Book Review | Innorata by Ava Reid

Blurb:

Once there was an island where the dead walked the earth, and seven noble houses ruled by the arcane secrets of necromancy.

A conqueror’s blade brought them low, burning their libraries, killing their lords, and extinguishing their eldritch magic.

But defiant against the new order stands the House of Teeth and its last living members: beautiful Marozia, the heiress to the House, and her cousin, the uncanny Lady Agnes.

Though she has not spoken a word in seven years, Agnes is the true carrier of the House’s legacy. And she has her orders. She must recapture the secrets of death magic and avenge her family’s fallen honor. She must arrange the betrothal of her beloved cousin Marozia to Liuprand, heir to the conqueror’s throne, for access to the forbidden library in his grotesquely grand castle.

Revenge burns in Agnes’s heart but so do stranger passions—and it is Liuprand, the golden prince, who speaks to her soul. This passion is as treasonous as it is powerful, poisoning the kingdom’s roots and threatening to tear the already shattered realm in two.

For Agnes’s final order is the gravest: She must not fall in love.

Publication Date:

March 17, 2026

Author:

Ava Reid

˜”*°•.˜”*°• spoiler free review •°*”˜.•°*”˜

I can't lie. I was very nervous to start this book, to read it and consume it into my brain cells. This book looked dark and devastating. Full of a gothic romance that could rival old love stories.

"... 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔨𝔶 𝔬𝔲𝔱𝔰𝔦𝔡𝔢 𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔴𝔦𝔫𝔡𝔬𝔴 𝔱𝔲𝔯𝔫𝔢𝔡 𝔤𝔩𝔬𝔰𝔰𝔶 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔡𝔢𝔢𝔭 𝔟𝔩𝔲𝔢. ℑ𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔴𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔰𝔱𝔞𝔯𝔰 𝔞𝔟𝔬𝔲𝔱, 𝔫𝔬𝔫𝔢 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔪 𝔴𝔦𝔫𝔨𝔢𝔡 𝔞𝔱 𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔱𝔥𝔯𝔬𝔲𝔤𝔥 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔡𝔞𝔯𝔨𝔫𝔢𝔰𝔰. 𝔗𝔦𝔪𝔢 𝔴𝔞𝔰 𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔢𝔫𝔢𝔪𝔶. ℑ𝔱 𝔭𝔢𝔯𝔠𝔥𝔢𝔡 𝔩𝔦𝔨𝔢 𝔞 𝔥𝔦𝔡𝔢𝔬𝔲𝔰 𝔤𝔞𝔯𝔤𝔬𝔶𝔩𝔢 𝔬𝔫 𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔰𝔥𝔬𝔲𝔩𝔡𝔢𝔯, 𝔥𝔦𝔰𝔰𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔯𝔢𝔪𝔦𝔫𝔡𝔢𝔯𝔰 𝔬𝔣 𝔴𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔥𝔞𝔡 𝔟𝔢𝔢𝔫 𝔡𝔬𝔫𝔢."

I started reading it while driving up into the gloomy, beautiful Upper Michigan. It was spring, the perfect vibes for diving into this book. It brought me to tears a few times at how perfect and beautiful the prose was. When rating this book, I debated what to do. It is much darker than I normally read, so I was leaning towards a 4-star, but it has lived in my head constantly. Almost in an annoying way, since I have read it.

Besides, this book has the language of the wings.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

. --> Once there was an island where the dead walked the earth, and seven noble houses ruled by the arcane secrets of necromancy. A conqueror’s blade brought them low, burning their libraries, killing their lords, and extinguishing their eldritch magic. <--.

↪ 𝓹𝓻𝓸𝓼

🥀 The MMC. He is a layered character that you just want more of all the time. And even after you have all of him, you still need to know more about him. he is also cute.

🥀The setting! The world is written in such a beautiful and enchanting way that you are sucked into it instantly. There wasn't a moment that it felt like it was overdone.

🥀The horror aspect. Even though this isn't labeled as a horror book, I would say it is almost there. It has some extremely dark elements. And I loved that because they portrayed the horror and darkness with a delicacy that caressed them with beauty.

🥀 The prose that this story held within its grasp was truly amazing. There is a skill that was put into the essence of this story that was intoxicating and very impressive.

🥀She doesn't think that she can love, but she falls for him.

🥀 He falls first and HARDER

🥀 Romantasy that is definitely NOT romantasy.

🥀 The heart of this story. There is a lot I could say about the very Heart that is held within this book. there are a lot of hard topics that are met with such grace it is to be admirable. I read things that were, or would have been triggers for me. but were handled in such a way as to simply caress the violence of this world and show the readers that darkness takes on many shapes and shades. and sometimes darkness isn't all that bad.

↪ 𝓬𝓸𝓷𝓼

◊ I only have one con. I am not the biggest fan of spice; in fact, I try to avoid it. So I didn't like that there was spice in this book. (I do think it worked with the plot and that it was a very important element however)

"𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔞𝔠𝔱 𝔬𝔣 𝔡𝔦𝔰𝔞𝔭𝔭𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔴𝔞𝔰 𝔞 𝔪𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔦𝔩𝔶 𝔳𝔦𝔰𝔦𝔟𝔩𝔢 𝔬𝔫𝔢. 𝔄 𝔩𝔞𝔡𝔶 𝔴𝔥𝔬 𝔰𝔭𝔬𝔨𝔢 𝔩𝔦𝔱𝔱𝔩𝔢 𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔩𝔡 𝔟𝔢 𝔣𝔬𝔯𝔤𝔬𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔫. 𝔄 𝔩𝔞𝔡𝔶 𝔴𝔥𝔬 𝔡𝔦𝔡 𝔫𝔬𝔱 𝔰𝔭𝔢𝔞𝔨 𝔞𝔱 𝔞𝔩𝔩 𝔢𝔳𝔬𝔨𝔢𝔡”

¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° 🕯️ 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓈 🕯️°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸

🅻🅰🅳🆈 🅰🅶🅽🅴🆂

Where do I even start? Agnes is such a complicated character who goes through so much development and change throughout the novel. She is so strong, the definition of a character who suffers in silence {literally, as she doesn't speak} and has to learn to love. However, in this world, loving is a hard thing. It doesn't get people anywhere; it just causes hurt. That's what resonated with me. Because love is hard, and loving in a world that just wants pain is even harder.

🅻🅸🆄🅿🆁🅰🅽🅳

Well, well, well. Now this is an interesting character. He really isn't a main character; we don't get into his head much. But he plays such a big role that I needed to include him in this review. You see, he is quite cute, or how I imagine him is quite cute. He is put in this house, in this situation, that is just super abusive to him. He has such a big heart. A beautiful one, really. And for that, I came to love him.

~*-.,_,.-*~' ^ '*-,~*-.,_,.-*~' ^ '*-,~*-.,_,.-*~' ^ '*-,~*-.,_,.-*~' ^ '*-,

I really did love this book. I read it at the perfect time for me. It touched my soul in a way very few books have. I will stand by it, this book is amazing.

~*-.,_,.-*~' ^ '*-,~*-.,_,.-*~' ^ '*-,~*-.,_,.-*~' ^ '*-,~*-.,_,.-*~' ^ '*-,

Drink coffee, read books

Katherine <3