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It should come as no surprise to anyone who reads this book blog that Helen Scheuerer’s latest book has received a Five Moon rating. But, as ever, this is a warranted rating. Scheuerer has released another blinding, brilliant and beautiful epic fantasy, based in the same brutal universe as The Oremere Chronicles and Curse of the Cyren Queen. Blood and Steel is the opening chapter of her brand new series, The Legends of Thezmarr, and this time, we travel with her to the Midrealms, where a dark prophecy has dictated the laws of the realms for the last two decades.
Althea Zoltaire is an Alchemist in training; or, at least, she’s supposed to be. Women are forbidden from bearing and wielding blades, thanks to a prophecy which began to come to fruition when she was a child. But, Althea is no alchemist and resents the fact that women are forced into scholarly or healing duties despite their talents lying elsewhere. Thanks to a Fate Stone she received before she was left abandoned at the gates to the great fortress of Thezmarr as a child, she knows she has a limited number of years left in the midrealms before death takes her. Three to be exact, because the stone holds the age of her death – twenty-seven. And all Thea wants to do is to make her mark on the realms; to become a Legend of Thezmarr.
It’s when she’s caught with a forbidden blade by one of the three remaining Warswords, Wilder Hawthorne, that her life changes. She no can no longer train in secret, with tree branches instead of swords. She can no longer spy on the sheildbearers as they train in their drills. No, instead she faces either expulsion from the only home she’s ever really known, or if she can petition the remaining rulers of the midrealms, she may just be able to become the first woman in twenty years to become a guardian of the realms. A warrior.
As with Scheuerer’s other series, Blood and Steel is primarily about a woman trying to find her place in a world which doesn’t seem to want her. Scheuerer has become known for her strong female leads, placing them in difficult and dangerous situations that they must use their wiles, cunning and sense of what is right to fight their way out of the peril they find themselves in. Unlike her other series, Blood and Steel is also a romance and contains much more mature content. However, the love story contained within its pages isn’t roses and romance – it’s complicated, gritty, passionate and brutal. Worlds away from her previous works, while still being in familiar and comforting territory.
There’s something about Scheuerer’s work which manages to pull the reader in from the very first sentence, and Blood and Steel is no exception. Honestly, as much as I want to keep harping on about how brilliant this novel is, I implore you to not just take my word for it. Read this book, and. if you haven’t already, read her other books.
As one last treat, for those who may want to dip their toes into the midrealms before the release of Blood and Steel, Scheuerer has written a prequel novella, which is free for those who subscribe to her newsletter. If you’d like to read An Alchemists Vow for a tantalising preview into Althea Zoltaire’s world, simply click here for more information.
S. A
I was lucky enough to receive Blood and Steel directly from Helen Scheuerer as an ARC, in exchange for an honest review.
You can purchase Blood and Steel from Amazon and it will be released on February 16th. It will also be available to read for free on Kindle Unlimited. Click on the name of the book to pre-order it or add it to your wish list.