Rating: 4.5

What Blooms From Death by S.M. Gaither is an excellent read. The description doesn’t really do justice to the incredible story and imagery that Gaither brings to the plot of a traumatized necromancer Princess ready to walk into hell to find a weapon that will get revenge on those who wronged her. 

The magical elements and symbols that make the world here are thoughtfully crafted ,with layers of natural elements, characters history, threads of emotional details built into each part of this fantastic piece of the story.  It’s in the beads of Nova’s bracelets and her dog, Phantom. It’s even in the leaves of the trees. 

Nova, her history, magic and journey through the underworld is just incredible. Especially as she’s accompanied by her dog, Phantom, a remarkable character on his own.  

Aleks, the Light King, and company are well drawn. Aleks is a compelling character with trauma of his own, and his story matches with that of Nova’s. 

Gaither storytelling includes some dynamic relationship twists and great action sequences. And an ending that borders on a cliffhanger.  It will certainly make you want that next book due out in December. 

Another terrific read in the fantasy fiction genre. A winner for lovers of the romance fantasy novel. 

Cover Art by Lila Raymond (@ lettersbylila_) 

Nova art by Chrissa Barton (@ chrissabug)”

What Blooms From Death:

What Blooms From Death #1

What Echoes in the Dark #2 – Dec 2,2025

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        What Blooms From Death

    

Blurb 

Princess Bellanova has survived in the shadows for years. 

An exile haunted by a curse that plunged her family into a deathless sleep and left her home rotting, Nova has spent seven years trying to endure, to make sense of her torturous past, all while honing her gifts with necromancy magic—

And now she will use those gifts to walk willingly into death.

For rumor has it that Luminor, the Blade of Light—the cursed weapon that felled her family—is buried deep in the heart of the underworld. If Nova can steal it back from the realm of the dead, she might break the spell that shattered her life and reclaim the kingdom that once was hers.

The only things standing in her way are the endless twists and turns of the underworld, its terrifying monsters, unpredictable magic…and Aleksander, the infamous Light King himself—keeper of the blade, and the one who wielded it on the night of her family’s ruin.

King Aleks has spent nearly a decade trapped in the below, a phantom of his former self, unable to truly die. When Nova crash lands into his purgatory—an inexplicably bright and lively being in a sea of endless dead things—he begins to dream of the world above for the first time in ages.

He needs her to get him back to that world above. She needs him to undo the curse. But as the two form a reluctant alliance that soon blooms into something dangerously deeper, they find themselves unraveling ancient magic and dark secrets that will have greater consequences than either of them could have ever imagined…

• Publication date: April 17, 2025
• Language: English
• Print length: 621 pages