Synopsis:
An unlikely assassin struggles to escape a legendary bounty hunter in this breakneck fantasy debut that will grab you by the throat—perfect for fans of Joe Abercrombie, R.F. Kuang, and Christopher Buehlman.
She killed for a cause. Will she die for it too?
Anji works as a castle servant, cleaning laundry for a king she hates. So when a rare opportunity presents itself, she seizes the chance to cut his throat. Then she runs for her life. In her wake, the kingdom is thrown into disarray, while a bounty bigger than anyone could imagine lands on her head.
On her heels are the fabled mercenaries of the Menagerie, whose animal-shaped masks are magical relics rumored to give them superhuman powers. It’s the Hawk who finds Anji a surly, aging swordswoman who has her own reasons for keeping Anji alive and out of the hands of her fellow bounty hunters, if only long enough to collect the reward herself.
With the rest of the Menagerie on their trail, so begins an alliance as tenuous as it is temporary—and a race against death that will decide Anji’s fate, and may change the course of a kingdom.
Review:
Anji Kills a King is a brutal, action-packed, grimy fantasy and I had a wonderful time with it. So often in fantasy stories, our heroes ride horses down packed dirt roads on a journey from a fire in the middle of a woods one evening to a tavern in a random village the next. In those stories, we don’t get the brutality and dirtiness as a character, but in Evan Leikam’s debut novel (releasing next Tuesday, May 13), he took the nature of the world and made it a core feature of Anji’s story as she has to grapple with the consequences of her actions.
Leikam starts quickly with the plot. The book isn’t about Anji in her journey and process to kill the king. Instead, the assassination happens almost before we are more than a few beats into the book. The plot, instead, is about what happens to Anji afterwards — the ramifications of her actions on the world and her future. Her killing of the king might have been correct — might have been justified — but she is still a royal assassin and has to be held accountable.
That’s where the Hawk steps in. The Hawk is one of the members of the Menagerie who are like a Seal Team 6 for this fantasyland with animal-themed names and masks. There’s a lot more to the Hawk’s story that takes a lot of coaxing and time by Anji to discover and the Hawk’s backstory ultimately shows what the story beyond this book will be.
The interplay between Anji and the Hawk is brutal and rough. Anji has a big mouth, and at first, the conversations between the two are entirely one-sided and as a reader, it was a bit understandable when Anji was told to shut up or threatened with violence. But even with the Hawk’s treatment of Anji, we see that it could be worse when other members of the Menagerie show up.
I really liked this book, but I can totally see where someone might claim this book was just a giant set-up for the next book in the series. The ending is a huge payoff for the journey that Anji and the Hawk go through and helps to show what’s really at stake and what our protagonist will be up to once the second book starts (presumably with a bang).
Evan Leikam did really well for a debut novel and I’ll be on the lookout for the second book in The Rising Tide series down the road. And as always, Moira Quirk did an excellent job in narration for the book, capturing Anji’s fresh attitude and the Hawk’s war-weariness.
Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Tor Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own. Anji Kills a King releases on May 13, 2025.
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