A Legionnaire’s Guide to Love and Peace turns the basic premise of the romantasy novel on its head and that’s just the start!
The romantasy genre has been around long enough that I think most readers are familiar with the basic concept: the world is threatened by an evil dark lord, the hero must assemble all their magical prowess to save the world all while finding true love at the same time. Intersperse however many steamy love scenes are needed based on who is writing the story. It’s a by-now familiar premise, familiar enough that I was surprised to encounter a story that managed to turn the entire concept onto its head.
A Legionnaire’s Guide to Love and Peace
Written by: Emily Skrutskie
Published by: Del rey
Release date: June 24, 2025
Imagine, if you will, a story that focuses, not on the hero and his circle of friends, but instead on the front line soldiers who’ve been battling the evil for years. It’s the eve of the last battle, no one is expected to survive the coming day, so two soldiers do what only seems natural and have a wild night of lovemaking before their inevitable deaths. Except, instead of dying to the forces of evil….surprise! The heroes of Good come swooping in, destroy the dark lord and the day is saved! The day is saved…and now the lovers have to suddenly talk about that thing they never thought they’d live to talk about.
Romantic fantasy awkwardness ensues.
In a nutshell, this is the basic plot of A Legionnaire’s Guide to Love and Peace by Emily Skrutskie. It is a highly entertaining read. After reading numerous stories focusing on “a lost royal” or the stereotypical golden hero, it was refreshing to see a story that takes the opposite approach. Legionnaire’s Guide follows Katrien and Emory, two front line soldiers who suddenly find themselves dealing with relationship questions they never thought they’d live to talk about. Throw in the complication of finding themselves suddenly following a (handsome) magic-imbued prince across the kingdom who is also something of an idiot, and you have quite the romantic complication at work.
This novel also goes to places few books of this genre do. If you think about it, most fantasy novels end with the dark lord being defeated and maybe a brief flash forward to show the surviving heroes planning the future before the story ends and the results are left to the reader’s imagination. Instead, this story starts with the dark lord’s defeat and we get to see a little of what rebuilding after the war against evil is over would actually look like.
It’s something you rarely think about but: what would it look like if the heroes of Good suddenly have to face life after their mission is over and that focus is no longer there? Not just for the heroes, but the common soldiers? When you’ve been focused on a single mission for so long, how does one get back to normal life, is that even possible? These are all very real questions and the author handles them beautifully.
What really draws me into this story is how fleshed out and vibrant the world feels. The author takes the time to describe the little details, like the heat of a summer’s day, the stickiness of mud, which all adds up to a world that feels real albeit removed from our own because of the magic that inhabits it. As a visual person, I could also appreciate the heavy descriptions given to food and various tastes encountered throughout the story.
Speaking of magic, A Legionnaire’s Guide to Love and Peace has one of the more unique magic systems I’ve seen in a story like this. I’ve become so used to fantasy stories that focus on “the power of this god” or “the power of THAT god” that reading a story where magical abilities are derived from angelic power feels refreshing and new.
Katrien is really the perfect character to lead this story because, being a front-line soldier, she is free to say out loud what the reader is frequently thinking. A notable case in point that occurs several times is, after witnessing a fantastic display of magical power, instead of being impressed Katrien is left asking “where was this power when we were dying on the front lines?” It really makes you question some of the taken-for-granted tropes of fantasy novels and wonder if Katrien is right, if these powers had been distributed equally instead of being concentrated on “the chosen heroes,” would the war against evil have potentially been won that much sooner?
In conclusion, if you’ve been looking for a romantic fantasy novel that runs at a different pace, A Legionnaire’s Guide to Love and Peace is the book for you. The narrative draws you in from the start, and while the story concludes fairly neatly, I wouldn’t mind visiting the world of Katrien and Emory again.
