Terror at the Gates

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Terror at the Gates (Blood of Lilith, #1)Terror at the Gates by Scarlett St. Clair
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5 / 5.0

Terror at the Gates by Scarlett St. Clair is a fantasy contemporary urban mystery romance. It explores and builds its world from the principles of real-life fundamental Christianity, religious corruption, and abuse perpetrated by religious officials. There is strong social stratification in this world as well as classism, sexism, and some minor racism. This is the story and not a reflection of the author's feelings or values, though she does address these themes and topics in her Note at the end of the book. Please read all triggers on this carefully because there is death associated with pregnancy in this and that is primarily on page.

The world, characters, and writing in this book are well done. There are only a few breaks in the established lore, namely some product brand names used, but overall St. Clair tells a paced, clear story. The plot is from the FMC POV with the chapter "footnotes" in the MMC POV. It is an interesting way of telling the story since we get so much of the world and events from the oppressed POV. The information from the MMC is mostly little tidbits that help the reader understand things that come up in the primary POV.

I enjoyed this. I was reading in the evening before bed and covered large chunks at a time since it is easily digestible. The tension and slow burn are well done and the emotion... beware you will cry. By the end, I was pretty certain what was going to happen but it was still written well and made sense. There will be more books in this and, if she keeps to her style, we might get it all from the MMC POV as well.

Until Next Time, MC

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