Author: J.F. Johns
Series: Kingdom of Gods #1
Genre: Fantasy Romance/Magic/New Adult
Publisher: Indie/Self-pub
Publication Date: May 31, 2025
Edition: Ebook
Source: NetGalley
Pre-Order: Amazon US
Synopsis:
The eight kingdoms have not spoken for 100 hundred years after destroying the land of the witches, turning the kingdom into a wasteland.
Until now.
Mal Blackburn will end the feud between the kingdoms by marrying the fire prince, known across the lands for being cruel.
But Mal is not looking to conquer the cruel prince’s heart.
She wants to stab it.
For if Mal kills the fire prince, she will end the curse no one believes to be true. However, killing him might not be so simple...
The witches want revenge.
And everyone seems to keep secrets in the land of fire and dragons.
Including Mal Blackburn, the girl with witch eyes. The fourth-born child of the Kingdom of Darkness. The one that is hiding a secret that could doom them all.
Or save them.
Until now.
Mal Blackburn will end the feud between the kingdoms by marrying the fire prince, known across the lands for being cruel.
But Mal is not looking to conquer the cruel prince’s heart.
She wants to stab it.
For if Mal kills the fire prince, she will end the curse no one believes to be true. However, killing him might not be so simple...
The witches want revenge.
And everyone seems to keep secrets in the land of fire and dragons.
Including Mal Blackburn, the girl with witch eyes. The fourth-born child of the Kingdom of Darkness. The one that is hiding a secret that could doom them all.
Or save them.
**************
This is a story with a lot of potential, it's just that much of it felt like idea storming more than a complete story. I never felt like I got to know the characters enough to care about anything they went through.
This book promises to be about a prince and a fourth-born princess of rival monarchies, Ash the prince of the Kingdom of Fire, and Mal the princess of the Kingdom of Darkness. What we got was more POV chapters from side-characters than from Ash and Mal. There was a POV chapter from his sister before we heard from him. There was also a romance between Mal's brother and Ash's sister that was more developed than between the characters who were supposed to be the main characters.
The magic, was not explained much, if at all. I wanted it to have more of a focus than it did because it felt like it was an important part of the story. Mal has a mysterious magic that is both not talked about among her family, and there's a whole society of witches/warlocks. This is another thing that might be nitpicking, but all the realms are called "kingdoms" but some are Queendoms, and some are lead by the first born regardless of gender. There were also some odd choices when it came to world building, the Kingdom of Darkness, they eat rotten food... which I just don't understand. If there is little to no sunlight in this realm, I would assume they eat a lore more fungus or fermented food, so cooking fresh food weeks ahead of time so it can sit and rot is... odd.
All that aside, the focus of this book didn't feel like it had a central focus. It should've followed the Prince and Princess more closely, they "fell in love" off page from my perspective. So their sacrifices at the end of the book didn't feel earned. Not to mention the two bait and switches that happened, honestly came out of nowhere.
There is a good and interesting story in here, I just feel that it needs more refinement.
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