Crown of Light and Ashes

Kingdom of Shadows Series, Book 1

De: Joanna Maz, Vi Carter

Narrado por: Roxy Rose, Casey Jones

I stepped into the Shadow Court to save my brother. I didn't expect to walk out as the bride of the monster who killed the man I loved.

Kaan is the ruthless Lord of Shadows—ancient, merciless, and terrifyingly beautiful. He murdered Aslan with a smile on his lips and my name on his tongue. Then he claimed me as payment for a blood debt.

Now, I'm his wife in black silk and silver chains. Owned. Caged. Watched.

And on our wedding night, he doesn't ask. He takes—my body, my breath, my resistance—until I break. His mouth. His rules. His shadows wrap around me like a noose.

I swore I'd kill him. Instead, I'm moaning his name in the dark.

Because monsters like him don't make love. They unmake you. But Kaan doesn't want love. He wants devotion. He wants me to beg.

And the worst part? I think I will.

This is a dark romantasy and the first book in the Kingdom of Shadow trilogy, set in the same universe as the Kingdom of Light trilogy.

©2025 Joanna Maz and Vi Carter (P)2025 Podium Audio

OMG

I saw yall on Tik tok and I literally waited to drop, I woke up to only minutes it dropping on December and this was worthy the wait and the listening!!!!! I even told my book GroupChat to put it on our next bookstore read and I’m gonna have to buy the physical copy now!!!!

Not a fan of female narrator

The book itself—the storyline, world-building, and spice level—is fantastic. Unfortunately, the audiobook experience was a major letdown due to the female narrator. Her delivery is extremely monotone and lacks emotional range, which made it difficult to stay engaged with the story. She also reads at a very slow pace, to the point that listening became tiring rather than enjoyable.
The male narrator, on the other hand, was excellent. He brought emotion and energy to his sections, and I genuinely looked forward to his chapters. Because of the female narrator’s tone and pacing, I couldn’t make it past the first five chapters and ultimately decided to purchase the hardcover instead. I enjoyed physically reading the book far more than listening to it.
Overall, I loved the story, but I was disappointed with the audiobook narration and really wish a different female narrator had been chosen for the main character.

Great Story

I wanted to love this audiobook more than I did but the female narrator ruined it for me… her voice did not match the character… perhaps a different female narrator for future sequels

Great Story, Mixed Audiobook Experience

The story itself was amazing—the storyline, world-building, and the relationship were all very well done. I was a little thrown off by the male narrator’s accent at first, but I quickly grew to enjoy it.

Unfortunately, the female narrator was very lacking. She read extremely slowly (even after increasing the speed to 1.7x) and maintained the same tone throughout the entire book, which made it difficult to stay engaged.

Additionally, the Kindle and Audible versions do not fully align. The end of chapter 26 in the Kindle edition is missing from the audio version, and the final chapter in the Kindle book leaves out large portions that are included in the audiobook.

Despite these issues, I absolutely love the storyline and can’t wait for book two. I do hope, however, that a different female narrator is chosen moving forward.

Great story, lacking in female performance

the story is great, male voice is on point. it kept me interested but I found myself skipping through some of the female lines because she spoke so mundane, emotionless and it irritated me. you can barely tell any difference when she spoke for different characters. it could have been amazing and if it was only based I female performance, I'd rate performance a 1.