Flames of Lethe (Lethe Chronicles #1) by Lexie Talionis
Publication Date: November 16, 2021
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Jo and Christopher awake on a sea of endless glowing sand, with no clothes, resources, or memories of how they got there. Every time the sun rises, they burn in unspeakable agony . . . only to awake, completely unharmed, when the sun sets. As they traverse the sands, desperately seeking any form of shelter, tensions--sexual and otherwise--rise higher and higher.
And then they reach The City, and discover that things can always, ALWAYS, get worse.
Flames of Lethe ticks all the boxes of a traditional dark fantasy erotic romance (and the author explicitly describes it as such), so I was a little confused to see this shelved on Netgalley under horror rather than romance. After finishing it, I can say with complete confidence that this? This is both. This is dark. If you don't like dark romance, this is not for you. If you do, this is a really excellent addition to the genre.
Writing-wise, this shows a lot of talent--I was absorbed from start to finish. The characters burst off the page, the pacing was excellent, and the worldbuilding was devastating. Our characters wonder often if they are in Hell, and this is quite an interesting interpretation of such a place.
I enjoyed this a lot, but NOT EVERYBODY WILL, and I think it's important to be very up front about that in a review. If you hate romance with dubcon/noncon, then give this one a hard pass. The world Jo finds herself in is not exactly a feminist utopia, and some of the choices she makes by the end might rub certain readers the wrong way. But if you're a romance fan looking for something (very) dark and original, this is an excellent book to try out.
I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
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