This was good! I found it on Netgalley under SciFi and Fantasy but honestly apart from it being set in a fictitious medieval kingdom it wasn't very fantasy-ish. Unless something magical is going to happen in future books...?

The book is about the apparently real history (according to the author's note at the end) of executioners being summoned into the role against their will and that duty then being passed down from generation to generation within their family. Which is how our FMC ended up being one.

I thought all the characterisation was really good. I like a quiet, stoic character and both Joss and Aric, the MMC could be described as such. In the opening scene Joss finds Aric beaten and bloody on the side of the road and she takes care of him despite knowing nothing about him. He of course also doesn't know who, or more specifically what, she is.

I felt like we'd only just got going with the story when the book ended only to realise it was only a teeny-tiny 200 pages long! I thought maybe I'd become a speed reader overnight. No such luck!

I really enjoyed this strong start and will happily check out the next one called All The Blood Spilt.

4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
ARC received in exchange for an honest review.