A Kingdom of Exiles

The Outcast Fantasy Series

By: S.B. Nova

Narrated by: Cathy Conneff

Length: 20 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's Summary

The brightest of stars are always born on the darkest of nights. 

Serena Smith is unusual. Growing up in a backwoods village, her life is lonely and dull. Then, on her 18th birthday, she's gifted a magical heirloom only to be snatched by fae and condemned to a lifetime in chains.  

Dragged to Aldar, a fae kingdom ruled by a tyrant witch, Serena discovers a forbidden love and meets fellow outcasts, each with their own dark secrets.  

As the lives of warriors, rebels, and witches clash, they find a shared destiny. For only together, and with Serena's unique gifts, can they survive long enough to build the flames of a revolution. Only together can they go to war....  

From the author of Draken comes this explosive new fantasy series with lots of heart and a sting in its tail.  

What are you waiting for? Scroll up and buy now to find out why people all over the world have fallen in love with A Kingdom of Exiles! 

Suitable for mature YA and up.

©2017 S.B. Nova (P)2018 S.B. Nova

I wanted to like this.

I don’t normally leave negative reviews...because I believe we all have our own tastes. However I felt compelled by how much this book really didn’t sit will with me.

I’ll try to be as non spoiler as possible.

Serena starts out her tale put in a rough spot that gets rougher throughout the first hour of the book. She shows promise and quiet strength and a backbone during a plot hatched by two evil villagers. I was rooting for her.

As soon as the Fae enter the story Serena loses everything that strengthened her character. It happens slowly, but by the time she gets to the place where she meets the other main characters the book got so much worse.

Here are the parts that irritate most:

-Serenas interaction with every male protagonist are all based on them wanting her on some level and protecting her. Fae culture or not ..it’s distracting and unrealistic.

- Serena let’s others make her decisions and choices. The author tries to counter act this by saying phrases like “he was giving me a choice..” but it’s apparent that there is only one option they are giving her.

-The writing is very “Tell not show” , so rather Serena narrating her observations or using action to relay information... nearly all information in the book is delivered through dialogue.

-Serena has no agency, just instructions. Need to know something? Someone magically knows so all you have to do is go talk to them Serena!

-Serena doesn’t grow, she degrades or at best gets stagnant by the end of the story.

There were other things but I can chalk them up to personal preferences.

This would be a book I would show to my future daughter and say “this is how you act if you want the world to swallow you up and make all your choices”

The one thing I did like? Hawk. He was in the story for five minutes and I’d already read a novel about him.

If your looking for a Feyre or Aelin or Nahri or Yrene in this book...you will not find them.

If you’re looking for fantasy, adventure. romance and resourceful women ... save your credit and go read Sara J Maas or SA Chakraborty

Aheart pounding ride through a beautifully rendered fantasy world. Sarah J Maas fans: this book is for you.

A Kingdom of Exiles is a wonderfully written fantasy novel that immersed you into its world from the first page. The main character, Serena Smith, is incredibly relatable but still has enough “special chosen one” vibes to keep you intrigued. This novel has so much heart, displaying heartwarming family bonds, a steamy romance, and the importance of friendship in such a vicious world. I highly recommend this book to fantasy lovers all around (15+). You’re in for quite a ride. There was, however, one problem I had with this audiobook. I loved the story and the narrator, but there were times when I had no idea what the narrator was saying (only a few cases, but major cases). I couldn’t even figure out what was being said by playing the audio slower or multiple times; I had to find the sentence in my physical copy of the book. It sounded like gibberish. However, this was an amazing overall listen.

Pretty Okay

I'm not a huge Maas fan, but I enjoy her books enough so when I saw many comparisons to her I decided to give this one a go. The start of the book was pretty awesome. But once the MC is with the fae I suddenly realize I have been dropped into A Court of Thorns and Roses fanfic. Of course the characters are unique and I think Nova did a pretty decent job with the back stories for these characters, but its pretty obvious she was HEAVILY inspired by Maas. I know that everything has been done before so I wasn't that bothered by it. But honestly, some scenes and even particular phrases were straight from Maas' series. (give or take a word swap and sentence restructure.)

Look this book isn't bad. But it needed some definite changes. I think it probably could have gone through another round of editing and maybe a few more beta readers. I love me a big fat book, I mean my favorite book series is Brandon Sanderson's stormlight archive so I'm willing to sink my teeth in for the long haul. But this book could have done without about half the inner monologue's from our whiny MC. That probably would have cut the book size in half. I also think the book ended at a really bad spot. I think without the tedious inner monologue's we would have had room to go further in the time line to a more satisfying place to end. Cliffhangers are fine and all but NOTHING was resolved in this book. Even in a series the books should end with at least one plot line tidied up. This had none! Everything was left wide open!

I'm fine with the whole territorial fae males, but what I hate is a random female lead who has all these hardened 'stone hearted' men falling at her feet in a matter of weeks if not days or in some case directly upon meeting her WITH NO EXPLANATION AS TO WHY.

But I'm still going to read the second book because I have hopes that the author will only improve. I do hope she can delve into enough of her own world building that she can leave behind some of the love letter to Maas weaved throughout this story.

Also I'm like 90% sure I know who the MC is going to end up with and if I'm right I will be very disappointed in the author.

As for the narration, i really liked Conneff I thought she did a pretty good job except for the voice she used on one of the males in the story. I honestly couldn't tell him apart from the MC and it got pretty confusing.

Give this book a chance.

Ok when I first saw the pitifully small number of reviews for this book, I almost passed it up and went for something more popular. Then I remembered Audible.com refund exchange policy and decided to give it a try knowing that I could return it if I didnt like it.
I am so glad I gave this book a chance, SB Nova has shown great potential to be the next Terry Goodkind. This book has all the promise of a great epic adventure that could span many volumes. If you have ever read the novels by Sara J Mass and liked the way she portrays the Fae then you will definitly like this book.
I Sincerely hope if your reading this that you give this book a chance

Amazing narrator and a talented author

I was really struggling with rating it. But first things first. Half of my thanks for the great experience go to the narrator. She was bloody amazing! I rarely find something with a narrator which can not only do a good reading of the book but live through it. With each line she was able to deliver a living and breathing person, so it felt like you was there, talking to the characters, fighting alongside with them, feeling their pain. It was very emotional and exactly what I’m always looking for. Secondly thanks to the author I was never bored. Almost all characters are interesting, memorable and I’ve become emotionally invested in all them very quickly. And more often then not I was clueless what would happen next and that’s always a sign for me that I’m reading an interesting book. I was expecting something like ‘OK, not bad, now let’s find something else’ but instead halfway through the book I was like ‘how am I going to wait for a sequel? It will be like torture!’
The world building is good and plot lines moving at a slow pace. It won’t overwhelm you and you could picture everything with no problem. So I’m very thankful to the author for this book. For making it so heartwarming because of all the friendships and kinships. For interesting characters, their training (I enjoy reading about training camps and how it always changes the protagonist), adventures, Fae world and the plot. And for choosing a perfect narrator!

Now to the ‘but’ part. But how did we end up with a heroine that can't make her own decisions and always whines that she is useless? Don’t get me wrong I had no complaints about that at the beginning because I was expecting that she would become smarter or grow as a person. And she was! So everything was going very well until it didn’t. Strangely somehow she became even more dependent on others and really useless! Even if she is trying to think what to do she never knows what exactly until Auntie helps. It was ALWAYS like that through the whole book until the last moment when she decided something on her own. Not consulting with the necklace or her pack. I can’t remember the last time when I was so frustrated with any character. Maybe it is because ALL other characters actually did something. Fought on their on without any guidance from some magical necklace. Made their own decisions. Serena wasn’t even interested in exploring what’s needed to help her or the others. I mean, you’re sitting in a room full of books. Read something useful! She was being helped through everything and always excepted others ideas rather than giving her own. So it was really hard to see why all the fae men she meets are so obsessed with her. And the way she treated Hunter was just awful. Demanding things from a person she barely knew. Treating him like shit without even trying to step in his shoes. And never EVER thinking about what would happen to him or how he is doing! Always just using him. Ok, I’ll stop now. If I continue to go down that road, I’ll explode with rage))

On the bright side I’ve still enjoyed how the author portrayed the Fae. And yes, many people are saying that the world is very similar to S.J. Mass’s but in this case it helped to connect with the book rather than pushed me away. I can't wait for the second book and the same narrator. Please let it be this year!
By the way this is my first review on Audible since I’ve joined it 4 years ago and this fact alone should speak for itself how I feel about the book.

Confused

I am confused as to how this book got such good reviews. I felt like I was listening to a knock off version of something Sarah J Maas would write. I felt zero connection to any of the characters and felt myself daydreaming while listening. Pass..

amazing!!!

I absolutely loved this book. S.B Nova creates a spectacular world with great characters and character development. I can't wait to follow the story and continue into this world!

i liked the story but not the narrator

I liked the story but the narrator was harder to understand, made mistakes such as saying a sentence twice and did not do a good job with accents because you couldn't tell which character was supposed to be speaking

Phenomenal

Honestly, probably the best book I’ve listened to! The story was so well thought out, and the authors writing is just seamless. I fell in love with the characters, the atmosphere and everything else. I loved the Academy aspect of the book, which was actually really unique and creative despite being the Academy atmosphere that so many books try to do. This one was so unique and exciting. I’m devastated that the next book isn’t out on audio yet. I like that this book felt adult without being overly sexual. I like that there was some cussing and sexual scenes that fit with their age, yet not over done.

Exciting and intriguing

A great story and good listen! I am generally not a fan of the romance genre, but I love fantasy, and this was amazing. I have already listened to it twice, and am considering listening again while I wait for the next book to be released. The narrator is good, but she has some weird inconsistencies from time to time. All in all a good listen!

A Very Easy Listen

the mind. Is it original? No! But, don't let that put you off. If you are into Fantasy and adventure, then there will be times when you just want an easy, light listen with no big world/character building, just simple. And this fits the bill.

My one real complaint would be the Serena character. I found her insipid, limp and not worthy of being the main character. I think a stronger character would have lifted the book more. How/why most of the fae men seem to fawn over her is a complete mystery.

Finally, if I had known no second book was even in sight, I probably would not have purchased this book as it leaves too many loose ends.

An entertaining listen.

Yes it has similarities to throne of glass however if you listen to it without comparing it the whole time it is entertaining in itself. Not as well written as throne of glass and the narrator is okay. But still passed the time and worth a go. I would like to see the second book on audible as I definatly would like to know where the story will go next.

Loved it!!!

I’m a sci-fi fan, love all the twilight, hunger games, allegiance books. This has the potential to be just as good. The characters are well rounded and have the reader invested in them & their journeys.

Please get the follow up onto audible. Can’t wait for the next instalment. Just downloaded Drake to keep me going meantime and I hope it’s as good as this book was.

Enchanting and beautifully written

Really enjoyed this audio would highly recommend a listen or read the book... great story with great characters.

Loved this book!

I loved all the characters, especially Serena! She was so real and lovable. The story was very compelling. I couldn’t put it down. Can’t wait for the next one!

brilliant

really enjoyed wish it was longer looking forward to the next one. loved most of the characters.

S.B Nova I need book 2, now!

Loved this so much! I found the start very slow and Serena a bit pathetic and thought that the book is probably too young for me. (I'm not a young adult but thought I'd give this a try). However, once Serena is put in a cage and taken out of the forest things get much more exciting! I love the banter between the main characters and was heartbroken to find I couldn't go straight to book 2.

Great read

Love this book.. easy to get lost in by narrater who brought characters to life. can’t wait for next book in series to see where our heroes will lead us!!...

I wasn’t sure at first

But I absolutely LOVED this book. Perfect example of the genre but also defied the usual narratives and plot lines. Can not wait for a sequel!!!

loved it..!

A tale of magic, fae and witches from start to finish.
Looking forward to book 2