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3.5
Till Death
ByPublisher Description
Beyond the realm of gods, two cities stand at the brink of despair, and a dark destiny awaits Death's newest Maiden.Beyond the realm of gods, two cities stand at the brink of despair, and a dark destiny awaits Death's newest Maiden.
Long ago, Requiem was plagued by war and abandoned by the gods but Death saved the suffering people, giving each soul a hundred years of immortality. With that grace, he also sent two Maidens. One of Life, for healing and comfort, and one of Death, the only person in the world with the ability to kill.
Generations later, the Life Maiden is missing and Princess Deyanira is nothing more than a trained weapon. A hunter. A murderer wrenched into Death's dark court to have the name of her next victim seared onto her palm.
She is the enemy of this land. But, when she's given the chance to bring peace through marriage and finally show her father's kingdom her worth, she is viciously tricked into marrying the wrong man, ruining the future of the damaged realm. Her only hope to give something back to the world is to find the missing Life Maiden.
Now, eternally bound to her enemy and dragged into the dark burlesque show her new husband is bound to, she must fight to keep herself free. And her heart. Especially when she becomes the hunted.
“A deliciously sinful experience centered around a show of life and death at the hands of the Maiden. Fans of Kerri Maniscalco’s Kingdom of the Wicked and Stephanie Garber’s Caraval will love this story of the Death Maiden’s one chance to defy Death himself, combined with a searing romance that adds an irresistible layer of passion." - Jessica, @books_and_crafts
Long ago, Requiem was plagued by war and abandoned by the gods but Death saved the suffering people, giving each soul a hundred years of immortality. With that grace, he also sent two Maidens. One of Life, for healing and comfort, and one of Death, the only person in the world with the ability to kill.
Generations later, the Life Maiden is missing and Princess Deyanira is nothing more than a trained weapon. A hunter. A murderer wrenched into Death's dark court to have the name of her next victim seared onto her palm.
She is the enemy of this land. But, when she's given the chance to bring peace through marriage and finally show her father's kingdom her worth, she is viciously tricked into marrying the wrong man, ruining the future of the damaged realm. Her only hope to give something back to the world is to find the missing Life Maiden.
Now, eternally bound to her enemy and dragged into the dark burlesque show her new husband is bound to, she must fight to keep herself free. And her heart. Especially when she becomes the hunted.
“A deliciously sinful experience centered around a show of life and death at the hands of the Maiden. Fans of Kerri Maniscalco’s Kingdom of the Wicked and Stephanie Garber’s Caraval will love this story of the Death Maiden’s one chance to defy Death himself, combined with a searing romance that adds an irresistible layer of passion." - Jessica, @books_and_crafts
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesTill Death Reviews
3.5
“🎧 Audiobook Review
⭐ Non-Spoiler Review (1st) more in depth spoiler below
Overall, I have mixed feelings.
The audiobook:
* Both narrators did a great job.
* They were expressive without feeling overacted.
* And Teddy Hamilton? 💕😍
What I liked:
* The premise is genuinely original.
* The main character is a princess born into a role she never wanted: the Death Maiden.
* In this world, everyone lives exactly 100 years… unless the Death Maiden kills them first.
* The beginning focuses heavily on world-building, which I enjoyed.
The characters:
* Dad is awful.
* The villain is a theatrical crime lord, which was… different.
* There’s another prince who also isn’t winning any personality awards.
* The FMC is lonely, stubborn, proud, and a little desperate for connection, but she has a strong moral compass that constantly conflicts with her duty.
* The love interest is introduced as a trickster, but he ends up feeling more like a dependable “man of the house” type.
What didn’t quite work for me:
* The romance was supposed to be a slow burn, but it never really felt that way. We were immediately physically attracted to him & the ~spice~ was just slow to come.
* The sexual attraction felt immediate, even though the characters kept acting like their feelings were forbidden (when it wasn’t clear why it was??)
* The found family trope was sweet, but the pacing felt uneven. It dragged for a while, then suddenly everyone was inseparable.
Overall, I enjoyed it, and I’m glad I listened instead of reading it. I don’t think I would’ve had the attention span to sit down with the physical book.
The ending, though… I’m still not sure how I feel about it.
⸻
⚠️ Spoilers Below
So… she’s the Death Maiden.
But surprise! She’s also the Life Maiden because, of course she is. My biggest question is… how? She suddenly becomes the Life Maiden, but I never really understood what changed or why it mattered. It didn’t seem to have much impact on the story beyond giving us another twist.
The book spends so much time convincing us she’s the only one capable of killing, only to reveal there are multiple other killers running around. That felt way too convenient.
A few things that had me scratching my head:
* Death didn’t know he had a son?
* you can kill people but not the person imprisoning you?
* Isn’t Death supposed to be all-knowing?
* And then the found family reveal is basically, “Hey Mom… remember sleeping with Death?” That seems like the kind of information you’d mention a little sooner.
The mirror friend also frustrated me. She rejects the FMC whenever it’s convenient for the plot and lets her down over and over. Yes, she’s a victim herself, but at some point I stopped seeing her as a reliable friend. She’s the kind of person who’s only a friend in small doses.
The structure of the book also felt strange:
* Part 1: World-building. Learning the rules, meeting everyone, figuring out who we like.
* Part 2: Found family, relationship building, and trying to figure out which of the five villains is actually the villain.
* Part 3: Feels like an entirely different book. Suddenly we’re rescuing a damsel, who somehow ends up ruling. The found family basically disappears, more gods show up with brand-new rules, everyone is sort of dead… sort of alive… and our happy ending is just walking away from the family we’ve spent the whole book building.
Additionally I also couldn’t get past the fact that an eight-year-old is casually watching half-naked burlesque shows. That choice felt really odd.
The FMC’s moral compass is one of her strongest traits, but it also felt like the plot bent around it. Realistically, if she’d taken out the crime lord earlier, about 80% of the book wouldn’t have happened. Sometimes you have to think about the greater good.
One thing I genuinely did enjoy was the female friendships. I always appreciate a girls’ girl, and those moments were some of my favorites but by part 3 - bye. Onto the next plot.
Overall, this was a very mixed read. Some chapters had me completely hooked. Other chapters had me wondering, What am I reading?”
“3.5 stars.
Not bad at all but for some reason I couldn't get that attached.
Now yes, i teared up a little at a death, I got some type of way with the spice (hehehe), and the lore in this world is interesting. But overall okay! A nice little time.”
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