Review--The King Will Kill You by Sarah Henning

Princess Amarande is finally on the verge of having everything she wants. To be with her true love Luca, no one nor law standing in the way. To rule Ardenia as queen outright, no marriage necessary, as Luca does the same with the reformed Torrence. To rebuild the continent of The Sand and Sky into a place not defined by archaic, patriarchal laws, but by the will of its people.

However, threats await in the shadows of Amarande’s hoped-for happily ever after. One expected and deadly to both her love and every one of her objectives. The other, unexpected, and arising with a vicious aim: revenge at any cost. Against the princess who killed him, the boy whose love made her do it, and the continent cruel enough to deserve his rage.

The King Will Kill You is the epic, pulse-pounding conclusion to Sarah Henning’s Kingdoms of Sand and Sky trilogy.

 

 

 

I have to admit, it was a little hard starting Sarah Henning's The King Will Kill You. It has been pretty long since I read the second book and I had just come off a DNF prior to this one. So it was a mite difficult diving back into the story. 

I had taken my notes so I had plot details, but alas I left out the wide cast of characters. There were some character glossary notes you could say in the beginning of this one, but mainly concerning the different kingdoms. I almost needed something else that would list out each key player and who they were, much like another series did with its fantasy world.

Amarande and Luca are now working to put their kingdoms back together after all the chaos of the most recent battles. Lives were lost, titles were gained. Amarande is now ruler of her father's kingdom, yet all the leaders of other kingdoms want her to marry asap so basically her soon-to-be husband would be in charge and though Amarande and Luca are meant for each other, everyone is against the idea of the two marrying.

If that wasn't enough, Geneva, Amarande's mother is set on killing Luca and if things couldn't get even worse than that, Renard is alive and well despite Amarande's nearly successful attempt at killing him and he is out for revenge against the princess he almost married.

This book was a whirlwind of action and an almost overflow of characters. I say this mainly because I probably should've binged this trilogy instead of reading it staggered like I did. There were a lot of different points of view, but they were all connected. We had Amarande and her "crew's" points of view, then we had Renard at times, and I believe Geneva as well, and Ferdinand, Amarande's half brother...it was a lot. Had I read this series straight through it would not have been so difficult for me, but I am starting to find that if I leave big gaps in between series I forget a LOT of details. Should that series be a fantasy like this one was, then I am in big trouble for cognition details!

I still enjoyed the story though. At times the plot moved a little slow in certain areas, but it always seemed to be headed towards a larger battle of sorts. We pretty much knew things would come to blow between Amarande and Renard, I mean they tried to kill each other once and almost succeeded, so yeah, another battle is imminent. 

The story wasn't without its surprises! A few developments along the way left me gasping. But of course, after how this book started, I did wonder if these particular "moments" would stick or not! If fantasy reads have taught me anything no one is really dead until those final words, THE END, come across the page.

This ending was particularly enjoyable. It ends in the way one would expect and that's not necessarily a bad thing. I mean if you don't get that HEA within a fantasy/romance kind of read, something isn't right. But there's no worry with that one here. The ending was quite nice and I can't wait to see what Henning will cook up with her next fantasy read!

Overall Rating 3.5/5 stars