I really enjoyed the Revenant Games and I thought the premise and world building were solid and very well thought. There is a bit of 'Hunger Games' vibe but Margie Fuston puts her unique stamp on it and gives us vampires, witches, humans, death, grief, desperation, forbidden romance, a love triangle, tonnes of actions and a brilliant cliffhanger, so no complaints from me!

I found Bly very likable and the family dynamic and sister bond very realistic and relatable. There were bits about her relationship/friendship with Emmerson that I found a bit frustrating but I really enjoyed the Kerrigan parts and their dynamic. All the characters are well constructed and I liked that I couldn't predict how the story was going to unfold.

I think fans of the genre will really enjoy this book and I'm looking forward to the next!

thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my review copy, all opinions are my own.

I absolutely loved this book! I felt sucked into the story straight away. The pacing was just right. The characters were well rounded and developed. I am now desperately on the search for more books like this.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC!

The Revenant Games was incredible. Beautiful writing, desperate characters, a hint of romance, and death curses.

Bly is a dreamer who wants a better life. Her love for her best friend Emerson drives her deep into the forest with her sister in tow. Though the forest is dangerous because of the witches and vampires who lurk there. After her sister touches a death curse Bly vows to win her sisters life back in the games that take place every year. Win for the witches, you can bring back a person from the dead. Win for the vampires, and you can become immortal.

Overall, I thought this was an immersive and entertaining start to the story with a few surprising twists that I didn’t expect. And with that surprising cliffhanger ending, I can’t wait to pick up the next book!

A high stakes fantasy adventure that will captivate both lovers of this genre but also those new to it. A great read all round!!

Rounded up from 3 1/2 ⭐

I loved the premise for this, anything that takes me back to my Hunger Games obsession and includes witches and vampires is a win!

I loved Bly. She was so resilient despite her circumstances, and Kerrigan was the perfect broody contrast. He and Donovan are definitely book-boyfriend material.

While it was a bit slow for me, I really enjoyed the writing style and world building, and Bly's determination and hopefulness was a breath of fresh air.

The romance wasn't the central focus for this book which I loved, however, when we did get those scenes they were incredibly well written. The pacing was *chefs kiss* and had that toe-curling tension without being too much. The plot twists were a tad easy to predict, but the ending really made up for that. I'm left wanting the next book straight away after that cliffhanger - and I hope the next amps up the action!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for a review!

5 stars - Hunger games esque style meets witches and vampires!

Bly lives in a poor village on the outskirts of a forest that inhabits vampires on one side and witches on the other. The vampires and witches are enemies but both need the humans blood. One way they get the blood is when humans enter the forest- Bly is scavenging for food to sell with her sister Elise who is poisoned with a death curse and is taken away by witches. Bly then enters the yearly games in which the winner can either bring a vampire to the witches to resurrect a dead person, or a witch to the vampire to make someone immortal. Bly teams up with childhood friend Emerson who is struck with a death curse to play both sides and win both prizes. However when Bly starts to have feelings for the self sacrificing vampire Kerrigan along the way.

I absolutely tore through this book and was drawn in from the first chapter with emotions high as Elise was taken. We follow Bly as she struggles through her feelings and also get to see each side of the conflict between the witches and vampires.

I loved seeing the slow burn romance building between Bly and Kerrigan and even though there it didn’t take over plot like some other books do.

Some of the side characters I began to like more as the book went on (Donovan) and some who I began to dislike (Emerson). I can’t wait to see how their stories progress, especially Benedict’s mysterious girlfriend who I have thoughts about.

I didn’t realise this wasn’t a standalone and the cliffhanger it ended it I can’t wait for the next book.

Even though the book has some similarities to the hunger games the game isn’t the same. They are hunting for a vampire or witch not each other if you were expecting it to be exactly alike.

Would recommend for anyone who likes vampire’s and witchy books.

3.5 ⭐ Rounded up.

In a world where humans are little more than blood sacks for the feuding Vampires and Witches, our main character Bly suffers a terrible tragedy, losing her sister Elise. Consumed by grief she decides to take part in the Revenant Games, a hunger games type competition to win riches and immortality or resurrection depending on which side you work for.

Firstly the good. I loved Bly as a main character she was great. Determined and selfless despite being treated terribly by the people around her (for real her parents are so horrible to her it's insane). The other character who really shone for me was Kerrigan, our broody vampire love interest and I loooved him. I was instantly intrigued and charmed and constantly wanted to know more about him and why he had such a different attitude to most of the vampires. The downside in the character department was Emmerson, I found him irritating and hypocritical, I found it irritating that he abandoned and ignored Bly whilst she was grieving and then wants to come in and start trying to judge her choices.

Whilst I found the whole concept of the games and the worldbuilding interesting I felt the execution left something to be desired as the story felt quite slow and could have done with more action and less travelling. For example having more fights or interactions with the other contestants.

Overall though a decent read that felt slow but with some great characters.

This was a YA Fantasy with an interesting premise: The Hunger Games with a witches vs vampires (and humans in between!) twist. If you liked the YA books of the 2010’s then you’ll enjoy this! This was an enjoyable read with good characters although Bly did annoy me a little bit at times because it felt like she was repetitive and a bit whiney- I just didn’t empathise with her like you’re supposed to and it didn’t excite me or compel me to devour it as a higher rating (for me) fantasy would. Despite this I hope there’s a book 2 as threads were left untied and i’m interested to see how things will be resolved!

The Revenant Games is somewhere between The Hunger Games, and every YA love-triangle-spunky-girl fantasy novel ever. I mean that in the best way. I really enjoyed this book. It took me a while to get into it, and I did find some of Bly's inner-narration a little repetitive, but overall I tore through this book, and loved every moment of it!

In a world where humans are more spell-fodder than people there are few opportunities to seize power, and even fewer times when magic is not the enemy. After the sudden, tragic death of her sister, Bly is determined to win the The Revenant Games for the Witches, and earn a resurrection. When her best friend is struck down, she resolves to play both sides of the Games, and earn him eternal life as a vampire as well. Filled with intrigue, violence, questions of love and loyalty, and a unique magic system, The Revenant Games is exciting and moving from start to finish.

I will be finishing out this series, and look forward to Fuston's future twisty instalments!

4.5 rounded up

"He wanted eternity.
But he'd give it up for her."

Ooooh I been WAITING for this one!

Vampires, witches, deadly games. What more could you ask for!

A death curse made by witches on her sister encourages our FMC Bly to enter the Revenant Games - a yearly tradition between witches and vampires where humans are simply the pawns to their enjoyment. Pick a side – you side with the vampires you win immortality, and you side with the witches, and you win the chance to resurrect anyone deceased.

But Bly wants both.

Bly is a strong main character, she’s characterized as a dreamer at the beginning of the novel but tragedy after tragedy forces her to enter the games and become manipulative and cunning, battling against her own feelings to save the ones she loves the most.

I loved Kerrigan; I really appreciated how he wasn’t some centuries old vampire yearning after a barely legal girl like in some OTHER vampire novels…he’s still very much human and harbours a lot of angst and guilt from his childhood trauma, sprinkled with a cold-hearted yearn for revenge.

The romance was light, but I preferred that, the focus remained on Bly and her goals and didn’t veer from this and settle on being a pure Romance Novel like some YA romantasy novels fall fate to, however the scenes that we got were glorious, the tension between them palpable and leaving us longing for more.

I also admired how each person had legitimate reasons for their actions. It wasn’t simply “he’s a villain just because”, everyone had reasons for why acted they the way they did. Their complex pasts are what made this book so captivating, easily opening the world to prequels or origin stories later down the line.

My only slight criticism is that a lot of the book was focused on the travel between two cities, I wanted more action between the witches and the vampires, and I wish that we would have gotten to see more of the other players and their back stories as to why they were taking part.

That ending though! Fast paced, intense and all-consuming I didn’t want it to end, and I’m sat here staring into the void craving nothing but the sequel. What a cliffhanger!

Humans battling it out on behalf of vampires and witches who subjugate them - this book sounded perfect for me! Unfortunately though, I found the world building a bit lacking and struggled to follow parts of the book as a result. The twists were ok, although not totally unexpected. It was a quick, easy fantasy but probably not a book that I'd go back to.

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

The concept of this book was phenomenal. The characters were engaging, however I believe that the relationships between them could have been developed more.

I struggled to follow the description of the games. It was such an amazing concept but fell flat for me as the description did not reach the level of detail that was meant to draw me in. I also found that the plot twists and surprises were easily guessed. I was not surprised when we then found out that Elise was not actually dead. Bly’s reaction to figuring out she had feelings for Kerrigan also fell flat and was badly timed, in my opinion.

There were definitely parts that I enjoyed. Moments between Kerrigan and Bly were adorable and moving, I just wished there had been more of that.

Hunger games with witches and vampire?! Yes please! This is such an easy read and definitely one I'd recommend to anyone in a slump who is looking for something unique but also strangely familiar.

Another fast paced fantasy joy ride from Fuston. I expected wit and fantastic character interaction, which Revenant Games delivered on, much like Cruel Illusions did.

Ending came out of no where and it left me wanting more... 👀

No spoilers for now but a full *spoiler* marked review via Goodreads/Storygraph to come a few weeks after release!

3.5 stars!

Desperate, lonely, hopeful---Bly flirts with danger to save her loved ones by entering the Revenant Games. The loss of her naivety and her hardening resolve were entertaining to see throughout the novel.

The theme of blood, in the literal and metaphoric sense, as the connector tying all the elements of the book together is great, especially with the book's focus on siblinghood, supernatural lineages, and violence. The lore is also intriguing to read. The visual imagery of the vampires and witches rides the fine line between relying on typical aesthetics and twisting and adding fresh, exciting elements. Out of the cast, the ones with my favourite backstories have to be Kerrigan and Donovan, a pair of vampire royal brothers.

While I foresaw all the key twists a mile away, it was mostly due to experience and not to say that Fuston didn't do a good job doing her due diligence with her foreshadowing. If the story had more bite to it with additional interactions and buildup of Bly's competitors, it would've added more tension and grounded me more. A bit surprised at the ending and I'm not sure if this is the first of a series but it'd be interesting to see where the story goes.

It's an enjoyable, solid YA read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster UK for providing me with the e-ARC/DRC in exchange for providing an honest review.

I devoured, DEVOURED this, with the thirst of a newly turned vampire!

Welcome to The Gap, a slither of muddy territory where nothing lives, it just survives and barely. Sandwiched between Havenwhile belonging to the Witches and Vagaris the territory of the Vampires, leave The Gap and forfeit your safety, potentially your life and certainly your blood.
Humans suffer and are trapped within a society beholden to those more powerful, with blood the only currency to ensure survival.
Vampires and Witches live in uneasy truce, buying blood from humans in exchange for food and spells. But for two weeks a year, the ceasefire dissolves, and they hold the Revenant Games.
Any human can play in the games, choose a side, show your worth, attract a sponsor to help you with your hunt and obtain your prize.
Alongside life-changing riches, the witches will raise one person from the dead for whoever captures the highest-ranking vampire. In turn, the vampires offer immortality to whoever captures the most powerful witch.
Ready to play?
For Bly, she needs to play the dangerous game of playing both sides, she needs to win both the resurrection to bring back her dead sister and the immortality to save her dying best friend.

I adored the world building and the more that got revealed as the story progressed just intrigued me more. The story had great pace and a steady mix of tension, danger, intrigue and backstabbing. Schemes within schemes, I couldn't put it down.
Equally the characters were brilliant and were a driving force for the story. Each with there own story and issues which was enjoyable to unveil as the story went on.
I adored Kerrigan, I dare you not to fall head over fangs for that one, he's definitely book boyfriend material. But also I'm called dibs on Donovan because, erm the bad brother is always *swoon*
Oh I'm going need book 2 as soon as humanly/witchly/vampirically possibly because I am dying here and NEED more!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Actual Rating: 3.5

’Blood always came first in this world, in more ways than one.’*

Vampires, witches and a deadly competition for the humans trapped between the two. Obviously this was a ‘must read’ for me as any one of those features would have piqued my interest, let alone all three combined. I’m sure there are many readers that feel similarly too and thankfully I can say that this did not disappoint.

One of my favourite features of ’The Revenant Games’ has to be the world that it is set within. Over the course of the novel you get to glimpse how each of these beings live and learn a little about their lands. The hardships that humans suffer is experienced firsthand by Bly, whose perspective the novel is in, yet you still get to discover a fair bit about the more magical territories and those who live within them. There are little nuggets of history and lore scattered throughout too and – most likely unsurprisingly to anyone who knows me – I adored these offerings immensely.

There’s a varied cast of characters who are intriguing to discover. Unsurprisingly my personal favourite was Kerrigan, one of the vampires whose story I loved uncovering over the course of the novel. Another, who featured fairly briefly, was Hazel who offered intriguing possibilities for the future. Bly was an interesting enough individual to follow – and I loved her interactions with Kerrigan throughout – yet I did find her a bit unconvincing on occasion too. For someone who’d spent over a year planning to enter the games she seemed utterly unprepared in many ways and made the occasional decision that frustrated me. There were a couple of occasions where other characters made choices that conflicted me too, seeming to go against some of what had previously been established of their natures.

As a whole the plot kept me riveted throughout with an enjoyable mix of danger, intrigue and exploration of its world. The general direction that it went in was fascinating and it’s only the aforementioned character inconsistencies, particularly towards the end, that frustrated me somewhat. Although I do also feel that more could have been made of the games too. The build up to them, particularly with the trials, was fascinating and the experience of Bly, and those around her, was engaging too. Yet I can’t help but wish that there’d been a bit more made of the other competitors too; yes it’s ultimately Bly’s story but it would have been nice if she’d crossed paths with others a little more too.

Ultimately I recommend ’The Revenant Games’ and am intrigued to see where the sequel will go. It was an action packed story with its fair share of heartbreaking moments throughout too. It had interactions that made me smile and a world that I loved learning about. Certain elements could have been stronger but it was still a wholly enjoyable read, leaving off with a mystery that I can’t wait to uncover.


*The quote included within this review came from an arc and may differ from the final version.

NETGALLEY ARC

Very hunger games inspired but make it vampires and witches.

The premise enticed me but in short I was left disappointed (maybe I'm just really hard to please or I expect a lot from a vampire book?) I'm not that bothered to read book two when it's released.

"young adult" such an annoying term but it's probably right for 16+

Bly is a teenager in every affect - impulsive, stubborn, and mercurial in her affections and moods. Romance is surprisingly beside-the-point in this one; of course there's a love triangle happening along side out-maneuvering other players in the Revenant Games. She's entered to save her sister and of course things get in the way.

This book ends on a cliffhanger which I didn't see coming to be fair!

Rating a 3.75*

I wish publishers would stop comparing new books to already existing books. Why you ask. Because I loved all of us villains and obviously I had high hopes for this book and was very disappointed. That's why. It was like make it make sense and why bother and a possible love triangle. That's a big no no for me.



I wish I didn't have to give a star review so sorry for bringing down the average score.

I didn’t expect to love this as much as I did. I expected this to just be a nice, easy weekend read. However, I was so wrong. I absolutely adored this book. The character development, the constant tension, and the heartache was excellently portrayed.

From the very first chapter the heartbreaking life of Bly was established. The conflict between wanting to save her sister, and save Kerrigan’s life was captured beautifully. The guilt and passion was palpable.

The portrayal of life for Bly broke me. The blame, both internal and external, and her clear loneliness was so hard to read. It really helped sell her desperation and made the reader care about what happened.

I struggled to put this book down. It was very much “just another chapter” until it was after midnight. The characters really had my heart. A wonderful read. The ending had me close to tears and then wishing for a sequel. This cannot be the end!