Romantasy

Review: Rage of Krakens by Juliette Caruso

July 14, 2026

Synopsis:

He was the King of Witches. Now, he’s her captive.

Former lady knight Cai lives in exile after being accused of the very crime she despises most: witchcraft. After all, no human could have survived the brutal attack that sank her warship two years ago, leaving her wounded and with foggy memories of being rescued by an ancient beast beneath the sea.

Only witches bond to beasts.

To make matters worse, a notorious prisoner is brought to the barren isle where Cai lives in disgrace, and is placed under her guard. Roiven is the King of Witches, handsome but evil, and the very man responsible for the attack that ruined her life. He’s enchanted to obey her, but the cunning bastard finds loopholes in every command. Tethered to her greatest enemy, Cai begins to realize the witches aren’t what she believed.

But when Roiven breaks her newfound trust, the fate of their world rests on whether Cai can find the truth buried beneath the lies. Because no matter how hard Cai wants to forget about the Kraken that saved her life, only the witch bonded to it will be strong enough to save Roiven’s people from annihilation.

Rage of Krakens is Book 2 in the Forbidden Bonds Collection. Each book is a standalone and can be read in any order.

Review:

The beginning of the book immediately drew me in, and it became clear to me very quickly that I was going to enjoy this read. Cai lost her parents when she was young and was taken in by others. Since then, she has been trained to be a knight – a soldier taught that witches are the enemy and must be destroyed. After an attack, she wakes up with no understanding of how she got there and is punished by being sent into exile. When the person responsible for the attack is caught and she is ordered to watch over him, it sets off a chain of events that makes her question everything she has ever been told.

This book actually deserves to be marketed as an enemies-to-lovers story. They are on opposite sides of a war, and when they are suddenly thrown together, that tension is immediately apparent. It takes time for both of them to learn to trust each other, and their relationship doesn’t change overnight, which is exactly what I was hoping for. Watching their interactions evolve – from wanting to hurt each other to slowly building a foundation of trust, and from hostile conversations to genuine banter – was exactly the kind of progression I wanted to see.
The story also never forgets the past and doesn’t gloss over the fact that Cai has done things that hurt a lot of people. Likewise, gaining the trust of strangers is not something that happens immediately, which made the relationships feel much more believable.
If you want a convincing enemies-to-lovers story in which two strangers slowly come to accept each other and have a meaningful impact on one another, this is the book for you. It was wonderfully written, and the chemistry between the characters radiated off the pages, slowly growing until it became an uncontrollable fire. And I was here for every moment of it.
It also doesn’t end with everything neatly wrapped up with a bow on top. Some things are left for the reader to imagine, and that made it feel just a little bit more special to me.

🌙 Recension: Rage of Krakens (Forbidden Bonds Collection) by Juliette Caruso
📚 Genre: Romantasy
📅 Release Date: July 14, 2026
📗 available in various formats – included in Kindle Unlimited
📱 Read as: Kindle
💸 I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
🗣️ Language: English
📆 Pages: 417
⭐️ 5/5