Review: The Deathless One by Emma Hamm

The Deathless One by Emma Hamm

Series: The Gravesinger #1

Publication date: August 5th, 2025

Pages: 336

Spice:🌶️

Synopsis:

Instant USA Today bestseller!

A princess murdered at the alter makes a deal with the god of death for vengeance and to save her people in this first in a unique romantasy trilogy from USA Today bestselling author Emma Hamm.

Jessamine was raised to be a leader for her people, but when the land is overrun by an incurable plague, she must enter a political marriage to save them all. A union that should have brought hope only brings death as her new husband murders her at the wedding alter and seizes the throne.

But her death is just the beginning. Her spirit is met by the Deathless One, a god of death yearning to return to the mortal plane, and he needs her help. The two of them make a deal--her life and the return of her kingdom in exchange for his resurrection. But the Deathless One is a known trickster, and a deal with him is one made in blood.

Jessamine knows the Deathless One is a dangerous ally, but the longer they work together, the more she wants him and the less she can stay away. As their connection deepens, soon she wonders if she even wants this contract to end. Perhaps the more appealing throne is the one by his side, but she'd have to turn her back on her people to get it.

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Story: The synopsis and premise of the book were intriguing to say the least. A woman killed by the man she was meant to marry only to be tied to a god of death and destruction in her bid to reclaim her kingdom? That definitely seems like something that would be a fun read. However, it feels like the story was all over the place. Towards the beginning I was trying to follow all the little tidbits of the Deathless One's history and how it connected to his current situation. I struggled. There were times where I said, 'huh?' and had to flip back a few chapters to try to figure out where I had misunderstood something. Witches were bad but then good but then also bad but sometimes good? Can we possibly make up our mind which way we want to spin them? Watching Jessamine move throughout the story to try to piece together this major act of subterfuge was a little mind numbing. At the very beginning of the book all those who were on her side were murdered or give to the infected but we still have hope there is someone out there who was close to her that lives and also still supports her? Kind of a hard pill to swallow. Basically, I feel that the story was not plotted out well and the author kind of just threw things in that seemed to fit but actually didn't. It was rough and I found myself closing the book still utterly and completely confused by what even was going on.

 Characters: First of all, I really didn't like Jessamine's name. I feel like it was trying to hard to make her sound like she was the main protagonist of a fantasy novel. Too much on the nose for me. Add to that the fact that she was a bumbling idiot a lot of the time and I had no soft spot for the woman. There was a lot of eyerolling and "well there she goes dying again". She was a weak character that never truly found her strength in the 300+ pages I read. The Deathless One... Again, the name... I can't. But he felt like he was trying to hard to be a dark and mysterious shadow daddy. I wasn't impressed. Xaden Riorson he was not. Also, I never know what his motives were from one moment to the next. I would have not been the slightest surprised if he stabbed Jessamine in the back. Then, as if he wasn't enough of a disappointment, the author decided to take this stoic badass and make him a kicked puppy who has been used and abused. Sure give the man a backstory but do you have to make him a pitiful martyr? The only character that saved things even remotely was Sybil. I loved that she was rebellious without being openly defiant. She knew who she was and she knew her role. She didn't waver or stray from that. Good on ya, girl!

Writing: All over the place. It was kind of obvious that the author didn't do a lot of plotting out of the story and kind of threw things out there as they came to her. That lead to a lot of misunderstandings within the telling of the story. There weren't a lot spelling or grammar issues but the flow was constantly interrupted with how it was written. I would read a line like I would imagine it would read and then get tripped up on a word and have to go back and read it more slowly. It slowed down my progress a lot and made me frustrated enough to have to set aside the book a few times to take a breather. I think it would be a good thing to have another editor take a swing at it and change up a lot of the language to try to make it flow better for the reader.

Overall: I know that a lot of what I wrote was negative but there were some redeemable parts. Towards the end I did like how the story changed. It felt like the author wasn't as bogged down trying to insert all this witch history that she was able to let the character naturally flow together. It was the first time I was able to let my shoulders relax and actually delve into the book completely. So I would say the last 20-30% of the book was the sweet spot and what saved the book from complete ruination. I still feel the story and the characters need some work but I will see what the second book in the series holds.