Realm of Knights

By: Jennifer Anne Davis

Narrated by: Kim Bretton

Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's Summary

Reid has spent her whole life pretending to be a man so she can inherit her father’s estate, but when a chance encounter threatens to expose her lie, she is forced to risk everything.

In the kingdom of Marsden, women are subservient to men, and land can only pass from father to son. So, when Reid Ellington is born, the fifth daughter to one of the wealthiest landholders in the kingdom, it’s announced that Reid is a boy.    

Eighteen years later, Reid struggles to conceal the fact she’s actually a young woman. Every day, her secret becomes harder to keep. When one of Marsden’s princes sees her sparring with a sword, she is forced to accept his offer and lead her father’s soldiers to the border. Along the way, she discovers a covert organization within the army known as the Knights of the Realm. 

If Reid wants to save her family from being arrested for treason and robbed of their inheritance, she will have to join the knights and become a weapon for the crown.    

To protect her family, Reid must fight like a man. To do that, she’ll need the courage of a woman.

This is the first book in a new fantasy series from best-selling author Jennifer Anne Davis.

©2019 Jennifer Anne Davis (P)2019 Jennifer Anne Davis

A Fantastic Series Start!

This book was such a great listen! Honestly, time just flew by as I listened to it. I definitely need Book 2 right now!!!

I loved Reid's struggle with who she is as a person. It's a very interesting dynamic for a character to go through especially with the lens of gender roles in the society here and what she is tasked with doing. It provides some great character moments.

What I also loved was the lack of a romance. Yes, there is attraction and flirtation but we completely avoided some cliches along the way and that was uber refreshing. And that's coming from someone who loves romance in her stories.

I wanted a little more from the plot but I'm not sure what. Perhaps more physical action? There are a lot of subtle twists along the way so I was never bored with the story; so I'm not sure what was lacking for me. It all builds nicely for the sequel so I have some high expectations for what's to come.

Audiobook is fantastic! I loved the accents and how each character had a unique voice.

**I received an ARC/review copy of this book and this is my voluntary review.**

Excellent

An excellent story and an excellent narrator. Kim Bretton does a stellar job in this one.

Great story about identity and strength

Disclaimer: I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Jennifer Anne Davis. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

I’ve never actually done an audiobook blog tour before so this was really cool to do. Yes, I’ve listened to many audiobooks before, but never participated in an audiobook blog tour specifically. So I am sooooooo glad that Audiobookworm Promotions exists because that was the coolest thing ever.

I was so into this book like you wouldn’t believe! It’s a pretty decent length audiobook – 8 hours so you could technically listen to it in a day if you wanted to – and the pacing just really worked for me. I loved Bretton’s narration for this as well, and I felt like she really made me like Reid and Harlan a lot more than if I had read them, or if someone else voiced them. She gave this sort of edge to Reid but still make sure that she sounded like the woman she was – despite having to grow up as a boy. I think she gave personality to all of the characters that we got to meet in this novel, and I was really intrigued by the whole story in general.

I really, really hope that she stays the narrator for the entire series. This was my first time hearing Bretton as a narrator and I look forward to hearing her again in other fantasy novels.

Davis made a story where I wanted the main character to be able to fully be herself, and yet I could relate to her in that she had to hide part of who she was. I don’t find a lot of novels where our female MC has to grow up from birth living a complete lie about their sex and gender. The only people that knew that Reid was born a girl, and was still a girl by all physical requirements, were her sisters and father. Unfortunately, her mother died in childbirth, and she felt like she was the one that killed her mother, which is super heartbreaking because it definitely wasn’t her fault. In this world and time, if a family does not have a male heir, the family can lose whatever property and land they have, and their titles. Hence why Duke Ellington – Reid’s father – declared that his late wife gave birth to their son Lord Reid.

So for one, I enjoyed Reid’s journey into learning how she could use all facets of herself to be a Knight of the Realm, almost a group of elite soldiers that act as spies for the Kingdom. Since she pretty much knows the mannerisms of men, and grew up doing combat training, she can handle herself as man, but can also change her outward appearance to be a woman when the situation calls for it. While this may not seem like a novel idea in the present, it seems like in the kingdom of Marsden, this situation that Reid was thrust into gave her so much more agency over herself than she realized. It wasn’t until she had to be “Lady Reid Ellington” that she truly felt how oppressed being a woman could be.

But I won’t spoil the rest of this one for you, because things get so much more interesting when she goes on an actual mission as a Knight, and gets to travel to an enemy realm to save her people. It really was quite interesting, and the entire time I was listening to it, I was engaged in Reid’s journey and didn’t want it to end. I’m actually quite peeved that it ended in such a cliffhanger and I have no idea where or when I’ll get the second audiobook but I need it like yesterday.

Oh, and I also listened to 1.5x the speed, and it just made the story feel so much more intense! I think I need to listen to the rest of my audiobooks at this speed from now on. It also made the laughing in the novel sound super cool for some reason??? I can’t explain it. I just totally dig it.

Another epic story

Ms. Davis does it again. I've enjoyed several of her other series and this is no exception. The plot line is intriguing and keeps you pulled in throughout the book. The narrator has a beautiful voice, giving lively animation to each new character. It is a must listen for anyone looking for a beautifully done fantasy.

Everything you could want in a fantasy novel

This book was everything! I mean seriously everything you could want in a fantasy novel. The dukes daughter Reid has been pretending to be a man her entire life. She gets thrown into the Royal world where she has to learn to be a woman. There is a secret knight society with spies and assassins. There is an evil royal and a maybe not so evil royal.

I have never listened to anything Kim Bretton has narrated but I think she did a great job. Her accent fit the book perfectly.

I can say without a doubt this is one of my favorite books I’ve read so far this year. It’s absolutely phenomenal and I can’t wait until December for the next one!