Published: August 13, 2024
Publisher: Orbit
Series: The Age of Blood #1
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 459 (Kindle)
My Rating: 4 Stars
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis:
FATE IS A CRUEL MISTRESS
The daughter of a powerful but disgraced Blood Worker, Shan LeClaire has spent her entire life perfecting her blood magic, building her network of spies, and gathering every scrap of power she could. Now, to protect her brother, she assassinates their father and takes her place at the head of the family. And that is only the start of her revenge.
Samuel Hutchinson is a bastard with a terrible gift. When he stumbles upon the first victim of a magical serial killer, he’s drawn into the world of magic and intrigue he’s worked so hard to avoid – and is pulled deeply into the ravenous and bloodthirsty court of the vampire king.
Tasked by the Eternal King to discover the identity of the killer cutting a bloody swath through the city, Samuel, Shan and mysterious Royal Bloodworker Isaac find themselves growing ever closer to each other. But Shan’s plans are treacherous, and as she lures Samuel into her complicated web of desire, treason and vengeance, he must decide if the good of their nation is worth the cost of his soul.
This book is basically The Foxglove King with blood mages instead of death magic. It has a lush, magical aristocracy fueled by unmagicked wage slaves, a love triangle, and a character with unique magical abilities. Many parallels, but it’s just as compulsively readable and I would definitely recommend Mistress of Lies for anyone who wants something similar to The Foxglove King.
Mistress of Lies starts off with a bang. Shan LeClaire is about to murder her father, who has nearly ruined the LeClaire name so that she might take over as head of the household. Shan has vision and has been building a network of spies and informants under the guise of the Sparrow. Her fortunes really start to look up when a Bloodworker informant tells her of a man who can control others with only his voice.
Enter Samuel, an accountant who has just lost his job after a Bloodworker investigator shows up to his workplace to interview him after he stumbles across a recent murder. Samuel is literally about to lose everything he has when Shan LeClaire shows up to strike a deal and reveal that he is in fact, the lost Aberforth heir. The Eternal King’s entire family killed in a horrible murder-suicide twenty years ago, but Samuel’s mother was a servant who was let go by the family just prior to the tragedy. Suddenly he finds himself in high society, and realizes that the decadence of the bloodworker ruling class disgusts him even more when he’s sitting amongst it.
And finally, we have Isaac de la Cruz, former bff and lover of Shan LeClaire and now tutor to Samuel Aberforth. Isaac has been playing for power since he was a young student, trying to gain acceptance even though his parents are foreign and this country claims to welcome bloodworkers from all over the world. Isaac spends much of the story trying to re-ingratiate himself with Shan after ditching her when he was promoted to royal bloodworker.
Despite Mistress of Lies being seemingly focused on politics, it is what I would label as political fantasy lite. Yes, all three of these characters (and so many secondary characters) are maneuvering for power and personal gain, but so much of this is focused on the romantic aspect that the politics gets a bit drowned out. There’s also a murder investigation going on in the midst of the impending throuple, so that further complicates things! One spicy scene does not make a romantasy, but all those longing glances, the yearning, and the snuck kisses do.
Overall, Mistress of Lies was a book easy to be swept up in and it read very quickly. I was a little disappointed in the politics of it all, but that was mostly because Shan was supposed to be so clever. She vastly oversells herself and peaked when she murdered her father at the beginning of the book. Isaac, Samuel, and Shan are so easily caught up in their lust, but they’re all portrayed as controlled, clever people and Samuel in particular should be far more suspicious than he is! He’s too easily accepting of people who straight up tell him they will use him for personal gain. Despite my criticisms, it’s a very fun read with an engaging plot and I’ll probably check out the sequel!
Powder & Page 
This doesn’t really sound like my kinda thing, but I enjoyed your review and I’ll keep it in mind. More importantly—I’m glad you liked it 😁
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