I’ve been a fan of Kendare Blake‘s since hearing her speak at BookCon 2018 and I’ve grown to adore her more and more each time I hear her. She is hilarious in a dry and slightly dark way, most of the time. It makes for some great lowkey jokes in her books and I’m here for it.

Her latest book is Champion of Fate [Buy Bookshop Amazon LibroFM] and it was the one to break my Iron Flame [Buy Bookshop Amazon LibroFM] hangover. This is the book that got me wanting to read again after the three weeks of not being able to focus, so that’s saying something.

Champion of Fate introduces us to a group of immortal female warriors called the Aristine and their super dope horses. One of the Aristine finds Reed after she’s survived a massacre and is the last one left in her town. They take her (and the horse that was also spared to be a sacrifice) in, and she starts training. We flash forward several years to when she’s finishing up her training.

She’s about to be assigned her first hero, which she will guide to help him achieve glory for their goddess. Hestion is hot and there’s some attraction there, but there’s also a lot of secrets and learning that they both have to do along the way.

If you love Wonder Woman, then you’ll probably love Champion of Fate. The Aristene take a lot of inspiration from the Amazons, to the point that Kendare referred to this book as “Amazon Jedi” until it got a real title. There are some pretty high stakes and big decisions through this story, because Kendare loves to torture her characters just a smidge.

Also, if you read the Three Dark Crowns series, keep an eye out for an important character. What was meant to be an Easter egg turned into a full blown character that ties the two series together, so I’m definitely here for it.

Read Champion of Fate. The romantasy vibes are fantastic. The women are strong. The dudes are hot. What more can you ask for? A second book? Of course. I loved this book and cannot wait to get my hands on the second book in the series as soon as it’s available.