[ARC Review] A Warrior's Fate by Melissa Kieran
On the night she’s to enter the Hunt, a perilous trial to earn her title of warrior, Isla meets her fated mate. Handsome, arrogant, and frustratingly captivating, Kai is everything she could want, but nowhere near what she needs right now. Because he is the king of the enigmatic Deimos…which makes Isla their rightful queen.
She’s always been taught that the destined mate bond is sacred, a connection between two souls crafted by the goddesses themselves. But she can’t find any sense in leaving everything she loves to live at Kai’s side, even if the mere sight of him sets her soul on fire. She does not love him. She does not know him. Blinding desire is not enough to abandon all she’s ever known, dreamed, and worked for. Lucky for her, then, that Kai seeks to defy their “destiny” as she does.
After agreeing to ignore their bond, the two are determined to go their separate ways. Too bad Fate won’t go down without a fight. For when Isla is victorious and achieves her warrior status, her first assignment is in the very land she wishes to avoid—Deimos. And Kai and temptation aren't all that await her. Something wicked dwells in the shadows of his kingdom...and it's coming for them both.
My thoughts: It's honestly been a while since I was pulled so quickly into a new fantasy world. Usually, even when dealing with something as familiar to me as shifters, I take a few chapters to really acclimate myself to the new world and all the new rules that come with it. However, I just immediately felt grounded in Kieran's paranormal world. Maybe it had to do with the dual familiarity of both shifters and Greek names/mythology, or maybe it was Kieran's vivid details; either way, I was hooked right from the first chapter.
I honestly loved Kieran's take on the fated mates trope. Both Isla and Kai were strong, independent characters, so it only made sense that they would both try to deny their bond in favor of pursuing their goals. But I also loved that they were quick to acknowledge their bond as well; neither parties ignored it or pretended it didn't exist, which seems to be common in a lot of the fated mates books I've read.
I thought the overall plot was intriguing. Kieran's story focused on so much more than just Isla and Kai's fated romance. There was this whole part of their story that focused on new dangers lurking in the shadows and deep in the forests, and I think that part of the story - that unknown force at work - kept me turning the pages more than the potential match between Isla and Kai did.
A Warrior's Fate was an excellent paranormal fantasy; the plot was unique and engaging, the characters were vivid, and the worldbuilding was top notch. And while this book is a longer story, I definitely ended it wanting to read more from this world and these characters. Kieran hooked me from the very beginning and I can't wait to see what she writes next.
A huge thank you to Flying Pig PR for providing a review copy of A Warrior's Fate, as well as the graphic used in this post!
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Release date: 8/12/22
Format: eARC
eARC provided via: Flying Pig PR
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