A Kingdom This Cursed and Empty

Kingdom of Lies, Book 2

By: Stacia Stark

Narrated by: Tim Paige, Meg Sylvan

Length: 13 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

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, to travel to the fae lands, 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, bury 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.

Book two of this slow-burn enemies-to-lovers series will enchant fans of fantasy romance who love Raven Kennedy, Amanda Bouchet, and Carissa Broadbent.

©2023 Stacia Stark (P)2023 Dreamscape Media

Couldn’t put it down

Great book. Couldn’t put it down. Helped me get over my Iron Flame slump. Can’t wait for the next book.

A great listen

The narrator Meg Sylvan is very talented! This is a great series and does a good job balancing world building, adventure, plot, and the romance thread. Looking forward to book3!!!

LOVED IT!!

Another amazing book this series just gets better and better. I’m already mourning when I get to the last book. This series is hot, exciting nonstop action, so engaging and I never want it to end

love it

so much happening and the cliffhanger...uuuugggghh. A good read indeed on to the next book!

Amazing!

Wow, that was such an amazing 2nd book to the series. Shit got real. Be prepared for strategy, love, friendships, growth, betrayal, and a super baddy cliffy. Lorian is officially a book daddy for me (him and Rowan -TOG- are pretty much tied).

Stacia Stark is seriously such an amazing author who does not get enough credit. I would definitely say she is on my Top 5 favorites with SJM, JLA, and KF Breene. She is an automatic must buy author. Highly recommended to read this series and her other series, Deals with Demons. Her world building and character development is phenomenal. She not only makes you engrossed on the main characters but also the side characters.

Audio was incredible, absolutely loved both narrators. Highly recommended to listen to!

cliffhangers

The first 2 books end in cliffhangers. The third book has not been realeased yet. I usually like books to be bit more steamy but the story keeps you engaged with just a little. It's a very slow burn.

There's different kinds of characters, the fae, humans, & hybrids where some have magical abilities. Each kingdom has been affected by wars in the past and one ruler that is particularly ruthless & evil and which many characters are working against.

The main story is between a fae prince & the FMC who thought she was nobody to find out she might be the person that everyone depends on.

Overall good 👍

This series destroys me

This series destroys me. The storyline is intense and wonderfully woven. The romance is hot and makes complete sense. No part of any character feels rushed or out of place. I cannot wait for book three and four

Very well written!

Loved the characters, great world building and story telling! Fabulous narration! Looking forward to the next.

don't make plans

the twists and character development keeps me glued. I can't believe the cliff hanger you left us with.

An absolute triumph!

I will be reviewing both the audiobook and the book itself spoiler free.

The book:

I’m not even going to beat around the bush, I’m just going to say it, this is my favorite read of the year. I have not loved a book or series like this since I read ACOTAR for the first time, and same goes for Stacia Stark’s Deals with Demons series too. The first book in this series took me by storm and was in the number one spot until this book, book 2 came into my life. Did I finish this audiobook ARC at 1:40 in the morning and IMMEDIATELY start it all over again because it was THAT good? Absolutely, I can’t stop thinking about everything we learned, all the new breadcrumbs and how our story and characters progressed in this book. It was a triumph in my books, so let’s spoiler free dive right into why I loved it!

The plot picked up right where we left off and was flawlessly paced. I loved how Stacia gives just the right amount of time for our characters to level up in knowledge, power and in their relationships. There is never stagnancy and equally you never feel like you’re in an information dump, or like there’s constant unyielding peril. Everything has a fantastic flow to it and it makes all of the incredible world building easy to understand and remember, because you aren’t being flooded with too much too fast. This balance was also there for both plot and romantic progressions. Our main characters are oh so root-for-able, especially romantically, as are the side characters who have so much depth as well. I loved the furthering expanse of the world and creatures, and how much more we learned. Each new destination or situation our characters arrived upon felt so real with her stunning descriptions of landscapes and lore so it was all to easy to immerse myself in it. Creatures came alive and felt very unique even for well known mythical creatures. I could go on and on about how unputdownable this was because I quite simply didn’t want it to end, which is why I immediately started a reread once I finished! I won’t be surprised if I reread it all over again after! This book as a whole is a theory lovers dream and this a fantastic reread, especially for clues and annotating. I’m discovering more and more through the reread and know it will be one I go back to all the time. The stakes are so much higher in this book, and I expect will be even higher in book 3!

Now let’s talk romance, because as promised this slow burn got spicier in book 2! The spice was flawlessly cranked up in this book and it had everything I was hoping for! There wasn’t a cringe moment in sight, and I loved the characters connecting deeper on so many levels. I really enjoyed seeing the balance of tenderness and wildness in their spicy scenes. I found myself rereading the spicy parts because they had me grinning like a grinch! Our MMC knows exactly what he’s doing, and y’all this is why we read romance written by women! If you love the following tropes, this series will steal your heart and all your sleep and leave you wanting more more more!

Tropes:
Enemies to lovers, found family, he falls first, intricate magic system, one bed, one horse, dual POV, touch her and perish, slow burn to spicy spice, forced proximity, morally grey MMC, and so much more!

Audiobook:

It’s pretty clear from above that I loved this audiobook seeing as I restarted it immediately. I loved that we got the same two narrators for our dual POV because I hate when narrators change mid series. The female narrator is still by far my favorite of the two, she has fantastic voices for all genders and very distinctive voices. The male narrator was also good but I am not a fan of his female voices sometimes. I’ve found this to be an issue with all the books I’ve heard him read because for me personally his female voices feel over exaggerated at times, which takes me out of the story or comes across as much younger than the character is. This might be a personal preference and I do love all of his other voices especially for our MMC. I will listen to this series on audiobook again and again and can’t recommend it enough!

Thank you Dreamscape Media, NetGalley and Stacia Stark for the audiobook ARC for books 1 & 2, my thoughts are my own.