Review: We Who Will Die by Stacia Starck

We Who Will Die

Stacia Stark

(Empire of Blood #1)

Publication Date: December 30, 2025

Hardcover, 423 pages, Avon

Genres: Adult, Romantasy

Goodreads

From the bestselling author of the Kingdom of Lies series comes a slow-burn romantasy set in a Roman-inspired world ruled by merciless vampires. Filled with breathtaking combat, vengeful gods, and magical creatures, We Who Will Die is the epic first installment in an enthralling new series perfect for fans of Carissa Broadbent, Jasmine Mas, and Rebecca Yarros.

 

Life in the perilous Thorn district is a constant battle for Arvelle and her younger brothers. And the vampire standing on her doorstep is about to turn their world upside down.

 

Faced with an unthinkable choice, Arvelle makes a magically binding vow to do the impossible: kill the emperor, an ancient vampire created by the god Umbros. But first, she must enter the Sundering—an arena where only the fastest, strongest, and deadliest survive long enough to be selected for the emperor’s elite guard.

 

She quickly draws the ire of the Primus, the powerful figure charged with protecting the emperor. But the vampire under the armor is the last person Arvelle expects to encounter in the emperor’s court.

 

With her brothers’ lives in the balance, Arvelle has no choice but to ally with the man who once shattered her heart… and with the emperor’s sadistic son, Rorrik—two vampires whose motives are impossible to pin down. Rorrik holds the key to understanding the powers Arvelle is developing—abilities that would put a price on her head if discovered by the emperor.

 

To survive the arena and complete her mission, Arvelle must get to the bottom of a conspiracy that will change everything she thought she knew about herself—and the two vampires who are deeply entwined with her destiny…

My Review

Vampires in a gladiator/Ancient Rome-inspired magical fantasy setting? Sounds amazing! Written by Stacia Stark, author of the Kingdom of Lies series? Even more amazing! We Who Will Die is a fun time, and its comparison to The Vampire Diaries universe is definitely adequate. It has prime CW-level qualities. Honestly, it gives True Blood vibes too with all of the creatures. But the romance. That's TVD all the way.

I will say that I was hoping for a bit more vamp lore and gritty times. That's my own fault because this book is not dark and gritty. Even though there are sad moments, it's a really high-vibes type of book. Like, people are dying and we're kind of just breezing past it. I did really enjoy Arvelle's relationships with her brothers and her friends, though. As the female main character, Arvelle herself isn't very unique as a protagonist and she makes some dumb decisions. Those dumb decisions are explained later on, but still... I guess she makes the story interesting. For the other two main characters, those are the male love interests. One more so than the other at this time. Now, their dynamic kept me reading. I loved the vamp and spoilery relationship between the two that was revealed towards the end. It was a good bit of drama. And I think towards the end is really when everything comes together for these characters. They're seemingly working together versus keeping secrets constantly, so things started clicking.

My main criticism towards this book was honestly the middle. It was a bit underwhelming compared to the beginning and the ending. The middle just seemed like events were happening one right after another with no pause for the reader to care why they were happening. It was like BAM! Arena fight scene. BAM! Party to celebrate! BAM! Dramatic murder! It all needed to slow down for some character reflection or scenery description. For example, during the party scene, Arvelle has a conversation with like four characters back-to-back in less than five pages. That whole party scene should have taken up one long chapter with descriptions of the scenery, Arvelle's dress, the food, other characters' outfits, etc. But it was all glossed over. But again, that's simply what I would have preferred. And, like I said, the beginning had a lot of fun introducing readers to the world and characters and the ending was fun because everything kind of blew up and secrets were revealed. I definitely still enjoyed the story, even though the middle was a bit underwhelming.

All in all, if you're looking for a fun, angsty romantasy, then We Who Will Die is 100% for you. It has vampires for the paranormal lovers, griffons and gorgons for the mythology lovers, and strange deaths for the murder-mystery readers. It's a good time with the promise of an even better time when book two comes out. I am pretty excited to see how all that drama unfolds.
 

*Note: I received a copy of this book to review from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way affected my opinion/review.