The Sting of Victory: A Dark Lesbian Fantasy Romance (Fallen Gods Series)

I read this book about a month ago and it made quite the impression upon me. Honestly, in spite of being interested in the fantasy genre as a whole, I didn't immediately jump on this book when it hit my radar. More often than not, I tend to be a little disapointed with KU offerings as they rarely live up to the description and the writing itself varies in quality. Those concerns don't apply here. I thought this book was fantastic. I think it's important to address part of the title. On Amazon the description for this book says, "A Dark Fantasy Lesbian Romance." I wasn't exactly sure what that meant. However, after reading the book, I can confirm this is an accurate description. This novel is dark, it is a fantasy, and it's definitely a lesbian romance. The most important thing to address, though, is the "dark" part. So, there are certain things readers should know before diving in. In this novel "dark" refers to some gore that definitely toes the line into horror and it explores some uncomfortable topics including child abuse and cannibalism. "Dark" also refers to the alignment of one half of the romance. Ayla Darkleaf is intriguing, beautiful, sensuous, and at times, both cruel and chaotically evil. I loved her. And I love lesfic. But more often than not most characters we read about are generally cut from the same mold. Usually these women are beautiful, moderately successful, and can solidly stand on moral high ground. This is important, right? We want to read novels…

There where parts off this book they left me going wtf. And then there where parts I really loved. The first chunk was confusing as they throw you into it and then you learn the world building gradually. This is definitely a dark fantasy as good is often seen as bad and black is sometimes good. Everyone is very ruthless. I like ayla. She was hard to read but I was pleasantly surprised at the twists she took. Flowr was an interesting character too. Despite all that she has seen and done she is still very innocent at her core. There is a lot to her we need to still learn. The plot was at times confusing but it made sense gradually. I liked the romance the best. Looking forward to the next book.

What an absolute banger of a fantasy novel. I love reading fantasy but so often struggle because it's a very male-dominated genre, so anything with a lady lead is already a plus. It's a double plus for gay ladies, and a triple plus for dark fantasy. Simper really has a mastery of characters and world-building, and has crafted and amazing story with as much horror as there is heart. I loved every second of this story and have gone back multiple times to re-read it, as it is truly a series dear to my heart. The sex scenes are well written, the story of a woman overcoming her abuse by taking the darkest timeline possible makes me feel seen in a way that's difficult to articulate, and every twist and turn of the well-constructed plot keeps me at the edge of my seat, even now as I open the book for a fourth time.

I’d had my eye on this book for a LONG time. Really, any book by this author; as a lesbian, I often feel deprived of literature that isn’t a contemporary coming out novel or a YA fluff book. Nothing against contemporary, casual literature, I’m just primarily a horror fan and not too into that sort of thing. I want there to be complex politics, people dying, and lesbians are also there being lesbians, but their identity is just a fact and not part of some moral quandary. Simper did an excellent job at this. Most of the cast is queer of some degree, especially her kind-hearted protagonist, Flowridia, a seemingly-innocent witch with a passion for gardening. She falls in love with the dark and mysterious Ayla Darkleaf, a foreign dignitary with a dubious track record. Her friends are all fairly morally against their relationship--they believe Ayla to be a vampire, using Flowridia, but as their relationship progresses (through further political intrigue and dark reveals into Ayla’s nature), Flowridia discovers there is much more to Ayla than meets the eye...as well as herself. I really don’t want to spoil anything because it’s a book that I think deserves to be read blind. Just know that it is incredibly cute, the sex scenes are steamy as hell, and the complexity of the characters and the worldbuilding itself made it quite the page-turner. I admittedly read this much slower than I wanted to, as I’m participating in NaNoWriMo and I’m in college, but had it not been for that, I…

I greatly enjoyed the story and characters, the plot seemed to be made to hit me just right when I was getting used to it going one way. The dialogue was very funny at times and Always felt well paced. Though there are parts in the story that "turn the stomach" it isn't just there for shock factor. It has all it's purpose and is well woven into the plot. The ending really threw me as my favorite character did something not great but I thought it was on brand for them! Looking forward to the remainder of the Series and where the plot goes from here.