The emperor’s enemy

*Spoiler ahead

'Either you are a coward or you’re a hero – you can’t be both.’

‘Never had two people reading been more volatile.’

‘He was somehow both the damsel in distress and the despicable dragon at the same time.’

‘Mentally tormenting men is surprisingly enjoyable.’

‘Is it really wrong for women to murder men?’

‘Girl friendships are proof that soulmates exist.’

‘May I fornicate with thee?’

I was already a huge fan of Jasmone Mas, I am patiently waiting for Battle of Hercules to release. But the Emperors Enemy is now probably my favourite. Like with her other books there are trigger warnings. Please do read them before proceeding.

There are similarities to all her FMCs. Usually, some kind of hidden power and the need to protect everyone before herself.

Zora is very much the same. She is strong, fierce and independent. At the age of ten she is attacked by a dire bear and survives, left only with 3 scars to her face and down her back. There is a silver glint to one of the scars on her face. But she doesn’t remember why. At the age of fifteen she meets the future Emperor, who is also fifteen. He falls instantly for her. She instantly hates him. He spends the next seven years destroying the world to make her choose him. She continues to refuse.

Then he does the worst. He kidnaps her mother and kills her best friend, alongside his trusted bodyguard Tarantula. Named for the massive tattoo along his lower face and neck. HE also wears a mask to hide the top of his face.

Zora takes her chance and manages to subdue Tarantula before the emperor can meet them on his dragon. She then brings him into the authorities, and she becomes a member of the Crimson Army.

When she saves another recruit’s life she is rewarded with a prize. She wants to undergo the Iron Ritual to become a Knight Mage and wield magic to fight against the storm magic of the emperor and his Royal Mages.

When she gains her magic, it isn’t what she expected. But she learns to use it to fight for her people. Tarantula uses it as an opportunity to get closer to her and train him herself. This brings us to a lot of dark enemies to lovers yearning. Though the more she tortures him, hits him or stabs him, he seems to fall more for her. It frustrates her to no end as she does everything to fight him off.

But she is angry, she is full of rage and determined to point it at the person who deserves it.

This is a thrilling and dark story. To see the FMC being the one to bully and torture is so different to most FMCs. This man will burn the world for her, even though she hates him just as much as everyone else fighting with the emperor. She wants the Draconis Empire ruined. And she will do it through Tarantula.

There are a lot of twists and turns in this book and the end had me actually gasping out loud. Almost every secret revealed. Though I still have a lot of questions and not necessarily about the Draconis Empire.

My biggest question is about the Marshal, the one who leads and trains the Crimson Army. The one who trains Zora personally with her magic. Zora finds a secret hall, that leads to a secret chamber with a number of locked doors. But that one scene is all we get.

I think there is more to this war than the human leadership is telling their people. Especially why Tarantula is not fully ‘neutered’ by the shock collar. His magic continues to stream out, and he is still able to hurt people with it. He is not controlled. It is merely an annoyance for him, but the Marshal never increases the protections against him. The Marshal also never tells Zora about the information Tarantula is giving the humans. There are too many secrets about the Marshal and what is happening in the training camp that the recruits don’t know about.

‘Antichthon was not what it seemed, and perhaps neither was I.’

But there are secrets about Zora, and her mother. Zora steals a journal of her mothers. One night she accidentally opens it, and it is not in English. But there are five symbols. One representing different aspects of the storm magic that the Draconis Empire wield. Except only three of these gifts are known about by the humans. The magic Zora gains after the Iron Ritual is not the magic she should have received. Her mother refuses to tell her who her father is. She carries wounds from a bear attack but doesn’t know how she survives. A single red rose blooms all year round in the spot where she was attacked. She doesn’t suffer from any of the other illnesses suffered by the humans. Where she lives in the north, the humans suffer from asthma. But Zora has never displayed these.

An aspect of Zora I find most intriguing is her addiction to adrenaline. She learns to snowboard in the mountains by her home to hunt for food for her commune. She loves to jump off the mountains and soar through the air. During her training with the army, she has to learn to jump out of helicopters. She loves it, it helps her calm her mind. So many unanswered questions that must having meaning considering they are mentioned more than once.

Then there is Squire. The small owl who is Zora’s constant companion. Where did come from? Why did he choose her? Why is she the only human to have an animal companion? And why can he speak? This reminds me of the snake who protects Alexis in Blood of Hercules except the snake was invisible and no one else could hear it. That makes me think there is more to Squire than what we are seeing.

Of course we can’t let go of the constant message, you’re a lucky girl. Something her mother told her. Yes, she is lucky, why?

One interesting factor I find is the juxtaposition of the Draconis Empire and the humans. The humans are more modern with helicopters, fighter jets and missiles. The Draconis Empire is reminiscent of medieval times. They ride dragons, they favour propriety. When Zora shows her ankle, Tarantula almost has a fit at the sight of it and begs her to cover it. There is also the language. The Draconis Empire is old English with thou, tis thee, etc.

There are a couple of things that I absolutely love: Zora’s rules for survival and her descriptions of Tarantula’s scent. These are a few of them.

Rules of Survival:

·      Enjoy the adrenaline rush

·      Don’t you dare panic

·      Practice existential audacity

·      Have a terrifying amount of fun

·      Revolt against royals

·      Kill first. Worry about the consequences later

·      Never lose, especially not to men

·      Remember to enjoy the ride

·      Never swallow arachnid venom. Always spit it out.

Tarantula’s scents: dark cherry and

·      The complete absence of hope

·      Grandiose illusions

·      Magic

·      Drenched with tyrannical intentions

·      Nefarious schemes

·      Subjugation; seductive evil

·      Darker intentions

·      The desire to rule the world

There is so much more I would love to talk about, but I would be giving too much away of the book and there are some awesome twists that should be experienced and not known going in. My biggest question is, who is the real emperor’s enemy.

I highly recommend this book and all of Jasmine Mas’s other books as well. She is a fantastic author.