We Who Will Die: Another Compulsively Readable Yet Average Romantasy

Stacia Stark’s We Who Will Die is one of those romantasy books where I was taken out the story quite a few times in that baffled kind of “what was that” feeling,  yet I still couldn’t put it down. It’s a bit messy with uneven pacing and a main character who loses sight of her motives, but it’s also weirdly addictive in a way that almost makes me mad. If you’re someone who eats up books in this genre even when they are flawed, you’ll probably enjoy this one.  

From pretty early on, the story introduces a number of plot points that feel like they’re being set up for something important, only for many of them to never fully develop or quietly disappear. There were multiple moments where I found myself wondering if certain storylines were going to come back into play, because they seemed significant at the time, but they’re either forgotten or resolved so lightly that they barely register. This lack of follow through contributed to a bigger issue with continuity, since there were small but noticeable inconsistencies that also pulled me out of the story. 

The world building in We Who Will Die was also a bit confusing to me, there is overall concept of people competing in a coliseum type of fight for the emperor’s amusement, but there was also a fantastical element of magical creatures (called maginari) and… vampires? They felt oddly random within the world, kind dropped in without enough groundwork or explanation to make them feel like a natural part of the setting. I think the world has the potential to be deep and complex, and maybe even is, but we’re not really shown that depth on the page. We’re told just enough to move the plot forward, but not enough to feel fully immersed in the rules, history, or structure of the world. 

Character-wise, my feelings were pretty mixed. The FMC frustrated me quite a bit with how repetitive her back and forth feelings became. She constantly cycles through pushing people away, snapping at them, apologizing, and then immediately repeating the pattern. This was especially noticeable with one side character who seems to exist primarily out of plot convenience rather than as a fully realized friend. None of it felt like meaningful character growth so much as the same scene playing on a loop. 

I’m also officially tired of the siblings-in-danger trope being used as the backbone of the story and sole motivation. It’s giving Hunger Games and at this point I’m bored. The siblings are used only to put the FMC under pressure, justify reckless decisions, and then are pretty much sidelined once that purpose has been served.  

As for the romance, the main male love interest didn’t do much for me. He wasn’t bad, just… boring. He fell flat compared to what the story clearly wanted him to be, and I never fully bought into the chemistry. However, there is a side character that absolutely carried this book for me. He’s easily the most compelling character in the story. I’m avoiding names for spoilery reasons, but I genuinely couldn’t guess what side he’s on or what his true motivations are, and I love that he’s written with real nuance. He doesn’t fall plainly into good or evil, and that moral ambiguity made every scene with him far more interesting than it had any right to be. 

One area where the book consistently shines is the action. The action scenes are well written and easy to visualize, which helped keep the book engaging and high stakes. I always knew what was happening and where characters were positioned, which isn’t something I can say for every fantasy book. 

Despite all of my complaints, I couldn’t stop reading. Some romantasy books are almost annoying to me in how compulsively readable they are, and We Who Will Die definitely falls into that category. It’s flawed and feels a bit uneven, but it also has just enough tension, action, and romance to keep you turning pages.