I rather enjoyed this book. I did think that the way Theos treated Finnvid was COMPLETELY unbelievable for a man raised with normalised slavery. But once I deliberately forced myself to suspend that particular disbelief, I could roll with most the punches and enjoy myself.

I thought Theos was adorable—not dim, exactly, but not a man who thinks deeply either. I wasn't as enamoured with Finnvid. I thought him a bit inconsistent. But as a counterbalance to Theos, he worked.

Unfortunately, the whole idea of what is 'natural' or 'unnatural' was over-emphasised and heavy handed. Yes, I understood the message, but didn't need it reiterated quite so often. Similarly, I think the men lost the ability to verbalise anything but "I love you" in the last ten or so pages. It got redundant.

Speaking of endings (and this may be spoilerish), forcing the two men to desire monogamy felt like an artificial machination to provide the proper type of HEA to a Western audience. It didn't at all fit the culture as established by the author. What's more, thinking past the last page, it would undoubtably cause future discord and I have trouble believing Finnvid would even request it of Theos (considering the social importance of sex between male Torians). I thought it was a cop out.

So, I had a few complaints, but for the most part, the writing was readable, there was some humour, I like the characters, it was an interesting world (at least the Torian culture was, Elkat was just a hollow reproduction of the recognisable), I don't remember any editing issues and I enjoyed the time I spent with the book. It was just plain cute. I really can't ask for much more than that.

Finnvid mission is to prevent a Torian invasion to his homeland Elkat. Theos is a Torian, Sacrati warrior who is happy where he is in life invading lands, sharing his comrade’s beds and being available to his city’s women who want to bear his children. When Finnvid is captured by the Torian warriors Finnvid and Theos must work together to stop a war between the two nations.

Loved this story because it had most of my tropes, but there were some plot holes in the beginning that were hard to get past. I would recommend to anyone who likes light fantasy/Romance with a touch of political discord.

DNF.

Well.

When it comes to fantasy in genre, I prefer something more challenging like Ginn Hale or Voinov's Scorpion series.
This is more in line with J.C. Owens... Predictable, romance focused and not very original in terms of world building.

If you are more into it for romance and don't care for setting, than this may be your thing.

Excellent! I enjoyed this book immensely- the world building, the cultural differences between the Torian & the Elkati, the way the relationship between Theos and "Feenveed" developed. The author did an amazing job making this world and it's people real. Highly recommended.

3.5 stars

I loved the detailed society the author created around the Sacrati. I was a little worried there was going to be a slave/master vibe, but there isn't. (It is present somewhere in the society apparently, but we don't ever see it.)

The dialogue between the two is quite funny and clever in unexpected ways, and the whole thing just feels very different from the norm. I really liked it, but I wish there had been less time devoted to the journey, so to speak, so we could have spent a little more time at the destination. They were interesting together.

Growing up in a well-run if near-subsistence society, where the men guard the borders, and the women run the town, made Theos's path in life obvious. He would become a warrior, a Sacrati, the best of the best. He would have companions and casual lovers among his fellow-soldiers, and occasional times when he went to the women in town, to potentially father children. Life would go on in a well-proven path. Eventually he might die in battle, but he'd have lived well and simply until then.

But Theos's life is overset when his troop captures a group of soldiers from neighboring Elkat, inside Torian territory. Finnvid is one of the Elkats, and his healing skills mark him out from the beginning. So does his youth, attractiveness, fearless attitude, and puzzling role in the group. When they get back to town, and more than one high-level Torian shows an odd interest in Finnvid, Theos claims him as a prize, to keep him safe and try to unravel the puzzle. But for a man who didn't even really know that politics of power and greed were a thing, Theos is well behind the learning curve, and his simple honesty isn't helpful.

Finnvid finds captivity and Torian society, and especially the large barbarian who now owns him and yet treats him well, a complete puzzle. He had a mission, which is well and truly screwed up. And the more he sees of how Torian society actually works, the more he doubts it was a good plan to begin with. And then there is the fact that his attraction to men, a barely-acknowledged shameful impossibility at home, is a casual non-event among the Torians, who have more same-sex relationships than opposite-sex ones. Finnvid's sympathies and allegiances are badly torn. He has to decide over and over who he will be, and who is worthy of his support.

This was an imaginative and sweet story, despite the violence of battle, capture and betrayal in it. I really enjoyed the re-imagining of a social structure with equality based on differences and separation of the genders. The main characters were worth cheering for. This is technically a slave story, but there is no real darkness and no non-con here. Just some interesting world-building and coming of age of two very different men.

Started strong then became meh.

4.5 Stars ~ I read Sacrati when it first came out in e-book and was amazed by the wonderful world-building, romance and political intrigue of this non-magical fantasy. Though the e-book is 400+ pages I couldn’t put it down, and immersed myself in the world Kate Sherwood created. As soon as I saw there was an audio out, I snatched it up. I’ll admit, when I first heard Dorian Bane’s narration I wasn’t sure about it, since it didn’t match with what I had in my head for the characters, but after about the first fifteen minutes I was S-O-L-D.

Sacrati is amazingly well written. The plot and world building is unique, the pace done well, the information given is necessary to the overall story, the world-building phenomenal, and the characters are realistic (given their world, of course).

The story follows two different empires which have two completely different ways of living. Theos comes from the Torian Empire, where sex is embraced in all its facets, women are given freedom and honored, and men are expected to be soldiers. The Torian Empire, where Theos lives, thrives as all citizens are fed, clothed, and have a role to play. They lead somewhat simple lives, but poverty doesn’t really exist.

Finnvid’s homeland, Elkat, has more similarities to what I picture Victorian England was like; where men marry women, arranged marriages are a common occurrence, same sex couplings are considered unnatural, servants and commoners were looked down on and considered less.

Theos, an elite soldier known as Sacrati, and his subordinates capture Finnvid and a group of his soldiers on their land, and thus begins a fantastic journey into how they go from enemies to lovers. And boy is the journey satisfying. Though there are sex scenes, the book is not overly saturated with sexy times, and when there is sex it is necessary for the progression of the story; to understand the societies, or the relationship of Theos and Finnvid. The plot is the overall focus, with plenty of scheming, misunderstandings and characters decisions impacting the outcome.

The story is broken into three parts, and we get Theos and Finnvid’s perspectives, thoughts, struggles, and feelings. Their difficulties in understanding each other’s cultures and beliefs, the “a-ha” moments where they realize that perhaps where they come from is not perfection, and see where improvement could happen while ultimately helping each other to change and mature in their thoughts. All the while chaos is erupting around them, and they are pawns in a game they don’t quite understand or have all the facts to know how to proceed.

Dorian Bane’s narration I felt was extremely well done. After I got over how it wasn’t quite what I had pictured, I realized his version of Theos was better, and he captured Finnvid perfectly. He managed to give different inflections, making it easy during dialogue to separate who was speaking. I didn’t feel as though he was rushing and reading to me; I felt as though he was performing and did a splendid job.

If you are a fantasy fan who also enjoys a book with with political intrigue and plot twists, I highly recommend this audio.

Reviewed by Lindsey for The Novel Approach Reviews

I rather enjoyed this book. I did think that the way Theos treated Finnvid was COMPLETELY unbelievable for a man raised with normalised slavery. But once I deliberately forced myself to suspend that particular disbelief, I could roll with most the punches and enjoy myself.

I thought Theos was adorable—not dim, exactly, but not a man who thinks deeply either. I wasn't as enamoured with Finnvid. I thought him a bit inconsistent. But as a counterbalance to Theos, he worked.

Unfortunately, the whole idea of what is 'natural' or 'unnatural' was over-emphasised and heavy handed. Yes, I understood the message, but didn't need it reiterated quite so often. Similarly, I think the men lost the ability to verbalise anything but "I love you" in the last ten or so pages. It got redundant.

Speaking of endings (and this may be spoilerish), forcing the two men to desire monogamy felt like an artificial machination to provide the proper type of HEA to a Western audience. It didn't at all fit the culture as established by the author. What's more, thinking past the last page, it would undoubtably cause future discord and I have trouble believing Finnvid would even request it of Theos (considering the social importance of sex between male Torians). I thought it was a cop out.

So, I had a few complaints, but for the most part, the writing was readable, there was some humour, I like the characters, it was an interesting world (at least the Torian culture was, Elkat was just a hollow reproduction of the recognisable), I don't remember any editing issues and I enjoyed the time I spent with the book. It was just plain cute. I really can't ask for much more than that.