[ 710 ]

[katara]

Empire of Flame and Thorns (Flame and Thorns #1) by Marion Blackwood

Genre:
Enemies to Lovers, Fantasy Romance, Fantasy, Romance, Fae, Dragons, Shifters, Magic, Romantasy, NetGalley

Publication Date:
March 31, 2026

Page Numbers:
336

Read/Finished Date:
January 1st, 2026

Rating:
DNF'ed @ 60%

Premise:

A fae rebel. A ruthless dragon commander.
And a deadly trial that will turn their lives upside down.

Trapped in the Seelie Court by a forest of thorns, Selena Hale lives at the mercy of the dragon shifters. Her only chance to gain her freedom is by entering the Atonement Trials: a deadly competition that pits fae magic users against each other. Only three people can win, and Selena intends to be one of them.

There is only one problem. Draven Ryat, the ruthless commander of the dragon shifter army, is determined to make her lose.

He symbolizes everything that she hates, and if he finds out that she is also a member of the secret fae rebellion, he will not only mess with her chances to win, he will kill her. But the more time she spends with him, the more she finds herself inexplicably drawn to him.

And nothing is more dangerous in a lethal trial than a distracted heart.

Especially one that beats for the enemy…

Review:

I tried, really tried, to find something about this novel I would like. I loved the premise of the novel. A young woman with interesting abilities is locked into a world of the Seelie Court, where the dragons are the actual rulers. Her abilities are unique, as she can manipulate a person's emotions on quite a scale if she wants. Draven is a grumpy dragon shifter who does everything within his power to try to dissuade her from becoming part of the Atonement Trials. The two bicker, not as adults, but as children. There is no chemistry there between them. So, this made it hard to connect with the characters. The world-building and storyline felt incomplete. The world-building just felt like it wasn't there. There is no story to tell us how this all comes about, and there is no lore as to why the dragons decided. So, there is nothing to help to understand the reasoning behind the trials. I think if there had been some lore or some explanations, I would have been okay with the novel and enjoyed it more than I had.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and Marion Blackwood for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.