Review: Poisoned Web by Crista McHugh + Giveaway

Poisoned Web by Crista McHughFormat read: ebook from NetGalley
Formats available: ebook, paperback
Genre: Science fiction romance; fantasy romance
Series: Deizian Empire, #2
Length: 279 pages
Publisher: Self-published
Date Released: November 17, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

The fate of the empire hangs on one slave breaking her silence…

As the Deizian Empire prepares for the upcoming wedding of Emperor Titus Sergius Flavus and Azruha, one mystery remains unsolved–the sudden and unexplained death of the former emperor. And as her wedding gift to Titus, Azurha wants to give him answers. She suspects an unknown poison was involved, and her search for the truth enlists two unlikely allies.

Modius Varro’s thirst for knowledge caused an uproar in Emona three years ago and exiled him to the border town of Madrena. But when Titus falls victim to the same poison, his expertise in medicine becomes essential in solving both the riddle of the former emperor’s death and finding a cure to save the current one. His search leads him to far reaches of the Alpirion realm, to an ancient culture shrouded in secrets, and into the arms of one slave who must break her silence to save the empire.

Crista McHugh’s Deizian Empire series reads like a fantasy romance, but there is more than a touch of science fiction lurking deep within the web that she weaves. In this second book in the series, one of those science fictional elements plays a primary role in solving the central dilemma that moves this stage of the overall story, but it still leaves readers with more than enough drama to make us eager for the next book in the series.

The Deizian Empire is not at peace. The young Emperor Titus faces enemies both from without, and from within. As the saying goes, “uneasy lies the head that wears the crown”.

Tangled Web by Crista McHughTitus was supposed to have been a weak emperor, easy to manipulate. Or, he was supposed to have been dead. Unfortunately for his enemies, the assassin that they sent to kill him, fell in love with him instead. Even more unfortunately for his enemies, they actually did pay to send the very best. Their love story is told in the marvelous opener for this series, Tangled Web (reviewed here).

But Titus desire to make a freed slave his Empress has upset even conservative advisors even further, and they were frothing at the mouth already over his plans to free the empire’s slaves. Adding to the ongoing ferment, his consort Azurha has determined that the previous emperor did not die of natural causes; he was poisoned. And as the famous assassin named ‘The Rabbit’, she is an expert on poisons.

The only problem is that Azurha can’t tell which poison did the deed. And that’s where both the science fiction and the romance come into this story.

There are two races in the Deizian Empire. The Deizians and the Alpirions. The Deizians came from another planet and conquered the native Alpirions. It is common medical knowledge that certain medicinal plants cause different reactions depending on which race a person is from. Someone used that knowledge to poison the late Emperor.

Two people are called in to figure out not just what poisoned the emperor, but who did it and how. The emperor’s food was tasted, so whoever did the deed had to be someone who had trusted access to the palace as well as some pretty sophisticated medical knowledge. Along with one hell of a motive.

Only two people can solve this problem before it is too late; Izana and Modius. But they both have terrible secrets that might get them killed before they can finish. Izana is Azurha’s trusted servant, and she knows how to read the ancient Alpirion script that leads to the old secrets, but she is a slave and it is illegal for slaves to be able to read and write.

Modius is a trained healer, but he left the capital in disgrace after he was caught dissecting army corpses after a battle. If they put their skills together, they can find the answer. If the secrets they keep from each other don’t trip them up first.

And they need to figure things out fast, because the new emperor has developed symptoms of the same “illness” that killed his father. Time is running out for everyone.

Escape Rating A-: Poisoned Web is the portrait of the empire in the throes of cataclysmic change. And the thing about change is that most people don’t like it very much, especially the ones who benefit from the status quo.

So much about the Deizian Empire reminds me of the Roman Empire, especially the nastier bits of I, Claudius (without Livia’s machinations, at least so far), that one sees plots and poisoners pretty much everywhere. There are even barbarians at the gates. The gates are maintained by magic, or science, or a combination of the two.

But Titus is changing too much, too fast, and all the Deizians who have their income tied up in slavery don’t want to see the end of their privileges. Of course he has to go. And on the other side, the ones who foment rebellion really aren’t interested in a slow path to change, because they get their kicks from the violence. (This is not to say that the Alpirions shouldn’t be free, but that most of them would not advocate assassinating the emperor who wants to free them as the best way to go about it)

Then there’s the love story. Izana and Modius both have been horribly wounded in their pasts, and have a difficult time trusting anyone. Izana’s road is much more difficult. Modius was terribly disgraced and vilified because of the experiments he was conducting. If the previous Emperor hadn’t gotten him out of town, he might very well have been lynched. But that time has passed.

The secrets Izana is protecting are deadly, not just for her, but for every single person who she reveals to Modius. Her past as a sex slave feels degrading and demeaning, but it is her past alone, at least in context. The network of illegal knowledge about the Alpirions, the network of slaves who can read and write, is death to every single slave that is even tangentially involved in it. While Titus does not seem to be that kind of emperor, he can’t be or he wouldn’t be the center of this series, any corrupt noble could invoke the law and destabilize the regime.

I feel like the series, in addition to having wonderful love stories, also has this epic rise and fall of empires thing in the background, and that’s part of what makes it so marvelous to read.

Poisoned Web Button TOUR 300 x 225

~~~~~~TOURWIDE GIVEAWAY~~~~~~

Crista is kindly giving away a $100 Amazon gift card and 20 autographed print copies of the first book in the series, Tangled Web! To enter for a chance to win, use the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Bewitching Book Tours

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Tangled Web by Crista McHugh

Goodreads, Tangled Web by Crista McHughFormat read: ebook provided by the publisher
Formats available: ebook, paperback
Genre: Fantasy romance, Science Fiction romance
Series: Deizian Empire, #1
Length: 352 pages
Publisher: Entangled Select
Date Released: October 16, 2012
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

The deadliest assassin in the empire just got too close to her target…

Azurha, a former slave turned deadliest assassin in the empire, has just been offered the ultimate challenge–seduce, then murder the new Emperor. But Titus is not the tyrant his forefathers were, and his radical ideas might be the glimmer of hope the empire needs.

Titus Sergius Flavus has yet to master the powerful magic of his ancestors–magic he must wield if he’s to protect his people–but his father’s death has left him no choice. Rule the Deizian Empire and attempt to right his ancestors’ wrongs, or watch her fall to his greedy kin.

More than just Titus’ ideas hold Azurha captive. Night after night, he awakens desires she thought lost, and uncovers the magic of her hidden lineage. As her deadline approaches, Azurha is forced to make an impossible decision–complete her job and kill the man she loves, or fail and forfeit both their lives.

My Review:

I was lured into Crista McHugh’s Deizian Empire by a story that sounded an awful lot like Amy Raby’s absolutely fabulous Assassin’s Gambit. It’s a pretty good gambit, I adored that book. But Tangled Web isn’t quite it.

However, it’s still an absorbing story. Let’s say I got quite tangled up in it.

There are a lot of fantasies that use some variation of the Roman Empire as their basis. In addition to the aforementioned Amy Raby series, there’s also Jim Butcher’s Codex Alera, and Lindsay Buroker’s The Emperor’s Edge. What can I say? The Romans did good empire. Long sweep of history, leaving lots of templates for pretty much everything. Sometimes they served as a good example, sometimes as a horrible warning.

In the case of Tangled Web, we have what should be the standard case of a young emperor coming to the throne early, and one who has spent most of his life with his nose buried in a book. He’s a bit naive, or a bit unrealistic. He thinks that he can make the empire work the way it should work, instead of the way it does work.

A lot of influential people will get kicked in the moneybags if he gets his way. Especially the ones who own slaves. So they decide a timely assassination is in order.

Enter the Rabbit. Not the animal, a person. An assassin, in this case, a former slave who freed herself by murdering her master. He and his friends had been raping her for three days by this point, so she considered herself not just more than justified, but beyond caring.

She escaped her fate and became an assassin. Not that easily, but not quite part of our story.

One of Emperor Titus’ cousins hired her to infiltrate his household and assassinate him. The method of infiltration chosen by her contract was for her to become a member of his harem. Azhura turned out to be the only member of Titus’ harem.

And when he refused to force himself on her, like every other man she had every dealt with, she couldn’t bring herself to kill him the first night. That was her fatal mistake. She let her intended victim get too close.

Once she started actually talking with the man she should have killed, she found herself enjoying his company. Even more insane, she discovered that the Emperor was listening to her and taking her advice!

Titus believed that Azurha was the only person around him who did not have some kind of hidden agenda. It was only after he fell in love with her that he discovered exactly how big a fool he was.

And that she was the only person keeping him alive.

Escape Rating A-: Tangled Web is just wildly good fun. The love story is just so classic; the assassin falls in love with her target, but in this case it was very well done.

Azurha was such a mass of contradictions, but understandably so. She was part of a conquered race; her people were slaves. She freed herself through extreme violence and pain, and so she has very little trust. Titus patiently wears down her resistance, because he needs someone to be there just for him, he doesn’t have anyone else.

Their relationship builds up over a few days, instead of him storming her barricades instantly. He could, but he doesn’t. He’s different from what she’s used to, both as a man and as a member of the Deizian race.

poisoned web by crista mchughAnd they’re magical together. Not just the sex, although that too. But the better they are together, the stronger his magic becomes, which is an important plot point that isn’t explained quite as clearly as I would have liked. I hope there is more explanation coming in the rest of the series.

Also, this is labeled as both science fiction romance and fantasy romance. It reads/feels like fantasy, but there are spaceships. There is tech, but it seems to be powered by magic. Or maybe not. Hopefully we’ll see later in the series.

When Azurha started talked with Titus instead of killing him, I kept wanting to shout “she named the puppy!” because that’s what it felt like. Once she let Titus become a real person in her mind instead of the just the faceless Emperor, she was doomed. She named the puppy, and he turned out to be a very handsome puppy, with big strong muscles. Also extremely affectionate!

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.