Regards to NetGalley for providing me with the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

The worst decision I can ever make is to choose a high fantasy, A Game of Thrones-like book for my second audiobook ever. Don't get me wrong, the narrator is amazing, but the book was so confusing in the first 40% that I had to repeatedly rewind the book as I understood close to nothing. That's why I took more than a month to get through the first 60%.

Overall, I would say The Kingless Crown is a good fantasy book with everything it needs: a compelling world, complex characters, and a thrilling plot. I think the author executed most of it pretty well, especially the characters. Their arcs are thoroughly developed, and the readers get to understand their backgrounds, their motivations, their strengths, and their weakness, which is very important to a political fantasy like this. I doubt that we can find a character with a lack of background story in this book. Otherwise, the action is thrilling, and I quite like the intrigue of the plot. I would say the twists were pretty well-done although I predicted most of them beforehand.

Nevertheless, I still have some problems with this book, and most of them have to do with the writing. It took me three weeks to finish the first 60% and three sittings to devour the rest really says something. The first half is almost entirely exposition and background settings. Indeed, it's necessary to the book, but sometimes I feel like we are lacking some essence since it feels very dry at some parts and sometimes too unnecessary long. Secondly, I wish the author had found a way to incorporate markers for the different POVs in the book. With a big cast of characters like this (especially when they have very similar names and surnames), it's important to define the different POVs to make the story easier to navigate, and it's not the case here at all.

Overall, I semi-enjoyed the book. I still hesitate to continue the series (since each book is HUGE) but this book should be more appreciated among fantasy readers because it's truly an underrated one.

Fantasy is one of my favorite genres to read and there are so many unique and intriguing aspects in the plot and story of The Kingless Crown by Cradit. Overall I found it refreshing and exactly the type of epic fantasy story that I have not gotten the pleasure to experience. It takes your typical evil king trope into a fresh and adventurous turn.

That being said, I’m subjectively giving this format a 2.5/3 stars out of 5. This is only helpful for other readers like me. When I have an epic fantasy with characters, multiple kingdom domains,, and side quests to keep up with I really enjoy either a glossary, a map of the kingdom, a family tree, etc. Since I was able to listen to this book on audiobook obviously none of that was included. I do not want to punish Sarah Cradit with a negative review for that because I bet other readers would have no problem following along. But if you are like me and need to stop reading, check the family tree/glossary etc. I highly recommend reading this book in a physical book form and here is why.

I didn’t feel emotionally connected to any of the characters not because of the writing, but because I was so distracted trying to figure out which character belonged in which family and what area of the kingdom they were leaving and trying to travel to. There are tragedies that happen throughout the book and I felt nothing when they occurred, again because I couldn’t recall how it actually affected the person it happened to.

If you don’t have that problem and you enjoy fantasy, I really think this is going to be the beginning of an epic fantasy that you won’t want to miss.

"The Kingless Crown" has an interesting premise and a cast of intriguing characters. It took me some time to tell all the characters apart (I listened to it as an audiobook), but after I got used to the different plotlines I really enjoyed it (even though I'm still a little confused as to some of the characters' ages).
The world-building was well-done, the major conflicts are all set up to be expanded upon in the next installment, and I liked that there were real consequences and stakes to the characters' actions.
I definitely look forward to reading the next part of the series.

The Kingless Crown (Kingdom of the White Sea #1)
Sarah M. Cradit
King Eoghan devised a plan to strengthen his kingdom. He decreed marriages between the highborn sons and daughters of the surrounding dominions. The unions were made before quickly forcing alliances. Twenty years later there was a new king, a cruel young boy, an usurper, and a murderer. He demands the oldest daughter than came from the unions. There is no choice. The aristocrats had no choice but give their beloved daughters in marriage to the vicious king. But the daughters managed to escape. The rebellion spreads from the sorcerers in the north to the magi. Both brandish and control the magic throughout the kingdom and elsewhere. The kingdom is on the verge of anarchy.
What a read! This book is filled with all the things you want in a fantasy book, magic, Wizards and backstabbing tyrants; family feuds, recklessness, suffering, evil, grief, a merciless dictator, and so much more. This is the first book in a trilogy. My main criticism is so many characters and each with their own point of view. I like a complex tale, but I referred back to the families. A minor criticism is the way the story has no ending. I realize the purpose is to get the reader to hop over to the next book but I prefer a better transition. The characters are fleshed out in great detail. The plot has twists and turns that will keep you eagerly turning the pages. This is not a quick read but one you will want to savor.

I got lost in the story in the beginning, it had sisters married off and politics to boot. It gave me Game of Thrones vibes and because of that I really would recommend this book. I do enjoy world building however there was so much of it, that I found myself confused and often would lost track. The characters were great but again there was so many POV I admit I got confused.
I will say though, the narrator was absolutely perfection. I would reccomend this book alone because of the narrator.

Very high fantasy, with strong female leads. The story is told in multiple POVs which I found a bit difficult to remember and I had to remember when a new chapter started. I felt like the audiobook would have been better if I had the book alongside to follow along with. The narration was awesome, but with the multiple POVs I was a bit lost at times if I didn’t remember who’s voice was speaking.
The world building is very vivid, and jam packed with action, swords, and magic. I would say that fans of Games of Thrones would love this series.

I listened to this book thanks to NetGalley and couldń´t be more great full. This book is amazing! I’m not into fantasy books a lot, but this just converted me. The book is settled in the Kingdom of the White Sea, that is divided in four lands, plus the wastelands and the Islands of Duncarrow and Selcarrow it tells the story of the families that rule the lands and the pretender, a cruel king that intends to marry the eldests daughters of all said families in a night, being this daughters the product of an infamous night in which the princesses and princes of the lands where married at the will of the former king.

This book begins with the plots to avoid the night in which the King Eoghan will marry all the princesses. By coincidence all the princesses scape in a intricate web of conspiracies. What begins as a simple plot and the will to change the destiny, finishes as a carefully threaded conspiracy.

There’s magical beings, horrendous kings and my favorite, strong women. Not only because they are independent, but it shows the different strenghts that women have. My favourite is Lady Blackwood.

This is a series of three books. I cannot wait to rad or listen to the next ones as the book ended a little bit abruptly.

It seems the kingdom has always been ruled by tyrants, and this one is no different, demanding as tribute four princesses of the realm. But then they disappear and there's a whole lot of very serious trouble.

I admit, I didn't finish this one. I have said it before, but high fantasy is not my genre, especially when it has triggering sexual themes. I hope people who do like this sort of Game of Thrones-esc chaos will find this series and enjoy it.

I watched all of GoT and this story is perfect for GoT fans. These are squemming characters and lovable ones, none of them are safe from being deeply hurt. Between all the violence and the triggering behaviour, some feminist issues are brought up.
I knew there would be some violence but somehow I was taken aback by some of it.
Overall the premise was interesting, I want to read the following books of this story but the book was very slow paced.
I received this copy from @orangeskyaudio and @netgalley in return of an honest opinion.

The pretender king demands four brides, 1 from each of the kingdoms. None of the brides are having it and they each set out on the run. So this is the story of them, their parents and the king as they all deal with the consequences.

The was so much going on in this one. There were probably over 10 storylines and the audio is over 20 hours long. Overall I liked it and will continue on but there were times when it was info dump-y and I was just like ‘I’m sure this is important but there’s no way I’m going to be able to keep this all straight’. The POVs switched so much that I felt like we never did a deep dive into any of them and when I found a storyline I was especially interested in, I had to wait forever to get back to it.

⚠️ content warnings: violence including sexual assault⚠️

Twenty years ago, King Eoghan’s father forced marriages between the Kingdom’s four reaches to forge alliances and secure his place at the head of the kingdom. Now, the cruel King Eoghan has his own brutal request: each of the four couples at the head of the reaches must give their eldest daughters to him. None want to, but not to do so would be treason. However, before they are to be presented, all four daughters disappear. This throws the already fraught land into even more chaos, as the children cross the kingdom on their own quests while those left behind must determine how to play their hand.

The premise of the book was intriguing, and I was really looking forward to it. However, the story itself seemed to drag on. There are so many characters and perspectives that it was difficult to follow along and keep them separate. There was only one narrator for the audiobook, and I feel that having a cast of narrators, one per perspective, would have helped keep that separate. Apparently if you have the print version of the book, there is a guide at the beginning to tell you who’s who in the story, but the audiobook doesn’t have that available. I think the plot would have been better served to cut out a few storylines.

I see a lot of people comparing this book to Game of Thrones. I haven’t read that series yet, and after having read this book, I’m thinking maybe I shouldn’t.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

Big thanks to Sarah Cradit, Netgalley and OrangeSky Audio for the audioARC in exchange for a review.

This was a DNF at 55%. I don't think it was bad and I think that this could have a decent following but I had a really hard time getting into it. There were so many characters and they often went into memories of the past and I just couldn't follow along.
Other reviews have comments comparing this to GoT, and SO MUCH THIS. I read the first in the series of GoT and that was about it.

It was also very long, like 17 hours of audio long. The narrator was decent but I wasn't able to distinguish characters from each other, by voice and I think that its not because the narrator was incapable, but that there were so many she had to voice.

I might try to take this up again when I'm able to dedicate longer stretches continuously to listening, but listening in 30 or so minute increments wasn't working for me.
I'm going to give 3.5 rounded up to 4 because I can't give a review past 55%.

Though I might not be the primary audience for this book, I can think of a dozen friends and colleagues to whom I'd recommend it highly.
The world-building is rich and complex; the characters are many and varied.
This book would be a great fit for fans of Game of Thrones, Wheel of Time, or Tolkien.

I liked the narrator's voice but it was hard to follow the changes in the story from one character to another. There needed to be an extended pause where I am assuming in the book there would be spacing to show change. The story would definitely be easier to follow in book form as there are a lot of characters introduced at the beginning and it gets confusing in audio. I did like the story and look forward to the sequel.

I was really hoping to like this book but I did not. I managed to get to 20% which is actually a few hours in and saw how much left was in the book... which was an unfortunate 16 hours. The dread I felt when looking at that number I knew I had to stop listening to this audiobook. The characters were uninteresting and the narrator was a character in herself which was frankly annoying. There were so many characters in this that I felt like I needed a cheat sheet to keep them all straight. I really wanted to push through this but I just couldn't. Maybe reading it without the exaggerated accents would help. I also think with this many characters it would be better to have had multiple narrators.

I was so hoping I would love this book but I just gave up after 2 hours of listening to the audiobook.
I couldn’t get into it

An intense epic fantasy world in which everything is not what it seems. There are multiple POVs so it can get tricky to try and keep track of. I listened to an audiobook version of this, so it took extra attention to figure out who’s POV I was currently taking in, especially at the start of it. But you’ll get familiar with the characters soon enough. Get ready to have a long sit down if you dive into this book. It’ll take a little while and referencing the family trees a few times to fully understand what’s going on. With that said, there are quite a few trigger warnings so it’s not for the faint of heart.

The world-building was well done with lots of attention to detail. Definitely agree with the GOT vibes, so you know you’ve got to be mentally prepared. It will shock you and hurt you. Full of magic, relationships, and secrets that span generations. The entire trilogy is available, but I’m not sure if I’m ready to continue just yet. As a great high fantasy story should, this will leave you questioning things even after you’re done.

Thanks to NetGalley & OrangeSky Audio for my audiobook copy to review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I liked the Kingless Crown, and I would be very interested to reread it in print. Listening to the audio was not the prefered way for me. I've listened to about 20+ audio books, some of them being adult fantasy titles, but this one (while the narrator was pleasing to listen to) was a little too complex for narration. And again, this could just be my experience. I don't want anyone to think this has anything to do with the story, because I liked the story. But this book introduces a lot of characters one right after the other early on and, auditorily, it was just too much to keep straight. I plan on purchasing the book myself to read because I'm interested in actually following the story and characters this time without confusion. I feel badly saying this, because I thought the production quality of the book was very nice and, as I stated, I really did enjoy the narrator. The stars I'm giving reflect that and the story. I won't be taking off any stars for my inability to follow the audiobook well, because it may have just been me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a review copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

I Was really looking forward to this book an audiobook, however I was unable to get past the first hour of the audiobook. The narrator sounded like an exaggerated, over the the top character herself. Thus, unfortunately her narration was too distracting in order to continue on with the book.

Review for audio release:
First off, The Kingless Crown has been compared to Game of Throne with its multiple character storylines and intricate world of kingdoms and customs.

Partial Blurb: Four Reaches. Four brides. Only a fortnight separates the young women from becoming reluctant queens of the usurper king, Eoghan Rhiagain.

When requesting this audiobook, I admit I was curious how one narrator would pull off so many characters and POVs. After finishing, I am in awe of Kimberly Wetherell's vocal abilities. Through her narration and multiple accent changes, each character's uniqueness shows through even brighter and stronger. The audio pulled me into the story and gave it life. I enjoyed listening to this book and look forward to reading the next installments. Sarah Cradit is a wonderful storyteller, and Kimberly Wetherell made the experience even more special. Now I can't decide if I want to wait for the following books to come out in audio or read them immediately!