Name: Warrior Princess Assassin
Series: Braided Fate #1
Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Publisher: HarperVoyager
Format: Hardback – Waterstones SE
Genres: Adult, Romantasy
Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Rating:
Synopsis: Goodreads
WARRIOR. King Maddox Kyronan’s fire magic has earned him a ruthless reputation on the battlefield, but now his land is slowly burning. Ky’s only chance to save his people is to enter a marriage alliance with the neighboring nation of Astranza, and hope that their royal family’s power to manipulate the weather will help his kingdom flourish once more. He just needs to ensure no one finds out how this blaze began.
PRINCESS. With enemies advancing on Astranza, Princess Jory’s home needs the protection of the fearsome warrior king, but she is hiding a dangerous secret: her family’s magic is fading. Tempting as it is to reject her duties and run away with her childhood friend, Asher, Jory knows that she is the kingdom’s last hope. When she meets her intended, Jory is surprised to discover that beneath Ky’s daunting exterior is a compassionate and sharp-witted man who sets her heart aflame. But what will he do when he realizes she’s deceiving him?
ASSASSIN. Asher’s done what he must to survive, even if that means getting his hands dirty. Once a young nobleman in Astranza’s palace, where he and Jory caused mischief together, now he’s part of the Hunter’s Guild, employing much darker skills. When a lucrative job comes his way, Asher can’t say no—until he discovers the targets. Someone wants Ky and Jory dead. With the Guild watching, Asher must decide what he’s willing to do to protect the woman he loves.
A tale of three complex characters torn between chasing, betraying, and craving each other, Warrior Princess Assassin marks the beginning of a thrilling new fantasy trilogy filled with enchantment, adventure, and passionate romance.
Review:
My first 5 star read of 2026 has been found! I loved Warrior Princess Assassin. We join our Princess, Jory, as she’s preparing to meet the man she’s been bargained off to by her older brother – acting regent, Prince Dane. Jory’s wedding to King Maddox, our Warrior, will bring her kingdom protection they desperately need, and for King Maddox the wedding means his kingdom will get access to the weather power of Jory’s father which will help rejuivinate their land and help them get food reserves as they’re starving. And then we’re following our Assassin, Asher, tasked with killing both of them.
Honestly, I expected I’d enjoy this as I loved Defy the Night when I read it in 2024. I did not expect to love and devour this story. I read it in one day as I simply did not want to wait to find out what was going to happen with our three main characters.
Asher and Jory have a childhood friendship that has lasted into adulthood despite the difficulties that were presented. And at least at first, it did just feel like that, a childhood friendship, but I loved their friendship! I just didn’t quite love Asher… However, enter Ky – King Maddox and his crew of close guards visiting Prince Dane and their father to confirm the alliance, and I quickly loved him and therefore I fell in love with the idea of Jory and Ky very quickly – but credit where it is due because Asher also won me over!! And I was left wondering how the romance of this book was going to go! I legitimately love all three of our main characters and cannot wait to see how their situation developes in the second book. There is information, spoilery type information, about the romance that we get, at the end of this review!
This felt like a good romantasy! It had me smiling and giggling, kicking my feet! But it also had me worried for the safety of our characters, worried for how the hell this book was going to turn out and the kind of cliff hanger we were going to have… The court politics aspect of the book haven’t been fully developed but they’re definitely there! Plus some of the rules of the land – such as the idea of having a bonded – are coming into play and seeing how everyone reacts to this is interesting! Not to mention everyone has secrets and are playing for themselves as well as the good of their kingdom (in the case of the royalty).
Slight spoiler for the romance in this novel (well, full spoiler, but I think this information is being used in the discussion around this book)
This is a Why Choose which means our FMC isn’t choosing between two MMCs, instead she’s with them both (I believe that’s the typical Why Choose anyhow!). I haven’t got a huge amount of experience with Why Chooses the only other Why Choose at least as far as I am in that series certainly matches the above sort of definition.
That definition does not seem to fit Warrior Princess Assassin though, as we certainly seem to be going into the territory of a throuple – everyone is into each other and they’re all together! But each of them won me over and so I’m kind of loving it? It feels so right for them all, this dynamic, and that’s exciting! It’ll be interesting to see how this goes in the next book!
Edited to add a couple days before publishing, that I have been away from this book for 11 days and I cannot get these three out of my head. I love them, and I’m craving more of them!
All in all, I had such a good time with this book, the vibes were vibing, the characters were driving things forward and the plot is there and I’m intrigued to know more! I personally can’t fault it – except for the fact that I could have easily read many more pages before it ended! So, I need the November ETA for book two to not change, because that already seems too far away!
“I don’t know what’s been done…[…] But I won’t hurt you.”
Reading With Tyler 
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