Fate & Furies (The Legends of Thezmarr) Review
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
What is Fate & Furies?
Fate& Furies the third book in The Legends of Thezmarr, a completed 4-part epic, romantic fantasy. It is author Helen Scheurer’s debut series into the subgenre, having previously written YA fantasy. The main four books of the series need to be read in publication order they are: Blood & Steel, Vows & Ruins, Fate & Furies, and Shadow & Storms. Scheurer also offers a short prequel novella that describes the events leading up to our main character’s story in Blood & Steel for free. Sign up for Scheurer’s newsletter to receive the free prequel, An Alchemist’s Vow.
The series also contains a standalone book, Slaying the Shadow Prince which follows the story of important side characters and offers insight into the behavior and motivations of the main male characters. This book can be read in several places. First, it can be read between An Alchemist’s Vow and Blood & Steel for a chronological reading experience. It can be read after Blood & Steel allowing you to read in the publication order. Finally it can be read after Vows & Ruins. This is the author’s recommended reading order for maximum emotional impact.
The author is currently working on a spinoff series, The Ashes of Thezmarr which is intended to be a trilogy. This series can be read independently of Legends of Thezmarr, but will definitely spoil it for you. The first book of this series, Iron & Embers, is currently available with the next being released in July.
It is important to remember this is a dark, romantic fantasy intended for adults. As such, it touches on topics that may be sensitive or too graphic for some readers.
Fate & Furies Summary
Fate & Furies is a dual POV story following our main female character, Althea Embervale, and main male character, Wilder Hawthrone. Fate & Furies picks up a year after Vows & Ruins left off. It has been one year since Wilder Hawthorne betrayed his vows, broke Thea’s heart, and disappeared with the enemy, the notorious Daughter of Darkness. Thea has done nothing during this year but track Wilder throughout the continent with her loyal friends, Kipp and Cal, determined to be the one to bring Wilder to justice before her limited time is up. But when she finally captures him, she is forced to accept that not all is as it seems in the Midrealms. They will need to work together to save the Midrealms, but can they trust each other enough to do so?
What did I like about the book?
This book was everything I had hoped Vows & Ruins would be. It was the perfect build-up of Wilder and Thea’s relationship, which felt much more authentic than it did in the previous books. The dynamic between the couple is very fun as we go through their THIRD slow burn. It’s almost painful that we’ve done this three times now. Plus we get so much more time with some of my favorite side characters ever, Kipp and Cal, and more time with the infamous shadow touched people. The world expands in this book and we are able to see more of the rulers, the monsters plaguing the Midrealms, and the kingdoms.
What did I not like?
My biggest problem with this book is the time that has passed between the books. It’s hard to sympathize with Wilder when he left with no explanation for a year. That and many of the issues in this book would be easily fixed if the characters communicated.
