This book was a mixed bag for me.

On one hand I was super excited to read it. After finishing Captive Prince I was hoping for another goldmine in the Fantasy M/M genre. I was also terrified that my possible goldmine would inevitably wind up being a landmine instead.

It wasn't. :)

I had some issues with the book. First, it jumps right into sex pretty fast which threw me off because I was anticipating a more serious fantasy book, and I started to feel like it was more of an erotica. Second, because I wasn't really connecting to the characters.

Still, what was lacking in the beginning was quickly made up for. The two main characters, Theos and Finn, had a banter between them that I found so surprisingly funny. What lacked in the world building was more than made up for in the connection that grew between the two MC's, so much so that my hesitation faded away and I ended up reading the whole book in a day.

3.5 star read, based 75% on character interaction. Not bad. I'd read another.

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This is a long book but I was hooked from beginning to end. If I could have foregone sleeping, work, and other essential parts of life I would have eagerly devoured it in one sitting. This book gave me all of the feels.
Apparently m/m is helping me rediscover my love of fantasy novels. Ah , I feel like a teenager again.

Highly recommended.
Would definitely reread.

And this little continuation of the story is great. http://katesherwoodbooks.com/2015/12/13/a-very-sacrati-christmas-or-late-wintermas/

If you enjoyed Captive Prince this is probably somewhere up your alley

3,5 blood smeared stars for this interesting read

While on patrol, Theos and his comrades encounter a group of Elkati soldiers who trespassed on Thorian territory. They are, minus a few casualties captured and supposed to be brought back with them. Prisoners in Thorian are either sold as slaves, kept as bedwarmers, or, if they're man enough, trained in combat.

The clash of cultures couldn't be any more mind boggling for the young Elkati prince and prisoner Finnvid. Back in his motherland the social and power structure differ so greatly that one can hardly compare them. The woman are in charge of everything besides the military training and there is no royalty,not aritrocracy or marriage! The Elkati army isn't nearly as good trained as the Thorian man, especially the Sacrati, an elite group of soldiers to which Theos belongs. And most of all back in his home country man don't have sex with each other. Especially not where others can see or hear everything that's going on! Of course there were rumors about their practises, but hearing about it and actually witnessing things are two completely different things.

The Sacrati Theos knows that something about the captives is different this time around when the warlord wants to sell each and everyone of the Elkati trespassers as slaves. Especially medically trained, Thorian speaking Finnvid won't stop nagging at his mind, and in the spur of the moment he saves Finnvid from being sold to who-knows-where. The warlords reaction shows that something big is going on and that Theos really shouldn't stick his nose into it if he cared about his own well-being.

Finnvid obviously knows more about the whole affair, but refuses to offer any information to Theos and soon enough the Sacrati's need to find out what's going on, makes room for a totally different kind of need. It's only his luck that Finnvid is Elkati, which think that the act of man lying together is a sin..

But who is Finnvid? And what sinister plot is slowly unfolding that threatens not only their lifes but the whole Thorian system?
Lies, betrayal, slaughter, difficult journeys and dicisions are awayting Theos and no one knows what the end of it all will look like. But Theos is Sacrati and Sacrati fight.


It was a bit difficult for me to rate this book as I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would, my expectations were set much higher. Probably because the summary reminded me so much of Captive Prince by S. U. Pacat and my thought were little more that 'Yes! Gimme gimme gimme!'
The plot was good though, and the different systems, were interesting, although the world building was a bit lacking. I kind of found Finnvid's appearandly sudden love for Theos weird. For me their relationship lacked the chemistry.

What I found nice as well was that, though it was fantasy, the names were easy to raed, not like some of the names I encountered in other novels of the same genres. It ust is no fun if you need minutes to figure out how to read a name or get so frustrated that you just stop reading the name at all and end up simply registering the appearance of it.

~I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review~

This way to the review on my blog

I don't often read fantasy, but I was interested in the political aspect. If you're reading reviews for Sacrati, you probably already now how the Elkati and Torians differ on their attitudes toward sex. I thought that it was effective world building and helped give Finnvid an effective character arc. I didn't like romance because Theos punched Finnvid's lights out a couple times, so I was upset that Finnvid was still interested in Theos and not anyone else. I was also annoyed every time called medicine "healing", which the author probably did to help give it a fantasy feeling. If I could do half stars, I would give this a 3.5/5.

This was a really fun book to read. As soon as I started it I couldn't put it down. The world in the book was quite interesting, with two complete opposites of societies being sort of pitted against each other.

The characters were really great as well. Theos being a gruff soldier but with a heart of gold, and then poor confused Finnvid that was super clever as soon as he stopped being confused. Several lovely minor characters as well that definitely added depth to the story. I also loved that the women were made to be strong and an important part of society, so many times I've read m/m books were women are treated like trash or completely ignored. Here they were given a vital part and were pretty awesome.

Definitely recommend this.

****Reviewed for Prism Book Alliance®****

Story Review:

Sacrati was an interesting blend of social commentary on gender roles, homophobia, and what love means. It did it in such a way that I didn’t feel preached at but it made me think. The different societies viewed women, men, and sex in such different lights, with neither being perfect. Added in are adventure, battles, and two very dissimilar men coming together.

Theos is a shining example of what it means to be a Torian male. Finnvid holds on to Elkat notions of family and sex – that two men do not belong together ever. It seems like these two will never get together. And it does take awhile, but it was great seeing them make it.

The world building is amazing. Both societies are fleshed out and the culture so rich between them. The descriptions of the trek through the mountains were great and I felt like I was there with them every step.

This book is long, however. That isn’t bad thing but I felt like it could have been tightened up in a few places. We have onscreen sex scenes of Theos and other men, which served a purpose, but I felt were too many. That being said, they were hot!

Despite the length, I was captivated and couldn’t put the story down (so to speak, I was listening to the audio). While there is no magic, I definitely recommend this to fantasy lovers.


Narration Review:

While I had difficulty at the start getting used to the voices, once I got into the rhythm of the book I found the narrator to be quite effective. His isn’t a voice I would seek out, but it fit the story.