I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

After a decade of war, the kingdoms of Avendell and Istellia have finally agreed to peace. As nobles and magic wielders from both countries arrive at remote Castle Avendell for a historic all-night masquerade to celebrate, King Costis summons an unlikely group to his chambers: the crown prince, his Istellian bride-to-be, his personal guard, a wild beast tamer, and the palace’s questionable new healer. But before Costis can reveal why he has gathered them, the castle goes dark.

When the lights come back, the king is dead—murdered with the princess’s knife, in a weak spot only his guard knew of, and with venom from one of the beast tamer’s monsters lacing the blade.

With no clear killer—and everyone a suspect—they make a risky pact: Tell no one until the treaty is signed. But when a winter storm seals everyone inside and someone aware of the king's untimely death begins to pick off guests one by one, the six suspects must work together to discover who killed the king . . . before one of them is next.

Short and Sweet Review

The kingdoms of Avendell and Istellia have been at war for over a decade and have finally agreed to peace. To celebrate there’s going to be an all night masquerade at the palace in Avendell. King Costis decides to invite the Prince, the soon to be Princess, his guard, a beast tamer, and a healer to his private chambers, but before anyone can find out why they’re there the lights go out and when they come back on the King is dead. It’s looking like one of the invited guest to the chambers is the suspect but they decide to make a pact and keep the King’s death a secret until the treaty is signed. A winter storm is starting and everyone is stuck inside, someone else is aware of the Kings death and they’re starting to pick people off. Our characters have to work together to figure out who killed the king before one of them is next.

This book was chaotic but in the best way possible. The book starts immediately with the kings death so we’re not waiting until later on in the book for the action to start. We have the different POVs of each of our characters, Kellam is the Prince, Oak is the guard, Ellion is a healer but more so a necromancer, Clove is the beast tamer, Melarie is the Princess, and Vesryn is an assassin. All of our characters look suspicious but they do know they have to start working together before one of them is killed. I love mysteries and this was a pretty good whodunnit I think my favorite thing was the magical elements that were included, we have ghosts, beasts, and Gods involved. Each of the characters had their own voice, I was concerned at first about all of the different POVs but each character is pretty distinct. I loved the dialogue and I think Ellion was the best character when it came to his sense of humor. The book just takes us through a wild ride, we have characters dying, secrets coming to light and just following our characters running around through the castle trying to find clues. I did enjoy the ending and I’m excited to see what’s going to happen in the sequel.

Overall, this was such a fun book. I loved all of the elements involved and I could definitely picture this book as a tv show or a movie, it actually reminds me of clue but with fantasy elements involved. If you like mysteries but want one that’s going to give you something you’re not expecting, pick this book up!