What Blooms from Death

What Blooms from Death, Book 1

By: S.M. Gaither

Narrated by: James Amherst, Jesse Vilinsky

Princess Bellanova has survived in the shadows for years.

An exile haunted by a curse that plunged her family into a deathless sleep and left her home rotting, Nova has spent seven years trying to endure while honing her gifts—and now she will use those gifts to walk into death.

For rumor has it that Luminor, the Blade of Light—the cursed weapon that felled her family—is buried in the underworld. If Nova can steal it, she might break the spell and reclaim the kingdom.

The only things standing in her way are the twists and turns of the underworld, monsters, unpredictable magic, and Aleksander, the Light King—keeper of the blade, and the one who wielded it on the night of her family's ruin.

King Aleks has spent nearly a decade trapped below, a phantom of his former self, unable to die. When Nova lands in his purgatory, he begins to dream of the world above for the first time in ages.

He needs her to get him back to that world above. She needs him to undo the curse. But as the two form a reluctant alliance that blooms into something deeper, they find themselves unraveling ancient magic and dark secrets that will have greater consequences than either of them could have ever imagined.

©2025 S.M. Gaither (P)2025 Tantor Media

3 stars 🌟

What Blooms in Death — 3 stars

This one had potential to be so much better. I loved the overall idea of the story, but the execution just didn’t land for me. It was too long, the pacing dragged, and I found myself getting bored with all the extra fluff.

Pretty sure I won’t continue the series.
I stayed for the dog. 🐾