✨Veilmarch✨

This wasn’t just a story. It was a walk through the life of a character brought so viscerally to life that I felt it in my heart and bones. It wasn’t a high stakes, action packed thriller… no, it was an aching trek through a heart full of feminine rage and empathy for justice, life, and love. It was an existence where love and connection were forbidden and replaced with duty, death, and blood.

Hallie takes us through the life of Ilys, our rising Veilwalker, as she is raised and trained to be the hand of death where the god cannot be. Allowing the god of death to remain a collector, Veilwalkers take the lives of those who have unnaturally extended their own, while it also keeps the king alive and his kingdom protected from plagues and other causes of death. But, of course, this goodness oozes easily into corruption… and it is here we begin Ilys’ journey.

Using beautiful, poetic prose and imagery to spin a tale that walks you INSIDE the pages not just alongside, Hallie makes you feel every moment, emotion, and grievance. The first 30% is living Ilys’ life with her as she is raised by her mentor, Grim, and other father figure, Baron. Ilys experiences much hardship and hard won joy within this time that makes her who she is when she finally takes over and endures the Veilmarch with Death. And once we meet Death… that’s when our delicious slow burn truly begins.

The time we spend with Ilys and Death was so magnetic even in its simplicity and gentility. They relate in ways that spur Ilys’ hatred for what he has made her do but they also slowly become the “more” they’ve been yearning for as true death bears down on them. I cried so many times throughout this book, feeling that love and loss, and I equally felt a mourning peace and joy at the end. (That ending got me. So. Precious.)

Tropes you may find in Veilmarch are one bed, enemies to lovers vibes, gothic setting, morally grey characters, feminine rage, necromancers and meddling fates, chosen family, slow burn to low spice (lightly descriptive), forced proximity, comfort & wound tending, and low but HEART WRENCHING stakes.

Thank you, Hallie, Netgalley, and Cariad Pub, for this gifted arc. It was devastatingly lovely.

Holy moly I cannot rave about this enough. It is so hard to find original fantasy storylines and I absolutely loved reading this one!

Wow. What an experience reading Veilmarch was. If I could give this book six stars, I would.

We follow the journey of Ilys (who now happens to be one of my favourite FMC’s ever), who has been brought up since childhood to be a Veilwalker—Death’s very own assistant, if you will. Her story tackles themes such as power and faith, as well as freedom and resistance against everything she has ever known. Ilys goes through such a transformation, from a dutiful girl to a strong, somewhat stubborn woman.

Hallie Pursel’s prose was divine. I found myself highlighting so many snippets of writing, in awe of how beautifully poetic Ilys’s story was written. The pacing was perfect, I never once found myself bored or struggling to continue reading—in fact, I was so sad once it came to an end, I felt like I flew through it so quickly.

The other characters I grew to deeply admire—Grim and Baron need their own novella, I could read about them for an eternity. We really watch Death’s shroud unravel as he shows both us and Ilys who he truly is. The slow-burn was filled with yearning, and it constantly made me hungry for more scenes between Ilys and Death.

There were moments when I was on the edge of my seat, unable to stop immersing myself in this incredibly unique world. This book had me sobbing, laughing, smiling and, through it all, feeling hopeful for Ily’s journey. It was everything I could ever want in a book—slow-burn romance, yearning, gothic ambience, female rage, an extraordinary world.

What an amazing read to finish off the year for me—Hallie Pursel, I would read her shopping list, I am that in awe of her writing. Any book she writes will be an instant read for me.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this ARC.