From Jasmine Mas, the author of the bestselling Villains of Lore series, comes a new dark romantasy, The Emperor’s Enemy. This enemies-to-lovers story is the first in the aptly named Unsurvivable Love duet.
When Tarantula, a fearsome Royal Mage for the Draconis Empire, is captured by Zora Ravenal of the Crimson Army, neither of them could have possibly predicted the nightmare that would follow.
Hatred seethes between them, which is unfortunate, given that Tarantula has been ordered to train her in her unusual magic by her superiors. Little does he know, her real mission is to get close to him and let him lead her to the Commonwealth’s goal.
The Commonwealth has leverage over him, forcing his cooperation. He has to work with Zora to get what he wants, if they don’t kill each other first.
All Westmere was as beautiful as it was deadly, a world full of treacherous storms, dangerous dire beasts, and strange magics.
These characters are true enemies, with loathing and disgust palpable between them, at least at first. Both Zora and Tarantula are incredibly complex. They often function as juxtapositions of themselves, contradicting their own natures, and it’s incredibly interesting.
The strength of this novel by far is its characters. They are fascinating to read, and unique in their own ways while still filling classic romantasy archetypes.
My fist slammed into his cheek before he could react, knuckles splitting against his mask, but I barely registered the new wave of pain. All my senses were focused on the evil. “Harder,” he said coldly.
Like many enemies-to-lovers stories, The Emperor’s Enemy is a slow burn. There is one sex scene, and I would have liked more because the tension between these two was great, but the one that is present is a very good sex scene.
Unfortunately, my biggest issue with this book was Tarantula’s manner of speaking. He uses “thou” and “thee” and talks in this pseudo-medieval fashion. I was warned about this in the author’s note, but I was unprepared for how much it would irritate me.
There is an explanation for the language at the very end, but the explanation was unsatisfying, and it was given far too late. This was a completely unnecessary creative choice that almost had me putting the book down.
The Emperor’s Enemy had a frustrating structure in terms of how information was given to the reader. It was meant to keep readers guessing, but it didn’t work effectively and made the first half of this book very annoying to read. I’m all for keeping details vague for the sake of a plot twist, but it must be done carefully, and this book didn’t hit that mark.
Speaking of the twist, I was promised by the marketing a shocking plot twist that I would never see coming. I saw it coming from a mile away. Even with the vague details, it was very easy to see where this was all going.
I absolutely loved the premise of The Emperor’s Enemy, and I loved its characters. It’s a shame that there were so many creative choices in this book that I just couldn’t get past. It was a tough read for me. I want to know what happens next in the story, but I don’t know if I can manage more of this when the next book, The Hunter’s Enemy, hits shelves in March 2028.
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