Melissa Wright

She was born a princess. They made her an assassin. One was an accident. Two a coincidence. By three, they would know. It would be harder, but I would avenge my mother's death. These kings would pay that price. Seven cities make up the Storm Queen's Realm, each of their self-crowned, murderous kings are one of Princess Myrina's marks. The treasonous curs may have banded together to share a stolen throne, but soon they will fall. They thought her dead, killed in the massacre. They thought their rule secure, but Myrina of Stormskeep has awoken. With the help of her loyal bloodsworn, the shadow princess will have her revenge.

Seven Ways to Kill a King

Ana V. 

This is my first time reading this author's novel and I enjoyed the audiobook a lot.
A quick standalone fantasy romance. Myrina decides to revenge on her mother by assassinating the traitors one by one. Her mission is time-sensitive for her oldest sister is close to turning the age to be queen and Myrina worries for her life. She is not alone in this journey, although her loyal guard is there only for the romance tropes. I enjoyed her journey, almost wished it had more to each mission and fewer romance slow burn scenes. I liked the plot twist at the end and final chapters.

B. K.

3.5 stars, rounded up because I love the princess & bodyguard trope, and because the current average rating on Goodreads seems unfairly low. Checked out the audiobook from my library based on little more than the beautiful cover and the fact that it's pretty short (7.5 hours). The writing and characters were a bit bland, nothing really memorable, but I got what I was looking for: a fast-paced revenge story with some romance, some action (sword fights, jumping out of windows/off of cliffs, etc), and a happy ending.

Ashton Reed

2.75/5 stars

Though the story and the characters have potential, Seven Ways to Kill A King lacks the depth of world-building and character development needed for such a vast world targeted for “fans of The Witcher and Game of Thrones.”

Seven Ways to Kill A King follows Princess Myrina as she leaves hiding with the goal to assassinate all seven kings who took and divided her mother’s kingdom years before. Those kings had started out as lords over the seven divisions of the realm but had used the queen’s blood-sworn magicians to kill her, kidnap Myrina’s older sister, and take the title of “king” for themselves. Myrina barely escaped after watching her mother die before her eyes, living in hiding ever since with a couple loyal to the queen and with her queensguard, blood-sworn to the throne, looking out for her in the shadows. But with her sister’s execution fast approaching, she decides now is the time to take action, and her plan? With the help of Cassius, her childhood friend and a young bloodsworn himself, she will kill them all.

FIrst of all, I love the premise of this book. That tagline will always give me chills - “She was born a princess. They made her an assassin.” Princesses and assassins are two of my favorite book archetypes, so the premise of this book is so exciting.

And the plot is one area where this book doesn’t fall flat. I wanted Myrina to succeed in her quest for revenge, and there are twists and turns where their plans don’t go so well, which kept me on my toes. And I did find myself rooting for a romantic relationship to build between Myrina and Cassius.

Very sadly, however, this book did not reach my excited, hopeful expectations. Though the plot advances well throughout the story, its execution falters because the characters. It’s evident Wright tries to build Myrina and Cassius through their backstories and by telling their emotions, but it isn’t enough. They don’t have any substance, and a few times, there are inconsistencies in how they act with no explanation as to why they shifted mood/behavior/etc in that moment - that is literally my least favorite thing a writer could do, though this book wasn’t so bad that I was turned off from finishing (which has happened…). And there’s something about how she “shows not tells” certain things I assume are supposed to imply something about the character yet I have no idea what? I’m not really sure how to explain it, though I’m sure if you read a couple chapters in, you would experience it at least twice. Basically, their thoughts and actions have a sort of disconnect from the story in a way that’s disorienting and blocks their characters from gaining any depth.

That point applies to the world as well. Wright’s descriptions of Myrina and Cassius’ immediate surroundings are vivid and well-imagined. But outside of those immediate surroundings, there’s nothing. I felt like a horse with blinders on while reading, because I couldn’t see anything but ahead - and the outside world was not described and explained near enough to be portrayed on such an epic scale.

Basically, this isn’t a terrible read. But it did not reach my expectations of a lavish, gritty fantasy with depth and development. Considering it took me a month and a half to actually finish, that should tell you something about how entrancing it is. But I promise, it wasn’t an altogether bad read, and I recommend it to those looking for a surface-level fantasy read.

I thank you, Melissa Wright, for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review; all opinions are my own.




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Seven Ways to Kill a King

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