And Oath of Fire is an excellent queer and sapphic romance that does some really interesting things. The story makes Psyche a social worker/therapist who is well meaning but struggles with knowing the right thing to do and with being brave in talking to people, and who finds bits of relief through MMORPG playing and occasional instagram posts. When all seems to go wrong for her professionally, Psyche is sent an invitation to the Fae-like (and Greek god filled) wine-dark courts, where she becomes involved with and oathsworn to the mysterious masked Eros, whom she is drawn tremendously too despite her danger. There are parts here of this story that are predictable (as you'd expect from the story's origins) but Arsenault Rivera still manages to weave a tremendous romance with modern fantasy elements as Psyche gets more and more involved in this dangerous (and often sexy) romance, where one wrong word or move could get her killed. More specifics after the jump:
Plot Summary:
Psyche's life has always been about helping others. That's been the belief behind her career as a therapist and her occasional role as an Instagram influencer. She's always been meek when it comes to herself - except when she plays her favorite MMORPG Crystal Dragon Knight XIV - but helping others and giving them good advice brings her joy. But when she loses her therapist job by accidentally outing a trans patient to their parents without their permission (she thought the parents knew and was trying to give them guidance on how to help their child), Psyche finds herself lost and unsure of what to do, with no one to help and only her cat and online friends for company. Until the day she's sent an online invitation from a captivating man named Zephyr wearing a mask, who hopes that he will be able to help her friend.
The invitation leads Psyche to the debaucherous Wine-Dark Courts, a place full of revelry and danger and clearly inhuman beings who would all like to have a taste of Psyche - sometimes literally. It's a place governed by strange rules, where one wrong innocent move can result in a human being the latest chew toy for these deadly and ravenous creatures. And in these Courts Psyche finds Eros, a strange masked woman who Psyche feels immense longing-for, the one Zephyr asked her to help, for Eros has depressing thoughts about the power and dangers of love.
Drawn-to and Captivated by Eros, Psyche finds herself making a strange oath with Eros to become her oathsworn, sending Psyche on a journey to discovering a part of herself she didn't realize she had in herself - a brave curious one who will marry that need to help Eros with her own desires and wants. But as her sisters and others caution Psyche to be careful, she finds herself taking more and more dangerous steps...one that could ignite her passion as she so desperately wants....or could consume her very soul...
I'm not particularly happy with the above plot summary, but you get the point I think. Oath of Fire is the story of Psyche as she struggles to find herself and also gets more and more deeply involved with Eros and the Courts. And the Courts are a dangerous thing to get more and more involved with: they're essentially a combination of the beings of Greek Myth (Artemis, Poseidon, Zeus, Aphrodite, etc.) with the Courts of the Fae (Rules Against Lying, Powers of True Names, Tremendous Debauchery that hides dangerous fangs and beings who don't understand how their revelries can break human bodies, etc.) Some humans are aware of these Courts (and they exist outside for beings outside the Greek Pantheon as well, although we don't see them in this book) but most humans don't know they exist for good reason - because to get involved is likely to wind up sacrificed at their alters or killed for breaking some incomprehensible rule or another. It's a world that most people would be deathly afraid of - or would be so stupid about so as to get themselves killed quickly.
But not Psyche. Psyche is a person who is not the vain supposedly beautiful person here from the original myth, but is instead a middle child of three who has a deep need to help other people. Growing up she tried to mediate between her two opposing sisters - one married into wealth and works as an influencer, the other is a competitive fighting game legend - and now as an adult she tries to help people as a therapist and to post helpful social tips to others on her Instagram account. Psyche has always given and given to others and has at times given too much and broken down (indeed, one of her sisters fears this has happened again in an early part). And this need to help sometimes leads her to screwup, like in the beginning where she shared information about a trans teen to their parents because Psyche thought the parents already knew and accepted and could help, but the teen did not see it that way.
This need to help also results in her being a very different person when it comes to the Courts and Eros. She wants to know what is happening in them, and to explore them, and while she's afraid, her need to know and to help overpowers her fears...especially as the book goes on and she develops further from the meek woman she is at the beginning. Oh she is greatly fascinated by and attracted to Eros at the beginning, but unlike others who have interacted with Eros - the goddess of desire - Psyche's need to help Eros, a person who struggles with how others see her as a tool and can't actually love her, overpowers her physical wants. So when she first sees Eros, she needs Eros to first help Zephyr (who Psyche perceives to be in danger); later, when she and Eros are in a relationship, she wants to ensure such a relationship isn't toxic first before experience the physical pleasure she craves. It's an approach that is something Eros has never seen before and it results in the two of them genuinely falling in love...to the displeasure of at least one other member of the Courts.
The result is a queer romance that is really fascinating to read, definitely sexy as hell at times, and one where you grow to care for both Psyche, the human character, and Eros, the very much inhuman. You want Psyche to find a way through it all to be a more balanced person who has the people she cares for and loves without suffering as a result of the power games of the Courts, and mild spoiler, you will get such a happy ending in some fashion. It's a really excellent book, even if I don't quite love it as much as Arsenault Rivera's prior work.
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