Atonement of the Spine Cleaver

By: F. E. Bryce

Narrated by: Kate Belsey

Rorax Greywood lives in the Realms and was trained to fight, kill, and steal for the House of Ice’s special forces unit, the Heilstorms, from the time she was ten years old. During her time as a Heilstorm, Rorax committed more violent atrocities in the name of her House than she could ever remember, but the blackest stain on her soul remains the Siege of Surmalinn—an infiltration and near genocide in the largest House of Death city.

Years later, when the Gods call upon Rorax to compete in the Choosing, a deadly competition that decides the next Guardian of the Realms, it quickly becomes clear the only House strong enough to protect her is the House of Death. Rorax knows she isn’t worthy to become the Realms’ new Guardian, so she somehow needs to convince the House of Death—and their brutally handsome lieutenant—to both help her find the next suitable Guardian and free her from the Choosing before the Choosing kills her.

A content warning to listeners; Atonement of the Spine Cleaver contains graphic violence, profanity, mentions of suicidal thoughts, grief, explicit F/M sex scenes, and an explicit F/F sex scene. There are printable maps and a glossary available on authorfebryce.com to help with any world-building questions that come up throughout the story.

©2023 F.E. Bryce (P)2023 F.E. Bryce

Amazing female lead, great integration of romance in a captivating story

I loved the world building and character development, fm and ff relationships, spice level felt right and balanced with the plot

Wonderful, unique and epic world-building

This is a phenomenal epic fantasy read. The audible narrator hit it out of the park. It’s hard to find an epic fantasy that has a different, intriguing, complex world that hasn’t already been overdone or based on medieval Europe. Bryce did it magnificently. The story was also engaging, fast-paced, and engrossing from the beginning. I loved the queer normative world, the different races, genders, and wrinkles that were considered unique and revered. It wasn’t in-your-face or overblown. Just part of the world. Magical power is the hierarchy and what makes you more or less “valuable” in society. Even the characters you hate have depth and interesting background stories. And Rorax is a stone-cold killer who is also vulnerable and gruffly kind at times. High recommend.

Wicked

Great plot. The buildup was the perfect amp up. great fight scenes & loves scenes & strong females

Very enjoyable!

At first I wasn’t sure if I liked the slow pacing in the beginning, however it definitely paid off. By the time we are introduced to many of the other main characters, I felt as if I had actually gotten to know Rorax and some of the other characters where as if there was not as much time spent on this and the world building I feel like there would be too much to remember. I also feel like when books rush into things you care less about the characters because you haven’t gotten to learn about them for very long before they are thrust into the main storyline, especially side characters that may not be mentioned for chapters, so it’s great that each character is given time to develop! Also the narrator was amazing she really brought the story to life!

Intricate Narrative

Initially, I found myself on the cusp of abandoning this book, but a second attempt allowed me to appreciate its intricate narrative. There was A LOT to digest.
While the multiple POVs and character overload did cause some confusion in the beginning, the story's engaging core and sultry scenes eventually won me over. The world-building was impressively immersive, and I admired the array of strong, independent female characters.
Will continue the series.