ARC Review of Her Soul for a Crown by Alysha Rameera
Rating: 3.75/5
Heat Level: 3.25/5
Pub Date: August 12th
This is an epic romantasy inspired by Sri Lankan (Sinhalese) mythology, with plenty of political machinations and questioning the role of gods and demons alike. I was immediately sold on the beautifully immersive world Alysha Rameera builds. The romance between a demon and a human? I have thoughts on that.
Reeri is a Yakka (demon) doomed to eternal purgatory and the torture of his fellow Yakkas as long as he is unable to find the bone blade his tormentor seeks. Enter Anula, whose plan to seduce and marry the king and seek her revenge goes awry when said king is killed in a coup. Desperate, she makes a bargain... a deal with the devil, so to speak: she wants to be queen in exchange for her soul. Her soul is enough to tether Reeri to the Earth so he can complete his search for the bone blade.
What does this mean in practical terms? Reeri is inhibiting the new king's body, and Anula is his queen. And because her soul tethers him, Reeri conveniently can't be too far from Anula at all times! Whatever will they do....
The answer is a lot more attempted murder and actual murder than you think. Truly, Anula is "fight God in a Denny's parking lot" level trigger-happy in her quest for vengeance, and it's pretty funny when that extends to her poisoning Reeri. TWICE. Still, this isn't quite an enemies-to-lovers romance; Reeri and Anula are more reluctant allies and even then, a lot of their missions are accomplished solo (or in Reeri's case with his fellow Yakkas). Because of this, I don't... know how sold I was by the time the first "I love you" came at around the 70% mark. At that point, it feels like the most routine interaction they've had is when they're sharing one bed, and there is some physical attraction on Reeri's side. Despite having shared one or two kisses, Anula seems more sympathetic to Reeri and his plight than actually attracted to him— and a part of that is because Reeri doesn't actually inhabit his own body for most of the book, but I didn't feel her attraction to his soul or the parts of him he was able to reveal either.
And that's the thing about romantasies for me— I'm never quite sure the level of romance I should expect from a subgenre that has heavy world-building and is very mission-centric, and in this case, there are also multiple enemies to contend with.
There are a handful of sex scenes near the end of the story— they are on-page, quite tender, and a little more euphemistic than explicit. And surprise, Reeri is... a virgin demon??
On a romance level, while the "deal with the devil" romance had some bite, the payoff wasn't what I personally expected in this book. However, if you lean into the fantasy side of things, this is a fantastic mythology-inspired story that also has roots in Sri Lankan history.
Thank you to Sourcebooks for the advanced copy.
