Deathbringer

• Author: Sonia Tagliareni
• Genre: Romantasy
• Publication Date: May 19, 2026
• Publisher: Atria Books
• Series: Deathbringer #1

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me an ARC of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

For fans of Naomi Novik and Kerri Maniscalco, a dark academia romantasy steeped in necromancy, forbidden love, and a twisty murder mystery set within the perilous halls of a magical institute, as a death mage who hates her magic and a poison mage who hates her are forced to work together to stop a killer before one of them is next.

Born with the ability to speak with the dead, Viola hates her magic. It killed her sister, Olivia, and if she doesn’t learn why, it will kill her too. Her only hope lies within the perilous walls of Gorhail Institute of Magic, where Olivia spent her final days.

There, Viola clashes with Sylas, a poison mage whose magic stems from three magical snakes. Immortal, tormented, and reckless, Sylas is tethered to a life he never asked for and haunted by guilt for his father’s death. His hatred for death mages runs deep, and he’s determined to keep Viola at a distance. But when an attack forces him to heal her, their fates become intertwined by a magical bond that threatens to upend his loyalties—and his common sense.

As more students start turning up dead, Viola and Sylas are drawn into an uneasy alliance that pulls them deeper into Gorhail’s treacherous passageways, where secrets fester beneath the stone and the dead do not rest. And as enemy lines begin to blur and their undeniable attraction grows, Viola and Sylas uncover a chilling someone is hunting mages for their magical relics, and if they can’t uncover the killer in time, Viola will be next.

One of my favorite things about reading books is how they can be so unpredictable and unique. I always go into every new book with the mindset that I’m going to love it. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t, but I always take something away from reading a book by an author who is new to me. Fortunately, this was one of the books that I really enjoyed despite a few things that I didn’t love about the book.

This is a dark, dark academia story, and those are some of my favorites. Tagliareni did an outstanding job with the setting. It was gothic and dark, involving a magical university, student murders, and if I had to describe the vibe I had while reading this one it would have to be that I was constantly waiting for something bad to happen at the creepy school. The dark academia aspect of the story was done beautifully and it wound up being one of my favorite dark academia settings. Gorhail Institute of Magic is especially creepy, without veering into scary.

Viola is a complex character. She has a sister, Olivia, who she is fairly close to, but the home environment is a highly toxic and emotionally abusive one. Their mother clearly has a favorite, and Olivia can do no wrong while Viola can’t do anything right, and their mother never fails to point that out. I did love that she had a close relationship with her sister, despite the clear favoritism occurring in the family. Fortunately, Olivia doesn’t subscribe to their mother’s toxic ways, and positions herself as Viola’s protector.

The start of the book obviously is there to set up the story, but there was some info dumping occurring. I found myself having to reread parts to really absorb the info. Typically having to restart a book for the third time would have me putting it into the DNF pile, but there was something about this book that kept me reading until I was able to get a grasp on the world building and magic system. Once I got past the first part, I was fully invested and excited to see what would happen next.

Mage powers can vary widely. As a death mage Viola is able to hear the last words of the dead, but it has a heavy cost on her, and after Olivia takes her place at the magical university and is murdered, Viola is consumed with guilt. She blames her magic for killing her sister, and puts a lot of responsibility for Olivia’s decision on Viola. She did let her non-mage sister take her place at Gorhail, but Viola is placing all the blame on herself, rather than her sister’s autonomy in making the decision to take Viola’s place, and their mother was thrilled to learn that Olivia was the mage and was so supportive, even though it was a sham.

When we meet Sylas, we learn that he is a poison mage who derives his powers from vipers and he is immortal. He also takes on a lot of blame for a situation that led to the death of his father. Since that death left him traumatized, he projects that outward and despises death mages. Viola enrolls in Gorhail to find out what happened to her sister. As more student mages are found dead, Sylas and Viola are forced to work together to get to the bottom of this. Knowing how he feels about death mages ensured that he and Viola would start out as enemies. But the forced proximity and the buffering presence of Sylas’s sister Lyria help to tone down the animosity from Sylas towards Viola.

Two of my favorite tropes are featured in the story. First is found family which should be no surprise to anyone, and I loved how Viola discovers people who accept her as she is for the first time—the only person who actually treated her as family before this was Olivia, and she really connects with Lyria. While it took Sylas longer to overcome his hatred of death mages, I did feel like the transition from enemies to lovers occurred rather quickly over the course of the book. It’s hard to uproot a deep-seated hatred, and having Viola manage to change how Sylas sees death mages only took a few weeks. As much as Sylas hates death mages, it didn’t feel realistic on the timeline.

Overall, this is a series that I absolutely plan on continuing to read. I’ll be looking forward to the next book! The story involves good world-building and pacing, There is a central mystery that kept me guessing straight up until the reveal, and I was so surprised. I would have liked to see more character growth over the course of the book for VIola—Sylas shows a lot of growth throughout the story, while Viola’s character growth mainly takes place towards the end of the book. While the beginning was a little much for me to grasp on the first or second try, the third time was the charm. I didn’t feel like the transformation from enemies to lovers was given enough time to develop realistically, but it honestly didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book and I was able to ship them by the end.

Bottom line: A fascinating and unique magic system, complex characters with as many layers as an onion, this centers around a mystery and kept me glued to the pages. Just be aware that there is a lot of information presented in a short time.

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