Series Review: Is this series worth your time? Does it get better as the novels progress? Or does it get worse? Find out below:
Synopsis for A Court this Cruel and Lovely (from Goodreads):
For years, when I fell asleep, I dreamed of a man with blazing green eyes and a cruel smile.
The day I meet him, the ruthless mercenary leaves me for dead.
Just hours after humans are born, the gods take what little power we have. In return, they protect our borders from the vicious, merciless fae.
The humans who manage to keep their power are known as the corrupt.
And they are burned.When my forbidden power is discovered, I’m forced to flee my tiny village and the life I adore.
To survive, I make a desperate bargain with the mercenary who abandoned me at my weakest.
Our deal is simple: I’ll help him and his mysterious friends sneak into the city. And he’ll help me learn to wield the strange, dark power I’ve always kept hidden. The power that may just be the key to my survival.
But the ruthless mercenary is hiding secrets of his own. Secrets that threaten the safety of everyone I love. Secrets that could tear this kingdom—and perhaps even this world—apart.
Author: Stacia Stark
Series: Kingdom of Lies
# of Books: 4 (Full Reading Order Here)
Book Order: Chronological
Complete?: Yes
Genre: New Adult, High Fantasy, Romance, Faeries
Heat Rating: warm to Hot
Point of View: First Person, Alternating (#1), Multiple (#2-4)
Publication Dates: March 2023 – May 2024
Source & Format: Public Library–Audiobook (#1-4)
Why I Picked it Up / My Expectations:
I’ve always adored fae books: if I see the word “fae” in the synopsis, I’m there! And I’ve been a romance-fantasy fan before the term Romantasy became a pop-culture staple. So not only was I was drawn in by the title and cover of A Court This Cruel and Lovely (#1) when I was browsing audiobooks at my library, but the synopsis sounded right up my alley.
The Concept / The World:
I was amazed by how easy it was to slide into this world. I never felt like I was getting info-dumped on because the world building just layers itself naturally as the story progresses. It’s complex enough to drive the story but not so complicated it overwhelms you as you read. The mix of fae, humans and magic was refreshing for me; it never felt stale.
The Plot:
I struggled to get into A Court This Cruel and Lovely (#1). It had an interesting plot flow; the first half is more adventure but the second half shifts more to court politics. I don’t like adventure-esque novels as I find their plots slow so I wasn’t sure if this was the series for me.
This series is serves as an other reminder why I created this blog to focus on reviewing entire series. It’s exactly for situations like this when you might give up on a worth-while series because the first novel is focusing on building that foundation for excellent series sequels.
Which is why I am happy to say that once we got more into the politics of the world (which is something I love about fae novels), the intrigue, secrets and twists just took the plot to the next level for me and I really enjoyed it.
I also think it helps that the sequels start to introduce more character POV. I personally love multiple POV stories and this is a great example of why that is the case. Getting those different perspectives just enhances and advances the plot in a way a single POV novel just can’t excel at; especially when the world is as layered as this one is.
And can I just say how much I appreciate that this series is only 4 books long. I like that it isn’t drawn out over an unnecessary number of sequels like some other romantasy series are.
The Characters:
One of the things I also appreciated about the sequels using multiple POVs was the great character development. Having insights into other characters and their motives helped bring this story to life for me.
For example: I really wanted to love Lorian in the first book but his character is a little one dimensional (and I get why with that book’s plot); but as the series progressed, through his POV chapters I enjoyed learning more about him and seeing how his relationship with Prisca is breaking him out of the self-casted mold he has put himself in.
The Romance:
This one surprised me the most because I went into A Court this Cruel and Lovely (#1) thinking I would adore the romance but I came away not totally sold. It was odd for me because I enjoy a cocky bad boy but Lorian’s obsession just icked me out. I think it’s because the “slow burn” romance felt more like a spontaneous combustion from nothing to something in a hot minute. My feelings towards the romance did shift to a more positive light as the series progressed thanks to some great character growth from both leads. But it’s not the best one I’ve encountered in this genre.
I did get quite invested in some of the other characters romances – thanks again to the introduction of the multiple POVs.
My Audiobook Experience:
I thought the audio production was great! In fact, I loved it so much that I waited over a year to read A Queen This Fierce and Deadly (#4) because I just couldn’t get into the text version of this series. (Though part of that is because I had never seen how some of the names were spelt, only pronounced, so I was struggling to figure out who was who in the text version when I went to read it). This was a fabulous production with multiple narrators for the different character POVs so it made it super easy to listen and follow along to.
Series Rating: 4/5
A Court this Cruel and Lovely 3/5 | A Kingdom This Cursed and Empty 4/5 | A Crown this Cold and Heavy 4/5 | A Queen This Fierce and Lovely 4/5
If you want a solid romantasy series with great world building, fae politics and love multiple POV chapters, this series may be worth your time. May I suggest you grab the audiobook? It’s excellent!
Read if You Like: romantasy, fae, multiple POVs
Avoid if You: dislike fantasy
- Blood and Steel by Helen Scheuerer (The Legends of Thezmarr Series #1)
- Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas (Throne of Glass Series #1)
- Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton (Rebel of the Sands Series #1)
