The Ruin of Kings

Honestly, I don't think I'm going to do a recap of the plot in this review because it is mind bogglingly complex. The format of the story was so confusing. The main character was imprisoned by a woman. The woman was telling his story from when he was a young boy, while the main character was telling his story starting later in his life. We were switching back between the two. But we also had some conversations in the present day between them. And all of this was being transcribed by a narrator, who would cut in sometimes with footnotes about the story. So that in itself was complex. But then, once you get into the family trees of these characters, and their histories, the complexity increases tenfold. You're constantly trying to figure out who is related to who, and who is a god, and where everyone fits. To add even MORE to that, a lot of the names are very similar, so I found myself thinking we were talking about one person, when we were talking about someone else. I will say that listening to the audiobook helped a lot with this confusion because there are 3 different narrators, so it helps the reader keep track of who is talking. I will say, there are demons, royalty, dragons, gods, and the afterlife all in this book, so if that interests you, you may like this book.

Despite the complexity of the story, I did really enjoy it. I'm sure I still don't understand all that I read, but I did enjoy the plot and the characters. It was fast paced and interesting, even if it was suuuuuper long. I didn't find myself getting bored at all, and the audiobook was 27 hours, so that's saying something. The ending was buckwild, and I am very excited for my hold on the next book to be ready from my library.

I would recommend this book to people that aren't afraid of a complex fantasy story. This definitely isn't a book for a fantasy beginner.

TW: abusive relationship, alcohol, amputation, attempted murder, blood, bones, child abuse, rape of a child, death, demons, emotional abuse, fire, gore, homophobia, incest, kidnapping, misogyny, murder, pedophilia, poisoning, prostitution, rape, sexual assault, sexually explicit scenes, slavery, torture, violence, war