Reading With Tyler

Name: Blood & Steel
Series: The Legends of Thezmarr #1
Author: Helen Scheuerer
Publisher: Alchemy
Format: Kindle (through Kindle Unlimited)
Genres: New Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Noted Tropes: Enemies to Lovers, Slow Burn Spice & Romance, Found Family, Military Base (kind of Academy)
Steam or Spice: Steam and Spice

Rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Review:

BookTok served me Blood & Steel, and I am here for it! I am so glad this was recommended time and time again because I devoured it! One day read, hello! These don’t come about often, so when they do, I celebrate them! This book was sold to me as ‘Fourth Wing without the Dragon’s’ – and I was signed up immediately.

I love Thea, I think she is brilliant. I never once found her to be annoying, and I was constantly fighting battles for her in my head as I was reading. Anytime anyone came for her, it was as though I took it as a personal offence and was ready to square up for her. Not that she would ever need my help, nor would my help be much… well, help. But the point is, I loved her.

Thea was given a fate stone by a Seer which revealed the age she would die at – not when or how, but the age. And so she’s trying to accomplish her dream before she dies. She wants to be Warsword and protect her home and the kingdom. Trouble is she’s a woman, and a woman was kind of fated to destroy everything eseentially… So where does that leave Thea? She’s an alchemist because her sister is a damn good one and they’re sticking together.

Thea and Wren are sisters, and I genuinely felt like they’d burn the world down for each other. And I loved their connection. If you’ve read Fourth Wing, you could liken them to Violet and Mira – and personally I don’t see that as a bad thing. Not only does Thea have her actual sister, but she has a found family of her own – first within the Alchemists (sort of) and later in the book she truly gets her own found family – and much like I was ready to square up against anyone for Thea – her and her new friends would do the same for each other. Cal and Kipp were a brilliant addition to the cast of characters, and I found them to be lovable friends at all times. (If you know, you know)

Which brings me onto the last character I wish to discuss…. Wilder Hawthorne our MMC with an attitude. We get a pinch of ‘who did this to you’ from Wilder, and I adore it – whilst we might find this trait a little possessive in real life (and problematic as it always seems to lead to someone getting hurt), I am all for it in my fictional men! Wilder is one of those Warswords that Thea so desperately wants to be, but through him we find out it isn’t all sunshine and daisies. There is real trouble brewing and the last remaining Warswords are trying to stop it.

The book had drama, action, romance, humour, banter, it was great. As I said, I devoured it in one day and then was thrilled to find out there were 3 more books in this series (only sad thing is my TBR is so long in October I think I have to hold off on reading book 2…). There is a little bit of trials involved, and some magic and magical powers and some nasty monsters! I feel like Blood & Steel has got a lot going for it for a lot of different readers. It was an easy read with some pleasent world building (not paragraphs upon paragraphs of it so it bores you to death) and by the end of it, your jaw is on the ground and you’ll want the next one!

“A true man won’t cut you down as you fight your battles, nor will he fight them for you. A true man will help sharpen your sword, guard your back and fight at your side, in the face of whatever darkness comes.” – Wren