Romantasy Melody
Kings of Shadow and Stone by Anastasia King - Book Review
Feb 22
4 min read
Book Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Series: The World of Aureum Series (Book 2)
Genre: Adult Dark Fantasy Romance
Spice: Extra Hot
Summary:
When Keres, her sister Liriene, and what remains of their clan are captured by Human attackers, the sisters are taken before the notorious King Berlium of Baore. Cruel and resolved as stone, Berlium is interested in Keres for her abilities as the Coroner and forces her to stay in his castle while he sends Liriene to Tecar, an inhumane work camp for captured Elves. Berlium gives Keres a choice: cooperate with whatever he wants, and he will consider improving her people’s situation, or don’t and he will force what he wants from her through violence against her and her people. Keres rightfully hates the King for his actions against the Elves, but he and Hadriel, his powerful mage, could teach her a lot about her powers and the Gods that no one has been able to so far. And despite her hatred, Berlium is an extremely alluring man that Keres at times feels is a kindred spirit; they both have a darkness that makes them misunderstood. But how close is Keres willing to get to Berlium to get what she wants?
Meanwhile, Liriene faces her own challenges surviving in Tecar after having been newly awakened as a servant to the God of Light and receiving frightening visions of the future while still processing her grief over Katrielle and her clan. Darius must face who and what he is while surrounded by strangers far away in Moldorn, where the Griffons sent him to fight in an army against an invasion of Monsters from Illyn. Osira is on the run after escaping from the Temple of Mrithyn in Ro’Hale and is doing all she can to improve her communications with the Gods. And Silas is stuck waiting on Thane and the Guild of Shadows to act and save Keres from the grasp of King Berlium. But Thane has his own reasons to try to save Keres, so he will wait in the shadows for the perfect time to make his move.
Reaction:
Overall, I enjoyed Kings of Shadow and Stone; it’s one of those books that sits with you for a while after you finish it. Like the first book, the story is driven by the FMC, Keres, and her character growth, but this book explores more mature thinking and experiences, placing it wholly in the adult genre for me. The author also kicks up the spice level to 100 in this book – Keres is experiencing an adult relationship with complicated power dynamics, and there is no fade to black. This book introduces multiple POVs aside from Keres, which I enjoyed for a couple reasons. First, it gives an opportunity to explore more of this interesting world, which was something I wanted more of after reading book 1. Second, it gives the reader a break from Keres’ POV, which I just didn’t connect with at times in this book. I didn’t understand some of her motivations or decisions – she seemed to be very passive about her people’s plight, and I kept wanting her to act and stop waiting for others to improve the situation. The other POVs, especially Liriene’s, made more sense to me, and I found myself relating more to those characters on an emotional level. Despite my disconnect with Keres, the book keeps you on the edge of your seat. There’s still a lot of mystery around some of the characters, and how they relate to Keres, and the author feeds you just enough information to keep you coming back for more. I am looking forward to reading the next book and finding out what happens.
What I enjoyed:
· As I said above, the multiple POVs provided a lot of insight into the wider world around Aureum. They also filled in some of my gaps from book 1 as it related to character backstory, both for the supporting cast and Keres herself. Including POVs from new characters, like King Berlium, allowed the reader to understand his motivations, and better accept his actions.
· This book explores war and conflict from a more nuanced view than book 1. Keres realizes that not everything is black and white, and even those she saw as villains have their own motivations and sense of righteousness in their actions. Accordingly, she must face whether her past actions were heroic, villainous, or neither.
· Even though he is not the main love interest in this book, I’m really excited about Thane. He’s mysterious, dark, has some kind of cosmic connection to Keres, and had some kind of partnership with Berlium. I’m glad the author included his POV and occasionally foreshadows his increased presence, because it added to my anticipation and enjoyment of the story.
What I didn't enjoy:
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