Cinda Williams Chima

Relates the intertwining fates of former street gang leader Han Alister and headstrong Princess Raisa, as Han takes possession of an amulet that once belonged to an evil wizard and Raisa uncovers a conspiracy in the Grey Wolf Court.

The Demon King

Read first 3 chapters, was a bit boring and pacing was too slow

THOU art I

this brought me back guys. i was just thinking abt the stuff I read in middle school and how well it’s aged… superb. still has the same political thrill and undercurrents while being an easy read

Vicky  Nuñez 

First read in 2012.

Re-Reading before starting the Shattered Realms series.

Annwyn Jensen

This book. I am really into high fantasy right now, and this book satisfies. I really like all the characters and how they interact with each other. And I'm really excited where the storyline will go. On to book two!

Julie Janis

Why have I not picked up this book sooner? I devoured this book! The plot and world are SO intriguing! Seriously, the kingdoms, wizards, magic, plot twists, and so much more captivated me from the beginning. I love Han and Raisa's character so much and the ending was such a cliff hanger! I can totally tell that their story is just now beginning. I also appreciated that this was a clean read as well. This is one good solid, classic fantasy and I HIGHLY recommend it!

Livia

*fanning myself*

I can't. The last 5 chapters. Oh god. So tense. Revelations. Tension. I'M SWEATING AFTER FINISHING THIS BECAUSE, GOD, THE LAST BITS OF THIS BOOK.

I can tell that this series is going to be a new obsession

Maria

сырая книга, местами перетянуто, местами скомкано, очень много роялей в кустах.

Liv Rockwell

Disclaimer: I generally do not read fantasy, much less YA fantasy. This book was recommended to me by some dear friends who wanted us all to get together and talk about it. So I read the book. 

Honestly, the first 150 pages are slow. This section may be essential to giving us the setting and the general character overview, yet I found it lagging. I have been told by my brother (who has already finished this series) that this boring first part happens in every book in the series. He also told me that further background is given in a later book. In other words, I have no clue why this book needs to drag the first fourth of it. 

However, once I became enthralled with the world the reading became easier. If I sat myself down determined to get as many pages done as possible often I would fly through the novel in less pain than if I had read the same section in short stops. So, read this novel in large chunks. 

The world itself it is well-developed, as is the background (thus far) and the characters. I am hesitant to praise much more, as I feel I do not comprehend the characters fully yet. But, if you are someone reads YA fantasy and is okay with an initial trek to get to the interesting parts, this series will follow through.

Анастасия Розова

3.75/5


  “There's too much to learn in a lifetime.” 


So, I've been meaning to read this series since the beginning of time. Well, okay, not for that long, but like since 2014 for sure. And I finally got to in last December, then I fell into a reading slump and was reading everything except the books I've already started... Goddammit. 

But here I am, finally finished this book and happy I did. I have expected to LOVE it, but maybe it was a bit overhyped for me. With that said, I still enjoyed the book a lot and even though I've been reading it forever, it didn't effect me.

I loved the setting a lot, I thought the world was very interesting, the folklore was done very well. It is a foundational book in a series, so I'm sure it'll get even better. But the clans and the queendom and the streets were interesting to follow and even more interesting to see them collide. The power balance was great. 

The beginning was rather slow and you don't know who's who and nothing is happening, so yeah. But I think in the middle things picked up and went a little bit faster. It is still, however, a big set up for the rest of the series.

I liked the characters enough to care about them, but not enough to get obsessed (seems to be a fucking trend lately). Even with that, I still found them to be alive and well thought out characters, they didn't felt flat or anything. 

Han is a charming fella, street smart and an ex-criminal in a way, but also kind and compassionate, cares for his family a lot. 
Raisa is a princess who loves parties and dresses and boys, but also cares for the good of her queendom and does everything she can to protect it. I suspect we'll have those two interacting in the next book a lot more than in this one, and it'll be interesting to see how they figure each other out.
Amon, I also very much enjoyed his character, again, hope to see more of him in the future, cause he's so cool. A faithful soldier, but also a friend and I love that trope!
All the side characters were also complex and intriguing, and that is what a good book has to have.


Overall I very much enjoyed it and I'm definitely going to continue with this series, and maybe with the next one after that.

Jeni Enjaian

I really wanted to rate this book higher than this. 
I found myself engaged with the book throughout. Chima built a realistic fantasy world but she took far too long doing so. This whole book felt like it built up towards a climax that came and went in a blink. The last hundred pages moved so quickly I had to slow my pace of reading considerably to catch everything and even had to backtrack once after I had to put the book down for a family meal since I did not remember a secondary character who appears for a page or two before perishing horribly. 
If the entire book had been written on the same level as the last hundred pages, I would eagerly add the remaining books in the series onto my to read shelf. As it stands, I will read this book and no further. I cannot recommend it.

Lovisa

Det var längesedan jag läste en bok där det inte hände sak på sak men jag ändå inte blev uttråkad. Karaktärerna var komplexa, problemen realistiska i en fantassysetting. Settingen var fantastiskt bra uppbyggd med fina miljöer. Jag hoppas verkligen att de andra böckerna i serien faller mig lika mycket i smaken.

Alejandra Bran

I was highly deceived by this book, not sure why was I expecting this book to follow an adult tone story with young adult characters. It was pretty much just an old good YA fantasy.

World building wise it has potential, not much estructure was explained. The commoners are hungry, plagued by illnesses, streets are run by gangs. Meanwhile the royalty and Magic families and dressing nicely and eating plenty. 

Magic seems to be part of the story, but it’s not explained much, I assume we’ll see more in the next book. I think I’m more interested in knowing what happened to the love story from the past between the Queen and the last wizards king.

I’m not going to talk about love, because this girls is interested in every single handsome boy on the story 🙄

Leelynn Brady

Magic is prevalent in this world, even if it's not highly liked. The world has changed a lot since the Demon King tried to destroy the world, almost succeeding in his quest. Because of the Demon King's actions, wizards and clans are in a precarious situation, so close to being at war with one another. In this land, we meet two very different people from two very different ends of the spectrum. Han Alister, a former head of one of the city's gangs, comes across a special amulet that has a dangerous history, and brings his world crashing down around him. The amulet he found is supposed to belong to the Demon King, the same one that almost caused the world to end.

Enter Raisa ana'Marianna, the Princess Heir of Fellsmarch, the future ruler of her country. Not only is she royalty through her mother's side (it is a Queendom, after all, and the monarchy is a matriarch), but also through her father's side. Her father is a very important figure in the clans, and she has to somehow combine both sides of her heritage into her life. When she feels like her mother is making her choose between her crown and her father's family, she has to decide where her loyalties lie, and why she even has to choose in the first place.

The queendom is on the brink of an all out war, and Raisa doesn't realize just how bad it really is. She ends up running away when a plot to change the rule of succession is hatched, which also involves her marrying the High Wizard's son without her approval. On her journey across the land, she meets Han, and they find out that their journey together is more intertwined than they initially thought.

This book was so amazing to me, and it is the first book of this four part series. Han never knew who his father was, and when he does end up finding out the truth of his ancestors, it goes to show just how powerful he really is, and the potential of gaining even more. Raisa also discovers just how much she needs to learn about being the next Queen, and how she needs to learn how to trust her own instincts. I especially loved the fact that this is a matriarchal society, something that I rarely see in the books I've read so far. I need more of those in my life for sure. Granted, the current Queen is not doing such a good job, but that doesn't mean that all of them were bad at their job. In fact, it was the first Queen that was able to prevent the Demon King from destroying the world in the first place, and that's saying something.

I know that this is only the first book, and I know that both Han and Raisa have a lot of growing up to do, but I can already tell that their journey is going to be a crazy one. It looks like there's another pair of teenagers that are bound to save the world, and I'm actually very okay with that. I look forward to reading the rest of the series, along with the companion series that takes place after the events of The Seven Realms series.

Kenna Armstrong

Oh this was so good. I had a few moments where I predicted things that were going to happen but they always twisted them so you didn't know the full story. This is an easy 5/5 stars!!

Courtney Shipley

I loved this book. It had a story line that kept you coming back for more.

Elad Schulman

This book got me excited for the rest of the series. Although there was a story plot, this book was used mainly for world building. Cinda Williams Chima did just that, and she did it well. I can't wait to see where she takes the story from here.

Wren Hardwick

talk about your set up book. RTC

- - - 

I am 3/4ths through this book and I still feel as if it is building up to something... since nothing has happened.

- - -

Buddy Read with my twin Mary ~Ravager of Tomes~!

The Demon King

Reviews

Highlights