Book Review: Vesselless by Cortney L. Winn

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 483 pages
Author: Cortney L. Winn
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: March 23rd, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

She’s heiress to the throne. The throne her family stole from him.

Nizzara has always been able to perceive spirits better than the average caster. As heiress to the Zarr throne and an avid dueler, she enters a deadly tournament of swords and bonded spirit magic to win the freedom to choose her own suitor. Not wanting to become a power-hungry tyrant like her father, Nizzara is determined to win the tournament without succumbing to the addictive spirit magic she channels or taking a life in the duel ring.

When she finds herself outmatched, Nizzara must choose to bond with Dagen (a powerful spirit) or lose her life in the tournament.

Dagen, the last King of Zarr, was killed by Nizzara’s father ten years ago. Now a half-ghost—able to phase between his human and spirit form—Dagen is stuck in another realm, hunting and ripping wretched souls from their bodies. When his keeper offers him a chance to reclaim his freedom and his kingdom in exchange for Nizzara’s pure soul, Dagen takes the deal.

There’s only one catch: she must freely give it to him by the tournament’s end or his own soul is forfeit.

Fourth Wing meets The Serpent of Wings of Night in the first instalment of this action packed romantasy as they deal with the bargain hanging over their heads. Family, love, power and deception collide as the characters need to make decisions that could change their realm forever.

THE VIBES WERE THERE.

I am a fantasy reader with a penchant for world building alongside my romance. That’s the only place where this book lost me. I am confused by the fact that there were cars and guns? Not unheard of in fantasy, of course, but I felt like there were different pieces throughout the book where I just needed more explanation.

The storyline is good though. I thought the male POV had a very unique dynamic and I liked the crossing worlds aspects. There’s some good slow burn chemistry between the two leads that I steadily fell in love with. I enjoyed all of the action and the competition. I’m hopeful about where all of the open threads could go in the next book.

An enjoyable read and one I would recommend. It didn’t give me Fourth Wing or Serpents vibes (as mentioned in the summary) so I would be weary of going in thinking the book is along those lines or anything.

Overall audience notes:

Fantasy Romance
Language: moderate-high
Romance: 1 open door; low innuendo
Violence: moderate-high
Trigger/Content Warnings: physical abuse, near death experiences, executions, drugging and sexual assault