I adored This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me. I was listening to it on audiobook and I could not stop. For fantasy lovers and fans of Long Live Evil, this is for you! Keep reading this book review of This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me for my full thoughts.
Summary
When Maggie wakes up cold, filthy, and naked in a gutter, it doesn’t take her long to recognize Kair Toren, a city she knows intimately from the pages of the famously unfinished dark fantasy series she’s been obsessively reading and re-reading while waiting years for the final novel.
Her only tools for navigating this gritty world of rival warlords, magic, and mayhem? Her encyclopedic knowledge of the plot, the setting, and the characters’ ambitions and fates. But while she quickly discovers she cannot be killed (though many will try!), the same cannot be said for the living, breathing characters she’s coming to love—a motley band that includes a former lady’s maid, a deadly assassin, various outrageous magical creatures, and a dangerously appealing soldier. Soon, instead of trying to get home, she finds herself enmeshed in the schemes—and attentions—of dueling princes, dukes, and villains, all while trying to save them and the kingdom of Rellas from the way she knows their stories will end: in a cataclysmic war.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
The plot, the meta-ness, the characters? Chef’s kiss. First of all, I love a good dumped into our fantasy world, but This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me takes this and runs with it. Our main character is aware she’s in her favorite fantasy world and it’s rough. She’s a nobody, only armed with what she knows, and she has nothing. It isn’t glamorous and she fights tooth and nail for everything she has. But there’s this meta quality to it where she knows she remembers more than she might, that there’s all these stories where this happens. I loved this reflective almost breaking the fourth wall vibe. Secondly, the plot here? It’s expertly crafted.
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And Kristen Sieh does an amazing job at narrating the complex emotions of shock and doubt. I couldn’t stop listening. This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me will take you on a journey into this fantastical world with these rich side characters and no one is unimportant. It’s a testament to knowing that everyone has a role, a life, a motivation. At its core, The Kingdom Will Not Kill Me asks us if we knew what was going to happen, would we try to stop it? How much would we endure before we tried to change the future? It’s full of a found family which tore my heart out. I am fully committed to this series. If you love a rich fantasy world and characters which worm their way into your heart, pick this one up.
Find This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me on Goodreads, Storygraph, Bookshop. org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.