Quick Synopsis – Like the rest of the winged eresh keyel, warrior Asaru has spent his life fighting the remnants of a long-dead enemy. When his brother’s squadron disappears from a border keep, Asaru travels into the human realm to investigate, only to become ensnared by a fatal—and unbreakable—curse that could wipe out his people.

When he inadvertently commits a terrible crime, Asaru is thrown into the path of Wren, an emotionally tortured former healer playing with dangerous magic. Bound to one another by a spell gone wrong, and on the run from freelance killers, they set out to find the Chronicler, keeper of the eresh keyel’s history who could bring them answers, redemption, and the cure to Asaru’s curse. But the truths they uncover about the past have the power to break the world into pieces, ending human civilization and settling its remnants into something entirely new.

Song This Reminds Me Of – All My Wars by Matt Maeson

Publication Date – Mar. 3, 2026

Bookshop Link – Black as Diamond by U. M. Agoawike

Content Notes – This book features a lot of blood, violence, war, talk of genocide, death of a parent, and vomitting.

Rating – ⭐⭐ out of 5

Review – This is a multi-POV fantasy book. While it does have a really interesting premise this book was a little bit of a slog for me to get through. My biggest issue was I felt like this book could have really benefited from a prologue. So much of this book was building up what the different races and history of the world was. I felt like so much of that extra history and description could have been done in an introductory chapter. Having so much history and explanation really bogged down the book for me. At times it felt like I was reading a sequel instead of the first book.

The characters themselves were interesting if a little repetitive. Wren was a little to self-deprecating; I’ve struggled with anxiety and depression my whole life and even I can have a positive thought about myself. I also felt like Wren’s backstory wasn’t fully fleshed out. There was a story about how he got a distinctive scar, but I felt like we never really got the full story and what the motivation was for him experimenting. I did love the way Wren’s sexuality was handled, I felt like we don’t see enough characters on the asexual spectrum.

I had similar issues with the other characters, I felt like I learned a lot about the cultures the different characters come from, but not enough about the characters. Asaru is the one character who I feel like we got to know the most. I thought his storyline was the most heartbreaking. The plot its self is very much a group of misfits going on a quest. Again, there was a lot of characters being introspective and focusing on their individual quests. It almost felt like I was reading 4 books in one.

This book wasn’t for me, but if you enjoy high fantasy books with epic quests, you might enjoy this one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bindery Books for the advanced copy, all opinions are my own.