Levenseller created a great book filled with feminine rage. Something a lot of women can relate to right now. It definitely took a minute to get into the book, but I do find that being the case with many fantasy books, I was hooked by the end. Not my favorite of Levensellers but I hope she does continue in both YA and Adult.

This book was so good. I could not get enough of this story. I absolutely loved Olerra she is such a a strong woman and doesn't need anyone to tell her. Sanos is a man who has always had to be strong little did he know is world was going to get turned upside down. I absolutely loved their story. The world building was amazing! You really know how to keep us on our toes. If you are looking for an enemies to lovers with some crazy battles this book is for you!

Another amazing book by Tricia Levenseller!! This book changed the view of the world. Please read trigger warnings. Can't wait for the rest of the series!

This enemies to lovers story was absolutely stunning. Full of witty banter, emotions tied and tangled, secrets revealed and wars avoided (if barely). the characters come to life immediately and the various settings are so wonderfully made that I barely remembered I was reading and not watching a story unfold. I loved this story and especially the protective possession the main characters had and how they learned to balance it. This story did a great job of giving good reason for them to fall in love rather than just switching on a dime out of no where and it was a joy to read the adventure!

This book was amazing! I have loved Tricia levenseller for a long time and I was so happy to get a chance to read this book! The story was very well written and I loved the romance part of this story!

I tried really hard to get through this, and I understand what it was trying to do - but this fully flipped the patriarchy in a way that seemed a little extreme. After reading other reviews and spoiling myself I decided this wasn't a book for me.

Tropes
-Political Intrigue
-Dual Pov
-Romantasy
-Enemies to Lovers


The kingdom of Amarra is dominated by women. The women are goddess blessed with strength and the patriarchy is nonexistent. Olerra, a warrior princess, is in competition for the throne against her ruthless cousin. In order to secure the throne, Olerra decides to kidnap a prince from the neighboring enemy kingdom. But while Olerra’s plan is fairly successful, the problem is she unknowingly kidnapped the wrong prince. Olerra is keeping the crown prince Sanos captive instead of his younger brother. Naturally, Sanos begins to plot his escape, refusing to marry Olerra. Sanos doesn’t believe how her backwards kingdom is run versus his kingdom that is ruled by men. But the more time Sanos spends in her kingdom, he not only sees a different side of her but he gains a new perspective on her kingdom all together. While Sanos and Olerra grow closer, there are forces plotting against them and secrets that could ruin everything.

This book was refreshingly unique and lived up to my every expectation. The take on a kingdom run by women was intriguing. Olerra was the best example of a fierce and driven princess/warrior. I instantly loved her character from the first couple of chapters which had me rooting for her throughout the book.

Sanos took a bit to grow on me. But I loved that most of his thoughts were centered around protecting his family. He was fiercely loyal but also incredibly stubborn. The way he bashed heads with Olerra over almost every little thing drove me crazy! But I love the chemistry between the two and I was amused by how hard Sanos fought his feelings. The realization of how he truly felt for Olerra was one of my favorite parts because it showed just how much trust and faith he was willing to put in her to watch her achieve her goals and protect her kingdom.

Overall, the world building, fantasy plot, romance and characters made me love this story.

A fun twist of roles combined with a powerful FMC and a stubborn MMC made this a fun read.

I enjoyed the take on a female lead society and found it to be a well built world. It contrasts starkly with the world of the Brutes and the narrative on the real world is quite obvious within the story.

Olerra is an interesting character to follow. Someone who cares and has deep loyalties to those she loves, and is trying to change the world. Yet she also has a battle hardened outlook on enemies and others, and it makes me root for her to win.

Sanos is a fun stubborn man, but I did find his change in temperament to be quicker than expected.

The ending was one I was hoping for but couldn’t see how it would happen. I think it was a bit of a simple resolve, but still an enjoyable one and I liked seeing it happen.

Overall, a good fantasy with a unique world I enjoyed being part of.

I love a book that can immediately hook me and keep me there for the entire time I’m reading it and this one does it so well. From the very first sentence, this story had me completely absorbed in it.

I definitely recommend not only reading the trigger warnings on this one but also the author’s note on her intentions in writing this story. I read a lot of reviews beforehand not particularly liking or agreeing with the premise but I was mentally prepared based on the trigger warnings and the author’s note. With that in mind, I highly suggest readers not take this story to heart and go in with the intention of not taking everything to heart or too seriously. I went in with those intentions and I had a great time.

This story was so fun and entertaining with a fierce and strong FMC that knows exactly what she wants and an MMC that comes into his own with the situation he is put in. I ate this story up and I really enjoyed it.

F*** the patriarchy, am I right?

I will say, thank you NetGalley for the eARC. But ew cringe I’m sorry. The characters all gave me giant icks. However, the idea of the story I really enjoyed. The idea of having roles reversed, where women are the superior sex is honestly a nice change. But Olerra was just cringey and Sanos was just ok.
Got the ick but the story line was good? Pretend that makes sense. I have mixed opinions. If there’s a book two (kinda hoping there is because Ydra and Sanos brother was def set up to be a potential), I will definitely read it.

Moral of the story, was it the best book I’ve ever read? No. Did I have a bad time? Also no.

What originally drew me to this story was the premise: A world where roles are reversed and women are ones in charge, rather than the men. I did really enjoy this book, and where others have mentioned the world not being any better than when men are in charge, are partially correct. In this country, the men are treated as less than and are to seen, not heard. I did enjoy Olerra and Sano's relationship, even though she did kidnap him to be her husband, she did try to learn about him as a person, get him to know her, and not force him into anything he didn't want to do.

The book was fast paced, great world building, and the best part: it didn't end on a cliffhanger!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan/FEIWELL for the arc.

Thanks to NetGalley for this awesome ARC! This book was so amazingly mind blowing that I couldn’t put it down. I loved Olerra and Samos and their dynamic: chef’s kisses. Seeing this society being brought to life of a women driven society was so enlightening. I love Tricia Levenseller’s writing and I hope more books in this series!

I really don’t know what to think about this book and I’m having a hard time finding the words to describe how I feel about it… I loved the premise. The idea that women rule the world (because as Beyoncé puts it: who runs the world? GIRLS). But this missed the mark for me, I think? Basically the world created in the book is the world we live in now but women are in the top positions and the societal issues in our real world (historic or current) are flipped and amplified it felt in this plot line.

I understand the marketing of this book is female rage; female empowerment. Maybe what’s trying to be highlighted here is that unchecked power will always corrupt? I’m not sure, but the former was missed for me. When I came into the book I was expecting to feel empowered as a woman, inspired even. I finished feeling angry sure, and deflated.

Thank you Netgalley and MacMillian for this ARC in exchange for an honest review

The premise and expectation of What Fury Brings collapsed quickly replaced by a story that is utterly devoid of empowerment and critical thought.

Amarra, the matriarchal nation at the book’s center, is a nightmare. Men are chained, gagged, and sold at auction as children. They are kept in harems, raped, humiliated, and treated as livestock. And none of this is interrogated with the critical distance such material demands. Instead, the cruelty stands unchallenged, normalized, and even rationalized. The novel may claim to “flip the patriarchy,” but what emerges isn’t thoughtful critique. It’s dystopian sadism.

The author’s note insists this world isn’t meant to represent a vision of what female-led power should look like, but the text itself offers no meaningful reflection on these systems. Without that lens, Amarra’s society doesn’t function as commentary; it functions as spectacle. Violence is served without context and rage without deconstruction. And when the narrative tells us, “We must dominate men or they will dominate us,” it like justification instead of subversion.

What makes this even more troubling is the romance at the heart of the novel. A man abused and demeaned by this system supposedly falls in love with his captor, a woman who openly upholds the very structures destroying him. That arc is not just difficult to resolve. It feels ethically impossible. The dynamic evokes Stockholm syndrome framed as romance.

The ending compounds the issue. We're asked to accept a symbolic inversion of gender roles, but equality cannot be conjured by costume. Trauma doesn’t vanish through vows. And the glaring absence of any reckoning between Amarra and Brutus, the two nations built on opposing systems of oppression, leaves the supposed resolution hollow.

Readers were primed for sharp, feminist romantasy. What they are given instead is grim dystopia with themes of pedophilia, systemic abuse, and sexual violence—delivered without sufficient warning. Those who enjoy exploring brutal, morally bleak worlds may find what they’re looking for here. But anyone anticipating romance, satire, or empowerment will likely feel blindsided.

What Fury Brings is not lighthearted. It is not playful. It is not feminist reclamation. It is a dark, disturbing exploration of gendered violence that demands accurate framing and comprehensive trigger warnings.

I was really torn about this book. There were things I really enjoyed - the way it was written, the pacing, and it was highly entertaining - but there were a lot of things that I didn’t love…

Olerra is the general and a princess of Amarra, a kingdom in which women have been gifted physical power over men by their patron goddess. She and her cousin are both trying to become the crown princess, a process done by a vote of the nobility, so Amarra decides to take action in order to win over the undecided members of the nobility. In order to gain favor, she decides to steal a husband, the second son of the king of their neighboring kingdom. However, Olerra ends up stealing Sanos, the crown prince, on accident and takes him back to Amarra to become her husband. Olerra wants to “break” Sanos so he behaves like an Amarran man rather than a Brutish one (because, yes, his kingdom is called Brutus, so the people there are Brutish often in name and in description) while Sanos is simultaneously thrilled to be away from his abusive father and terrified of what his mother and siblings are going through during his absence.

This book reminded me some of The Power, just set in a fantasy world rather than the real one. Amarra is a queendom in which gender roles have just been reversed. Rather than using their power to liberate women, the women in Amarra have used their power to subjugate men. The wealthy women keep harems of men; poor men are sold off by the women in their life often to be part of a harem; men are dressed up to be shown off by the woman they’re with and wear jewelry that marks them as being with a certain woman. In short, the men are basically slaves to the women’s whim. Through seeing the treatment of men in Amarra, Sanos finally realizes that women in Brutus have a similar lack of freedom. At one point he has the realization that maybe the sex workers he’s slept with in the past have not actually wanted to sleep with him but just acted that way because they were being paid. Basically, for someone who is supposed to be smart and a natural leader, Sanos is an idiot. Olerra is supposed to be seen as fundamentally good because she is far better than her cousin who physically abuses the men (and boys) in her harem, but she psychologically and emotionally manipulates Sanos in her attempts to “break” him.

Overall, I did enjoy reading this book and blazed through it, but I was bothered by several aspects of the characters and plot.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for the 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.

3.25⭐️

My experience reading What Fury Brings was a lot like the Kombucha Girl meme: at first I found it strange and even disturbing at times, but by the end I didn’t completely hate it? While I can’t say this book was for me, I think readers who enjoy dark romance with a touch of fantasy might find it more appealing.

My biggest struggle is that such a heavy subject doesn’t translate well in the Romantasy genre. The book isn’t long enough to be able to wrap up the ending nicely without doing a disservice to the nuances that this topic deserves. The central romance was also hard to believe considering that the MMC was kidnapped, humiliated, and facing huge cultural barriers. It’s difficult to accept that he was able to overcame those obstacles in a few short weeks.

To a lesser extent, I personally like a Romantasy that is heavier on the fantasy, and this book barely qualified as fantasy.

Despite this, I did fly through it and found it entertaining overall. The dual POV worked well, and I especially found that Sanos’s chapters made me laugh, because while he was thinking “what is happening right now?!” so was I. The banter and bond between Sanos and his brothers were both hilarious and heartwarming, and I appreciated the moment when Sanos recognized that while he was horrified by the treatment of the Amarran men, he had long overlooked the similar treatment of women in his own country.

I strongly recommend checking the trigger warnings before diving in. Thank you to Feiwel for the opportunity to read this eARC via NetGalley!

This is a romantasy that tells men to sit down, shut up, and look pretty. 👑✨

Tricia Levenseller’s adult debut is a feral, feminist triumph—a romantasy that flips power and desire on their heads. In the kingdom of Amarra, women don’t wait to be chosen—they take. Olerra, a warrior princess with her eye on the throne, kidnaps not just any husband, but a prince raised to believe women should kneel before men. The collision is electric. The chemistry? Explosive.

Wickedly clever in the way it dismantles patriarchy, this story chains men to the very roles women have been forced to endure for centuries. But it’s more than role reversal—it’s a razor-sharp tale of survival, agency, and yearning. Olerra is the kind of heroine made of scars and softness, while Sanos is a crown prince forced to question everything he’s ever been taught about power and surrender.

🔥 Inside you’ll find:

A matriarchal world as brutal as it is intoxicating

A kidnapped prince who refuses to be tamed (until he wants to)

A warrior heroine who is unapologetically ambitious, curvy, and impossible not to root for

Political intrigue laced with sexual tension

A slow-burn enemies-to-lovers that ignites into unputdownable heat

Levenseller doesn’t just write a romance; she writes a battle cry. What Fury Brings is feminist romantasy at its fiercest—feral, funny, and unforgettable.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Tricia Levenseller, Macmillan, and FEIWEL for the eARC!

Thank you for the chance to read this one; it wasn't quite working for me at the moment. But I'll be visiting it again in the future.

I tried really hard to like this book but it was just not to my taste. Thank you so much for giving me access to it.