I’ve just found my review for “Clockwork Princess” by Cassandra Clare so if you’re interested go back and read that! Anyway, I’ve just finished my first infinity star read of the year in “Vows and Ruins” by Helen Scheuerer. I know it’s really early in the year but I say infinity stars because it was AMAZING!
The book stars with our MFC, Thea having just worked out that she’s magical at the end of book 1, Blood and Steel. Wilder, our MMC and Thea’s lover, has left her. Why? I’ll let you read for yourself but it’s good! Anyway, he does come back to finish what he started and train her, as a Warsword should in this world, but at what cost? Again, I’ll let you read for yourself. They go on a quest to find out about Thea’s history as a magic wielder and her power, and let’s just say that there were some surprising moments that I wasn’t expecting! The main couple are of course joined by their crew of friends, Kip and Cal as well as Wren, Thea’s sister, who’s also magical and Torj, another Warsword for part of the book. The author had me on the edge of my seat for a lot of this book, which was great as I couldn’t stop reading, hence why I finished a 472 hardcover page book in 3 days! I cannot WAIT to read the next book set in this world, sometime this year! It’s the novella that I’m reading next, so I won’t get back to Thea and Wilder for a while but I’m so excited to read ANYTHING set in this world as well as get back to their love story!
I read “Vows and Ruins” for a few readathons. They were:
Reading Rivalry - A Book You Yearn For - Let me tell you, reading this I yearned for every single page! The romantic/sexual tension was perfect between our lead couple!
Always Fully Booked Reading Challenge 2026 - A book about a spy - I don’t want to write why I’ve chosen this as it’s a major spoiler, but I believe there’s a character working for another purpose…
Always Fully Booked “On the Cover” Reading Challenge - Flowers - There are succinctly flowers on the cover. They’re not very clear but they’re there.
Spoilers Below…
“Now, Malik the Shieldbreaker watched her from his armchair, fondness in his gaze. His expression was so different, so open compared to that of his Warsword sibling. Thea raised a brow, her fingers throbbing dully. “In case I haven’t mentioned it recently . . . Your brother’s a complete arse by the way.”
Malik looked delighted.” - 21
Malik really isn’t a main character, in “Vows and Ruins,” at least. What he does provide at the beginning of the book, however is hope for Thea. She’s at her wits end worrying about Hawthorne and what happened to him after the events of “Blood & Steel.” Malik provides her with hope that he’s okay doing whatever he’s doing.
“You must prepare her for the horrors ahead,” the librarian warned.
“What do you think I’ve been doing, Audra?”
But she gave him a knowing look, as though she could see right through him. “You must train her hard. Even if it means becoming her enemy. Even if it means she never looks at you the same way again.
He fought the urge to rub the pain at his chest. “I know,” he murmured.
“Do you?” Audra challenged, an edge to her words. “This is your duty — to her, to the midrealms. Althea has the power to change the fates of us all.” - 41
This is significant because I don’t believe that Wilder wants to train Althea in all the ways a Warsword should train his protégée. Yes, he wants to be with her but not as her trainer. He wants to be her lover. We see this is the many sex scenes splayed throughout the book.
“I have dreamt of this every night, Thea . . .” He breathed, his throat bobbing. “Every. Fucking. Night. There is no counting the ways I want you.”
He kissed her and slid home.
Thea arched her hips up towards him, taking every brutal thrust he gave her, the pressure building and building.
His silver gaze met hers, clouded with lust. “Come for me, Thea.”
Thea didn’t break eye contact as she moved with him, her sweat-slicked brow pressed to him. “Not without you,” she murmured against his lips.
Wilder circled her clit with his thumb, and with that added sensation she came apart with a cry. The pleasure barrelled through her, one wave cresting as another began, leaving her nearly sobbing with the force of it, of him.”
Her warsword gave a shout and shuddered into her, finding his own release as she clenched around him.
“I knew you’d be my ruin too,” Thea whispered.” - 143
The passionate scenes in “Vows and Ruins” were sooooo good! I loved them. Here, I think it’s obvious that our main couple are in love and that they trust each other more than anyone else. However, does it stay lie this? This love scene is just under half way through the book and there are a lot more twists and turns to the story!
In finding out what Thea truly is, she learns that she has another sister in that of Anya, the character she got visions of in “Blood & Steel,” as well as in “Vows & Ruins.” “What he didn’t say was that the vine blight had been a perfectly positioned trap for an heir, one that he should have seen coming. For a moment, he wanted to tell her everything he knew, wanted to share it all so they could face it together. But doubt crept in like a high tide. What if it was all too much, too soon?
Thea watched the final wisps of shadow fade in the sky. “It knows who I am now. What I am.”
“It’s likely reporting back to the Daughter of Darkness as we speak… It seems that they want to know what you’re capable of,” Wilder allowed.
“Good.” Thea met his gaze with nothing but unflinching steel in her eyes. “Now they know to fear me.” - 202
Is Anya truly evil, and what does Wilder have to do with her? What does he know that he’s scared to tell Thea? I believe that will be answered in the next book that follows Thea and Wilder. Anya is the daughter of Darkness, I believe but what does that mean in the context of Thea’s story? Will she have to defeat her sister? Will she have to defeat Wilder, her love? I believe you’re supposed to read “Slaying The Shadow Prince” next, which follows a different couple briefly mentioned in the main series of Blood & Steel, so I’m not going to know what happens to Thea and Wilder until after I read that, but I’m really excited to get there, hopefully by the autumn/winter of 2026.
451 - “The smile tugging at the corner of her mouth nearly broke him.
Then her lips were on him as she rode him, rolling her hips against his. Wilder met her movements from beneath, driving himself into her, trying to put everything he felt into each thrust.
Thea gasped as he hit that deep spot inside her, and he reached between them to circle her clit how she liked. Her head tipped back in pleasure, as he kissed her breasts and dragged his teeth over her nipples.
She burned so bright for him, and he burned with her, fucking her, loving her with all he could give her.
“Wilder,” she moaned, a curse, a prayer, a warning.
The taste of his name on her lips would forever be the end of him, and as he sent her beyond the point of no return, her climax reaching its crest, he hurtled over the edge with her.”
I believe that Wilder is trying to make a decision in the scene above. He knows what he wants is Thea, to love her and to be with her always, but he has a duty to fulfil.
“He memorised the way her lashes kissed the tops of her cheeks, the way her lips parted slightly and her chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm.
Then he dressed in silence, steeling himself with each piece of clothing, each piece of armour.
He looked at Thea one last time. “I love you,” he whispered, knowing that there was no going back from what he was about to do.
He forced one foot in front of the other and left the tent while he still had the strength. Tears stung his eyes, but he kept walking.
No matter where he went, he would carry Thea with him. She was a part of him now, always.” - 450
This was heartbreaking to read. It’s revealed right at the end of “Vows & Ruins,” just who Wilder is, or is it? I’m not sure, but I’m very excited to find out in Fate & Furies, when I read that later this year, (HOPEFULLY)!!!
There are some funny scenes in “Vows & Ruins” too from Kip and Cal, Thea’s comrades she meets in Blood & Steel. I’ve mainly focused on the romance in what I’ve detailed above because I believe that’s what sets this novel apart. Yes, the plot is important but overall the romance is what held it together! That’s what I was rooting for all the way through the story! Also Alwren or Wren as she’s known to Thea, her sister is a part of “Vows and Ruins” more than she was a part of “Blood & Steel.” We get to know why she didn’t tell Thea her assumptions about whether or not Thea was special. Torj is another warsword too. I believe that he and Wren are romantic in the next series, “The Ashes of Thezmaar,” set in this world. I’m excited to get to those stories too in time!
I’m going to read a manga next which I don’t review even though I might some up the Inuyasha manga as it’s the last VIZBIG in that series that I’m going to be reading so stand by for my next review, coming soon!
Comments
Post a Comment