Surprisingly Good

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this, and the previous book (The Wrath of Lords) in this series. I hope Audible will be adding the next two books to this collection, ('The City of Thieves' and 'The Will of Queens'). It would be a great shame if they stopped here. I for one would purchase the next two books if they were made available. Fingers crossed.

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Great fantasy sequel

The second entry in Warden of Fal series which carries on following our main character Warden Berengar.

Berengar received a request from the king of Munster to rescue the court's magician. What starts as a simple task draws him into a larger plot after the king is killed. Berengar must puzzle together who killed the king while working out who is friend and who is foe.

This book introduces some new character that get beautiful detailed backstories, characterisation and development. There are plenty of twist and turns that keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the story. There is plenty of world building with history, geography, royal intrigue and different type of magical creatures, witches and ogres.

Once again Matt Addis is outstanding with his narration.

I'm really liking Kyle Romines writing style and he keeps up this standard he is going to be rising in popularity. I can't wait to see what lies ahead for Warden Berengar in the next book.

[Note - I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.]

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Just as good as the first!

The Blood of Kings follows up very nicely from the first book in the series. It is full of mystery in a fantasy world, I loved listening to it. It feels like a true fantasy adventure mystery, I highly recommend it.

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A great sequel

I received this title for free in exchange for an unbiased review.

Narration 10/10
Well I'll just go ahead and repeat myself on what I said about the narration on the first book since it's exactly the same:
The narration is spot on. Everything about it is the way it should be and I can't imagine it any better. For me it really brought the story to life and kept me engaged. The voice tone, the expressions even the narration speed (one of the few books I actually listened on x1.00 and didn't have to speed up to make more manageable) are just perfect.

Story 8.5/10
When it came to the first book I was actually surprised since I didn't expect much and my expectations were low, but it turned out to be be one of the best books I finished this year. This time around I jumped in expecting another great novel to go through! Even though I marginally prefer the first book over this, it still is a really good novel.
This time around we get a different story from Berengrar's adventures and I can say it can be read completely independently, without having listened to the first one, therefore, despite being part of a trilogy, it works really great as a stand-alone novel.
The story follows, once more, the protagonist Berengar, a Queen's Warden who is sent by her to investigate the assassination of the king of Munster,
The world is expanded over the previous books, adding new creatures and magics, while exploring the subject of racism with the hate towards non humans and Barengrar's exposure and opposition to it.
The new characters introduction and building is really well done, and the world is finely presented. The pace is once more really good, not getting stale at any given point and there is a lot of action, and plot twists.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and I would suggest it to all fantasy lovers. Personally I'm listening to the last one within the month for sure.

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Good continuation...

This book could be listened to as a standalone book, however it is nicely linked to the first. The author's style of placing little reminders of what is going on helps to keep a firm grasp of what is going on.

This is another great combination of author and narrator...

Great writing brought to life with fantastic narration!

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Enjoyable Sequel

Enjoyable sequel. Plenty of action and an introduction to more characters who I am hoping will make further appearances.

This is a fun grimdark series with intriguing characters and good world-building.

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“Something else has its claws in me”

Brilliant! Everything you can ask for in a fantasy novel. Fantastic characters, brilliant fight scenes all set over a traditional murder mystery. My favourite of the 3 books and they’re all good!!
Great narration too. Matt does a brilliant job with getting across the intensity of the situations and has great character voices.
Highly recommend this series to anyone!!
This is my honest opinion on a free review copy.

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Perfect

This story carries on from the first book but could be a stand Alone book my itself I throughly enjoyed the tale and plot with twists and turns keeping you gripped throughout.

Once again the narration was faultless and I could not imagine another narrator doing a better job.

Keep up the great work Kyle I look forward to the next instalment.

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An Epic Tale

I loved the first book in this series, and I am glad to say this one does not disappoint.

You don't have to read book one to understand what is going on in The Blood of kings, since both books occur in different places with different people and plot. Only the main character Esben Berengar is in both books. It follows his journey as a Warden as he investigates murders and lays down the law.

However, I would still recommend reading/listening to the first book because you get a better understanding of Berengar and how his past shaped him. He is different in book one compared to this story. You'll understand the change in his personality better.

This novel is full of twist and turns, complex characters and great world building. It is about power, greed, family, friendship, betrayal, loyalty, justice, persecution and love. It is told from Berengar's pov and follows his journey as he tries to solve the murder of king of Munster.

One of the reasons I loved this story is the complexity of the characters. Everyone has a little darkness as well as light and we sometimes take a little from the darkness to help us achieve our goal. However, there are those that take more of this side, yet they also show love and compassion to others. This makes them human and the author shows this in this book. Some of the characters have similar pasts yet they all turn out differently.

The murder mystery reminds me of Agatha Christie's books. Now it is not as good as hers since I figured out ‘who done it’ early on and why, but he did have me doubting who I thought it was. Like the Queen of crime, the author has a creative plot structure, with various suspects with their own intent and potential clues.

The blood of Kings also reminds me a little bit of beauty and the beast. Now before you get your pitch forks out or throw the audiobook in the computer abyss where it would never be found, I did say a little. There is a scene in the story that made me think of beauty and the beast. I don't know if this was intentional on the authors part or it just happened. Either way it does not matter, since, in my opinion, it is a better version of the story (I am a fan of the tale and there are not that many good retellings of it either) because it felt more realistic. Ironically, I liked the twist.

Merlin also came to mind whilst I was listening to the audiobook. Instead of a male wizard we get a young female who is naive, and life has not turned her into a cynic like the warden. She reminds me of Merlin, and I could imagine her turning into the mythical man. I usually hate stories that portray Merlin as being a female unlike the original story but if the female had a background like this character then I would accept it and go on to read her story.

If you like Game of Thrones (just without the sex and profanity) or Legends of the Gods by Aaron Hodges then you will love this one.

As for the narrator I thought he was perfect for this book. He had me glued from the first sentence. He voiced all the characters (there were many) and gave them their own personality, so I knew who was saying what without being told.

Would highly recommend this book!

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Excellent sequel, brilliant book

We return to our warden Berengar, a character I have really come to enjoy. This time around in the five kingdoms of fal, berengar has a murder to solve, and I quite enjoy the injection of mystery into this fantasy epic. I particularly enjoyed the new addition of Morwen.

Matt Addis is just as excellent in this as he was in the first book. He portrays the voices excellently, and he manages to carry the mood of the book perfectly.

I can't recommend this book enough.

I was given a review copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

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