Blood of Destruction

Cursed Fae of Orphydice Manor

By: Jes Drew

Narrated by: Amber Bergeman

Length: 4 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

She's more than just a scullery maid.

He's nothing but a steward.

Surely not enough to distract an ascending queen.

Zahra always knew what her destiny was, and even without the gift of sight, she knows the path she must tread to achieve it. What she didn't anticipate, though, was just how deeply she would feel the sacrifices she must make.

After all, a human sacrifice must be made if she is to take vengeance upon the current King of the Duat and ascend to the throne. And if that sacrifice is a trusting mortal maid named Salma, so be it.

Whatever the cost, Zahra will do what needs to be done. Carefully, though, to avoid the ever-watchful eye of the young steward who has foolishly become enamored of her and thinks he sees something that is not there; something that is lost forever. Zahra would know, because sometimes, she too can see. But only when the blood of another is on her tongue....

Blood of Destruction is a novella told from an alternate POV in the haunting, slow-burn, closed-door fae romance series, Cursed Fae of the House of Orphydice.

©2023 Jes Drew (P)2023 Jes Drew

DESTRUCTION ALL I EVER KNEW

THIS BOOK WILL HAVE YOU LISTENING TO THE STORY OF A GIRL WHO CAN NOT SEE, AND HER FATHER IS THE LORD OF THE DUAT FAE. EGYPTIAN AND GREEK MYTHOLOGY MAKE THIS A VERY INTERESTING STORY, THE NARRATOR DID A GOOD JOB.

Zahra

This is an interesting series. I recommend reading the books in order. I feel reading them as a stand alone, or out of order, the story will not make sense. There is detailed world building, and character development. Zahra has the gift of sight. In this book you can see what motivates Zahra. The narration was well done. I received a free copy of this audiobook from BookSprout and am voluntarily leaving my review.

Different perceptive

This book was basically the same story but from a different perspective. My understanding, it is the authors first time doing a morally gray character. The character herself I thought was done well. In the first book, the character was portrayed as a sweet person trying to help the female character in book one. In this book, we find out she has a lot of hidden agenda. I will say it took me a while to figure out who’s perspective we were reading. I didn’t figure it out until chapter 4. While, it may have been because I read the first book 2 months ago, I was rather confused of who the characters were and what was going on. Sometimes, it was hard to tell between her father and lord adom. I still did not figure out who mother was. Lastly, not really related to the rating. I did the audiobook. It was hard to follow the narration. There was times that it seemed part of the chapter was cut off or rushed to the next chapter. I also had to slow it down because I felt she read pretty quickly. I really had hoped it was the same narrator from the first book! She was freaking awesome.

Zahra

Zahra's backstory is an interesting listen. Curious how this story will continue to play out with all the characters.

WOW .. A Different Perspective on Book 1

What a fascinating book! It is actually an alternative point-of-view version of the first book of this series, Embrace of Shadows. As I stated in my review of that audiobook, we, the reader, know little of the underpinnings of the complex world spun by the author, even after getting to the end of the story, because we see the unfolding events through the eyes of its narrator, a young woman named Salma, who cannot remember her life before the book starts! While some of her initial questions are answered in that book, many are not, and different questions come up through the course of that story. Many of those are at least partially answered in this book, told from the unexpected point of view of the cook. However, she is not just a cook and potion master; she's actually the daughter of an important, powerful god who believes herself to be the right, true queen of the court of shadows. She will stop at nothing to gain what she believes is hers. I won't tell you anymore of her plot arc, as this book is best discovered as it unfolds, just like the first book. And you should certainly read the first book of this series before you read this one, as this will not mean as much or illuminate as much if you don't. By the way, even if you have read the first book, this one may seem a little confusing until you realize that the cook in the last book is the narrator of this one. At the book review site I got this book from, the author played up a romantic aspect. While that's an element of this book, it isn't predominant, adding only a bit of interest. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series!