Blood & Steel

The Legends of Thezmarr, Book 1

By: Helen Scheuerer

Narrated by: Mollie Stark, Sebastian Grove

Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

With her death foretold, Althea Zoltaire only has three years to become what she’s always dreamed of being: a warrior legend. Women are forbidden to wield blades, so she has trained in secret her entire life. Now racing against the clock, she fights to secure her place in the elite guild charged with the protection of the five kingdoms.

The sparring and hazing of the new trainees border on deadly, but even more dangerous is her growing attraction to Wilder Hawthorne, her unwilling warrior chaperone. All around them, schemes are afoot and darkness looms.

Will Althea pass the perilous initiation test and take her place as a champion of Thezmarr—or will the invading evil snatch away her dream before it starts?

Blood & Steel is the gripping first book in the heart-pounding, epic romantic fantasy series, The Legends of Thezmarr.

©2023 Helen Scheuerer (P)2023 Dreamscape Media

It was ok

Rating: 3.75 🌟🌟🌟💫
Spice Level: 🌶️
Genre:
- Forced Proximity
- Warrior
- Forbidden Romance
- Prejudice
- Training
- Who did this to you
- Found family

Blood & Steel throws us into a world where warriors reign and women fight for their place.

Thea, our protagonist, have determination that is admirable, but her self-absorption can be annoying. (I found myself in a love-hate relationship with her throughout the book!) Wilder, the brooding love interest, feels a bit basic 🫣, but his protectiveness (and the towel scene!) definitely adds some heat 🥵.

The real stars of the show are the side characters. Kip and Cal provide humor and camaraderie, reminding me of the golden trio in Harry Potter 🥰.

The training sequences were great, kept me engaged and remind me of Mulan 🌸. The romance kinda fell short 🫣 for me.

Unfortunately, the female narrator's voice fell flat for me. It felt overly dramatic and witchy, hindering my enjoyment. But, one thing that threw me off was the writing style. While the book is marketed as New Adult fiction, the characters and some aspects of the story felt more YA. Imagine 24-year-olds acting like teenagers – that's the vibe I got in some scenes.

Since I used an Audible credit, I pushed through, but I'll switch to physical copies for the rest of the series - the world and characters hold potential!

Really Great Start To The Storyline

Interesting lore with a good start to what i hope will be a fullfilling story. You already get a good feel for the characters and the narrators are wonderful at voicing them all. This kept me interested and im on book two now, which is a Lot spicier for all of you who like some spice with your epic adventure!

Best book this year

This has been the best book I have read this year
Excellent story and characters
I

Slow burn

The process in this book. Thea is probably one of the most brave women/characters I have ever read through everything. She tries to persevere and complete the task that she wants to complete in her young life add in Hawthorne, and it warms your heart to know in to see the development of the characters within this book. I can’t wait to read the next!

Great Hangover Cure

if you are having a releasing slump after Throne of Glass, pick this up! strong FMC and who did this to you lover MMC, great world with so much more to learn!!

Loved this story!

I did not want to leave my car because I was so immersed in this story that even a pause felt hard to do. I enjoyed the narration that brought this great story to life. Thea is an amazing FMC and Wilder, oh I need way more of him. Definitely looking forward to book 2.

So so so good

This is the book I’ve been trying to find for a while. Something to scratch my romantic fantasy itch. It’s perfect in every way. So excited for the next books!

So good! Spicy but not vulgar great storyline!

This may be controversial but I’m not big on smut always feel like it’s too much, however this book does great at being spicy and a good story but not over the top! Great characters and story line! Absolutely love!

Interesting

Kept my interest the whole time, looking forward to reading book 2! It fell a little flat towards the end but picked right back up.

An orphan fights for the little life she has left

I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I engaged in Thea’s story. Aspects of the tale gave me Witcher, Throne of Glass, and Fourth Wing vibes. Athough this novel hasn’t reached the level of my love for Throne of Glass and Fourth Wing yet, The Legends of Thezmarr certainly has potential.