Review: Emperor’s Wrath (Emperor’s Assassin Book 2) by Kai Butler

Rating : 4🌈

I really enjoyed the Emperor’s Wrath l, the second book in the Emperor’s Assassin trilogy by Kai Butler. The action packed story was highly entertaining, moved the entire plot forward with an enormous amount of magical details, new elements, and growth in the relationship between Tallu and Airón.

The political drama and plotting behind the generals was well done. All the various and newly introduced characters (as we as their backgrounds) added interesting layers of intrigue to the story.

I did find that the increased density of new characters, plots, magical creatures, techno magic elements started that emerged here also left similar unexplored areas or just narrative holes that felt unsatisfying for me.

Certain emotional storylines ( no spoilers) that applied to one section of small characters but later not at all to one large impactful one. Inconsistency in the character design or something else. But here, as well as other things, feels more like too many storylines and an over abundance of new elements made for some interesting oversights.

I’m definitely looking forward to the final book, Shadow Throne King, due out in the fall.

Check out this fantasy series by Butler! Entertaining reading!

Cover by Hannah Latham at oexasart

Emperor’s Assassin trilogy:

Betrothed to the Emperor #1

Emperor’s Wrath #2

Shadow Throne King #3 – Oct 27,2025

Buy link

Emperor’s Wrath (Emperor’s Assassin Book 2)

Blurb

In this den of vipers and vultures, can I trust the emperor I was sent to kill or is he using me to destroy all I love?

I abandoned my destiny in favor of a new goal: working with Emperor Tallu to take down the Southern Imperium. Only things are not so easy when we’re faced with the imperial generals who brought the continent to its knees.

If my mother knew what I was doing, her rage would melt the Silver City, but I have no choice as Tallu and I pursue a powerful weapon that could end any opposition to the Imperium.

Why does it matter if I’m finding myself all too attracted to a husband I can’t trust, whose secrets multiply the closer he lets me get?

Publication date: June 23, 2025
Language: English
Print length: 403 pages
Book 2 of 3: Emperor’s Assassin

Check Out the Blog Tour for Master of Restless Shadows by Ginn Hale (excerpt and giveaway)

Master of Restless Shadows, Book One by Ginn Hale

Series: The Cadeleonian Series, Volume 5

Publisher: Blind Eye Books

Release Date (Print & Ebook): October 8, 2019

Length (Print & Ebook): 401 pp

ISBN Print: 9781935560630

ISBN digital: 9781935560647

Cover artist: Zaya Feli

Subgenre: epic fantasy, romantic fantasy, LGBTQ fantasy, queer fantasy, high fantasy

Order it now:

https://www.blindeyebooks.com/publications-1/pre-order-today-master-of-restless-shadows-book-one-by-ginn-hale

https://www.amazon.com/Master-Restless-Shadows-Book-Cadeleonian/dp/1935560638/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=ginn+hale&qid=1561242936&s=gateway&sr=8-1

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/939510

Book synopsis:

Freshly graduated Master Physician Narsi Lif-Tahm has left his home in Anacleto and journeyed to the imposing royal capitol of Cieloalta intent upon keeping the youthful oath he made to a troubled writer. But in the decade since Narsi gave his pledge, Atreau Vediya, has grown from an anonymous delinquent to a man renowned for penning bawdy operas and engaging in scandalous affairs.

What Narsi―and most of the larger world―cannot know is the secret role Atreau plays as spymaster for the Duke of Rauma.

After the Cadeleonian royal bishop launches an unprovoked attack against the witches in neighboring Labara, Atreau will require every resource he can lay his hands upon to avert a war. A physician is exactly what he needs. But with a relentless assassin hunting the city and ancient magic waking, Atreau fears that his actions could cost more than his own honor. The price of peace could be his friends’ lives.

About Ginn Hale:

Ginn Hale lives with her lovely wife in the Pacific Northwest. She spends the many cloudy days observing plants and fungi. She whiles away the rainy evenings writing fantasy and science-fiction featuring LGBTQ protagonists. Her first novel, Wicked Gentlemen, won the Spectrum Award for best novel. She is also a Lambda Literary Award finalist and Rainbow Award winner.

Her most recent publications include the Lord of the White Hell, Champion of the Scarlet Wolf and The Rifter Trilogy: The Shattered Gates, The Holy Road, His Sacred Bones.

She can be reached through her website: www.ginnhale.com as well as on Facebook and Twitter. Her Instagram account, however, is largely a collection of botanical photos…so, be warned.

Excerpt:

Inside the smoky confines of the Fat Goose, surrounded by boisterous drunks, gamblers and cold-eyed cardsharps, Atreau’s attention strayed from his cards to the wonderful book on the table before him. The leather cover looked supple and already well-worn as a favorite glove. He could see where fingers had cradled the spine and bent the cover, leafing through the pages again and again.

Placed in my callous hands, a testament of devotion, unspoken, and yet laid bare as a naked breast.

Atreau snorted at his own conceited turn of thought.

Still, the simple fact of the book’s existence pleased him.

He’d not seen the Haldiim translation and had half suspected that the publisher had forgone printing after the Cadeleonian volumes had been transformed into so much ash and smoke.

For a moment he pictured the dark young man who’d handed him the tome. How striking he’d appeared amidst so many Cadeleonians, and yet something about him—his angular jaw? Perhaps his long, lean build? Or it might have been his sharp brows and dark lashes?—Atreau didn’t know but something about the Haldiim physician had filled Atreau with a sense of familiarity. Absently, Atreau wondered if the young man had known that marigold petals clung to his dark curls like drops of gold.

“Stare at the cards all you want. The winning hand is still mine.”

Across the table from him Sabella Calies tapped the four cards she’d laid down and then took up her beer mug. Tall and weathered as a warhorse, Sabella was as much a fixture of the capital’s unseemly side as was her uncle’s Red Stallion sword house, where people gambled fortunes and lives on the speed of their blades. Over the course of her forty-odd years Sabella had taken both from a good number of men. But here at the Fat Goose the stakes were very different, as was the game. Here the kingdom stood to be lost to the church. Or won for Prince Sevanyo.

Atreau’s cards came very near winning but missed by only a point. He had indulged himself in the drama of making it appear a close match. Sabella played along, since the money would be hers no matter what cards he dealt. This game, like almost every other hand of cards he played, served as a pretext for Atreau to dole out Fedeles Quemanor’s payments to his informants and agents across the city.

Atreau pushed a plain coin purse to Sabella. She opened it and then pulled the drawstring closed again and dropped it into an inner pocket of her leather coat.

Between her lanky build, plain face and close-shorn brown hair Sabella nearly passed for a man. Certainly the heavy doublet and thick riding trousers she sported added to the impression, though they did not create a perfect illusion. Nor did she need them to. She’d patronized the Fat Goose for more than twenty years and all but the most callow of youths knew better than to cause her trouble.

She drew a sheaf of papers from her doublet and pushed them to Atreau. He skimmed the content quickly. It seemed that the royal bishop was collecting ancient scriptures, most having something to do with the Holy Savior’s final battle and the Shard of Heaven. Likely the bishop believed the holy blessings that had destroyed the demon hordes so long ago were desperately needed again now to combat a new threat to Cadeleon.

Five years ago Atreau would have found the entire matter amusing or perhaps thought the royal bishop deluded. But since then he’d seen both the wonders and horrors that ancient spells unleashed. He understood why previous generations of wiser men and women had attempted to hide them away.

“We need to know when and exactly what he intends to do with this,” Atreau said. “Actual places and dates would be good.”

“You don’t ask much, do you?”

“I don’t pay so little that I should,” Atreau replied.

Giveaway: Readers, enter to win 1 of 3 complete e-book sets of The Cadeleonian Series, Volumes 1 – 4 (Lord of the White Hell 1 & 2, Champion of the Scarlet Wolf 1 & 2)

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Book Tour for Ghoulish by Kat Bellamy (excerpt and giveaway)

BLOG TOUR

Book Title: Ghoulish

Author: Kat Bellamy

Publisher: Self-Published

Cover Artist: Self-made

Length: 332 pages

Release Date: October 22, 2017

Genre/s: Urban Fantasy, Romantic Fantasy, MM fiction

There is an HFN ending, but the book is the first in a continuing series.

The next book will be available for review January, 2018.

Blurb

Colt Jager never knew what happened to the parents who abandoned him, and he never cared–until he inherited their ghoulish secret.

Raised as a human who had no idea he was anything but a blue-collar construction worker until the night of his 25th birthday, Colt finds it hard to adjust to life in the Kinship, a hidden world woven discreetly into human society.

After a grisly encounter with his true nature, Colt meets a family of human-friendly ghouls who teach him that there’s a way to be inhuman without being inhumane. But things get complicated when he realizes that the “wolf attack” responsible for killing his boyfriend’s brother was actually committed by a ghoul on the hunt.

When an elite family of especially monstrous ghouls called Alphas threatens the man he loves, Colt will have to lie to Jason to keep him safe. Can a predator ever truly be a hero, or will the man he loves become his prey?

Buy Links ~ Available on KU

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Goodreads Link

Excerpt

“You could help people lots of ways. I just don’t see why you have to pick the one that could get you killed.”

“I’ll be pushing papers for the DA, not infiltrating a crystal meth ring,” Jason shot back.

The argument had been brewing for some time, and Colt knew that he didn’t stand a shot at winning now that they’d finally gotten around to it, but he could hardly take the news that his boyfriend had just signed up for the most dangerous job in the city sitting down.

“And what happens if some psycho gets pissed at your boss for putting him in jail and you get caught in the crossfire?”

“Then I’ll have a hard time holding water.”

“I’m glad you find this so funny.”

“Colt,” Jason pleaded, taking Colt’s face in his hands. “It was a joke.”

“I guess I just don’t find the very real possibility of losing you all that funny.”

Jason’s face fell. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “But I can’t give up on my dream. Not even for you.”

Colt clenched his jaw. “Why is this so important to you? Why does it have to be this field?”

Jason settled back against the couch with a heavy sigh. “You remember how it was when Luca was killed. We all spent months reeling, grasping for something to make sense of what happened. I’d listen to my dad reaming out Fish and Wildlife reps for hours on end, demanding reports and explanations for how a lone wolf in an area where there wasn’t supposed to be anything other than coyotes and fisher cats just showed up and killed his son. It made no sense, and we desperately needed it to, even though we knew logic wouldn’t bring him back. It wasn’t until I got older that I realized there are some things in this world you just can’t make sense of. Things that you can’t explain no matter how hard you try, and even if you could, it wouldn’t change anything. But there are tragedies that can be explained, and there are families out there who suffer needlessly until someone finds the answers. I want to be one of the people who finds those answers, Colt. I don’t want anyone else to feel the way my family did if it can be helped.”

Colt’s stomach churned as Jason spoke. The conviction in Jason’s voice alone was enough to soften his anger, but more than that, it was the doubt it caused in Colt that unsettled him.

What if it hadn’t been a wolf that attacked Luca, after all? Colt had never questioned the official narrative as a preteen, but knowing what he knew now as an adult, “animal attack” rang as nothing more than a callous euphemism. If one of his own kind had killed Luca, keeping this secret about his own identity was more than just a lie. It was a betrayal.

“Please tell me you understand,” Jason said, searching Colt’s face.

“I do.” Colt cleared his throat. “I’m not gonna pretend like I’m happy about it, but I get it. If this is what you want, I won’t try to stop you, but I am going to ask you to be careful.”

Jason smiled, leaning in for another kiss. “And that’s where you’re different from my family.”

“I would hope I’m different in a few more ways than that,” Colt teased, pushing Jason back against the sofa.

Jason laughed. “Well, kissing you is a lot more fun than kissing great-aunt Gertrude. Less stubble.”

Colt shuddered. “You know how to paint a picture.”

“I could paint a better one if you come camping with me,” Jason purred, winding a strand of Colt’s hair around his finger. “Please?”

Colt sighed. “How am I supposed to say no to that?”

“You’re not,” Jason whispered against his lips.

Colt moaned as Jason’s knee slipped between his thighs and the friction of their jeans made his grinding pure torture. Colt reached underneath Jason’s shirt, tracing the lines of his abs down to the sharp cut of his hips. His hand drifted lower just as the phone on the coffee table buzzed.

“Ignore it,” Colt murmured, capturing Jason’s lips. The phone kept buzzing.

“They’re not giving up,” Jason gasped, breaking the kiss. “Maybe you should answer it.”

“Fuck whoever it is.”

“What if it’s the secret girlfriend you’ve been running off with lately?” Jason asked in a teasing tone. Colt could tell there was a hint of genuine suspicion in it.

“Fuck her, too.”

Jason gave his shoulder a playful shove and reached for the phone. “Hello?” His face went blank and Colt sat up sharply. How he hated technology. “No, sorry. I’ll put him on.” He pushed his finger against the speaker and whispered, “It’s the Sheriff.”

Colt winced, taking the phone. “Sorry. I should take this.”

Jason’s eyes were full of questions, but he said nothing as Colt stood and crossed the room, pressing the phone to his ear. “Sheriff Venson. Hi. What can I do for you?”

“I assume that was the mysterious boyfriend Susan’s always speaking of,” Roland said in a dry tone. “Does he know?”

“Not at all, sir. Did you need me to answer any more questions about Chuck?”

That seemed to satisfy Jason’s curiosity, or at least convince him to pretend like he was interested in his own phone.

Roland chuckled. “A word of advice. If you care about him, keep it that way.”

“That’s what I was planning on.”

“I won’t keep you. Just wanted to check in and make sure Wilbur hasn’t tried contacting you again.”

“No, I haven’t heard anything but I’ll let you know if he calls.”

“Good man, Colt. Keep your head down,” the Sheriff said before hanging up.

“That was about Chuck?” Jason asked, leaning over the back of the couch.

“Just a few follow-up questions.”

“Follow-up?” Jason frowned. “They questioned you about Chuck’s death?”

Shit. “Uh, yeah. It was routine.”

“For an animal attack?”

Colt could see the wheels turning in Jason’s head and knew he needed to stop the investigation train before it ran off the tracks. “Yeah. I guess his wife is insisting on it. Can’t bring herself to accept what happened,” he said, cringing internally. He felt like scum before the words were even out of his mouth.

“Poor thing,” Jason said sadly.

“Yeah. So,” Colt said, clearing his throat. “Where were we?”

“I was trying to convince you to go with me on that camping trip.”

“If your mind’s made up, so is mine,” Colt said with a shrug. “I’m not letting you go out there alone.”

Jason scowled, but there was more amusement in his gaze than irritation. “I’m not sure I like the new caveman Colt.”

“Get used to it, he’s not goin’ anywhere,” Colt half-teased, leaning over the couch to kiss Jason. “Especially not if you’re working for the DA.”

“I haven’t even gotten the internship yet.”

“Oh, you’ll get it. You get everything you want.”

Jason grinned. “That’s very true. As a matter of fact, there’s something I want you to give me right now.”

It just so happened to be something Colt was more than willing to give.

About the Author

Kat Bellamy is a nonbinary author of MM fiction and urban fantasy. Ghoulish is their debut series. When they’re not writing, they spend their time watching bad horror movies and losing board games.

Social Media Links

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