"Champion of Fate" by Kendare Blake

Champion of Fate (Sept. 19, 2023) by Kendare Blake.

<This is the first novel in a duology.>

Orphaned after the Ithernan slaughtered everyone else and taken as a sacrifice, it’s no wonder that Reed is all sharp edges and angry sides. She also bites, as does Silco (Silver and Combat), the colt that was also meant to be a sacrifice. Her small fury is noticed by Aster and Veridian, a current and former Aristene, respectively, an order of mythical female warriors. They follow Kleia Gloria, the goddess of glory. They’re immortal, but can be killed. They are the Heromakers. Growing up as the foundling and the favorite, she, Lyonene and Gretchen are training for their Hero’s Trial. They go to Atropa, the home and city of the Aristene, where Reed has been once before, as a small, furious child. Aster has been Reed’s mentor all these years, though Veridian is an apostate.
        Presiding over the Granting Ceremony are Ferreh (the mind) and Tiern (the teeth), the eldest of the Aristene, though they don’t look physically ancient. When she looks into the sacred well, she sees the same face she saw years before, but now she knows her hero is Prince Hestion of Glaucia, younger brother to Crown Prince Belden, and both the sons of King Arik. Glaucia’s king’s men are the fighting elite known as the Docritae. Hestion is handsome and infuriating in equal measure. Together with Crown Prince Alsander of Cerille (Lyonene’s hero), they will join forces to conquer Rhonassus, specifically, Roshanak, its capital. King Oreas cut off the Prophet of Scylloi’s (a.k.a. the Prophet of All) head. The battle looms close, and they discover how disturbed and twisted in mind Oreas has become. Reed learns her cost of pledging to become an Aristene. She has an impossible choice. Her hero or the Order who took her in when she had no one but a bitey colt?
        From the opening chapter, there is no calm in this epic fantasy, duology opener. There is violence, but it gives readers a clear history of Reed’s character. Blake has depicted the characters well, and the world-building gives enough imagery that readers’ imaginations can fill in extra details. The presence of these female warriors shows a strong bond and one as powerful as Wakanda’s Dora Milaje. This is a story at once about friendship and duty, tragedy and myth. There is feminine strength, but also adversity. While there are insinuations, there are no intimate scenes. The story is immersive and diverse, and I will so be there for its sequel.
        LOL lines: “When I die, the jar of my eyes belongs to you,” Sar pledged. “Along with my heart!” This, after Reed unintentionally saves him twice. Furthermore, Sar carries a funerary jar with him, for his eyes if he’s killed, as the Ithernan believe that the eyes hold the soul. To Hestion, they are warlike, but Reed only knows them as murderers.