Lia
This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me was a fun story slowed down a bit by exposition dumps and the heroine’s hyper-competence. It picked up about halfway through.
In this story, a protagonist from our world finds herself dumped into the setting of a fantasy book series she loves. In the first half of the story, we meet characters and events from the secondary world and the protagonist starts finding her way around. This is where, as a reader, I struggled with exposition-heavy explanations.
My ability to maintain suspension of disbelief as the story unfolded was uneven. The setup required jarring transitions between Maggie’s remembered relationship with a beloved story and real danger. We learn that our heroine conveniently resurrects every time she’s killed (we don’t know why). Also conveniently, her memories of beloved books somehow translate easily into a form of street smarts. Her skills and achievements felt unearned.
However, if you have the same problem, I recommend pushing through.
I wound up loving the latter half of the book. Events started unfolding more organically and I enjoying the characters more. I wanted to know what would happen next. Maggie starts developing relationships that feel real. The book found its footing and started building out its characters and themes.
In the end the phrase “This kingdom will not kill me” had thematic depth, and I was completely invested in Maggie’s story. Very glad I stuck with it until the end.
This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me was a fun story slowed down a bit by exposition dumps and the heroine’s hyper-competence. It picked up about halfway through.
In this story, a protagonist from our world finds herself dumped into the setting of a fantasy book series she loves. In the first half of the story, we meet characters and events from the secondary world and the protagonist starts finding her way around. This is where, as a reader, I struggled with exposition-heavy explanations.
My ability to maintain suspension of disbelief as the story unfolded was uneven. The setup required jarring transitions between Maggie’s remembered relationship with a beloved story and real danger. We learn that our heroine conveniently resurrects every time she’s killed (we don’t know why). Also conveniently, her memories of beloved books somehow translate easily into a form of street smarts. Her skills and achievements felt unearned.
However, if you have the same problem, I recommend pushing through.
I wound up loving the latter half of the book. Events started unfolding more organically and I enjoying the characters more. I wanted to know what would happen next. Maggie starts developing relationships that feel real. The book found its footing and started building out its characters and themes.
In the end the phrase “This kingdom will not kill me” had thematic depth, and I was completely invested in Maggie’s story. Very glad I stuck with it until the end.
