Many thanks to HarperVoyager and A.K. Mulford for the advanced copy of The Witches’ Blade via NetGalley, in return for my honest and unbiased review. Quick note: I don’t recap plots in my reviews, as it’s easy enough to read the book’s synopsis and blurbs, I purely focus on my feelings & opinions of how the books makes me feel.

This is the second book in the Five Crowns of Okrith series, and I am HERE FOR IT. This series is definitely my favourite of 2022 and I have already started the next one (The Rogue Crown).

The Witches’ Blade focuses on a different protagonist and ultimately couple, cementing this in the ‘romantasy’ genre. However, the world-building continues, and we continue to learn more about how Okrith is made up. The courts and their politics are explained. These are, at times, complex and confusing, but easy enough to keep track of.

Characters continue to be diverse, but authentic. There are books where it feels like the author cram in a diverse cast of characters for clout but they have no depth and no actual knowledge of these characters’ feelings. This is not the case in this series. All characters feel genuine and natural, regardless of identity or labels.

My favourite wheelhouse trope continues in this book: Fated Mates. The book is darker than its predecessor, with the protagonist Rua, and many of the other main characters fitting the ‘morally grey’ pigeonhole.

I can’t wait to see what happens next. I continue to recommend this series to all fans of romance and fantasy.

Moods: adventurous, dark, emotional, mysterious
Tropes: enemies to lovers, ?lover(s) in denial?, oblivious to love, redemption/dark past, fated mates
Pace: medium
Character development: strong
Plot or character driven: 50/50
Diversity: high
Spice: 4/5
Trigger warnings: Alcohol abuse, Blood/Gore, Death, Death of a family member, Violence

Rating: 5/5

This was a much slower burn than book one, I can see a lot of people not liking Rua but I really liked her character development (she reminds me a lot of Nesta from ACOTAR but Rua is not as mean) , this book is a good exploration of how early trauma can shape someone. I stayed up till 1:30am to finish this as the last 1/2 had me so gripped with several unexpected twists. Looking forward to the next book!

the second in a series in what is turning out to be a fantastic journey I am loving all of this so far i love dark fantasy. 5 stars , we have the introduction of new characters these books are beautifully written I want more! Thank You A K Mulford for these books and netgalley for letting me review them

Many Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing the digital review copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Ruadora Dammacus, sister of the new Queen of the High Mountain Court, now possesses the Immortal Blade, tasked with keeping the Northern Court in line, following the bloody battle in which the King of the Northern Court was finally killed. Venturing into the enemy’s court, Rua finds herself working closely with the New young king. With the eyes of her new-found family on her, Rua must prove herself worthy of the Immortal Blade if she is to break a spell over the blue witches of the Northern Court

Having just read the first book in the series, I was looking forward to this follow-on book. This book follows Rua POV, as she enters and navigates the northern court, she is a wholly different character to her sister, while Remy is more pragmatic and braver, Rua is standoffish and rude. She sees herself as broken and dark and spends a reasonable amount of time being broody. Her Childhood was spent amongst the red witch in hiding who ostracised her for being Fae and a member of the royal family, so when she is finally able to come out of hiding, she wants nothing more than to be rid of them.

The plot itself is good, and while it didn’t travel as much as it did in the first book, it was interesting seeing that world-building for the northern territory, and I also enjoyed the new character introductions in this book, however, I just couldn’t relate to Rua, I found her annoying and petty. She is in no way as broken as some of the other witches or even Renwick who really tries to be better, and the jealousy that she shows her sister even though she blames herself for not reaching out to her brother, she does the same to Remy. The relationship between Rua and Renwick was a little predictable but I didn’t think it took anything away from the storyline.

I’m giving this book, two stars, not because I didn’t think the plot was good, I just didn’t particularly like the main character.

If I could give this more than five stars I would.
I can relate to Rua in so many ways it’s creepy but I love it. She’s a character that grows on you so much you cannot help yourself but to love her.
And Renwick… I knew I would love him too.
This world is amazing and its characters make you wish you were part of their family.
Like the first book, I have nothing bad to say about it.

The Witches Blade
The Five Crowns of Okrith #2
Sci-Fi, Fantasy
A.K. Mulford 
⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is the second book in this series and this time it follows Rua (Remmy's sister) and her story.

Again this book was quite slow, I found myself getting distracted or having to put the book down because I just couldn't stay interested sometimes.

I'm not actually keen on Rua's character. There was no introduction for her and yes, she's meant to be young but she is almost constantly moaning or whining about being a royal or some other trivial thing and while I think it was meant to make the reader feel sorry for her, it just made me not like her 😂.

I had already guessed the romantic relationship at the end of the first book so it was definitely no surprise to me when it finally happened in this one and who it was with.

The world building is really good but I feel like a lot of the descriptions could be condensed without losing anything important. The plot line for Rua and her love interest seemed very similar to Remmy and Hale's in the first book.

There are a few emotional and heartbreaking scenes that help the characters become more likeable towards the end. It was nice to see some of the same characters from the previous book and they were still great.

I feel like these books could be changed slightly and would be so much better. Unfortunately I don't think the writing style is for me.


*Thank you to @netgalley and the publishers for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Follows the same storyline as book 1 but with more character development which is amazing. The characters really grow and its so good to read and feel like you're on that journey-physically and emotionally - with them!
The book was just as fast paced as the first book and just as good!
Can't wait for book 3!

This was another fast paced story from AK Mulford and followed Rua, Remy's sister, and Renwick. Again it is a really easy, fast paced read, with likeable characters and lots of humour from the twins and some new characters. As well as a slow burn romance, with a bit of spice!

I felt the story line had similar themes to the first book in that it emulated the same story line of finding an object to save Orkith, though I really enjoyed the development of Rua and Renwick's individual character ARC's. They are on a journey to obtain the witches glass and a spell book in order to break a curse, free prisoner witches and stop Balorn from the path of destruction he reaps. I really liked finding out more about the witches and the different covens; I hope we find out more about the violet witched in the next book. There were a couple of twists I didn't see coming which I really enjoyed.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this arc.

Thankyou for this ARC NetGalley and Harper Collins
After being so intrigued by Rua in the first book, we finally have her own story!
I adored the complex needs she has and the pacing set out in this book, even though it's so different from the first one, it fits well together.
I'm so excited to dig into the next in the series and also excited to see how different it'll be too
4.5 stars