Reviews with content warning for Slavery - The Kingdoms

That being the way Kite murdered Frank and everyone just kinda forgot about it. Like that made him irredeemable to me. I would’ve loved the whole romance plot line and been totally happy with the ending if it weren’t for that one thing. If the author is autistic I’d be willing to look past it, even though I still think it was an odd choice, but if she’s allistic that gives me the ick. The way he was physically restrained, slapped and literally murdered while having a meltdown? Just to keep Joe from remembering who he was. That is not justified on Kite’s part. At all. And Joe just seemingly forgets about it after a while??

I also didn’t love some of the ways the author described Kite’s scarring and Clay’s disfigurement and ‘childlike’ behavior from his trauma. It could just be Joe’s/Kite’s thoughts not the author’s, but it bothered me a bit. It wasn’t horrible though.

Otherwise I really liked this book. I heard someone suggest it as a book similar to The Binding (which I also liked until I found out the author was a terf), and this definitely has a similar feel to The Binding, though a pretty different plot. I knew very little going in and I think that’s the best way to read it. Despite how mostly negative this review is I would recommend this if the synopsis sounds intriguing. Just check content warnings!

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lizzie24601's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

God, Natasha Pulley knows how to tell a story!!!!!! She uses the same trope in all of her books and I gobble it up every time! And as a fan of stories set on ships in the early 19th century, this hit the spot. I would read a whole series about Joe and Kite. I felt out of breath reading this because I was so excited to get to the next chapter. Ugh!! Incredible character building and a suspenseful relationship and plot.

Half a star taken off only because the opening is so slow - until you get to part 3 and it takes OFF. If you haven't read a Natasha Pulley book before, read The Watchmaker of Filigree Street or The Bedlam Stacks before this one - they both are better introductions to her writing style since they start off a bit quicker and are written more chronologically. Then come back and enjoy this one. :)

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clarabooksit's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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purplesapphire's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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bek_p87's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This was an epic tale of time travel, an alternate war history, and (unexpectedly) a world-altering romance. Centring on the character of Joe, who finds himself on a train platform in the middle of French-occupied London with no memory of his life. Thus begins a complex and heart-rending search for his past, which just so happens to intertwine with - and alter the outcome of - the Anglo-French wars of 1803-1815. More than anything, though, I was struck by the love story that runs through the entire backdrop of the novel.

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bhelena's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

ultimately a gripping book i stayed up all night to finish, however there are a couple of things that stop me from rating it higher... i feel like i'm exactly the target audience of this novel, which is why found it so frustrating. i've read most of pulley's books. to be fair, a good editor would have helped most of these but it seems like publishers don't care about that anymore.

1. a common issue in this author's writing but here perhaps the most egregious – characters just fail to react to life shattering events. in a way that doesn't read like prim upper-class manners or depressed apathy or resignation in the face of war. it just seems like oversight to add it in later.
2. several severe cases of natasha pulley sociopathic female side character we're meant to find sympathetic. iykyk.

agatha is the clear example but joe's rapist wife is not to be forgotten. her redeeming quality is supposed to be she's a career woman but i find that hard to sympathise with given how little she cares for her baby daughter, who she presumably wanted – given the aforementioned coercion. bad!

kite throwing a young boy overboard to keep a secret seems genuinely a step too far and it's never later explained and/or grappled with. i can see the black sails inspiration here (i'm sure we all do) however the writing isn't up to par with that, sorry. i don't mean to imply i'm against morally gray characters but this just seems lazy and like the author herself didn't care to question it – which is a shame, because not grappling with that versus his deep affections seems very out of character for joe.

the toddlers in the end. i'm sorry mrs pulley i support your ongoing gay parenting agenda HOWEVER i find it weird joe mourns lily so much but seemingly doesn't care that much for his brother and his wife ceasing to exist overnight. odd. also see previous point: personally i think him and missouri should remain childfree and help educate the war orphans on the ship. again sorry. but i find it odd how quickly joe adjusts to that given how loving and caring towards children he seems otherwise.

5. the representation here feels bridgertonesque.

apologies, may the next one be great!

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ruthorfiction's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book models a goddamn sine wave (yes, ha ha. I will say I did love the math) from start to finish. I cannot make up my mind how I felt about it; at times I was absolutely enthralled and at other times I wanted to throw it into a river and never pick it up again.

It suffers a little from “just TELL him the TRUTH, stupid” syndrome but if you can get past that I do think Pulley handles the time travel and alternate histories/futures stuff really well. I’d love to see whatever nightmare of a timeline she had while writing this because, genuinely, what a herculean effort.

However! We are back at the true trough of the sine wave which is that both of the main characters (and many of the sides!) made me want to shout “why would you DO that??” roughly once every five chapters. I love an unhinged little weirdo as much as next person but my god. None of these people ever had hinges in the first place.

Yes, it was fun to see Joe make assumptions about Kite’s horrible seeming actions that then turn out to be reasonably justified. We spend half the book being shown that Kite is not really a monster, he’s just deeply traumatized and pragmatic and banging around inside his own skull weeping, EXCEPT then the justification for the one action Kite takes that really does make him a monster is… “it would make it harder for me to convince this man who hates me to help us”. (And help them do something I’m not really convinced Kite even wants? Are we supposed to think England winning is the good outcome because at least they outlawed slavery? Because it was their home in the first place? Because I’m mostly a dumb american but I feel like the Irish and Scotish and Welsh might have something to say about that. Whatever. An empire’s an empire, I guess.)

Anyway. I want to clamp this book between my teeth and shake it like a dog and also never think of it again. Pulley is a good writer and this book was enthralling to the point that even though it baffled me and I’m not sure I liked it I still finished. I don’t know how to end this except to say—

justice for Fred

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