A review by maggiestraveledbookshelf
Blood & Steel by Helen Scheuerer

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

๐Ÿ“– Blood & Steel (The Legends of Thezmar #1)
โœ๐Ÿผ Helen Scheuerer
โ˜‘๏ธ Fantasy Romance
Rating: โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
Spice: ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ

โ€œ๐™„๐™ฉ ๐™™๐™ค๐™š๐™จ๐™ฃโ€™๐™ฉ ๐™ข๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ค ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™๐™จ ๐™–๐™œ๐™–๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ชโ€ฆ ๐™’๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ข๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง๐™จ ๐™ข๐™ค๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ค ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™๐™จ ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช.โ€

This was fun! What a solid first book to a series!!

Overview: 
โ€ขEpic Romantasy
โ€ขWarrior Training Program
โ€ขStabby FMC x Broody MMC
โ€ขFound Family
โ€ขโ€Who Did This To You?โ€

๐—œ๐—ป ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ฎ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜† ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€, ๐—”๐—น๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฎ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜๐˜€ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฑ. ๐——๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—พ๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ, ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜€ ๐—ช๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—›๐—ฎ๐˜„๐˜๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ - ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฏ๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐˜๐—ฎ๐—น ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ.

This was a really enjoyable opening to a new fantasy world! The world building was both thorough and easily digestible, and Iโ€™m excited to dive in deeper during the next books. 

โ€œ๐™„๐™› ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™จ๐™š๐™š๐™  ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™– ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ก๐™™ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ข๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง๐™จ, ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง๐™š ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ง๐™š ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™š๐™ง๐™›๐™ช๐™ก ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™ก๐™š๐™™๐™œ๐™š ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™–๐™—๐™ž๐™ก๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฎ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™š๐™ก๐™™ ๐™ž๐™ฉ.โ€

I loved the warrior training sequences, as Iโ€™m a sucker for a good Mulan-esque training montage. The ragtag group of misfits becoming a friend unit was my favorite part. 

๐™†๐™ž๐™ฅ๐™ฅ ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง๐™˜๐™š๐™™ ๐™– ๐™จ๐™ข๐™ž๐™ก๐™š ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ฅ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™™ ๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™ญ ๐™›๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™๐™š๐™–๐™™. โ€˜๐™๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฃโ€™๐™ฉ ๐™Ÿ๐™ช๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง ๐™™๐™š๐™˜๐™ค๐™ง๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ, ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฌ.โ€™
โ€˜๐™๐™๐™–๐™ฃ๐™  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™๐™ช๐™ง๐™ž๐™š๐™จ ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ, ๐™˜๐™–๐™ช๐™จ๐™š ๐™ž๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™ž๐™ฃโ€™๐™ฉ ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™š๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ฎ.โ€™ ๐˜พ๐™–๐™ก ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ง๐™š๐™ฌ ๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™–๐™ง๐™ข ๐™–๐™ง๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™†๐™ž๐™ฅ๐™ฅโ€™๐™จ ๐™จ๐™๐™ค๐™ช๐™ก๐™™๐™š๐™ง๐™จ.
๐™†๐™ž๐™ฅ๐™ฅ ๐™จ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™š๐™™. โ€˜๐˜พ๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™–๐™ก๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ฎ๐™จ ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง ๐™– ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ง๐™–๐™ก๐™š ๐™—๐™ค๐™ค๐™จ๐™ฉ, ๐™˜๐™–๐™ฃโ€™๐™ฉ ๐™ฌ๐™š, ๐˜พ๐™–๐™ก๐™ก๐™–๐™๐™–๐™ฃ?โ€™

I loved that Thea has an equally feisty and steady presence, and I appreciated her integrity. Wilder has the Broody Personality on lock. Their relationship wasnโ€™t my favorite part of this book, but Iโ€™m hopeful for the rest of the series. 

โ€œ๐™”๐™ค๐™ชโ€™๐™ง๐™š ๐™—๐™š๐™–๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™›๐™ช๐™ก ๐™–๐™จ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™–๐™ง๐™š. ๐˜ผ๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™„โ€™๐™™ ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™œ๐™š๐™ง ๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ง๐™š ๐™จ๐™ค ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™š๐™ก ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™—๐™ก๐™ค๐™ค๐™™ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ข๐™ž๐™š๐™จ ๐™จ๐™ฅ๐™ก๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง๐™š๐™™ ๐™–๐™˜๐™ง๐™ค๐™จ๐™จ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™›๐™–๐™˜๐™š.โ€

Book MVP: Malik and his dog Dax. I love them both eternally!!!! MVP Runner Up: Theaโ€™s sister Wren. 

My reason for less than 5 stars: This was marketed as a Slow Burn, and I didnโ€™t think it was slow at all. It had InstaLust vibes, and I just wanted a little more tension. 

โ€˜๐™„ ๐™™๐™ค๐™ฃโ€™๐™ฉ ๐™๐™–๐™ซ๐™š ๐™– ๐™™๐™š๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™จ๐™.โ€™
โ€˜๐™‰๐™ค? ๐™๐™๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ฎ ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ž๐™ฉ ๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง๐™ฎ ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ข๐™š ๐™„ ๐™จ๐™š๐™š ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช, ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ชโ€™๐™ง๐™š ๐™›๐™ก๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง๐™จ๐™š๐™ก๐™› ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™™๐™–๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™š๐™ง?โ€™

Overall, Iโ€™m looking forward to the next books! If you enjoyed Fourth Wing or similar Romantasy novels, I recommend checking this one out. 

This is now a completed series (4 main novels, a prequel novella, and a standalone prequel novel).

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