Review--A Kingdom This Cursed & Empty by Stacia Stark

 

Risk everything for your kingdom…
Or be destroyed by it. 

In a world darkened by deceit, the truth is a light that won’t be dimmed. Even when it illuminates Lorian’s betrayals more starkly than I could ever want to see. 

They call him the Bloodthirsty Prince. His reign of terror has left a trail of blood across this continent. A trail that intertwines with my own past–not even my parents were spared from his merciless slaughter. 

To save my brother’s life, I agreed to another bargain with the fae prince. Now, I’m forced to work with him. Forced to travel to the fae lands. Forced to spend my every waking moment with the man who betrayed me. All because King Sabium has woven a deadly tapestry of manipulation, using those we least suspect for his wicked schemes. 

There are no lines I won’t cross to protect the people I love. So I’ll work with former enemies. I’ll manipulate, blackmail, and deceive potential allies. I’ll swallow my pride, ignore my shattered heart, and cooperate with the fae to prepare for the coming war. 

Because there are creatures far more monstrous than the fae. 

And some of them masquerade as men. For fantasy romance readers who love Raven Kennedy, Amanda Bouchet, and Carissa Broadbent. This slow burn, enemies-to-lovers series will enchant you.

A Kingdom This Cursed & Empty is the second book in Stacia Stark's Kingdom of Lies series and it definitely amped up its game from the first book! This was yet another intriguing and exciting story set in a fantasy world on the brink of war between the many kingdoms and I am itching to see what will happen next!

Prisca made a deal with Lorian to save her brother and to hold up her end of the bargain, she must now go with him to his kingdom and meet with his brother, the king. But Prisca is still mad at him for lying about who and what he was. So things are exceedingly tense between them, but Lorian is willing to do whatever it takes, wait however long it will take to win her back. Even if it means going against his brother's orders.

The struggle with these 500+ page fantasy novels is how so much happens and yet, sometimes, how little happens plot-wise. That's not necessarily a negative thing, but there are still times I feel bogged down when we aren't really moving forward plot wise, yes, in the grand scheme of things we are, but it's taking an achingly long time to get to that next step in "the plan."

While this series continues to have its rollercoaster waves, I still find myself invested! I love the characters, even though the number is growing as the pages keep flowing, lol. We get an extra point of view this time that will definitely shake things up a bit and I super curious to see what this will lead to further down the road. 

Prisca and co have a new plan to retrieve a magical artifact that Regner wants and has hidden somewhere that will play a part in his madman power takeover of the world scheme. So naturally, they need to get it and hide it themselves. But they will of course encounter many other obstacles along the way and yes, sometimes that will be the angst brewing between Prisca and Lorain themselves.

But never fear, as there is still some pretty steamy romance between these two. They reach their love/hate part of the relationship, or I suppose the hate is more on Prisca's part. But even that isn't truly hate, it comes more from hurt than anything else.

Relationships will be challenged in this one. Loyalties will be tested. No one will leave unscathed after this one. The game is afoot and the rules are constantly changing. The ending to this one would have me screaming with rage had I read it when if first released and had to wait for the next book. But alas, I have to move onto other commitments before I can circle back to this series, but hey, there's two more books to go, so I have a fairly good answer as to the outcome! Lol.

If you're looking for that spicy romantasy series to read while waiting on the big publisher releases, be sure to check out Stacia Stark's Kingdom of Lies series as it is freaking fantastic and it's completed! What better way to wait for other installments than to binge a whole series?

Overall Rating 4/5 stars