The King of Faerie

Stariel, Book 4

By: AJ Lancaster

Narrated by: Fiona Hardingham

Length: 16 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

The fae are real, and Hetta Valstar is trying her best to marry one.

If Hetta and Wyn ever manage to marry, it will be the first union between Faerie and Mortal since the Iron Law was revoked. The mortal Queen has given them her blessing - sort of. Now, Wyn needs permission from the fae High King.

There’s an intensely personal reason why they need to tie the knot as soon as possible, and time is not on their side. The clock is ticking. Except in Wyn’s home court, which is trapped under magical stasis. To break the spell will mean venturing into the deepest realms of Faerie, where even fae princes - and definitely human lords - fear to tread.

Unfortunately, the fae problems aren’t limited to Faerie. Public tension is rising, and the reveal of Wyn’s true identity makes him and Hetta the centre of the storm. On top of this, Stariel’s magic is going haywire, and Hetta is struggling with her intensifying powers - and she might not be the only one affected.

The High King might be the only one who can help, since he’s responsible for the fae returning to the Mortal Realm in the first place.

If only they knew where he was.

©2022 AJ Lancaster (P)2022 Podium Audio

3 books in

I absolutely love these books. Changing the narrator for the last book was kind of off putting, as you get used to the original voices of the characters.

Sad that it’s over!

The story was wonderful, heartbreaking, and healing all at once. It was a beautiful tale.

My main dislike is from the narrator. I didn’t mind the switch from the other three but the one thing that stood out to me with the other three was that there was a lot of individuality in the voices of the prior narratives.

In comparison this one is just a bit bland with the fem presenting voices and almost robotic with the male presenting voices.

All in all it is a wonderful series I will listen to again one day. I love all of them.

Great conclusion to the series

What a fun series this was, I liked how each book moves the story line along well but each has a slightly different focus. The only negative I would say about this story and a little about the previous 2 is that I feel like some of the characters that had so much potential were sort of skimmed over - including the High King. There is a lot of build up surrounding the reveal, but the reveal is really short and I felt a bit like, well wait isn't there more! I think that is sort of the same with the gradmother, there clearly is WAY more to her story.

The narrator of this book is good, I preferred the narrator of the first 3 - mostly because that's how I fell in love with the characters and in some places it didn't feel like they were the same characters as they were in the first 3 books - especially Wynn, In the 1st three he was austere and strong and came across very sexy. In this book he is loud and abrupt and annoying all because of the reader style. That was a bit disappointing.

Beautiful world building

overall good story, light romance, with enough dark points for depth. It isn't a happy ever afterin all respects, ,but still very hopeful and I love seeing all the characters grow.

Why change the performer?!

Love this series but holy cow why change the performer 3 books in! I almost couldn’t listen to the whole thing because of it. Super disappointed.

Good Finale to a Fun Series

I really enjoyed this series set in a very thinly disguised Victorian Great Britain. Fiona Hardingham has a pleasant voice, but I agree with other reviewers that she’s not in the same league as Finty Williams. My complaint is that Fiona gets the words wrong. Seems like no one listens to the performance to catch mistakes. I kept a list. Here are a few of my favorites: The warning throb of a heartache pulsed at the base of his skull (instead of headache)
Acting in her steed (instead of stead)
Beneath his unraffled surface

A World of Dreams

How exciting to listen to this series! I am moving on to book 5 and can already tell how much I will regret it being over 🌟. To me I believe this is Marvelous…Enjoy

The king of faerie was a perfect ending

I loved love this series, and all I can say is I want more please. If you love a good story of magic and family read this amazing series

Great story, narrator change was jarring

Story is fantastic and appreciated the longer, more robust story line compared to book 2. However the narrator change was jarring. Had to adjust to x0.95 given fast, choppy style of this narrator. Her use of the same male voice for all characters also was an adjustment. Going to continue the series regardless but miss the narrator from books 1 & 2

loved this series

I throughly enjoyed this series but was very disappointed that this 4th book wasn't narrated by Finty Williams. I had a very hard time "getting into" the story because I was annoyed with Fiona's performance. I had to re-listen numerous times to different sections because I found I tuned out what she was saying. if possible re-record with Finty narrating please.