What Fury Brings by Tricia Levenseller:My Review

Check out my book review of What Fury Brings by Tricia Levenseller to see what I think of her first adult fantasy romance that is fueled by her rage!

*Disclosure: This post may include affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

What Fury Brings: Summary

There’s a shortage of men in the kingdom of Amarra. After a failed rebellion against the matriarchy, most noblemen in the country are dead. Now the women of Amarra must obtain their husbands (should they want one) by kidnapping them from other kingdoms.

Olerra, a warrior princess vying for the throne, is determined to prove her worth by kidnapping a husband. And not just any husband. To outmaneuver her treacherous cousin, she needs the best. Fortunately, the second-born prince of their greatest enemy is widely known for both his looks and his sweet, docile temperament. He’s the perfect choice to secure her claim to the throne.

Sanos, heir to the Kingdom of Brutus, has nothing but contempt for the idea of a society run by women. Trained from birth to fight, lead, and follow in his father’s overbearing footsteps, his path has always been set. Until he takes his younger brother’s place in a drunken prank and finds himself kidnapped, carted off to the Amarran Palace, and informed that he is to become the husband of Queen Potential Olerra. Sanos needs to escape before anyone learns his real identity, but the more he gets to know his captor, the less sure he is of what he truly wants.

What Fury Brings: My Review

Looking for a standalone romantasy that has a strong yet caring heroine and that completely flips the patriarchy – then grab What Fury Brings!

Not going to lie, I instantly wanted this book as soon as I read the author note explaining why Tricia wrote this story and the rage behind it. I’ve been feeling some rage with the world myself these days so a book that flips the patriarchy for revenge sake? Yes, please! Sorry, not sorry.

I’m so tired of how women and minorities are treated in this country and around the world and I wanted an outlet for my disappointment and my own rage and this book delivered that. But, while you will encounter one country where women rule over the men, it’s only one country in this book and Olerra actually seeks to bring about a more balanced society so I found that there was a hint at feminism in this one even though Tricia warns it is not a feminist romance.

This idea of creating a matriarchal society (where men were considered sexual play things – at least at the level of the nobility and where women ruled) was so intriguing and definitely created a unique set-up for this romantasy.

Olerra, however, is what made this book for me. She is competing with her nasty cousin for the throne while keeping one very important secret. To help her win over the nobles who will vote for the next successor, she decided to kidnap a husband, only she kidnaps the wrong prince.

Throughout the story, Olerra emerges not only as an intelligent general, a strong warrior and a cunning politician, but she also has a very caring heart. She has a vision for how to make her homeland better for all it’s habitants and she cares deeply for the man she kidnaps – hoping that he will come around to liking her and having a real marriage.

The things this woman endures throughout the story only further showcase her strength and commitment to her principles. I loved her.

I also love that this is a standalone romantasy. No need to fear a cliffhanger or that you need to invest in a five book series. Tricia did drop one connection that leads me to believe that a second book in the series could come down the pipe and I would LOVE that if it’s about the two characters that I think it would be about. But I found it so refreshing to know as I was reading it that the story would be wrapped up by the end of the book. Thank you Tricia!

As for the romance, I liked Olerra and Sanos together but I would have liked even more chemistry between them. Sanos was a warrior and the heir to his throne so maybe I expected him to be a bit more alpha than he was since he was the opposite to his brother (who she intended to kidnap) but that didn’t really come off on the page. I did like how the light bulb seemed to go off in his head about how wrong his own homeland was in treating women and that he could actually do something about it as the heir to the throne.

I also anticipated a lot more spice (I’m not sure why) but it was pretty tame other than one pretty interesting scene which was unexpected but good. Given how much emphasis there was on the nobility and their harems I thought they would have had more intimacy throughout the book than there was and when there was (maybe 2 scenes) they were very tame. Maybe since this is her first adult romance Tricia just needs to warm up to more spice 😊.

As for the trigger warnings, I honestly didn’t think this was that dark (aside from the mention of the penis guillotine but it was deserved in my opinion) and that’s coming from a reader who doesn’t typically read books with abuse, assault or other dark themes. I always love that authors mention them but this book was pretty tame in my mind other than two beatings.

So if you’re looking for a standalone romance with a unique premise and a strong heroine to root for, then I think you’ll enjoy this book. This was my first book written by Tricia but won’t be my last.

I need to also give a big shoutout to the hardcover book. Not only is the jacket and sprayed edges gorgeous, the hardcover portraits of Olerra and Sanos make it stunning! One of my favorite romantasy book covers yet!

*I received an advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

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