Rating: ★★★★/5
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 556 pages
Author: Caty Rogan
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: September 24th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Leina has spent a lifetime submitting. Kneeling. Enduring.

Then soldiers come for her brother, and divine fury surges through her veins. She expects execution for the bodies she left in her wake. Her people have met bloody ends for far, far less.

Instead, Ryot, a godsworn warrior born to privilege and raised in order, drags her into a world that was never meant for her. One of divine armies and death demons, winged war horses and monsters, sacred power and royal secrets.

A kiss from a goddess changes everything.

No longer a criminal, Leina is a prize. The kingdom’s most powerful men want what the goddess touched. Leina wants only one thing, though: freedom for her people. And she’ll trade herself for the strength to destroy the kingdom that broke them.

Conscripted into a war she never asked for, fighting for gods she doesn’t believe in, Leina must decide how far she’s willing to go and what she’s willing to lose. Because her power is more than a threat to the kingdom’s buried secrets.

It’s a death sentence.

WELL OKAY THEN.

This was totally worth the hype. And I am often reluctant to pick up a book if the hype seems out of bounds but here we are!!

I loved this journey. I felt like I got everything at such a fantastic pace. From understanding the world and how the magic system bends to the intricacies of life as an Altor. I don’t know much about the antagonists yet but I look forward to that expansion in book two.

The romance grew on me. I think there was a little lacking in the swoon factor for me but by the end I was pretty attached to Leina and Ryot. I appreciate a good slow burn and moments together before the heat gets turned up.

And the found family?? Oh I adored them all. It’s a brutal world they are trying to survive and I liked the soft and loving banter that existed between everyone. And the war horses?? They were many nuanced pieces that made this an incredible read.

I’m a fan of a brutal cliffhanger so let me tell y’all I about threw my kindle on this one. WHICH IS A GOOD THING. Gosh dang it someone give me book two ASAP.

Overall audience notes:

• Fantasy Romance
• Language: strong
• Romance: 2-3ish open door
• Violence: high
• Content warnings: mass loss of life, near death experiences, weapons violence

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