Her Lord of Death

Content Warning. This book contains:
Rape and torture (done by villains not by main characters), slavery, mention of child death, battle violence, PTSD, and questionable consent situations.

Her Lord of Death by Katherine Diane is the most tantalizing and engrossing book I've read in 2020! Its wonderful and I cannot wait to share it with all my friends who like steamy romance that involves tragic back stories, alpha male love interests who strive to protect the heroine, and supernatural historical romance!

I didn't expect to love this book as much as I do. Admittedly, I'm a picky bitch when it comes to historical fiction that features ancient cultures especially ones involving mythology. I'm a Polytheist and a former Classical student so I am so often let down by stories that don't do the research or discuss honoring the Gods in a demeaning way. This book was AMAZING!

It hit all my hot spots for a sexy, romantic read.
Witty dialogue that actually did make me laugh out loud (my partner gave me a few confused looks while I was giggling over conversations between Kore and Acheron). YUP!
Dominant alpha male type who isn't a total asshole? Check!
Strong willed but soft heroine who isn't too stupid to live? Check!
Paranormal, supernatural, witchy shit? YES!
Historical and mythological references that aren't totally inaccurate? WOOHOO!
SO many goodies AND well written!

Plus there was the addition of side characters that were fully developed, a villain I could sympathize with and another I LOVED to HATE. There's also the hurt/comfort scenes with loads of tragic back story that I'm sorry to say I enjoy so much in romance.

If you enjoy dark fantasy romances like Black Jewels Trilogy, wanted more from ancient greco-roman mythology classics, and need a steaming hot read that you won't want to put down - grab Her Lord of Death!

Her Lord of Death by Katherine Diane is quite possibly one of the best books I have had the pleasure of reading for 2020. I was captivated from the first page with its dark undertones of sexual abuse, rape, and violence while still paying homage to classic Greek/Roman mythology. The blend of these themes, while unexpected for this genre, was superbly written and I particularly enjoyed the unconventional approach to Hades and the underworld. 

I was impressed by the layers of intricacy developed by Katherine and her ability to present a cadre of uniquely brilliant and highly entertaining characters without overwhelming the reader. Her characters were larger than life and lept off the pages straight into my heart. 

The love story of Kora and Acheron is one for the ages. It was abundantly clear to me that time, love, dedication, and attention went into penning this emotionally gripping relationship that started off very casually and slowly morphed into an epic love saga. I appreciated the progression of the relationship from strangers to lovers as it added more realism and depth instead of the typical "hop into bed and magically fall in love." Their relationship was fraught with trials and tribulations from the beginning and it was quite intriguing to see how they navigated this new relationship together, especially as it relates to the darker themes. 

The emotional scarring from sexual abuse was evident in Acheron from the earlies and I respect how Katherine was able to allow him to fully express his disgust, sadness, anger, hurt, rejection while still maintaining an aura of strength and resilience. 

Katherine has woven such an enigmatic host of characters that I easily found myself emotionally investing in all the secondary characters which, in my humble opinion, is integral to character and plot development. Each character is powerful enough to stand on their own, from the sultry and commanding presence of Madea, to the loyal and carefree Oz. 

I highly recommend Her Lord of Death for anyone who enjoys Greek/Roman-inspired novels with a healthy balance of romance and darker genres. 

Immense appreciation to Katherine Diane and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-Op for providing me with a digital arc. All views and opinions expressed above are my own.

First of all, thank you to the author, to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op, and to NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this title. An honest review was requested but not required.

I would like to preface this review by saying that there are some really serious trigger warnings for this book. The ARC was accompanied by a statement saying that there are dark themes that may distress some readers. This is absolutely true but in the interests of full disclosure, and in case this is relevant to you, please be aware that this book includes the following: rape, physical abuse, emotional abuse, mental abuse, lack of consent, questionable consent, murder, witnessing death of family members, and probably more things that I'm forgetting to list. Some of these things are in flashbacks, some of them happen on page, some of them are alluded or mentioned.

Nonetheless this was such a good book. I was really, really, really surprised by this; it wasn't what I expected. I thought it was going to be some sort of variation on the myth of Hades and Persephone reimagined. To an extent, it was, but that was really maybe 5% of what was going on.

The heart of the story is an incredibly damaged man, Acheron, who overcomes incredible amounts of past trauma and tragedy to find love with Kora. He is hampered by massive amounts of lingering PTSD (or so we would call it today) and, to a certain extent, the common historical male attitude towards keeping a woman safe at home. All Acheron believes he is good for is fighting and killing and he has so much trouble allowing himself to be vulnerable enough to open himself to Kora.
Meanwhile, Kora has her own past trauma due to a near drowning as a child which gave her resultant paranormal abilities (she can speak to ghosts). She tries her hardest to break through to Acheron with very incremental success. At times it might seem that Kora's progress is so slow, but when you consider what Acheron went through it's really a miracle he can make any progress at all.

There are also certain mythological elements from Greek history the reader might recognize, as well as some much needed humor and levity in the form of Oz, Acheron's sole friend and fellow former polem (like a Greek gladiator).

Yes, the book is dark. Yes, it is violent. Yes, it is definitely, DEFINITELY, adult. And somehow I gobbled it up like a bag of Cheetos in mere hours. Ms. Diane's writing was smooth and evocative, and POVs and characterization well done. Most of the characters have grey areas, which is both enjoyable and realistic. The fighting scenes were convincing; the historical period seemed very accurate. All in all I really enjoyed this, dark themes notwithstanding, and would be very interested in reading more from the author.

4.5 stars happily rounded up to 5 for Goodreads.