Blood Flows Deep in the Empire by N. Isabelle Blanco

 Dyletri, God of Fertility, has locked away his powers. No woman is allowed to touch him, not until he can return his long-dead lover back to life. All he has to do is sacrifice one human girl, a girl who unlocks his powers and rips his dormant lust right out of his body. Trapped by his promise, Dyletri has no choice but to watch Ismini die, no matter how much he wants her.

Yet the darkness of his calling is spiraling within him, demanding he claim the human as his. If he goes back on his promise, the energy of the Fates will cause untold destruction in the Universe. That doesn’t change how Dyletri’s begun exhibiting symptoms that point to more than just lust. How does he allow Ismini to die when she’s come to own him from the inside out?

Desire and torment spiral into something much darker than obsession, more turbulent than an addiction, and something much more brutal than a mere soul-mating. As a war is being rekindled right under his nose, Dyletri will have to come to terms with a destiny eleven thousand years in the making. He thought he’d known what path his future would take, but he’d been wrong. Now the one woman he truly loves might pay the price for his decision.

Blood Flows Deep in the Empire is the first in a series that will pit free-will against Destiny, Destiny against Fate, and love against brutal desire. Everyone likes to think they have a choice as to who they end up with, but as they rise to face the greatest threat they’ve ever known, even the Gods will learn they have to bend to Destiny’s whim to survive.

I’m not a big fan of “God and Goddess” books, but this one caught my attention from the blurb and I just had to read it. I really ended up enjoying this book quite a bit more than I had thought that I would.

I liked the twists that the author included into the book, including Ismini and her realizing what her goal in life is. The amazing storyline that the author wrote intertwining all the different characters was done extremely well. With how much action that was going on in the book, I was worried that it would have been overloaded and confusing, but thankfully it wasn’t.

My one main complaint about the book would have been how during the story itself, there were a lot of characters that were introduced. I do know that the author did include a glossary in the beginning of the book as to who was who, but it was still confusing reading the story, then flipping back to see who was who. Also, the relationships that formed between Ismini and the other characters were done extremely fast and it was slightly confusing as to how she became friends with so many of them so quickly. Especially with no real explanation as to how they became friends.

Despite that, I did enjoy the twist between Dyletri and Ismini. I was caught completely off guard with how their relationship ended up progressing. It was interesting to see how everything happened, and to find out what was going to happen with Ismini come the end of the book.

I do think this was an amazing first book in a series, and I really can’t wait to read the other books in the series when I get a chance!