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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
This was very good and a fast read after a few pages. The story was engrossing. The fantasy element hasn't really kicked in much yet.
The characters were all amazing.
List of morons - The Queen, The High Wizard, Micah Bayar.
Loved: Amon, Hunts Alone, Dancer, Averill Demonai.
I liked how the stories entangled to bring the characters together. I also liked how the story didn't shy away from romance either.
Things I liked:
- The way the Clans lived.
- The Clan names.
- Raisa and her father's relationship was so nicely portrayed.
- Raisa always finding a way out!
- Poor Amon
The characters were all amazing.
List of morons - The Queen, The High Wizard, Micah Bayar.
Loved: Amon, Hunts Alone, Dancer, Averill Demonai.
I liked how the stories entangled to bring the characters together. I also liked how the story didn't shy away from romance either.
Things I liked:
- The way the Clans lived.
- The Clan names.
- Raisa and her father's relationship was so nicely portrayed.
- Raisa always finding a way out!
- Poor Amon
slow-paced
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book was an easy read. While it didn't blow me away with anything, it was enjoyable enough. It is a YA book, so I am not the target audience, and I've learned that this usually means I won't identify strongly with the main characters. This proved to be the case for some. Often I felt that Raisa was childish and needed some perspective. I had to remind myself that she was a teenage girl and that was probably true to her character. I did really enjoy Averill and Elena Demonai. I wish their characters were a little more fleshed out, and I hope we get to see more of them in future books.
My biggest gripe with this book was the narration. It felt clunky at times. There were passages where I could clearly see we were getting a character POV, but others where the POV seemed to shift to multiple characters, and I wasn't sure whose thoughts we were suppose to be following.
Ultimately it was a fun book, and I think worth checking out if you want something easy and entertaining.
My biggest gripe with this book was the narration. It felt clunky at times. There were passages where I could clearly see we were getting a character POV, but others where the POV seemed to shift to multiple characters, and I wasn't sure whose thoughts we were suppose to be following.
Ultimately it was a fun book, and I think worth checking out if you want something easy and entertaining.
Istyria book blog ~ A world of enchanted books
3.5 stars
Boy, my "should've read ages ago"-list is ever growing these days, isn't it? The Demon King is yet another one I can add to it. And yes, I did love it, though maybe not as much as others did.
The Demon King is the first book in the Seven Realms series and takes place in the queendom of Fells. It's about Han Alister and Princess Raisa. Han is a reformed thief, doing anything he can to take care of his mother and sister. Han has always had thick silver cuffs engraved with runes on his wrist but he's always been unable to get them off. His life gets even harder when he takes a powerful amulet from Micah Bayar, son of the High Wizard. This amulet once belonged to the Demon King, the wizard who nearly destroyed the world ages ago. Meanwhile, Raisa has her own battles to fight. She'll be eligible for marriage soon, but isn't looking forward to it. She'd rather be like Hanalea, the legendary warrior queen who killed the Demon King and saved the world. But her mother has different plans for her. Plans that include a suitor who goes against everything their queendom stands for.
Yes, this is a really good book and a great series starter. It's not without its flaws though. Not for me at least. So let's get those out of the way first. First, I must say it, I didn't like Raisa that much most of the time. It took me a while for me to actually care about her, which I didn't until she finally got a clue in the second half of the book. I can't get into this more because of spoilers, so I'll leave it at that. She'll grow on me in the next few books, I'm sure. Second, for me this was a bit predictable. I knew how some things would turn out right at the start. Which made some plot twists not as shocking. And lastly, it started out so slow! Once I got through the first half, things got better for me, but I did struggle to get through those first chapters.
Now for the good! A queendom! Yes, that's awesome! I loved that and this world. I can't wait to discover this world more. I also loved the rest of the characters. Dancer, Lucius and Amon were awesome. I liked Willo, Bird, Elena and the other smaller characters, but I do hope I get to know them better in the next books. The bad guys were also great, but yeah, I hated them, which I'm supposed to do, right? The main reason for me to keep reading though, was Han. He's a great main character and I adore him. I felt for him and I rooted for him all the way through. Though yes, I did kind of predict what the cuffs were for. I liked the reveal though and I can't wait to see Han grow stronger. Though I also hope that there'll still be after effects from something that happened to him near the end.
The Demon King is a great first book in what will undoubtedly be an awesome series. It has a great main character, a fantastic new world with a queendom and magic! I love magic. Will there be dragons, though? There better be.
3.5 stars
Boy, my "should've read ages ago"-list is ever growing these days, isn't it? The Demon King is yet another one I can add to it. And yes, I did love it, though maybe not as much as others did.
The Demon King is the first book in the Seven Realms series and takes place in the queendom of Fells. It's about Han Alister and Princess Raisa. Han is a reformed thief, doing anything he can to take care of his mother and sister. Han has always had thick silver cuffs engraved with runes on his wrist but he's always been unable to get them off. His life gets even harder when he takes a powerful amulet from Micah Bayar, son of the High Wizard. This amulet once belonged to the Demon King, the wizard who nearly destroyed the world ages ago. Meanwhile, Raisa has her own battles to fight. She'll be eligible for marriage soon, but isn't looking forward to it. She'd rather be like Hanalea, the legendary warrior queen who killed the Demon King and saved the world. But her mother has different plans for her. Plans that include a suitor who goes against everything their queendom stands for.
Yes, this is a really good book and a great series starter. It's not without its flaws though. Not for me at least. So let's get those out of the way first. First, I must say it, I didn't like Raisa that much most of the time. It took me a while for me to actually care about her, which I didn't until she finally got a clue in the second half of the book. I can't get into this more because of spoilers, so I'll leave it at that. She'll grow on me in the next few books, I'm sure. Second, for me this was a bit predictable. I knew how some things would turn out right at the start. Which made some plot twists not as shocking. And lastly, it started out so slow! Once I got through the first half, things got better for me, but I did struggle to get through those first chapters.
Now for the good! A queendom! Yes, that's awesome! I loved that and this world. I can't wait to discover this world more. I also loved the rest of the characters. Dancer, Lucius and Amon were awesome. I liked Willo, Bird, Elena and the other smaller characters, but I do hope I get to know them better in the next books. The bad guys were also great, but yeah, I hated them, which I'm supposed to do, right? The main reason for me to keep reading though, was Han. He's a great main character and I adore him. I felt for him and I rooted for him all the way through. Though yes, I did kind of predict what the cuffs were for. I liked the reveal though and I can't wait to see Han grow stronger. Though I also hope that there'll still be after effects from something that happened to him near the end.
The Demon King is a great first book in what will undoubtedly be an awesome series. It has a great main character, a fantastic new world with a queendom and magic! I love magic. Will there be dragons, though? There better be.
I'm not sure if this book is YA or teen. It feels too mature with the constant mentioning and implications of rape and sex, but all the other parts make the book feel like it's meant for a much younger audience.
One of the issues I took with the book was the dialect. It was pure American for the most part, but then at random times it seemed like bad Medieval English. I wish the author would have just stuck with the American sort of talk than try to make the book seem like it's from a place that it just didn't seem like it was to me.
At one point in the book I almost put it down merely for the overuse of the word "girlies." It was immensely irritating. There were also many grammatical errors in the book. The biggest problem was that a lot of the dialogue didn't have closing quotations, and once or twice didn't have open quotations. Thoughts of the characters went from being italicized to not being italicized.
The book itself did not appeal to me. Something about it felt forced and almost like it was written too quickly. All the characters in the books are described as good looking (except for the one bad guy, naturally), and all the characters of the one gender seem to have a thing for the characters of the opposite gender. The author makes it sound like Raisa has kissed all the boys in the "queendom."
I also struggled with the idea of Han - he was sixteen years old and already the ex-streetlord of his city. How much could one get accomplished at such a young age? His character, in my opinion, should have been a lot older.
The only part where the book gets interesting are the last three chapters but even still it felt rushed and not very exciting. I feel like more could have been done with it. Overall, I feel like the plot was intriguing, but could have been executed a lot better. I think the book would appeal to young teens. Even though I disliked the book personally, I gave the book two stars because the potential was there. I will not be continuing with the series.
((SPOILERS PAST HERE))
I also didn't like the character of Raisa very much, even though she was the only interesting character. She has no issue kissing whomever she pleases (and none of the boys seem overly jealous, even when she kisses Micah in front of Amon) but when it comes to communicating with anyone other than a boy she seems catty and rather rude. She's made to come off as this generous girl, but to me she lacks in any sort of real solid character.
As well, she might have gotten away as "Rebecca" the first time she left, but I highly doubt she'd be able to sneak out the second time when she left her little wedding. The wedding itself I think was supposed to be the plot twist, but I saw it coming from the beginning.
They all have way too many nicknames as well.
One of the issues I took with the book was the dialect. It was pure American for the most part, but then at random times it seemed like bad Medieval English. I wish the author would have just stuck with the American sort of talk than try to make the book seem like it's from a place that it just didn't seem like it was to me.
At one point in the book I almost put it down merely for the overuse of the word "girlies." It was immensely irritating. There were also many grammatical errors in the book. The biggest problem was that a lot of the dialogue didn't have closing quotations, and once or twice didn't have open quotations. Thoughts of the characters went from being italicized to not being italicized.
The book itself did not appeal to me. Something about it felt forced and almost like it was written too quickly. All the characters in the books are described as good looking (except for the one bad guy, naturally), and all the characters of the one gender seem to have a thing for the characters of the opposite gender. The author makes it sound like Raisa has kissed all the boys in the "queendom."
I also struggled with the idea of Han - he was sixteen years old and already the ex-streetlord of his city. How much could one get accomplished at such a young age? His character, in my opinion, should have been a lot older.
The only part where the book gets interesting are the last three chapters but even still it felt rushed and not very exciting. I feel like more could have been done with it. Overall, I feel like the plot was intriguing, but could have been executed a lot better. I think the book would appeal to young teens. Even though I disliked the book personally, I gave the book two stars because the potential was there. I will not be continuing with the series.
((SPOILERS PAST HERE))
I also didn't like the character of Raisa very much, even though she was the only interesting character. She has no issue kissing whomever she pleases (and none of the boys seem overly jealous, even when she kisses Micah in front of Amon) but when it comes to communicating with anyone other than a boy she seems catty and rather rude. She's made to come off as this generous girl, but to me she lacks in any sort of real solid character.
As well, she might have gotten away as "Rebecca" the first time she left, but I highly doubt she'd be able to sneak out the second time when she left her little wedding. The wedding itself I think was supposed to be the plot twist, but I saw it coming from the beginning.
They all have way too many nicknames as well.
Every time I read this book, I love it even more. The characters, the plot, the world is executed really well for a YA fantasy novel. I've read a lot of YA fantasy since reading this book for the first time, and I think this series is YA fantasy at its strongest. There has rarely been a YA fantasy book since this one that has the same depth of world building (that makes sense), and intriguing plot that, after the first 100 pages, is nonstop entertaining, and characters that are flawed but you can still root for them and are not stereotypes of traditional fantasy characters (well, maybe Raisa is a bit of a stereotype, but I think she's executed much better).
During this reread, my love of Fire Dancer and Willo has greatly increased. They are two of my favorite characters and I think the parts of the book that take place with the clans are the most interesting. Han's perspective continues to be my favorite out of the two mostly because my favorite side characters show up during his perspective but also because I'm a sucker for a tortured soul/anti hero. I enjoyed Raisa's chapters a lot more this time around but I still think that she has a slow start until she starts to get interesting. I do think that Raisa is a strong female protagonist that often gets overlooked by other, more popular, YA protagonists. She can be a little whiny and childish, but her growth and subtle political maneuvering is worth it.
All in all I can't recommend this book enough. I think it's a really good start especially if you are nervous about getting into high fantasy. There's a lot of world building in this book, but it's not as complex as traditional high fantasy can get. There's also not as many characters and point of views that a lot of high fantasy novels have so it is easier to follow who is who.
During this reread, my love of Fire Dancer and Willo has greatly increased. They are two of my favorite characters and I think the parts of the book that take place with the clans are the most interesting. Han's perspective continues to be my favorite out of the two mostly because my favorite side characters show up during his perspective but also because I'm a sucker for a tortured soul/anti hero. I enjoyed Raisa's chapters a lot more this time around but I still think that she has a slow start until she starts to get interesting. I do think that Raisa is a strong female protagonist that often gets overlooked by other, more popular, YA protagonists. She can be a little whiny and childish, but her growth and subtle political maneuvering is worth it.
All in all I can't recommend this book enough. I think it's a really good start especially if you are nervous about getting into high fantasy. There's a lot of world building in this book, but it's not as complex as traditional high fantasy can get. There's also not as many characters and point of views that a lot of high fantasy novels have so it is easier to follow who is who.
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Well, The Demon King by Cinda Williams China started off quite slow in the beginning. There were lots of info dumping throughout the book which I sometimes found it overwhelming. Fortunately, it is a good kind of overwhelming. The whole universe of the Seven Realms was magnificently and flawlessly created by Cinda. The politics, the romance and the magic portrayed throughout the book was simply spectacular. The characters? Beautifully developed, from beginning till the end of the book. I was utterly amazed by this book.
My rating? 4.5. Easy
My rating? 4.5. Easy
slow-paced
Feels like a 500-page prologue. Picks up in the last 100 pages and kept me intrigued enough to now start the 2nd in the series.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury