I’ve read some young adult books written by Tricia Levenseller and I enjoyed them. So I was excited when she announced her adult debut, What Fury Brings. Today I want to tell you about this book and what I thought!
A big thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an ALC to read and review. This doesn’t affect my opinion in any way.
#1 New York Times-bestselling author Tricia Levenseller makes her adult debut in What Fury Brings, a sexy, empowering romantasy featuring a warrior general who must kidnap and train a husband in order to take her rightful place as queen.
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.
Review
What Fury Brings had an interesting concept. In this world the women were the leaders and protectors. Men are looked down upon and basically do as the women tell them to or they’re punished. I feel like the author wanted to kind of prove a point when it comes to how things are in our world. Women being subjected to violence and cruelty and not much seems to be done. That being said, I did expect this book to be a little bit darker than it was. Especially after the author’s note in the beginning.
Our main character Olerra is in line to become queen, but to get there she has to beat her cousin for the throne. She figures she’ll take the lead if she kidnaps a powerful husband and makes him obedient. I will say I found her a very interesting character. Part of her wants a husband, but because of events in the past she’s also very afraid to make that commitment. Even though she does believe women are superior and are treated poorly in many kingdoms, she also believes that men deserve some respect as well. It’s something she wants to change when she takes the throne.
Olerra decides to kidnap one of her greatest enemies sons, but accidentally kidnaps the wrong one. Sanos is actually going to inherit the throne one day. At first he plans on fighting as much as he can and escape as soon as possible. I found him very interesting from the start because he doesn’t look up to his father. He doesn’t even like the man. While he starts to get to know the kingdom he’s brought to and Olerra his thoughts start to change as well. The character development we get is quite interesting.
Of course, we can’t forget the romance. These two are definitely an enemies to lovers couple who end up realizing there’s more to the other than they realize. I feel like that really worked well for these two. Especially with us having a dual POV throughout this story. I ended up wanting these two to have their happily ever after! I did want a little bit more of the world, but these two definitely kept me reading.
Besides the obvious romance in this story, there were a lot of politics. Olerra’s cousin was one I saw as evil and how she wanted to take the throne was very vengeful. I will say that side characters like Ydra definitely made this story even more interesting. She was a great best friend who also was able to see the bigger picture when Olerra couldn’t.
All in all, What Fury Brings was a great adult debut. I’m definitely looking forward to another book in this world. The narrators Aiden Snow and Caitlin Davies really brought out two main characters to life and really kept me glued to this story. I read it in just about one sitting.
What Fury Brings was a great adult debut and I’m excited to see what the sequel will bring. I have a feeling I know who the book is going to be about. Have you read anything by Tricia Levenseller before? If so, what was your favorite? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear from you.
