Daggermouth came up on my kindle library and didn’t cost anything to read. I like to watch dystopian series and films but I’ve not read a book in the genre for a while. You can read my review below.
Daggermouth
Publication date : 7 Jan. 2027
Edition : Main Market
Language : English
Print length : 576 pages
ISBN-10 : 1037406540
ISBN-13 : 978-1037406546
Item weight : 505 g
Reading age : 18 years and up
Dimensions : 13 x 2.1 x 19.7 cm
Book 1 of 2 : The Heart Duology
About Daggermouth
Mercy no longer exists.
New Found Haven is carved into rings of privilege and poverty, ruled by the masked elite who will do whatever it takes to hold onto power.
Obedience is demanded.
Greyson Serel has spent his life caught between two worlds. Publicly, he’s the flawless heir to the presidency. Privately, he’s entangled in secrets that could topple the regime. But when he’s forced into a political marriage meant to bind him tighter to the government’s brutal laws, he finds himself shackled to a bride who is as lethal as she is unwilling.
Rebellion is crushed.
Shadera Kael is a mercenary raised to kill, not to wed. Yet when her bullet misses its mark, survival leaves her bound to the very man she was sent to eliminate. Trapped inside the corrupt Heart, the centre of the city, she becomes both prisoner and wife, her every step watched, her every move tested.
Nothing is what it seems.
Their union is no love story – It’s a battlefield. As secrets come to light and betrayals fester within the walls of power, Greyson and Shadera must decide between annihilating one another or burning the city to the ground together.
The Heart consumes.
In a world where passion incites rebellion and loyalty is paid for in blood, their forced bond may be the spark that ignites a revolution because . . .
Love outside of your ring is a death sentence.
‘Daggermouth is one of the best dystopian romances I’ve ever read’ – Clio Evans, author of Broken Beginnings
Spice Rating: 🌶🌶🌶
My Review of Daggermouth
The book starts with trigger warnings:
- Death, murder, torture
- emotional/psychological, physical abuse
- mentions and conversations of sexual assualt
- mentions and conversations of child abuse
- suicidal ideation and alcohol abuse
- open door sex and sexual activities
- graphic language
- oppression, classism and sexism
Pretty heavy uh! I nearly put it down an didn’t read it. But for most of the warnings I’d read worse in my thrillers, murder mysteries. The sex scenes were rather graphic and I’m surprised it only got a spicy rating of 3/5. Maybe I don’t read enough romances. Although graphic, I think the scenes did fit the book and line of story with detracting from it.
Next came a list of pronunciations, but I think most of them were pretty easy anyway.
Finally, a playlist! I’ve never read a book that offers a playlist so I made the playlist and listened to it and it really does fit the book. Not songs or artists I’ve heard of, apart from Myley Cyrus and Paris Paloma, but I did enjoy listening to them as a background to the book.
Now, lets get on to my review!
The book starts straight away with a daily occurrence in The Heart, an execution. Two people who had done nothing more than fall in love outside of their status. The executioner hesitated in his duty and you could sense his father’s despise of him.
We then visit other parts of the world as it is. We find there are two factions, the rebels and the daggermouths. They don’t always get on, but they have to survive. They are fed, minimally, by the Heart, while the Heart lives in lavish luxury.
One Daggermouth, Shadera Kael is going on a mission to kill the executioner, which will most likely end in her death too.
Straight away you are faced with a lot of violence mixed in with a lot of sex. But we are also introduced with characters that are going to be vital to the movement of the book.
The president of the Heart, Maximus Seral and father of the Executioner is the most awful tyrant, even to his own family who live in constant fear.
As the story progresses we are introduced to complex relationships, and secrets, so many secrets. Just as those who reveal their secrets promise that they will not keep secrets from each other any more, we find out they have even more secrets.
But the main characters are not the only ones with secrets, I think this was a running theme throughout this book, but in such a terrible existence secrets have to be kept or the keeper of them could be faced with unimaginable violence or death.
Getting towards the end you just know something awful is about to happen, then you discover there is a plan and maybe an escape. But still, there is more to come. The tension builds slowly and we are faced with many plot twists that will leave you reeling.
I did read a review that said the ending was explosive and even though I thought I knew what was coming I was shocked. Suddenly so many things made sense.
There were a couple of things that left me feeling I could pick them apart. But, I can’t discuss them here without spoiling the book. I do think that some scenes were too far drawn out, even more so as the story develops, but maybe that’s just me wanting them to stop talking and just get on with it. You know, like in the movies when they’ve got the bad guy and do away with him straight away, but first they have to talk about everything that’s led up to this point. I’m not saying that’s what happened in this story, it’s just an example.
A dystopian romance is not the type of book I would generally read, but I’m glad I read Daggermouth. Sadly I now have to wait for the sequel. The book doesn’t really leave you on a cliff hanger but it does leave the story wide open for a sequel.
