This book had so many twists and surprises! To everyone that starts this book- hold on, the first chapter or two is a lot of character and world building, but I am so happy I stuck with this- I was blown away. Once the story really got started, I didn't want it to end. The narration was great and I was so drawn into the story!!

I have to be honest. This book just wasn’t for me. It had so much potential but the multiple POVs and time jumps just made it muddled and hard to follow. The story felt like it got lost. I immersively read this book with the audiobook and still felt bored. I just couldn’t get into it. The audiobook was narrated by and I struggled with the voicing of Azul the main character. For some reason it felt like she sounded like a child and Azul is supposed to be 19. I’m sure people will love this book I just couldn’t get into it.

I tried to get into this book but just didn't connect with it at all. The narration was wonderful though!

The vibes are immaculate in this. Creepy and gothic with bones and death and the gods walking the earth and their bodies dug up? Immaculate.

The main through line of the plot where Azul is doing everything she can to outwit death’s emissary and bring her sister back to life? So good.

Unfortunately, my biggest struggles were in the story structure and in being able to know who was being talked about at any given point in time. Between the flashbacks and characters using different forms of address for each other (first name vs last name vs title) it made it hard to ground myself in the story and have any certainty about when I was and who was in the room. This definitely impacted my emotional attachment to the characters and made some of the more pivotal and emotional scenes not hit as hard. I listened to an ALC (thank you Macmillan Audio!) and I definitely found myself wishing I had a physical copy on hand so that I could flip back a few pages and confirm characters and settings.

Ana Osorio did a great job brining the story to life and even though there were a lot of times where I wasn’t sure what was going on, her narration made it easy to power through.

Overall, an enjoyable time and I’ll be interested to see what the author publishes next!

The narration is incredible! I would love to hear more cozy or low-stakes books narrated by Ana Osori. She did a phenomenal job and was absolutely lovely to listen to. However story-wise the book itself was a miss. I found myself continuing to listen as background noise because the narration was so comforting but the flashbacks in the story were honestly too confusing to follow thoroughly and be invested in. I did not feel any interest in the story until section 9.

absolutely LOVED this book. 5 stars easy. the vibes reminded me of One Dark Window. It was dark, gothic, with a unique magic system. Imma keep my eyes peeled for the next book by Maria Z. Medina. Azul del Arroyo was such a captivating protagonist. She is motivated by her family, her sister, and will mentally gymnastic her way through anything to justify her actions. There were lots of POVs and the time jumps got a little confusing at times, but it helped listening to the audiobook. The narrator, ana osorio, did an amazing job, her voice made it way easier to keep track of everything.
It’s definitely a YA, slow burn book so not as spicy as something that is specifically geared towards adults, but the plot and characters were great. I was very invested in their cat/mouse dynamic.

Thank you Macmillan audio and NetGalley for this audiobook arc in exchange for an honest review!

Azul del Arroyo wants one thing: to reach her sister’s bones and bring her back from Death. But secrets and unexpected forces stand in her way. The Emissary Lord Death will stop at nothing to keep her from those bones, and Nereida de Guzmán and her half-brother have a deeper stake in the game than anyone could guess.

I truly wanted to fall in love with this story. The premise had everything I look for, romance, death, adventure, but unfortunately, the book’s format held it back for me.

What I loved:
The narrator, Ana Osorio. She was phenomenal. Honestly, if I hadn’t been listening to her narration, I might have set this book aside. I loved her work in What the River Knows, and she has an incredible ability to immerse you fully in the culture and language of the story.

The overall plot. I enjoyed all the layers; the secrets, the shifting motivations, and the intersecting side plots. There was so much potential, but the way it was structured made it difficult to fully connect.

What didn’t work for me:
The flashbacks. Listening to this as an audiobook made it especially hard to follow the constant time jumps. At times, I couldn’t tell whether we were in the present or the past, and the jumps varied from months to years without clear transitions. While I understand this was a complex story to tell, I think the structure needed more clarity.

The multiple POVs. While I appreciated most of the different perspectives, a few felt unnecessary. Emire De Anvi’s chapters, for example, left me confused rather than adding to the story. Perhaps he plays a bigger role in the next book, but for now, his sections felt like an extra layer of distraction on top of the time jumps.

Overall, I really liked the concept of this story, and I think many readers will enjoy it more than I did. The execution, however, didn’t quite come together for me. I kept waiting for everything to fully click, but it never quite did. Still, I’d be open to reading the next book to see where the story goes; and to find out what happens with my favorite character, The Emissary Lord Death. He has to come back... right?

despite a delightful premise and stunning world building, the execution of this story didn’t land where i was hoping for it to go.

first, let’s understand this is NOT a romantasy, ya or otherwise. this is plot driven fantasy, which i adore, but was misrepresented by the classification of this book. there are three potential love stories in this book and not one single one ends up with a kiss. and i love a good slow burn. there’s zero tension. zero passion. zero longing. noticing some beautiful eyes or a brilliant mind is NOT equal to falling in love.

i was immediately drawn in by the concept of this book. the worlds built on the bones of their gods, the conflicting world views and religions, political intrigue and deaths … it was all an excellent start. however, it was derailed quite quickly by an enormous cast, several of whom made no emotional or story impact whatsoever. i LOVED the narrator, however names were so similar in pronunciation it was often difficult to recall who people were (this i assume would be rectified by a visual of the names) and how they fit in to the story. i went an entire chapter thinking someone was a brand new character only to realize they’d been introduced chapters earlier. the constant bouncing back and forth in the timeline added to the layered confusion and, at the finale of the book, i still do not understand what exactly it was about. which is so unfortunate because i wanted to adore it.

to wrap up, i think this book has good bones (haha) but needs more time with a developmental editor to polish up plots and storylines. i’m intrigued enough to read a sequel, but it definitely won’t be a priority book.

3/5
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an ALC. All opinions are my own.

World: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 2/5
Atmosphere: 4/5
Narration: 4/5

I found this book to be very enjoyable, but not the most memorable. The witch plotline felt underdeveloped (I understand that it’s a duology, but in this book it just felt a bit thrown in). I also found that the different timelines didn’t add to the reading experience much - I personally think that a more linear timeline with only one of two flashbacks would have made for a tighter story. And I know that sounds like a lot of negatives, but I do think the book is good! The writing and vibes were very interesting and I really enjoyed the narration.

This was such a good audiobook! I loved the plot, and how dark and unsettling some of the necromancy aspects were described. This felt like such a refreshing story, and it kept me intrigued until the very end. I was constantly guessing what was going to happen with our main character's sister, and if she was going to fall in love with the emissary or not. Love the culture and whole vibe of this book. Definitely recommend listening!

Azul and the god of death. I wanted to love the story so much but it did not go how I thought it would. I feel like that description is a little bit misguided as it does kind of mention that there will be romance and while there was a touch of romance, it is very much just a fantasy because the FMC and MMC seemed to have some sort of romance brewing, and then he passed away. This is why I put the god of death in the beginning, because he ends up taking over the MMC and it does seem like there will be a continuation of it, but the original person that the FMC was attracted to was confirmed to have passed away. Not dwelling on this, I do think that the multiple POV’s just make the story really jumbled also because phonetically the names are sort of similar, so it’s hard to have in your mind which character is who and how far back or how forward into the story it is going. I think had it been kept to just maybe two or three POV’s the story would’ve made a bit more sense. It is also what makes it unclear whether the FMC is actually FMC, and even if the MMC is also in fact who we think it is. As for the narration, I think that, Ana Osorio did a great job. Given all of the different POV’s that she had to do and all the different character she had to voice, she was able to differentiate her voice for me to know a bit who was talking. Perhaps this book would’ve also hit better though if it had at least one male narrator, and it would’ve been more of a dual narration. All in all I do, give the story in its entirety at three, but for the second book, if there is going to be one, I would suggest at least the narrator changes in regards to having a male and a female. For the hopeless romantic in me, the romance part was severely lacking. Not to be confused with spice because while there is none in this book. I understand that this story is a YA story, but the description in the beginning advertising to have a bit of romance should be taken out.

A necromancer and emissary of death race towards a common yet conflicting goals driven by a sense of duty and love. The magic system is so intricate and seamlessly blends into the world building. The storytelling is unique with an eerie, cat and mouse chase kind of mood. I love a rich story, filled with adventure, wit and banter. There’s some romance too. 😊

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

This had such a good premise and I had a lot of hope but I found myself having a hard time keeping track of what was happening. I think the multi-pov was what made it tough because I didn't feel like I could establish some of the character voices from each other. Especially in an audiobook format where I am not seeing names on paper... It got tough. That being said, the audiobook narrator was superb! Perhaps I was not in the right headspace to read this but I think I would pick this back up again in the future and would be willing to have another go at it.

Two stars for the very interesting premise but that’s sadly about it for me. I wanted to love this one but I struggled so bad almost from the beginning. I DNF’d it 30% of the way in because I just quite literally couldn’t do it anymore which is saying something got an audiobook on 1.8 speed 🥲. I loved the idea of a necromancer bringing her sister back from the dead only to die again and necromancers being pretty much outlawed but other than that..? I’m pretty sure what I struggled with most was the back and forth in the time line (something I usually love) but it just made me confused and having to put extra brain power in to figure out what was going on. For some reason that just didn’t work for me in this particular book.

However, I’m sure this is a “it’s me not you” kind of scenario. Some might really love this, maybe even if I physically pick it up and give it a try, I might love it more!

This is book 1 in a new duology about necromancers, romance, and all-powerful Gods that was a pleasure to read and I'm excited to see how it continues and wraps up in book 2!

Thank you to NetGalley for this gifted audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest review. I appreciate it!

This was unique and pulls out more emotional than I anticipating. If you need amazing dynamic characters with personality then this is for you! I loved Azul and completely understood her feelings regarding her sister and her reasoning for everything.

I had such high hopes for this book but after 3 attempts to listen to the audio, I found myself constantly confused and it could not keep my attention. I’m wondering if this book would be better consumed as a physical book or even e-book format. There seemed to be a lot of similar characters and the jumping of narrators seemed to not keep me.

First of all, thank you NetGalley for letting this reader listen to the audiobook. The narration is well paced, the vocal performance is nuanced in both tone and gender. Ana Osorio's performance is rich with intonation, humor, pregnant pauses, with dips and rises in suspense.

The world building, however, overwhelms the plot. Some aspects are casually explored, while other aspects remain undefined.

After 40%, I found myself lacking the desire to repeat chapters for the purpose of clarity. The execution of multiple points of view layered over the switchback structure between present and past creates more confusion than pleasure of reading.

Although the audiobook was good, it was difficult to keep track of the names. There were several "G" surnames and I was confused a couple of times but I had the book to reference.

The necromancer folklore was different because most books that have a necromancer contain the same motive-a dead army. This book had a different motive which was FANTASTIC!

I enjoyed the writing style and the pacing was done well. I enjoyed the philosophical back and forth between Azul and the emissary.

My issue was the storylines. I don't know if I missed it but I wasn't quite sure what the kidnapping of the boy king had to do with the overall story. The timelines were also a bit confusing but I was able to figure it out. The witch storyline was a bit clunky; I didn't care too much for it. It seemed out of place with the rest of the story and although she impacted the plot, her presence was underwhelming.

Favorite quote(s):

"The gods look after each other, so we must look out for our own."

"Azul del Arroyo might be your sister, but she's under my protection. If anything happens to her, you shall have to answer to me."
"And you are you?"
"Your end, if she goes missing again."

Review:

I found this book and its concept to be fascinating. I enjoyed the characters, the world, and the romance between Azul, the necromancer who was trying to get her sister back, and Virel Enjul, the Emissary to the Lord of Death. Though I wish it had gone a bit deeper between them. They had incredible banter and chemistry, but it just didn't get beyond that. But I enjoyed what was there. I also loved the sibling bonds and their strength. There were moments it felt slow and times it was confusing, mainly with it being multiple POV. I felt it could have been executed a bit better. Even with some minor issues, I found this book entertaining, and I liked that each character had their goals, even when they went against another’s. The ending was interesting, and I didn't see it coming. Overall, I enjoyed this story. I just felt like there needed to be a bit more work on its execution at times.