We Who Will Die by Stacia Stark is everything I love in a romantasy—fierce heroine, deadly trials, slow-burn tension, and a richly built world. Arvelle is a compelling lead: strong, vulnerable, and willing to risk everything to protect her brothers. From the first page, I was hooked by the brutal arena setting and the dark mission she’s been forced into.

The mix of gladiator-style combat, vampire royalty, and dangerous gods makes for a thrilling, high-stakes ride. The romantic tension is on point—especially if you love a good enemies-to-lovers dynamic with sharp banter and real emotional weight. If you’re into books like Throne of Glass or From Blood and Ash, this one absolutely delivers. Can’t wait for the sequel!

I absolutely loved this book. I don't normally like book with Vampires but this one was amazing. Arvelle was once a the champion of the Sands, 6 years ago. Now she's a bodyguard and doing everything she can to feed her twin brothers, Gerith and Evren, and to keep getting the medicine Ev needs for his lungs to keep him alive. Her vampire named Bran shows up and gives her an offer, complete the Sundering and kill the emperor for him and he would send her brother Ev to their healers. Having Ev fully healed would be a dream come true for Velle. She caves and does this dangerous task, just to run into the Primus, who actually is her first love, Ti, who disappeared without a trace or word. With old wounds re-opening, flashbacks to where her best friend died, and new feelings and chemistry developing and hidden identities, can Velle handle everything amd complete the task that's laid before her?
This reminds me of The Vampire Dairies but even better!! How could anyone or anything be better then Damon Salvatore??? Rorrick, the son of the emperor. I love Rorrick. I feel there's more to him than what we are seeing and I can't wait to find out!

OMG OMG like can I give it more than 5 Stars this book was absolutely amazing like 1 million percent a must read. The FMC Arvelle her whole story had me on the edge of my seat all the way. The story did not let up at all there was always something going on. Loved the MMC Tiernan and maybe the bad boy Morally Grey Rorrick who i am kinda rooting for 😆. Every page was engaging right up to the very end unsure how long I can wait for the second book, but I will be buying a physical copy of this to add to my shelf.

Every time you think you have things laid out in your mind about who/how/what is or has occurred, another curve ball gets thrown at you. You are not sure who is good and who is bad - or if there is just one side.

Arvelle is the sole caretaker of her brothers, Evren and Gerith, whom she loves fiercely and would give her life for. Through a series of unfortunate evens, that may be exactly what happens. After being manipulated and bribed, Arvelle finds herself facing demons of her past, struggling to understand her present, and learning forgiveness. Fighting for her life, literally, she doesn't like to kill, even when it's necessary. To make sure she, and her brothers, get through things alive she must find a way to face her past, trust in herself, and embrace the future. With love lost and love gained, friendships lost and friendships gained, and learning that there isn't always good and evil, she must prevail.

We Who Will Die by Stacia Stark is a dark, dazzling dive into a world inspired by the Roman Empire at its most decadent and bloodthirsty — but with vampires, magic, and a rekindling of forbidden love that had me hooked by the end.
At the heart of the novel is a fierce female main character forced into a deadly bargain: fight in the Colosseum’s brutal games to get close enough to assassinate the Emperor or her brothers die. But of course nothing goes smoothly. What unfolds is a tangled web of rebellion, mystery, and desire, layered over a setting that crackles with atmosphere. The empire is richly drawn — every scene dripping with excess, cruelty, and shadows of magic.
The plot starts at a simmer but builds with intensity, delivering brutal combat, a loose murderer, political intrigue, and a tension-filled romance that delivers the perfect amount of spice (🌶️🌶️🌶️). The emotional stakes rise right alongside the physical ones, and Stark does a fantastic job weaving together the raw action with character development and lore.
Honestly, I didn’t know I needed a mashup of gladiators, magical humans, vampires, and regular mortals all struggling for power in a crumbling empire, but Stacia Stark makes it work — beautifully. The result is both grim and seductive, a richly imagined story that delivers on every front.
Highly recommended for fans of dark fantasy, slow-burn tension, and morally gray heroines who fight with both blade and heart. An easy 5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Thanks to #NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC! #WeWhoWillDie

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I thought the characters were great and how they were all involved in the main character’s life. I’m so sad this doesn’t release until January because I need a second book now!

Loved the gladiator and Roman vibes of this story! Can’t wait for the second one. Was a little slow at first but once it got going, it was great! Can’t wait to see what happens with the “villian” in the next book

Stacia ma'am we need book two ASAP. If you're a fan of The Vampire Diaries (that brother bonding and that brother hatred) and Gladiator (death matches allllll night long) then this series is perfect for you. It consumed us and Stacia got to have play-by-plays of our live reactions while reading - the stress, the anxiety, the swooning - this is exciting, fast paced, and an epic fantasy romance. The lore was loring, the plot was twisted, the reader escaped reality while trying to solve some murders. (Note: this readers theories were indeed incorrect, though second guesses were right). Seriously, if you like fangs and bangs - then this is perfect for you. The ending had us begging for a book two right then and there. Stacia is an amazing author who writes worlds for readers to truly escape into - We Who Will Die is no different.

3.75-4 ⭐️

Thank you HarperCollins, NetGalley, and Stacia Stark for eARC (all thoughts are my own).

Overall thoughts:
I really enjoyed the book really liked the world and Roman gladiator inspired themes/setting. I think the series has a lot of potential going forward.

Arvelle is our protagonist (ostensibly a magic user a the beginning of story) in land ruled by Vampires. She is driven by her love for her brothers, one of whom is very sick and needs to get to true healers. But that is expensive and Arvelle is scraping by, until a Vampire appears in her town with deal. Fight in upcoming trials and kill the emperor and her brother will be healed. At the trials she battles her inner demons and trauma from losing her best friend in the arena 6 years prior to story. She is also reunited with vampire who broke her heart and his vicious brother. She must navigate winning the trials, keeping her brother safe, and overcoming her demons to succeed.

The book has a lot of good things going for it. Cool twist on magic system, power dynamics both within and between magic users and vampires. Trials are always favorite of mine and I liked them here too.

However there are a number of aspects mainly related to world building that I hope get some modification before full release. The issues are not necessarily that there isn’t enough world building (there is) but that world building is really explicit enough and readers are left to piece things together. Who were the gods to this world? Are they all still alive? How do god/goddess blessing work? More details on how magic system works, more detail on world and class differences. While these are all there it’s not until quite late in the book that some of them come together. So it could benefit from being bit more explicit in world building instead of being along for the ride and just catching bits as they come.

I think there’s also some pacing issues between 2 halves of the book. 2nd half flew and was excellent but first half dragged a bit. I know it’s setup and Arvelle getting through her trauma but still needed some pacing help.

Overall though very intrigued by series and excited for future entries.

I love all of this authors books so was super excited for this as I particularly love vampires, the world building is a little slow at first, but I think that's needed for the rest of the series so itll pay off, the writing is easy to digest and the plot was addictive even though it was a tad predictable at times, I still loved my time reading this!

Love the FMC. Velle is very strong and courageous. She does all that she can for her brothers. The worldbuilding and introduction to the characters was paced very well. It wasn’t too slow or too fast, things weren’t thrown at us, and the reveals that came along weren’t cheesy. Every character is distinct in their actions and tones. The emotions here are very raw and truthful. You can feel what plagues Velle and how much it impacts her, and it’s one of the best fantasy PSTD reflections that I’ve read. It was pretty obvious to me where the setup was to meeting her former lover, which is why I’m glad it was revealed early on. Maybe it was somewhat abrupt, I remember feeling that in reading it, but I honestly felt that it was so perfect in how it happened/how it was demanded. Nothing over the top, the author wasn’t dragging on what we knew already.

While this uses that “arena/training” trope (which is used often but less often than the academy or unknown or secret royalty trope) it doesn’t feel stale to me. There was enough of the arena fighting background and how it’s engrained within this world that it doesn’t feel recycled. There were parts of this that were obvious to me with who could be who and everything, but at the same time, there were at least a twist or two that I didn’t really see. It really kept me engaged and I really am looking forward to the next installment.

Thank you to HarperCollins and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC!

I absolutely devoured this book in one sitting! I was instantly hooked and cannot wait for the sequel to drop. I was slightly worried that the main character might veer too far into genre stereotypes, but she actually surprised me. She felt like a whole, complete person, and I was genuinely rooting for her to succeed and thrive. The side characters were also fully fleshed out, and the relatively small cast made it easier to keep track of the characters and develop their personalities. I do have my personal preference between the main love interests, but both are unique and have actual personalities beyond just being brooding and hot, which is always nice to see.

My main issues were with the world-building aspects of the novel. Obviously, I'm somewhat picky about this as a Classics major who focused on Roman religion, but the combining and ranking of the vampires, sigilmarked, mundane, and maginari got somewhat sidelined by the plot. I really enjoyed the incorporation of their religious system and the brief mentions of the historical past; I just wish they had been more fully developed. With the sigilmarked in particular, I felt like there was a notable lack of explanation for their development, creation, or overall abilities. I also would have liked to see more of the maginari, and hopefully, a sequel would provide more information on their origins and roles in society. The gods were really intriguing but I had a hard time understanding their exact role in society (religious figures vs actual historical figures). I also would have liked a list or something breaking down the gods and their domains or some sort of historical timeline describing the Emperor's rise to power.

Overall, I would highly endorse this novel! If you loved Percy Jackson, Throne of Glass, or even ACOTAR, you'll love this book.

Oh boy, the start of this book was a little slow for me and took multiple sessions, but once I hit the 30% mark I couldn't put this thing down. Then tension was delicious, the love triangle perfect (I already knew who I'd be rooting for as soon as they showed up on page), the stakes perfectly high, and the FMC perfectly relatable.

As someone who has had the misfortune of struggling with grief and put off grieving for years, only to have it crash down on top of me later, I think the author did a beautiful job of showing the hopeless struggle of trying to numb and outrun it. The process of seeing multiple characters coming to the realization that it can't be outrun indefinitely, that the grief will always be there but they can still experience life alongside it, was absolutely rewarding.

The world building was wonderful, and I'm so intrigued by this Pantheon. I hope more lore on that is sprinkled throughout the series. Some people have complained about the world building, but I personally found the world building and setting digestible in the way it was presented.

I will not be taking off any stars for grammar and discrepancies in descriptions, as I read an eARC and these things may be fixed before release, but they were present. Most prevalent being words easily auto corrected into the wrong word, typed due to muscle memory, or accidentally left in after making an edit. One other thing I noticed was a bracelet being introduced, then described as a necklace, then again described as a bracelet again.

Overall, I will be following this series, as it was a great time and a wonderful experience.

Huge thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book!

This book was hard for me to get into at first, but toward the end I was hooked. It had gladiator arenas but with vampires and sigilmarked fighting for survival all for the entertainment of the Emperor. There was a love story thrown in and the story followed the main character through navigating grief, how to forgive herself and learn to trust others.

Thank you for sending me the ARC for this book, as a huge Stacia Stark fan I was excited to read her latest work. This book is very different from her other work, and while the premise is fun and I loved the unique magic system and magical creatures, I was left wanting at the end. The world building was hard to get through, and there were many times in the book where something would happen and I was confused how it happened because it didn't make sense. I would read back a few paragraphs thinking I just missed it, but nope, it was still confusing. The pace was slow and I feel like some of the chapters could be cut as it felt like the same thing happened multiple times throughout the book.

I loved the relationship between Arvelle and the brothers, like I mentioned before I really liked the magic system and the magical creatures (though I feel like we could have gotten more of them), and the overall "ancient Rome" feel was a fun change from other romantacy books. The end was abrupt, like I seriously finished the chapter and expected one more but was met with the end, but that did leave me a little more interested in where the story goes. I think there's potential for more found family, adventure, magic, and romance in the next book.

The first half of We Who Will Die was very slow and I was honestly tempted to DNF. The world-building takes a while to unfold, and it felt like the story dragged more than it needed to. But once things finally picked up, I was drawn into the brutal empire, the high-stakes arena, and the simmering tension between Arvelle and the two vampire brothers. That dynamic gave me major Vampire Diaries vibes, especially with the emotional complexity and romantic undertones.

I found Arvelle to be incredibly frustrating at times… like I literally wanted to shake her. Some of her decisions felt reckless or stubborn to the point of disbelief, which made it hard to root for her in certain moments. Still, the morally gray cast and supernatural politics kept me intrigued. Overall, I’m glad I powered through. There’s definite potential here, and I think it could turn into a solid series.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I really wish I liked this more, but I feel like it suffered from a disjointed pace and a lost sense of direction. The first half was just so slow, to the point I was tempted to DNF because I didn't know or care where it was going, but the latter half was full of twists and action despite an abrupt end. It had elements of many other popular romantasy/dystopian books that came before it (Hunger Games, Fourth Wing, Twilight, etc.) and I wish it had taken more of a unique path instead of reminding me of how these other titles did it better. Overall I was left with more questions than answers.

I can see this gaining traction on BookTok and Bookstagram, but as someone who reads a lot, it didn't quite stand out to me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher (Avon and Harper Voyager) for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Love. Love. Love!

This has to be one of my top 5 reads of the year. The only negative of receiving an ARC is that I have to wait even longer for the second book. We Who Will Die was so fun, unique and completely addicting. Once I started it, I literally couldn’t put it down.

I love the unique magic system, the setting, the slow burn and all of the characters. It really did feel like Gladiator mixed with The Vampire Diaries, and I can wait to see how Arvelle, Rorrick and Tiernon’s dynamic plays out in book two.

I will say that it felt like a fantasy with a side of romance as opposed to a true romantasy, but it was action-packed so I didn’t mind. Some of the twists I saw coming early on but others completely caught me off guard. I can’t recommend We Who Will Die more. Thank you so much to Netgalley, Avon, and Harper Voyager for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I can already tell this book is going to blow up next January when it releases.

We Who Will Die Honest ARC Review:

This will likely be THE book everyone is talking about. I loved it! Trial and tribulation, long lost love interest, sibling rivalry, fight to the end of the Earth for those you hold dear and Vampires are a few of the themes that make this novel the fantastic adventure it is.

Filled with plot twists and hidden agendas, Stacia Stark leaves the reader wanting more. I can’t wait for the sequel! This is the fourth or fifth story I have read of hers and I think this is her best yet!

Life in the dangerous Thorne district is dangerous for Arvelle and her younger brothers. Forced to bond with a vampire to do the unthinkable in order to protect her family, the journey begins.

⭐️Forbidden romance
⭐️Possessive MMC(s)
⭐️Complex characters
⭐️Interesting side characters


Thank you Harper Collins and Net Galley for sharing this ARC with me. It is fabulous!

This was my first read from this author, and I was immediately pulled into the story. Gladiators and vampires — Yes Please!

Arvelle is my type of FMC. Ti is the MMC that you would expect. But Rorrik is something else! He is the definition of dark and broody, and I was all for it. From the moment he appeared on the page, I was intrigued. The connection between him and Arvelle was hot and cold, and I kept waiting (and hoping) for that tension to explode. Their dynamic was easily one of my favorite parts of the book.

The only reason I'm giving this 4 stars instead of 5 is because I personally would've loved a bit more spice. I kept waiting for that extra heat, and it just didn't quite get there for me. That said, it didn't take away from the fact that this was a solid, entertaining read, and I'll definitely be checking out more from this author!