A Liar’s Twisted Tongue (The Fated Blood Trilogy #1) by Caroline Cusanelli

Caroline Cusanelli, 2025

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8990027831

Available: Hardcover, paperback, audiobook, Kindle edition

Buy: Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

Desdemona’s community is barely surviving under the noses of the brutal Nepenthes. One day, Desdemona’s mother hands her a protection necklace and pushes her through a portal as the monstrous Arcanes descend on their home. The portal opens onto the grounds of Visnatus Academy, a school for the elites of Ilyria, Folkara, Eunaris, Draevia, and Nepthara, all of whom have different magical powers. Desdemona has a letter identifying her as the secret child of a famous Folk general that gains her probationary admission to the academy, but she just wants to go home to her mom.

Despite the letter, I wasn’t convinced that Desdemona, thrown headfirst into a disorienting situation she could not possibly understand, could have survived the brutal Visnatus Academy for even a few minutes without being caught out, or that she would immediately find allies despite her behavior and attitude. She’d need My Fair Lady levels of training, and she barely has a believable cover story.

Meanwhile, Lucian, crown prince of Ilyria, has had an unpleasant surprise: his marriage has been arranged with Princess Calista of Folkara, while his sister Lilac will be marrying Prince Kai, Calista’s brother. Lucian is resigned to doing whatever his abusive mother, Queen Isa, tells him to, as she has the magical ability to drain his life force, but misery over their impending marriages inspires him to throw a party in the woods. There,  he is drawn into Desdemona’s attempt to open a portal back to her mom. While she is traveling in the portal, Lucian has a vision of them in the Void, an empty dimension where the powerful, monstrous Arcanes are trapped. Desdemona is able to communicate with her mother through the vision, and Lucian decides he needs her power to take his revenge on the Arcanes, who murdered his real parents, leaving him at Isa’s mercy. Desdemona’s power is over fire, and she doesn’t know how to control it (leading to some terrifying situations). Lucian, whose power allows him to manipulate and influence other people, offers to teach her if she will help him.

Romantasy leans heavily on tropes, but in any credible love story the reader should be able to figure out why the romantic leads like each other. That just isn’t present here. Desdemona is consistently hostile, rude, manipulative, and ungrateful. Lucian is arrogant, reckless, manipulative, and sometimes cruel. Both are dealing with trauma and repressed memories, acting in survivor mode, but not with empathy toward each other. While they occasionally have a tender moment, the memorable scenes are the ones that cross between violence and  their magnetic attraction to each other. This was offered to me as a “dark academia romantasy” It certainly has the atmosphere expected of an ominous boarding school for elite students found in dark academia, but leans harder into the outside fantasy world than into academic obsession, and is more focused on the dynamics of the leads with each other.

Romantasy fans who like morally gray characters  with heightened emotions will enjoy the intricate world-building, the high stakes, and the developing relationship between the two main characters. The end held some intriguing surprises, and readers who like this can look forward to a sequel.

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski