[alc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for providing an advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
Terror at the Gates releases July 8, 2025

“Forgiveness is an invitation to sin. It will be our ruin.”

The slow burn tension between Lilith and Zahariev?! I’m obsessed.
I was worried that the religious trauma would detract from the overall enjoyment of the story, but it wasn’t bad at all.
Looking forward to seeing what direction Scarlett St. Clair takes this series after that ending!

I was so excited to read this book after seeing it promoted as a fresh romantasy featuring a powerful FMC, themes of female rage, and rebellion against a deeply misogynistic society.

But oh boy, it did not deliver. The writing style felt basic, lacking depth or emotional nuance. The main character, Lilith, was supposed to be strong and defiant, but instead, she constantly waited around for the male lead, Zahariev, to swoop in and save her. Even when something tragic happens, she barely reacts emotionally and immediately goes back to lusting over him. It was frustrating to say the least.

I will say the worldbuilding had potential. The city of Eden, divided into distinct districts, was an interesting concept and probably the strongest part of the book.

If you’re in the mood for a quick read filled with insta-love and lots of smut, this might work for you. But I was hoping for something with more depth, genuine emotion, and that promised dose of female rage. Sadly, it just wasn’t there.

This book was incredible! I was so hooked and loved the rage! This is a fantastic read. I can't stop thinking about it. So so so good! The voices for the ACL were perfect.

This book! I feel like I've been waiting ages for Scarlett to write a new series, and she delivered!
Give me all the female rage, power, and magic!
A gritty, edgy urban Lilith retelling with brooding mafia romance! sign me all the way up!
I couldn't put this book down. It's one of those books you want to stay up to, till 2am reading, the vibes are honestly immaculate.

I loved Lilith so so much! she's strong-willed and bratty but is soft for the people she's closest too and I admired how she never once backed down for what she felt was right.

Zahariev and the man you are! If somebody asked me for my ideal type, it's him! Fiercely protective, sarcastic, but also just the right amount of patient.

Honestly, if you're looking for a friend to lovers (kinda) romeo and juliet esque romantasy urban fantasy, then definitely pick this up! The magic system is so intriguing and feels fresh! I can't wait to read the second book!

Terror at the Gates is a dark, tension-filled, and emotionally charged story of rebellion, identity, and forbidden devotion. The audiobook truly captures the weight of this world and its characters.

Laura Horrowitz was a standout narrator. Her performance was compelling and emotionally rich, perfectly delivering each layer of Lilith’s struggle. Every scene, especially when Zahariev finally gave in to his feelings, was filled with the kind of intensity that lingers.

The production quality elevated the entire experience. I chose to read along with the audiobook and it made the story even more immersive. While the pacing felt a bit slow at times, the emotional payoff and the narration made it well worth it.

This is a strong start to the Blood of Lilith series and one I’d recommend to anyone looking for a dramatic and dark romantasy with excellent voice work.

Holy shit. I was consumed by this book, and I already want to reread to it. It was just the perfect amount of slow burn spice (but the spice was YUMMY) with a super engaging plot that kept me on my toes the entire book. I’m ready to make this book my personality now. Brace yourself, though, because it ended on a freaking EPIC note, and now I’m currently aching for more!

I was also lucky enough to receive an ALC of this, and the narrators KILLED IT. Laura Horowitz and Tristan Warden both delivered deliciously smoky, seductive audio for this one. 🥵 5⭐️

Thank you to Tantor Audio and NetGalley for the advanced listening copy of the audiobook.

This audio book is absolutely impeccable!
The enemies to lovers slow burn
Loyal handsome man!
And fine as hell female lead !
Sorrow and hard topics are intertwined but it is completely worth it because Scarlett’s writing is everything I’ve always wanted !!!!! I love how while I read I felt like this was an underworld dark world that had no sun!
I felt like it was always night time in my mind and it was perfect it was giving mafia and I love the world building it was honestly perfect!
It feels like a vice city midnight club mafia that was connected to religious aspects and trauma!
A must read for dark romance readers!

Come for the pretty prose, stay for the rage. Terror at the Gates by Scarlett St. Clair is beautiful, brutal, and unputdownable. Scarlett has an extraordinary talent for placing the reader squarely in the protagonist's shoes, creating an immersive narrative that reimagines Lilith from Mesopotamian mythology, highlighting her strength, defiance, and refusal to be subservient. The themes of feminine rage, familial conflict, and the longing to be truly seen resonated deeply with me. I felt like I was personally being called out. 10/10 would spiral again for this book.

Listening to this audiobook was a reread for me. I also received the eARC and rated the book 5 stars - superb. The book has everything I love about Scarlett St. Clair's writing, and it's one of her best yet.

This rating/review is mostly on the audiobook aspect. I struggled to get into the audio for the first few chapters. I think the intonation choices and reading speed were not to my taste. I did speed it up and eventually really enjoyed the narrator for Lilith. I think she captured the character well and I was able to enjoy the audiobook.

The narrator for Zahariev didn't fit for me. I know one issue was the speed at which he spoke but there was more to it than that. It wasn't bad - but it wasn't the right sound for me.

I did very much enjoy the audiobook overall and the story is incredible.

This book was so creatively written and beautifully executed. I truly enjoyed the narrators and how they portrayed their characters. As a religious person I was slightly uncomfortable with some parts but the majority of the story was amazing.

I enjoyed the Biblical references as well, especially the characters names. Everything about this book was captivating. I am definitely looking forward to what’s next from Scarlett!

Thank you so much for allowing me to listen to “Terror at the Gates”.

📿💋 Terror At The Gates💋📿

- Scarlett St Clair

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Terror at the Gates is a feminist retelling of Lilith, mother of demons, story within Christian mythology. In traditional lore, Lilith, exiled from the Garden of Eden for disobeying Adam, is depicted as monstrous and seductively wicked, smiting men in a vengeful quest.

I absolutely loved the world building in this. It’s set in Eden, in the sin city of Nineveh. The book deals heavily with themes of religion, power, and the patriarchy, and how each of these are intertwined. It was refreshing to see a fantasy that focuses so heavily on religion - its pitfalls and shortcomings along with its positive influence. One of the central themes is the abuse of power within the church and how easily manipulation and exploitation can occur. This was by far my favourite aspect of the book - religion is too frequently ignored as a world building element and it can be so, so interesting.

I didn’t feel like St Clair explored Lilith’s character much beyond her being a caricatured femme fatale. The story was meant to be feminist but Lilith was still beholden to Zahahriev and living under his rule. She has just switched out her father’s oppression for Zahahriev. Perhaps this will change in later volumes as she discovers her true power, as she still is rather powerless in this patriarchal world. The concept of the women being the ones to possess magic, and the men marrying them for that magic was intriguing and definitely something that I’m excited to see explored further.

The plot was slow-paced, but given this is the first book in a series, I’m confident it will speed up in later books after the thrilling conclusion of this. This was all about setting the scene, which might bother some readers, but not so much me.

Additionally, I listened to this on audiobook, narrated by Laura Horowitz and Tristan Warden, and I felt this added hugely to my enjoyment! I love audiobooks because they feel like such a more immersive reading experience.

Do you like retellings of myths? For me, I love them! I already have a couple more lined up in my TBR!

Thanks to RB Media and Bloom Books for the audio ARC!

4.5⭐
I hate starting a newly released book that happens to be #1 in the series, because WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE TO WAIT FOR BOOK #2!!? This was too good!!

Lilith comes from a very wealthy/powerful family, yet chooses to slum it in Nineveh - a city devoted to sin - surviving basically by theft.
Zahariev - OH ZAHARIEV <3 - is the Head of the Zareth family, as well as the ruler of Nineveh. He's an extremely powerful man - Lilith despises him.

After Lilith attempts to sell a dagger she stole, the pawn man ends up dying after examining the dagger, Lilith & Zahariev together attempt to discover what's actually going on in the city of Nineveh.

READ READ READ

Thank you NetGalley and Tantor Audio for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Tantor Audio and Scarlett St. Clair for an alc of this book. Wow, this was such a new and cool concept for a book — and it was executed soooo well! This is a reimagining of the myth of Lilith, but set in a neo-gothic mafia landscape with a corrupt religious entity and complicated politics. The story took so many turns that I didn’t expect, partially because Lilith is prone to acting first and thinking later (a trait I admire but frustrated me at times). She’s been hurt by the people around her, and suffered due to the patriarchal system in her world. She’s strong, and determined not to be a victim, no matter what comes her way. Her chosen family has so many lovable characters, and Zahariev (her love interest) is steadfast, loyal, yet unreadable sometimes. I like the little snippets we hear from him at the end of the chapters — they provide a little insight into what Lilith’s world is like around her. So much of this book toys with what’s forbidden, pushing against a system designed to keep you in one box. It’s a character study in female rage, but not like you’ve seen it before. I feel like book would be great for fans of Lucifer, Supernatural, and strong characters. I do recommend it, but definitely check trigger warnings!

4 🌟

I loved this one, highly recommend if you like:
✨ Friends to lovers
✨ Touch her and die
✨ Feminine rage
✨ Strong, independent, short tempered FMC
✨ Caring, mafia MMC
✨ Banter and tension
✨ Animal sidekick 🐈‍⬛
✨ Found family / friendship circles
✨ World building with biblical references
✨ Urban fantasy / modern day world but with magic and demons
✨ Mainly one pov with a small snippet from Zahariev 's pov
✨ Spicy 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥
TW: parental issues, abuse, death

Zahariev and Lilith are from different powerful families in Eden. Lilly, the heir of Hiram, is bit of a rebel and currently estranged from her family and living under the protection of Zahareiv, head of Nineveh. Her one year is up and should be called back home anytime now. Only the females of these families have magic, but they can't utilise it as per rule and are subservient to men of their family. But she doesn't want to be pawn to be used by others. She is trying to make a living by using her power to 'procure' artefacts and selling it. Zahareiv while pretending not to see this also protects her as instructed by her father. They are trapped in some trouble after procures a beautiful knife, which has the tendency to leave a trail of deaths in its wake.
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I loved it, the writing and the characters. I was intrigued by the twists that were happening and didn't want to put it down. By the end, I was holding my breath to see what will happen. And it was amazing. I can't wait to read the rest of the series.

I loved the narration, Laura did a wonderful job.

(4.25) Wow! This was my first book from this author and now I want more and more in this series! I will go look for her other books. This book had all: the angst with a slight enemies to lovers, mythology, and religion. It kept me wanting to know what happened next.

I listened to the audiobook version and the narrators were absolutely perfect for the story. The audio quality was clear, and both the pacing and diction made it easy to stay engaged with the storyline.
Story wise, the pacing was consistent. There was never a lull in the middle which can happen in some books. The plot was intriguing from start to finish, keeping me invested in the story the whole time.

The characters were well written and well rounded. They had depth to them which I appreciate. I especially connected with the main character and her personal struggles.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book!

Oh how I love Scarlett St. Clair. I couldn’t wait to listen to this book and I’m glad I did! Scarlett always does a great job of mythical retelling and this is no exception. The story was great and intense and thank goodness for audiobooks so I could learn how to pronounce the characters’ names. Plus, the narration is top tier. The voice actors capture the nuances of every character, especially the crackling chemistry between the leads and the gut-wrenching emotion in the most pivotal scenes. Whether it’s quiet introspection or full-blown chaos, the performance makes you feel everything.

I cant quote word for word but there is a line where Lilith says she thinks religion was created for good and out of good intentions but has become corrupt. This is generally how I have been feeling about religion in the U.S and I prefer to disassociate while reading. I think the direction this is going holds promise for the next book.

I was interested and felt invested most of the time. The plot and story really feel like a world of its own. I am rooting for Lilith and Zahariev and love their unusual relationship. I was also pretty invested in the friends/side characters and was really shocked around the 50% mark at the events that happened.

I also enjoyed the mafia style "families".

The blob demon was a bit comical and I really hope this being develops into something more than goop 😅

The ending was explosive! It had me listening intently for anything I could have missed and trying to theorize where this could be going.

I was lucky enough to receive an early listening copy of Terror at the Gates. I am a big fan of Scarlett St. Clair and was excited to listen to this book. This gripping story was well written and the story kept me on the edge of my seat.

The narrators did a fantastic job of capturing the characters and making the story flow well. I did not know what to expect as I am not usually an audiobook girlie. I was pleasantly surprised and shocked as to how enjoyable this was. I will definitely be recommending this audiobook to my fellow fantasy book lovers!

#netgalley #alc #netgalleyreview

Scarlett St. Clair’s “Terror at the Gates” is an urban fantasy with a touch of spice and a modern twist. The world-building is exceptional, the magic captivating, and the banter between the main characters is both witty and entertaining. In this series, Lilith embarks on a journey to forge her own power in a world that seeks to control her. I listened to the audiobook, and Laura Horowitz delivered a flawless performance as Lilith. Her voice perfectly embodied the world of the story. Looking forward to the next book in this series.

Holy cow. I ate this book up like a woman starved and now I'm foaming at the mouth for the next.

I've read some of St.Clair's other books and found them to be quite enjoyable, but you can tell she's grown as an author since her earlier titles. This book felt well thought out and was executed perfectly.

The dynamic between Zahariev and Lilith was electric! These two were like sharks circling one another waiting to attack, but make it sexy? Idk but I LOVED it.

The narrators did a phenomenal job of immersing the reader into the story. 10/10 Easily one of my top reads this year.