Review: What Fury Brings by Tricia Levenseller

What Fury Brings by Tricia Levenseller

Series: Wrath and Fury #1

Publication date: September 23rd, 2025

Pages: 368

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Synopsis:

#1 New York Times-bestselling author Tricia Levenseller makes her adult debut in What Fury Brings, a sexy, empowering romantasy featuring a warrior general who must kidnap and train a husband in order to take her rightful place as queen.

There's a shortage of men in the kingdom of Amarra. After a failed rebellion against the matriarchy, most noblemen in the country are dead. Now the women of Amarra must obtain their husbands (should they want one) by kidnapping them from other kingdoms.

Olerra, a warrior princess vying for the throne, is determined to prove her worth by kidnapping a husband. And not just any husband. To outmaneuver her treacherous cousin, she needs the best. Fortunately, the second-born prince of their greatest enemy is widely known for both his looks and his sweet, docile temperament. He's the perfect choice to secure her claim to the throne.

Sanos, heir to the Kingdom of Brutus, has nothing but contempt for the idea of a society run by women. Trained from birth to fight, lead, and follow in his father's overbearing footsteps, his path has always been set. Until he takes his younger brother's place in a drunken prank and finds himself kidnapped, carted off to the Amarran Palace, and informed that he is to become the husband of Queen Potential Olerra, Sanos needs to escape before anyone learns his real identity, but the more he gets to know his captor, the less sure he is of what he truly wants.

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Story: The premise of the story was immediately intriguing when first I read the synopsis. A society run by women that depicted them as the superior sex over men? Women who treated men the way so many men had treated them women in the medieval days? Sign me up. It was something unique that I have never read before which is rare these days. I jumped into the book worried that maybe it would push the feminists viewpoints a little to far and make the book a little intolerable, but the Tricia Levenseller managed to straddle that line really well. It was empowering without being overbearing. The setting and the feel of a fantasy world with sprigs of magic incorporated but that seemed to lack a lot of the technology of today's time. 

 Characters: I loved the characters of this book (save Glen). Olerra was meant to have the personification of a warrior and with that came a healthy dose of masculinity. But there were points where she would show how uncertain and easily swayed by emotion she was that is a distinctly feminine attitude. Normally I like women in my books to be a little more submissive and willing to bend to the will of the men (the curse of dark romance) but this was completely different from that. She was the dominant one and forced Sanos into the more subservient position. But he wasn't the type to fall into submission so easily. I loved that he pushed back and he was stoic and argumentative. The two's banter was equal parts comical and delightful to read. I loved watching them overcome both of their viewpoints in a bid for equality.

Writing: The one thing I love most in books is when the author chooses to have the characters form their own words for things. In this case, Levenseller decided to give sexualities different, more fantastical, names. I had to flip back a few times to see which Olerra was referring to at times but it was very interesting. It was something that set Amarra apart from the other countries and further intensified their distinction that they were a female ruled empire. I liked the distinction between each of the countries and how each of them may have different sets of beliefs and customs that would make future books even more interesting to read. I think the author set herself up perfectly for future writing projects. And, of course, the grammar and structure of the story was beautifully done. I have no complaints where the operations of the book are concerned.

Overall:  I have a hard time finding anything in this book that I didn't like. It was an interesting use of acceptance and distinction between the gender roles of our society today and twisting it on its head. The author mentioned she wrote this book in fits and bursts whenever she felt like her gender was cause for her life's struggles and I love that she channeled all of her own female fury into this book. I think method writing is a skill that a lot of authors should implement. I think Tricia Levenseller is on her way to being a household name and I look forward to reading more books in this universe as I was saddened to have to leave it with the finish of the last page.