Deathbringer by Sonia TagliareniMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Viola Corvi hates her magic. The death magic has only ever taken from her - her father, her grandmother, and now her sister. Sylas Ronin, a poison mage, also hates death magic - for taking his mother from them. And then the two are thrown together in Gorhail Institute of Magic and must learn to work together if they are to achieve their goal - to find and stop the serial killer who's coming after Viola.
Despite the academia setting, Deathbringer is more enemies-to-lovers than academic rivalry. Besides Lyria's desperate attempt to master lifedrain theory, there is little actual studying going on in the book; everyone's too busy panicking when students start turning up dead. Besides, Viola is adamantly refusing to actually learn anything about magic, even if it will eventually help her, whilst Sylas is pretty much an insufferable, reckless, know-it-all with anger issues. Okay, both of them have anger issues, but Viola is just a smidge better at using her anger to further her goals.
Tagliareni is deft with her knife, whether it's the twisty murders that keep happening or the devastating secrets that stab like a knife to the gut. To be honest, there are (a lot of) times where Sylas' bullheaded recklessness makes me want to slap him, but Tagliareni layers on the emotions and the painful backstory so well that it often feels forgivable or, at the least, understandable. The dual POVs work exceptionally well for this - giving readers both sides of the story, so to speak, and presenting a sympathetic point of contact/information for both rival houses instead of making one better than the other. There's no clear "evil" house or strand of magic in this one, even if death magic is often seen as dark and scary.
Loyalty is a theme that's explored with great depth - whether personal loyalty to one's friends and loved ones or loyalty to one's house/magic. Blind loyalty is both encouraged and called out at differing times, but where it's most wrenching is when it's pitted against love. Sylas has to decide whether to act with blind loyalty to the House of Poison, or if his growing love for Viola will force him change his beliefs. Viola has no loyalty to any mage or house, but it's the various loyalties of family, friends, and lovers in the past that has placed her in this current situation - as the one person sought after for her unwanted magic and relic.
Altogether, it's a very tantalisingly twisty dark fantasy. Deathbringer has been one of the most enthralling reads of 2026 so far.
Note: I received a digital ARC of this book from Atria Books via Edelweiss. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
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