Kingdom of Exiles

Book in Search of an Identity This is a peculiar book made up of odd bits of different types of speculative fiction that don't come together as a whole. The world-building lacked as I couldn't quite pin down what it was supposed to be. Steampunk? Medieval-ish fantasy? A modern parallel universe? I don't think I ever figured that out! I never like to see modern words and phrases in speculative fiction unless it is clearly modern—which this is not—so I felt constantly jarred out of the book’s world. The group of assassins did not come across like true hard-edged killers should; these aren’t just regular men (or boys, given how they sometimes acted) with a normal job. That made for strange moments as well. The heroine at first seemed like she would be a gritty character, exiled and with a contract out on her, but she soon morphed into a YA type of heroine. Ugh. If you enjoy fantasy, I suggest finding a better-written series with a consistent, understandable world. I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.

Three and a half stars. Leena Edenfrell is a Charmer, someone who can tame fantastical beasts, she was exiled from her homeland after being betrayed by her lover and now lives on the fringes of society selling magical beasts to suckers. If she could only charm a Myad she might be able to prove her innocence to the Charmers' council, but to do so she would need the blood of a killer, freely given. Noc has a mysterious past but now leads the notorious assassins guild of Cruor, individuals who have been raised from the dead and will accept bounty for kills. His guild accepts a contract to kill Leena but she bests his assassin Calem and Noc sees an opportunity to lift the curse which blights his life - he will hold off killing Leena and escort her on her journey to find the Myad providing she gives him and his followers four beasts, including the Gyss which can grant wishes. As Noc and his assassins travel with Leena they all learn more about each other, and Noc and Leena get closer, but with Noc's curse and Leena's bounty is there any future? This is billed as Assassins Creed meets Fantastic Beasts and it's a pretty good description, albeit there aren't many assassinations, we see lots of weird and wonderful beasts with amazing powers. I loved the characters and I want to know more about their back stories and histories. On the downside, there was quite a lot of sex for a fantasy novel, it felt a bit too contemporary for the genre and pulled me out of the genre. But otherwise I thought this was a great novel, full of mystery and great world building, I look forward to reading the next book in the series. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

An enjoyable book. However, some things are just not in the correct context for me regarding the story. An example is the silk sheets on the bed when the group is en route travelling... I don't find this in keeping with the books syle or even a scenario for an 'inn', more like the author just getting carried away with the sex scene as far as the writing went. Wearing a bralette also seemed totally out of context for this type of book.. in fact, I was sure the author mentioned a corset in the clothing provided to Leena, so I wondered why she would need to suddenly remove a 'bralette'??? This story reads like a novel aimed at teens to young adult level, but also has a highly descriptive sex scene that goes on for several pages? I certainly do not find descriptive sex scenes offensive, but for me, I didn't feel it was necessary for this story to be included at this level at all. It also seemed like the sex scene was written for something else entirely and just slapped in to the story line, which is how much I really personally thought that this particular story even needed that much information about the whole issue included, but also felt out of context. Still very much an enjoyable book for me overall, but it also does seem a bit mixed up at times as to which group of readers the writing is actually being aimed at.