Synopsis:
A page-turning, unforgettable fantasy set in a city peopled with ruffians, spies, malcontents and murderers. Experience out-of-this world adventure and dangerous politics as Maggie tries to survive waking up in her favourite fictional world.
A heart-pounding epic from No. 1 New York Times bestselling author duo Ilona Andrews.
When Maggie wakes up cold, filthy and naked in a gutter, it doesn’t take her long to recognize Kair Toren. It’s a city she knows intimately from the pages of a famously unfinished dark fantasy series – one she’s been obsessively reading and re-reading, while waiting years for the final novel.
Her only tools for navigating this gritty world of rival warlords, magic and mayhem? Her encyclopaedic knowledge of the plot, the setting and the characters’ ambitions and fates. But while she quickly discovers she cannot be killed (though many will try!), the same cannot be said for the living, breathing characters she’s coming to love – a motley band that includes a former lady’s maid, a deadly assassin, various outrageous magical creatures and a dangerously appealing soldier. Soon, instead of trying to return home, she finds herself enmeshed in the schemes – and attentions – of duelling princes, dukes and villains. This all while trying to save them and the kingdom of Rellas from the ending she’s seen of the cataclysmic war.
This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me is the beginning of the most epic adventure yet from genre powerhouse writing duo Ilona Andrews. For fans of Samantha Shannon, Sarah J. Maas, Danielle L. Jensen and isekai portal fantasy.
Review:
Isekai…Portal…Progression…LitRPG…each of these has boomed in recent years, and while they all share a bit of some similar DNA, there are differences. Of course, LitRPG and Isekai are fairly new in the fantasy genre, but you can trace portals back to C.S. Lewis and even Mark Twain in many respects. Here, the writing team of Ilona Andrews gives us a mixture of Portal and Isekai with a Fourth Wall-break into an Epic (or at times Grimdark) Fantasy Novel with their latest, This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me.
I had a few quibbles with the book and how certain things were dealt with and handled, but boy is this book a ton of fun. Right off the bat, there are some similarities with Django Wexler’s recent timeloop fantasy duo detailing the rise of Dark Lord Davi, but it’s clear early on that this is its own thing. In Wexler’s book, the main character is whisked off from 21st century Earth to a fantasy world where dying simply resets the world over and over again, but for Maggie in Andrews’ new series, she is transported to her favorite fantasy book series. She has the world and its characters committed to memory inside and out, so much so that she uses that knowledge to gain an upper hand in many situations.
The series is called “Maggie the Undying,” but it isn’t a timeloop. She is killed from time to time (and it hurts and it sucks and she’d rather not keep doing it, thank you very much), but after a while, her body heals and bam, she’s back in action.
Her intimate knowledge of the world is a blessing and a curse, as she finds out. Many times the plot of her story follows the plot of her favorite books, but every so often, there are deviations and changes that throw her off. In fact, that’s often where some of the fun comes in as Maggie has to figure out what to change and how to do it to get her plan back in place.
For the authors, they basically had to write two (maybe even three) books. First, they had the book that Maggie read and loved as a teenager. Then, they had to stick Maggie into that book and figure out where she fits and doesn’t. Then, the resulting story after she mucks things up. It’s fascinating and must have been a lot of work.
But, for the reader, that often is one of the major drawbacks. There is A LOT of telling. It’s enjoyable and Maggie is a great narrator of both her own story and the story she’s portalled into, but still…she’s telling us about it nearly every step along the way. First, she tells us how it goes in the original book (the book we, as the audience, have no access to), then we’re treated to the minor tweaks and changes, and we see how it goes in the end. In fact, due to how much of it is plotted out, the book is very “heist-y” in its telling and execution.
There is romance, but I definitely wouldn’t label this book a “Spicy” Romantasy. Perhaps in future installments it gets “spicier,” but rest assured that most of the romance here is a slow-burn, but one that I enjoyed. There were fun twists towards the end that had me trying to guess what would happen, and the final ending set up the second book perfectly.
I was privileged to have early access to the audiobook and Kristen Sieh was a fantastic encapsulation of Maggie’s sometimes series, sometimes snarky, sometimes soft character. I had a lot of fun with Ilona Andrews’ This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me, but if the authors can try to cut down a little on the “telling” in future installments, I think the books might be a little more smooth and seamless for the reader’s experience.
Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing this audiobook for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
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