A fun read! I didn't know what to expect when I started this one, but I liked the cover, and the blurb sounded fun. I really enjoyed it, though, and am glad I got the chance to read it! I enjoyed the characters, and the story was well written!

I was kindly given an advanced copy of this book so I could provide an honest review.

All The King’s Traitors is the first book in the Highwings series by Kelyin Rivers. This is the author’s debut novel, a fantasy tale following the stories of several characters and their adventures of survival in a land where it isn’t good to be different, to have powers and abilities coveted by someone more dangerous and powerful than you.

Ever since the blackout and the fall of the first Godstones the people of Azanthea are ruled by a greedy, cruel and god-line king, Apollyon. Seemingly all powerful and unstoppable as he gathers many Godstones and keeps them close Gifting them to only a chosen few, those he can control and keep under his thumb. Always in power, as a God.

So, when little Kuba comes across a freshly fallen Godstone he must either choose to submit to the God-King or run and pray for the survival of his family and bis brother, Ion. Together the two brothers flee to safety and fight to stay alive long enough for Kuba to learn the intricacies of wielding a God-stone.

They are helped on their journey by Aurelia, a fugitive heiress of a defeated people, who is also a wielder of a God-stone. Aurelia tells the brothers about the Free Wielders, a people who are free and far from the grip of the God-King.

Together they begin the perilous journey to the secret whereabouts of the Free Wielders. There they join the Free Wielders and join the war against the God-King, Apollyon.

Though it seems like a battle they are destined to lose, until the God-King is betrayed by his heir, Vallich. Vallich, having his eyes opened to the God-King’s truth, he sets out to bring it all crumbling down around the so-called God-King. But, because of his past and reputation, Vallich must prove he can be trusted and what his true intentions really are. But what are his chances when he couldn’t convince Kari, his only friend of the God-King’s truth.

Kari was held too firmly under the sway of the God-King, Apollyon. Too convinced he was everything he portrayed himself to be, the saviour of the people. Happy and secure with her position in the House of Historians, Kari never thought to question any of it, certain that Vallich’s mind had turned. Then the trials began to determine who the new heir to the God-King would be, Kari was thrilled to be invited to compete, that is until she is in the trials actually competing. She slowly comes to the realisation that maybe there was some truth to what Vallich had said. Not everything is as it seems with the God-King.

Time will tell if all the King’s traitors will succeed, stay alive and win freedom for all the people of Azanthea.

This fantasy tale is vivid and colourful, with several intricately written characters and storylines coming together to form a beautiful tapestry that is “All The King’s Traitors”. Written at a good pace with an exciting storyline that made it quite enjoyable to read. A great escape from reality. Will definitely be keeping my eyes out for the next in the series.

This one was really good, however, I think it would have made sense to be a movie. There are a few POVs and to start I was a little confused. But once the story really go going I started understanding things a lot better. I would say that I would recommend this one to those who love multi POVs and a fast paced story!

I very much enjoyed this book. I think it is well written and got me sucked into the story pretty much right away.

I do recommend this one .

If you enjoy fantasy, you need to read this book.
Let me start off by saying I am not a fan of multi POVs at all, but Keylin Rivers has made me see the error in my ways. In ATKT we are following multiple characters who are all written so well that I almost couldn’t pick favorites. Our set of characters are all under the rule of one God-King who rules mercilessly and with- yes, elemental magic. In this world, if one is lucky enough to find a “God stone” then they have the power to wield whichever elemental power the stone holds. Our cast sets out on their own adventures which all tie together in one way or another, which the author did so well. In the end, our misunderstand, powerful heir to the throne, Vallich was my favorite, naturally, but the other characters gave him a run for his money. In this book we are given adventure, elemental magic, world building, character development, AND a well thought out plot with great attention to detail? What else could you ask for? If there was romance in this book, this book would actually be the book of my dreams. Nevertheless, I cannot wait for the next book in this series because you can tell that this was only the beginning to an amazing adventure. This book is absolutely perfect for those looking for more fantasy and adventure than a YA, but less intimidating and faster paced than adult fantasy. Honestly, this book deserves much more hype.

I loved this book so much that the first thing I did once I finished the ARC provided by Netgalley was to order a paper copy of All the King's Traitors: I need it in my library!

Now I can't wait for the sequel to come out!

With the godstones in this book it reminded me a lot of the fire and thorns series.
I don't think this book was really for me. But I think a lot of people would like it.

All the Kings Traitors by Keylin Rivers was a book I enjoyed reading. Watching Kuba, and Ions journey as well as getting to know Vallich was quite interesting. The writing style was a bit slower paced which was hard for me to get into but once I did - I enjoyed the book immensely! The story is filled with magic and explores the idea of the godstones! The godstones were a cool way to bring magic into this fantasy story. It definitely has a King Arthur era feel to me. It came across to me as King Arthur meets Divergent (kinda). There were similar elements that I really enjoyed and I am glad I was able to read this through netgalley!

*THANK YOU to Xpresso Book Tours and Netgalley for graciously providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Fast paced story that follows multiple characters from third-person perspective and the different backgrounds of all of them makes it even more interesting, as every one of them have a different motivtion, but all affected by the war on some level.On lots of occasions the author have you thinking "Oh i know what's gonna happen now", only to pull the rug under your feet and " Oh i didn't see that coming" reaction.
There is a fair share of edge of you seat kind of action and make you hold your breath without noticing.
The world- bulding is made perfectly and i really can't wait to see if it will be developed even further in the following book,because it leaves you asking for more despite the well detailed universe.
As a first books in a series,the foundation that is given for further development is really good and definitely will pick up the next book with excitement.
All the more, when all ended in a cliffhanger.

This book hooked me from the start! The world building is amazing, the characters are very intriguing, a very fast paced story. Fantasy is my favorite thing to read and this book did not disappoint, I love multiple POVs because we see the story unfold through different eyes and that is one of the best feelings to experience. Overall I'm excited for the next book because the ending leaves us wanting more.

This book was received as an ARC from Astre Encre in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book is best described as Game of Thrones on steroids. Left and right there were people either dead or dying. This along with being so thrilling, made it hard to follow along hence the main reason I did not like Game of Thrones. It was hard to distinguish the good guys and the bad and the main protagonist and antagonist which made the story much more confusing. However, there are a lot of people in our community that enjoy books like this and are fans of Game of Thrones and I know for sure they will appreciate the story a lot more and will want to read this maybe more than once.

We will consider adding this title to our YA collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

4.5 An interesting start to a YA fantasy series! Easy to get onto, despite the multiple characters, this has good world building (especially with the ancient human history glimpses) and a solid plot. Though it lagged a bit in the middle, it picked back up for the fascinating treachery and twisty reveals, which mades me need that next book to find out what will happen next for Kuba, Aurelia, Ion, and Kari.

I had a very hard time getting through this book. The writing was okay, but I found that the author tended to info-dump at the beginning of the story while somehow not providing enough context. This led to me being alternately bored and confused with what was happening and who the characters were. I did like the idea and the plot; however, the way things were described and the way characters were introduced was confusing to me and didn't allow me to enjoy the story very much,

There were a few things that were very good about this book, and a few misses. I think I'll start with the good.

The Good

This was a crossover in genres, which was a very pleasant surprise. It reads like an epic fantasy, but is actually set in a dystopian Earth. I think that was a very interesting take on your classic epic kingdom fantasies.

The author had very good world building and setting. I thought the setting was complex and multi-layered, and I think that world building for this world was a perfect balance. There was no info-dumping but there also weren't too many grey areas.

Also, Keylin absolutely nails the villain of the story: the God-King. He took me by surprise and I found his mystery that was carried through to the end of the novel was very intriguing. I kept wondering who this God-King was? How? When? And the answers did not disappoint.


The Meh

This was given to me as an Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for a review, and I dearly hope that this is not the last edit before publishing. There were a flurry of grammar mistakes throughout the story. I think I spotted 3 different mistakes in the usage of your/re, and a many mistakes in tenses. There would be sentences like, "She access the room." And it jarringly interrupted the flow of the story.

Where the setting and villain soared high, the characterization flopped. Alright, alright, flopped is a strong word. They weren't all bad, I enjoyed Vallich and Kari as characters, and was disappointed that we hardly ever were in Vallich's POV. Kari herself wasn't that interesting of a character, but her storyline of competing during the Ascension Trials propped her up very high. The rest of the characters were.... meh. They weren't bad, but I don't think I will remember any of their names two weeks from now. They didn't have distinct, unique personalities or quirks. They were all very basic, driven by plot and not relationships.

The final say for this book is that it reads as a debut novel. Although a good read, there isn't an oomph to it that would make stand out as a five-star story. I am interesting in reading the sequel and seeing (since now we have a good understanding of the setting), the author will be able to flesh out these characters more.

**Disclaimer: I was given a free e-book in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley.**

Title All the King’s Traitors

Author Keylin Rivers

Release Date September 26, 2019

Description from Amazon

Over a thousand years have passed since the first Godstones ripped through the skies and mangled the earth. With their fall came centuries of chaos and destruction, but also immense power. Power that separates humans from Gods. Now, in the Kingdom of Azanthea, two adoptive brothers flee from unjust conscription. A fugitive heiress of a slaughtered people struggles to truly be free. A double-crossing warrior must choose where his allegiances lie: with his wife or with his daughter. A traitorous heir to the Kingdom’s throne roams the lands in search of an army to call his own. A prodigy in the House of Historian competes in a grueling trial to prove her loyalty. And one God-King rules over them all.

Initial Thoughts

I saw this book on NetGalley and thought the tag line looked cool – it was pitched as something for Game of Thrones fans (and I’m a huge GOT fan), so I decided to give it a read (despite the other books that have been in my queue for months).

Some Things I Liked

Large cast of POV characters. I really enjoyed the diverse cast of characters whose perspectives we get to see. Since the reader gets to see so many opinions, it made distinguishing villains from heroes that much more difficult and interesting.
World building. I thought the setting was really well done and I like the subtle introduction of the actual time frame in the middle of the book. The reader is gradually given hints about when this story takes place and I thought that gave the world building a richness that can’t be found by just saying, “it’s 2019 – let’s do this thing”. Please note, this book does not take place in 2019, that’s just an example 😂

One Thing I Wasn’t Crazy About

Romance. The romances explored were a bit forced. Some were underdeveloped and others felt like they came out of nowhere. Since this is the first in a series, I can forgive this because I want to believe these issues will be rectified in future volumes of this story.

Series Value

This story sets up a lot of moving parts, numerous characters and their relationships, and a complex political landscape. There is a ton of material to work with for future installments and I would like to read them. This series has a ton of potential.

Final Thoughts

I enjoyed this book. It was much closer to “high fantasy” than I usually read and I welcomed the change. The story and characters are filled with potential and I can’t wait to read what Keylin Rivers does next.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐

Recommendations for Further Reading

Rook by Sharon Cameron – if you enjoyed the time setting and revolution elements of this book, try Rook.
Fireborne by Rosaria Munda – if you like the political intrigue and the POVs, give this new release a try.
Furyborn by Claire Legrand – if you liked the mysterious villain and the rebellion in this book, try Claire Legrand’s Empirium Trilogy.

I liked the description of the book and it started off good. There were too many characters though. I had a real problem keeping track of them and the various story lines. It got to be so confusing. I really had to push to finish it.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

This book was very entertaining to read. It kind of reminds me on watching a film, because while reading I could see the scenery right in front of me. What I also really liked was the big part of action, because it never was to quite or even boring. The characters also were interesting and well described.
This is the first book in this series and a great start that makes you want to read the other books too. The author managed to create a colorful world for the story.
The details were brilliant and easily transported me in the story. The end of the book was very nice and the cliffhanger was a good idea.