I tried to read this but after 50 pages the plot and writing just wasn’t engaging enough to grab me and make me invested. If I pushed through it might’ve got better though!

I don’t often read Ya Dystopian anymore, and it’s either a hit or miss for me whenever I pick one up. Was really excited for this first book in a new YA Dystopian series, and it definitely had some very enjoyable elements. I loved the multiple point of views. In my opinion, that always adds more layers/depth to a story. But did not always like a lot of the characters. so that also influenced my reading experience a bit.

A first book with good promise of becoming something more and better with next instalments. I’m definitely planning on finding out what’ll happen in the next book!

Multiple POV, great world building, loved the interaction between characters packaged in a fun, fast-paced read.

There was just SO MUCH going on and not in a good way. The author clearly has talent, but the POV switching and all the subplots, it was just too much. It was almost like detail was taken away from other characters because there wasn’t enough to them so more characters came in. There is so much happening that you can’t really focus on the story and that’s a sha,e because I think this could have been an amazing story.

I have recieved a free electronic copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The villian arc and worldbuilding was solid. However, in All the King's Traitors, the characters felt a bit flat for me. I would have loved to have the characters be more well rounded.

I tried to give this one a go when I received the e-arc for this one and I recently tried picking it up again. There isn't anything outwardly wrong with it but it just didn't hold my interest. I didn't feel any connection with the characters or the story.

I tried to get into this book but it just didn't hold my interest. I didn't feel any connection with the characters or the story. I know there are other readers out there who would like this title, but it just wasn't for me.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a copy of the title in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fantasy world that was very well done with no info dumps. I greatly enjoyed the royalty aspect and the battle. The magic system was compelling and interesting. Unfortunately, the characters fell a bit flat for me. I felt like I never really got to know them and that the multiple POVs made it hard to do so.

All the King’s Traitors is a decent debut novel but has a few faults that make it difficult to love.

What it did well were the villain arc and the overall world-building. The setting was complex and realistic - it made sense in the story - and read to me like an epic fantasy, which was refreshing. However, along with fantasy, it blended the dystopian genre with it and deftly so. I usually don’t like dystopian, but I felt like this story was able to interweave the fantasy and dystopian genre and meld it into something wholly new.


I also enjoyed the writer’s prose. Perhaps, most exciting is the author favored showing rather than intense exposition.

I think the weakest point of the book was the characterization. As a general, outside of the villain, the characters didn’t have any unique or compelling elements outside of their, perhaps, personal narrative arcs; Kari’s competing storyline, for example, was interesting enough. However, the internal struggles, their dialogue, their thought processes - it was all so lacking that I found I couldn’t differentiate or remember who they were. Overall, there was nothing inimitable, no apparent idiosyncrasies, no uniqueness.

This is a debut novel, and you can tell. However, there is a good foundation here, and I would still suggest people read this story and any successive works in the future. Hopefully, the characters will become more integral and developed.

Author #Keylin Rivers has a wonderful new novel. #All the King's Traitors is a novel for your TBR list. Head over to Instagram at my blog #Maddie_approves_book_reviews this week for a review.💛

My Rating : 3🌟
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Kindle/ Netgalley/ June2020
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Thank you so much Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and not influenced in any way.
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This book follows our main characters, brothers Kuda & Ion who is on the run from their village, their accomplice Aurelia, who decides to help the brothers get to safety with her own selfish reasons in kind, and Vallich, who is struggling to place his loyalty, Rohan and Kari.
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First, I must say the plot and the story was very original in its own way. It reminded me a little of Hunger games, and the sisters, but the concept of a godstone giving powers to the weilder and how that godstone gains it's power were interesting twists to the fantasy element. Other than that this book had too many common fantasy elements in it and I would have loved to know more about the concept of godstone and it's lore.
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Second, I really loved Vallich as a character! He was badass, unapologetic, sassy and a very good potential to be a good villain! I love me some morally gray character who becomes a good villain! The other characters, when I read the story, did not hold my attention much. Kuba was an unassuming child thrust with a huge responsibility and Ion was just whiny and kind of stupid at times?? Aurelia was too rash and I didn't care for Rohan and Kari was just annoying. (Omg I just sound whiny, but that's the truth).
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Coming to the pacing of the story, it set a really good pace and stuck to it. The multiple perspectives with contrasting scenes actually made me want to read more and hooked me in. The progression of the story was done really good and I loved that Vallich got a really good character arc and I have high hopes for him in the next installment!!
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Overall, this book had amazing fantasy element concept, good set of characters(even though they annoyed me, they were done good), good pacing, nice flow of scenes, multiple pov and a very good ending! If you are a fan of elemental/object based magic, then this would be a good read for you!

This book falls into my all time favorite genre- YA with royalty. Because of that, I know I tend to overlook some things that other readers might not. Overall, no complaints with this one. I don't think it went as deep as it could have, either with the main theme or the interpersonal relationships, but nonetheless it was enjoyable.

This book felt very uneventful in my experience. The characters were mildly interesting, and the power-giving stones were cool. There's no real build-up of suspense throughout the book, and I couldn't get in touch with the characters sometimes. Twists felt uncoordinated and far too sudden without proper buildup. The story is original, but it fell flat, and there's a lot of lingo and stuff supposedly happening on the page without anything actually happening to advance the plot forward. I was often confused as to the setting and what was happening, and why. The POV switched so often I couldn't get attached to the characters. I would have loved more folklore and culture from this world. The magic aspect was cool.

** Thank you to NetGalley for an Arc of this book in exchange for an honest review **

I rated this book as 3 stars but I think I am giving it a little benefit since it is a debut novel. While I liked the idea of the story, and the general storyline, several parts of the story felt flat to me.

The Good

I love multiple POV's in stories. When they aren't provided, I wonder what the other characters are thinking or doing at certain times. This story gives us multiple POV's, but not all the characters get equal screen time. I would have like to hear more of Vallich's POV. Kari was simply irritating.

The world building in this story is superb. The author manages to build the scene beautifully without major data dumps of detail.

The story-line is a fantastic new take on epic kingdom battles unlike those of the past. The story's originality is certainly in its favor.

The Bad

All the characters felt a little flat to me. None had great depth and few gave me any sense of connection. They all felt a little too plot driven. I'm hoping that in the sequel the character development gets flushed out a bit more.

As I said, I love multiple POV's but there is a point where it can get confusing bouncing between too many characters. I think this book gets close to that point in places. I'd like to see the POV's narrowed down to just two or three.

I love a good romance in a story, but here it again felt too plot driven and not organic enough. When these two characters build the romance, it goes from 0 to 60 in what feels like seconds. While that in itself isn't unique to stories such as this, it just didn't garner any attachment to their relationship.

Overall:

Will I read the sequel? Yes, I will. Im interested enough in the story to continue (I've read entire series's that I rated at 1 star) and I think the author has enormous talent. I'd like to see the author grow through the sequels of this book.

All the King's Traitors is about a land where people can obtain godstones. These godstones harbor a specific affinity, such as earth or air, that a person can utilize. This story follows a group of characters that choose to betray their loyalty to the authority in their life.

I really found the concept incredibly interesting. People can use magic based on a stone that they find. My problem was that not a lot of it was explained. The reader was supposed to know the history of this land since none of it was described. The magic system was loosely defined for the purposes of where it was necessary in the plot. Any nonhuman beings were not explained other than the fact that they were not human. The world building was lacking so much, I thought I was missing part of the book. It was such as shame because this was where the book could have done so well.

Since there were so many characters, a reader is bound to have some favorites. My favorite characters tended to be side characters. The main characters Aurelia, Kubo, and Ion were my least favorite characters out of them all. They were not fleshed out as much as they should be. Their personalities seemed to be what the plot expected out of them. Aurelia was an angry girl looking for revenge. Kubo was a kid who acted younger than his age and pouted when he was treated like a kid. Ion could have not been in the book and it would have changed very little plot wise. Their backgrounds were not fleshed out and their actions seemed to strung along because the plot needed them to do something.

Ultimately, I thought this book had so much potential to capture my attention and I wanted it to become a favorite, but it fell short in ways that could easily be fixed. Maybe the author will fix these things in the next book.

3/5

This book was...interesting. It took me a little longer than normal to get through, and I don't know if it was my favorite, but it was not to the point of being a dnf. I think it just wasn't my cup of tea. I think if you like the premise you should give it a try

Arc provided buy Author on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I have mixed feeling about this book. The story was original with the special source of magic in this world, but sometimes the story fell flat and nothing was happening at all. In those moments, I had a really tuff time picking up the book. And then, we were back on track with really good events and character development.

I wasn't fan of any of the characters. The main trio (Aurelia, Kuba and Ion) were not that interesting and I couldn't connect to them. Kari got on my nerve until the very end, with a slight amelioration when the trials where over. Rohan was the worst jerk and I would have like less of him. The only character I really liked was Vallich and I would loved to have more of him in the story.

I loved the ending of the story and I will give a try for the second book.

All the King’s Traitors by Keylin Rivers, pages. Astre Encre, 2019. $15. LGBTQIA
Language: PG (9 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG13
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - ADVISABLE
AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH
The God-King has ruled for centuries and continues his ruthless rule and expansion. However, not everyone is content to sit back and watch. Though in very different circumstances, several parties are learning that everything the God-King has built is founded on lies and deception -- but how can you commit treason against your God?
With several points of view and magic rules to learn, reading this book starts with a steep learning curve, and I wondered how many new characters Rivers could keep introducing before it got to be too much. The story definitely gets more interesting the farther you read, but it can be hard to want to keep going because of how slow it feels to get the full breadth of understanding. With all of those characters and their differing knowledge of what’s going on, readers must be mentally ready to keep everything straight (meaning that this is not a light afternoon read). The mature content rating is for alcohol use, nudity, mentions of rape, and sexual harassment; the violence rating is for battle gore and murder.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

Thanks so much to Netgalley for providing an eARC for me to leave an honest review!

I can say this: the story was very original and I liked that! Being in a new planet I would have liked to learn more about the history and culture behind it thought. The magic system was cool and I don’t think I’ve seen that aspect in a book before. There was ton of action and I love action packed books, they’re just my cup of tea!

Of course I had my favorite characters and there were some that I didn’t connect to at all. Overall a good book! Can’t wait to see what happens in the next one!

Sadly after multiple attempts to finish this book I just couldn't do it and had to dnf.

The actual premise behind it has the potential for a great plotline bit the execution was a bit lacking and the constant show not tell and ongoing descriptions just left me bored.