The Emperor's Wolves (Wolves of Elantra #1)

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The Emperor's Wolves
Michelle Sagara
Wolves of Elantra, book one
Audiobook, 17+ hours
First published October 13, 2020
ISBN 9781488056482


Multiple races carefully navigate the City of Elantra under the Dragon Emperor’s wing. His Imperial Wolves are executioners, the smallest group to serve in the Halls of Law. The populace calls them assassins.

Every wolf candidate must consent to a full examination by the Tha’alani, one of the most feared and distrusted races in Elantra for their ability to read minds. Most candidates don’t finish their job interviews.

Severn Handred, the newest potential recruit, is determined to face and pass this final test—even if by doing so he’s exposing secrets he has never shared.

When an interrogation uncovers the connections to a two-decade-old series of murders of the Tha’alani, the Wolves are commanded to hunt. Severn’s first job will be joining the chase. From the High Halls to the Tha’alani quarter, from the Oracles to the Emperor, secrets are uncovered, tensions are raised and justice just might be done…if Severn can survive.

Severn Handred was the first morally grey character I was ever drawn to. The first (and only?) character I ever fancasted. The one character that, with newly acquired book in hand, I would flip through the pages in haste to find any and all occurrences where “Severn” appeared.

So imagine my excitement when I learned that the Severn Handred was the center of Sagara’s newest (and I use that world loosely) installment in the world of Elantra—The Emperor’s Wolves.

I was obsessed with this character. This man who would slaughter two children to save his… hell, what was Elianne to him? His ward? His best friend? His family? His only would be confidant? His only anything?

When the deed was done and Elianne had fled, Severn finds himself being recruited by the Wolves. I expected an initiation. I expected training. I expected Severn’s story to finally be told.

But this wasn’t that. Not really.

I don’t know what this was.

Some of it was there… Once I dragged myself past seventy percent of the book.

And then came the audacity of this revelation:

I distinctly remember the scene where Elianne and Severn are reunited. It’s been twenty damn years since I’ve read that book but I still recall Severn saying he didn’t recognize her new name. But he did! He knew her name! He’d known it for years. Severn lied.

That sum of a bitch lied.

I didn't love it. I don't hate it. I'm just sitting here being the fool I am for having expectations because I have never been so disappointed.

3 out of 5 stars.

Available in ebook | paperback | audiobook 

Where it all began...

Onyx Storm (Empyrean #3)

Yes, love, I’m jealous.

Available at Amazon.com

Onyx Storm
Rebecca Yarros
Empyrean, book three
Hardcover, Deluxe, 544 pages
First published January 21, 2025
ISBN 9781649377159

After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty.

Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust.

Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves—her dragons, her family, her home, and him.

Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything.

They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth.

But a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath.

There are details in these Empyrean books that irk me in a way that truly isn’t worth the effort of putting onto digital paper but just know that my mental image of Violet is with her head on a constant swivel.

Be that as it may...

There are books a reader can’t bring themselves to put down. And there are books a reader must close and so very intently step away from in order to breathe again. To do so in order to think clearly enough to process the clusterfuck of emotions that drive the entire ordeal into a love-hate relationship. 

I am there with Onyx Storm.

The more I read, the longer the book became. 

And wtf was with Chapter 62? Why are we suddenly jumping into another character’s POV, and Rhiannon no less?! Don’t get me wrong, I like the gal, but being in her head was the last place I needed to be in that moment. Why not Ridoc? Why not Bodhi?? Why not anyone but Rhi???

"I am the second-largest dragon on the Continent and a revered warrior. My tales are legendary. My mate unparalleled. My feats unmatched-"

 

The unmitigated ego of Tairn... I love him so. Xaden. Andarna. Ridoc. Even Aaric and Bodhi were shining brightly in this installment. The way Ridoc tore into Violet and gave Xaden the what's what. The way Aaric showed Dain again and again how utterly worthless his presence was on their mission to find the irid. The boy was there to play fetch and I enthusiastically applaud it. Violet... She gets the most improved award.

"You don't owe me your friend's secrets."

Hallelujah, girl. Enough with arguing about secrets and the whole I-know-you-can't-tell-me-everything-but-you're-not-telling-me-everything whining. Ugh. These damn Iron Flame flashbacks.

Is it a cliffhanger ending? Yes.

Is it a damn good ending regardless of that fact? Hell. Yes. And if Yarros had stopped it at chapter sixty-five, I don't think we'd have that WTF response going viral through Tiktok. That last chapter... is much.

4.5 out of 5 stars. This series is exhausting. 

Available in ebook | hardcover | graphic audiobook

Previously in the series:

Shield of Sparrows

What if I was yours?

Available at Amazon.com

Shield of Sparrows
Devney Perry
Hardcover, Deluxe, 511 pages
First published May 6, 2025
ISBN 9781649378514

The gods sent monsters to the five kingdoms to remind mortals they must kneel. I’ve spent my life kneeling―to their will and to my father's.

As a princess, my only duty is to wear the crown and obey the king. I was never meant to rule. Never meant to fight. And I was never supposed to be the daughter who sealed an ancient treaty with her own blood.

But that changed the fateful day I stepped into my father’s throne room. The day a legendary monster hunter sailed to our shores. The day a prince ruined my life. Now I’m crossing treacherous lands beside a warrior who despises me as much as I despise him―bound to a future I didn’t choose and a husband I barely know. Everyone wants me to be something I’m not―a queen, a spy, a sacrifice.

But what if I refused the role chosen for me? What if I made my own rules? What if there’s power in being underestimated?

And what if―for the first time―I reached for it?

It has been years since I picked up a story that was classic fantasy romance. This all but abandoned blog is evidence of that. But, that being said, this was a damn good book and with no news, or whisper of rumor, of when book two of this series will release, I'm going to attempt a bit of a recap. It will contain minor spoilers so click off and away if that's a problem. 

Odessa Cross is the eldest daughter of her father, the king of Quentis. But she is not his chosen to take on the fate of the Sparrow, the bride of one kingdom sworn to the prince of another. She is not his chosen spy. Nor his chosen assassin. That title, each of them, has always been held by her half sister, Mae―a worthy lead female character in her own right. 

Until the Guardian chooses Odessa, claiming her to fulfill the Chain of Sevens and also the treaty of the Shield of Sparrows as the prince's wife and future queen of Turah. 

 ::sigh:: 

I was enthralled by this book. Page after page, I struggled to put it down. 

The story is the journey. Odessa travels via sea and land, accompanied by her lady's maids, through a world plagued by monsters. The migration is coming, and with it, the worst of the worst of them will fly. They will hunt and they will savagely kill. 

Her protection lies with the Guardian, a prince, and men whose loyalty proves true again and again. 

But Odessa wants a sword. She wants to fight. She wants to save herself, and her people. Most of all, she wants to prove to her father that she is worthy. And, yes, she wants to kill the Guardian. 

 So who better to give her a blade and train her? 

Shit, my face was hot.

The Guardian's finger hooked under my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. "Need a moment?"

I swatted his hand away and took a step back, raising my fists. "No. Let's get on with it."

"Your wish." He mocked a bow, then slapped me in the face.

Oh that Guardian. "I speak on the prince's behalf," he says. Sure you do. You do that. Hell, I'm game. Let's play. 

"Praise is for the bedroom, Cross. Not the training field."

On to the spoilers... 

They will never make it to their destination: Allesariah, the capital of Turah. Odessa will prove herself a terrible spy and a worse liar. She will face betrayal. And she will not yet know why the magic of the Voster makes her skin crawl. 

But she will choose her husband. She will take a life. And she will save many. She will befriend a princess. And she will uncover the origin of the cursed Guardian. 

Never dull, but much is left unresolved. 

"Are you angry, Sparrow? Use that rage. Fucking. Fight."
I hate you.
If he could read my mind, I wanted that at the front. I hate you.
A slow grin streched across his mouth. "There's my queen."

5 out of 5 stars. And I will be preordering the next book immediately when it becomes available.

Available in ebook | hardcover | audiobook