This was really good. I enjoyed the characters, the romance, and the plot. I will definitely read more from this author.

This was very enjoyable. I liked the characters, the world, and plot. The ending was great. I need more please.

This book was very different from the typical romantasy. Every time something happened that I thought I knew the outcome, I was surprised by how realistic the actual outcome was. Heroine saves main lead? Obviously she will wake up with all her limbs, NO! Also, the little bits of easter eggs that helped the reader reach the conclusion of what the heroine actually is was perfect. I was surprised by this book at every turn, so I enjoyed reading it a lot.

Thank you, Netgalley, for this ARC.

This book really had dark Little Mermaid vibes. How the golden retriever human Prince falls first (and hard) in love with a vicious siren whose plan is to seek vengeance.

This story was so unique and exciting. It's so fast-paced that you sometimes forget to breathe. Never a dull moment, lots of action. And the enemies to lovers trope is incredible! At the end of the story, there's even the 'who did this to you' trope. I screamed!

The romance in this book is slow burn, and there's no explicit sexual content.

The ending with its twists and turns took me by surprise. No spoilers! There's a cliffhanger, so I expect a second book soon.

I rated this book 3/5 stars. While this book has an interesting plot, and shocking ending I didn’t see coming, it lacked character and plot development. I think this book is a good foundation, but it had me wishing I had stronger backstories of characters than that were given, and there were certain events of the plot that I thought would add more depth to the book, but instead seemed quickly explained.

I did enjoy the characters, and there are multiple points of view of characters which were outlined nicely in the book. I wish near the end I had more of female main character pov because as a reader, I wanted to feel and sympathize with her more than what we were given.

For a romatasy book, there was very little romance and I felt there should have been a deeper connection that we felt for the two characters, so when they are heartbroken, as readers we are heartbroken. When something goes right for the characters, we cheer them on and hope for the best. Romance does exist in the book, and love is a feeling that drives characters decisions, but it’s minimal in the book.

This does have a lot of fantasy vibes, however, there is still so much unknown about parts of the kingdom and the creatures within it. Maybe this is intentional as it is part of a series.

I am curious enough to read what happens next in this series, but it wouldn’t be going on my immediate TBR pile.

3rd person, multiple PoV dark fantasy

First chapter you get really thrown into it, but then the story progresses very slowy...to the point I did almost give up. However it did finally pick up around the 40-50% mark. The twists, had me shocked & the romance while at first felt instant love becomes so much more. Forbidden even. And the last 5% seriously had me gasping! The cliffhanger will definitely have me reading the second in this story.

Thanks again to Netgalley and Samantha Gonda for an ARC.

A Reign of Blood felt kind of like a more magical, darker version of The Little Mermaid. There were some really good twists that I didn't see coming and the ending has me eager for the next book. But at the start of this story (while not being slow, per se) the reader is kind of thrown into the midst of the action without a lot of explanation as to what is happening which made it a little confusing and hard for me to get into. But I'm glad I persisted! At around 40-50% things started clicking into place and the whole story started coming together. I didn't love the romantic pairings in this at first, but they definitely grew on me as the story went on. Thanks Netgalley for the e-ARC!

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

You start off this story kind of thrown into the action. There are a lot of moving pieces the reader doesn’t see until much further into the plot. So, it’s a little jarring, a little confusing, and won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.

For those that stick around, you get to know the characters, see the thickening tensions and feelings and motivations of the main players on the board. There’s a decent amount of world building, although more depth and history and descriptions would just add richness to the story.

I do hope this gets another edit before publishing though, as I saw a few typos, grammatical errors and sentence structure mishaps. There is a fair amount of repetitive sentences that could be trimmed down to give a more polished and trim story structure. There were also a few times that I noticed Aria’s arms/wrists are talked about in plural, despite having only one arm. Dresses are described as pink in one sentence and then the same dress is blue later in the same scene. Some of the plot points were a bit confusing. How would Aria know her sister would react a certain way? Why didn’t she tell her the plan before hand? Etc.
I also would love to get more descriptions on the creatures in this world. For the life of me I could not picture what a wraith looked like, but kind of thought based on the minor details I saw it could look kind of like a dragon?

I really enjoyed this dark fantasy, and with some minor tweaks and finishing touches it could easily be a 5 star read.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and BeRead Ltd for a copy!

Thank you NetGalley and BeRead Ltd for the ARC!

4-stars

A Reign of Blood is the mysterious beginning of what I imagine will be a great new series! Every time I thought I knew where the plot was going, I was surprised! The main characters are hiding so many secrets, and each new revelation felt like a puzzle piece falling into place.

The four main characters felt compelling within the world and the lithe-based magic system was fascinating and unique. I think there is a lot more within the world to be explored.

Some people may call it a bit slow for the pacing, but I rather enjoyed the steady climb of the plot.
And when you get the end, BUCKLE UP because it is a wild ride!

I think Samantha Gonda shows great promise as a debut author and I look forward to her growth in subsequent books.