We Who Will Die

A Novel

By: Stacia Stark

Narrated by: Meg Sylvan, Troy Duran

Instant New York Times Bestseller!
From the bestselling author of the Kingdom of Lies series comes a slow-burn romantasy set in a Roman-inspired world ruled by merciless vampires. Filled with breathtaking combat, vengeful gods, and magical creatures, We Who Will Die is the epic first installment in an enthralling new series perfect for fans of Carissa Broadbent, Jasmine Mas, and Rebecca Yarros.

Life in the perilous Thorn district is a constant battle for Arvelle and her younger brothers. And the vampire standing on her doorstep is about to turn their world upside down.

Faced with an unthinkable choice, Arvelle makes a magically binding vow to do the impossible: kill the emperor, an ancient vampire created by the god Umbros. But first, she must enter the Sundering—an arena where only the fastest, strongest, and deadliest survive long enough to be selected for the emperor’s elite guard.

She quickly draws the ire of the Primus, the powerful figure charged with protecting the emperor. But the vampire under the armor is the last person Arvelle expects to encounter in the emperor’s court.

With her brothers’ lives in the balance, Arvelle has no choice but to ally with the man who once shattered her heart… and with the emperor’s sadistic son, Rorrik—two vampires whose motives are impossible to pin down. Rorrik holds the key to understanding the powers Arvelle is developing—abilities that would put a price on her head if discovered by the emperor.

To survive the arena and complete her mission, Arvelle must get to the bottom of a conspiracy that will change everything she thought she knew about herself—and the two vampires who are deeply entwined with her destiny…

Fun story, narration not so much, and not as immersive as it could have been.

This was a fun story and I enjoyed listening (it had me wondering what would happen next and I do like the vampire diaries angle) - HOWEVER two things stood out that kept me from 5 stars:

-narration; the FMC’s voice sounds like at any moment she’s going to drop what she’s doing and head to the mall (as/if with a grating accent IYKYK), essentially did not fit the character IMO. Same with the MMCs-both sounded so old and ancient I couldn’t get behind it (as much as I wanted to). You’re probably better off reading if narration is important to you.

- the author relies on named emotions rather than sensory or behavioral cues. “Fear ripped through me” or “anger surged”.. It it was less immersive because of this. I don’t want to have the emotion named. I want to FEEL and LIVE it. Basically, the book could have used another “once over” on the editing end to fix this.

Fix these two things, and book 2 will be incredible. Again, I love the storyline, and I see why BookTok loved it. But I’ve got some pretty high standards (12+ years of audiobook and romance/fantasy listens) that I feel could absolutely be met if these two improvements are made.

Weak Plot

The story was a bit slow. The ending was not as good as I was hoping.

Best Book of 2025!

The world building in this book is unbelievable! It is right up there with ACOTAR, TOG, and The Fourth Wing! A Gladiator meets Blade kind of feel with a badass and relatable heroine!

Fantastic

Fantastic as always! Love every book that Stacia Stark writes. Can't wait for the next one!

Loved it!

Thankful that it wasn’t the usual romantasy plots. It’s like hunger games meets vampire diaries!