The Fives’ Oath
Mehdi Mejri
Troubador Publishing Ltd. (2025)
ISBN: 978-1836283614
Reviewed by Demetria Head for Reader Views (12/2025)
In The Fives’ Oath: Legacy of the Blood Born by Mehdi Mejri, readers are taken inside a cave that smells of the stench of death. Bryn, a nineteen-year-old warrior, is going through an initiation with his clan. He is tasked with a brutal trial where he must defeat venomous serpents. This trial is part of an ancient path from Green Skull to Red Skull to the elite Black Skull. If he conquers the Maw of Shadows, then he will be the youngest ever Black Skull. His father, Elgon, the clan leader, is waiting along with his other children, Ezekial and Juniper, to see if he survives and emerges victoriously. The bones of the Maw erupt, and Bryn emerges scraped up and bloody, but he made it through the crucible. As Kellie Blackskull, the matriarch, anoints him with a formal blessing, there’s a violent earthquake that rumbles through the cave and the village, possibly hinting at an omen.
This opening chapter had my heart pounding, especially when Bryn was blindfolded and had to go up against those serpents in a dark cave. Seeing all of the skeletons and worn-down blades left behind was a reminder that so many went through the challenge and never made it. The way Mejri describes the entire cavern environment lets you know that this cave is where many go to die.
As the story progresses, we are taken to Caidryn’s Rest, right below the mountain, in a bathhouse where Bryn is reflecting and realizes that by conquering the Maw, he has finally come out of the shadows of his siblings and is no longer seen as the forgotten youngest son. His father does something symbolic that solidifies his feat; he carves his name into the sacred wall of Black Skulls.
Meanwhile, Kellie Blackskull has a nightmare that Xayden is out at sea fighting against a raging storm and attempting to save a crewman’s life, and ends up getting his cut short as the dagger sinks into his chest. She wakes up shaken and asks the iron gods to protect him. But before the chapter closes, we realize that Bryn is traumatized after enduring the trial of Zarek’s ten deadly challenges: “They had dismantled him, piece by piece.” He could not get the Maw and what he endured out of his mind. Astrid, a nineteen-year-old girl, comes in to visit him that night in secret, and they exchange intimacy. But Bryn is not fully present. His body was present, but his mind was completely detached and elsewhere.
I enjoyed seeing how Mejri transitioned from chapter to chapter. Each chapter also has interesting names of different skulls and phases in the narrative. In The Secret Skull chapter, we pick up in the capital of Goldenfist, which appears wealthy with its markets, temples, and Blue Tomb fortress, but it’s a façade. There is a great divide. There’s the Ravenscar dynasty, all-powerful, then there is a wall that separates Blind’s Alley, a cursed district where its inhabitants are branded with X’s as punishment for the sins of their ancestors. Mejri really paints the scenes in this chapter; King Delmont Ravenscar receives a black-sealed letter from the royal messenger, but before he can address it, the scene shifts to a man from Blind’s Alley who professes his innocence but is executed anyway, just as he’s trying to say the person behind the murder was Lord Fenric. This showcases the tyranny of Goldenfist, which also makes Prince Darian furious.
When Darian denounces the kingdom’s cruelty and oppression, this puts him at odds with the watchers and with his wicked brother Dryker. This chapter gets really interesting because it ties into Bryn and his victorious trial, but not before we see Queen Elysia and her sisters in this venomous web of rivalry. She’s hungry for dominance and control. There’s a council scene that reveals that Bryn is the tenth Black Skull to emerge from the Maw, and this marks him as the tenth of Zarek’s blood. What this means is that prophecy must be fulfilled that “One of them may be the one to break the chains of light and bring back the darkness.” Something else interesting is that Prince Darian also emerged from the Maw and survived. He trained under Elgon and is a Black Skull by title. There were so many revelations in this chapter. I felt like I was made privy to all the gossip about everyone.
The pacing is relentless, and it works for this narrative. As Mejri moves from scene to scene, we get to see a number of events happening across different cities, but they all come together nicely at some point. Every moving part has a goal. I feel like I’ve been brought into the King’s court and just got caught up in a scandal. On the other hand, I feel like I am right there in Blind’s Alley with the poorest, most cursed people fighting to be seen. Then I felt like I was put right in the middle of Bryn and Ezekial’s worry for their father as he fought a fever in The Wounded Skull chapter. I could feel his agony and their heart pounding every time he moved or flinched. It showed their bond and how close they were. They fought alongside their father. That says it all. They even shared a funny moment as Elgon lay awake, and they assured him that his leg didn’t have to be cut after all. His reply made me chuckle, “…I would have killed you both… and then myself. A Blackskull chieftain with one leg…”
One of my favorite scenes in The Unyielding Skull chapter is when the Black Skulls go to war and drag in the severed head of the beast. Kellie spits on it, vows that this will only end when the summoner’s head rots at their feet, then all the Black Skulls and the villagers link their hands together, including the half-conscious Elgon. Mejri handled the emotions of this chapter very well. There is so much going on in this chapter: battle aftermath, father/son politics, manipulation in the court, romantic tension, trauma surgery, flashbacks, but the unity circle did it for me. It brings everything together.
By the time we get to The Challenged Skull chapter, we see a volatile scene unfolding at the Golden Night feast. The rift between the royal family and the Black Skulls is bigger and exposed. A lot happens that I think will make readers’ heads spin in shock and disbelief. Prince Darian chooses to pass the tradition of choosing a paramour over to Ezekiel; Prince Dryker, in his drunken state, publicly accuses Xayden of dishonoring Cyrene. There’s a violent retaliation, and in the aftermath, King Delmont tells Bryn about the family’s dark history, confessing the truth about his brother’s death. It actually humanized the king for a moment.
Finally, Mejri ends the story with a clash of magic, betrayal, and impossible power, pushing each of these characters to their limits, leaving them on the brink of losing their sanity. Dark forces rise, and identities are revealed. Readers will probably be left asking what in the world just happened? But for good reasons. The emotions are tense and brutal. Shadows are awakened. You don’t know who to trust. You see loyalties shift. But that is what I live for when I dive into a meaty book like this. It reminds me of Jennifer L. Armentrout’s From Blood and Ash. It could probably stand confidently next to Samantha Shannon’s The Priory of the Orange Tree. I absolutely loved every moment of The Fives’ Oath: Legacy of the Blood Born, Book 1 of The Black Skull Saga.