I really tried very hard to like this book. There were so many characters, and I found myself not caring for any of them. Also, it was super unsettling for me how the women were basically subservient to the men. I've seen people compare this book to Game of Thrones but even GoT had female characters whose sole jobs weren't wife or mother.

Kimberly M. Wetherell was a great narrator, and I thank NetGalley and the publishers for this ALC but this was not for me.

Amazing fantasy novel with a ton of plot twists! It will leave you wanting to immediately read the next book. Very interesting story line and premise for the book. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advanced copy!

After I got all the characters in line I absolutely fell in love with this book and the adventure. I did enjoy how the "kids" were willing to take their own fate into their own hands after the parents were too afraid to do it.

A crown was woven together by lies.
A kingdom with the power to unravel them.

Zest of the book:
The story revolves around the coming of age price and princesses who are bound with promised betrothals in Shadow of forced alliances. You cannot deny the fate for it will be treachery. You cannot agree to it for it is unfathomable. So these children take matters into their own hands & leave on a journey to create their own fates.

My reaction:
Imagine the magic of Lord of the rings, the plot twists and reigns from the game of thrones, the hunger for power from the Folk of the air, the rebellion against their own parents and the norms that govern them from The Shadow hunters. Stir them up together and get the best fantasy cocktail you will have ever read.

The book constantly gives you a parallel feeling of being lost in the Kingdom of the White Sea & finding your perfect escape into the dark forests.
As soon I completed this book I was immediately sure of re-reading it again. The dark fantasy world is an epic creation and will take you for a toss with each passing chapter. Though we do compare it to many other series, the Ravenwood has its own novelty. Will recommend it to all fantasy lovers. This has been one of my best reads of 2021.

P.S: I so wanna be a Ravenwood now. Haven't had this feeling of becoming a character myself since Harry Potter times!!!

Warning: The book ends on a cliffhanger
It will be a crime to give it anything less - 5/5

𝘊𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘤!

Wow, what an amazing start for a series.
Full of suspense, magic, secrets and mystery. You need to take your time, there’s a lot going on, but by the end you’ll be hooked and wanting the second book. Loved it!

Thank you NetGalley and OrangeSky Audio by Findaway for this ALC.

𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦: 𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘺, 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘈𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘵, 𝘔𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘺, 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤, 𝘌𝘱𝘪𝘤 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴.

https://www.instagram.com/booksandcoffeemx/

I am torn by this because I thought the audiobook was great in some parts and not so good in others. First, I thought it was a really long read. Second, I thought there were a lot of plots going at once and it was hard to keep up with who is related to who. But that's how I felt at the beginning of Game of Thrones, so not a very weighty critique there.
I liked most of the characters. I was happy that there was someone for me to strongly dislike right off the bat with the Pretender king. I love that there was a lot of history of the world within the plot. I want to give this like a 3.5 stars over all.

DNF @ 20%

As much as I enjoy reading fantasy books, especially historical fantasy, this one didn't quite work for me. Why? Because I was confused most of the time as I was listening to the audiobook. It had a large infodump at the very start of the book, and I didn't care enough about the story yet to be able to remember all of the information.

The narrator was good, and if you think this book is for you, I would recommend picking up the audiobook. But unfortunately this book just wasn't for me.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

ARC audiobook provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

“The Kingless Crown” is the first in a series of fantasy novels that is highly character-driven. In a Kingdom comprised of four “Reaches” (different areas named by compass location), the young king, Eoghan Rhiagain, reigns. Eoghan essentially stole the crown by murdering his brother, and he rules the kingdom based on cruelty and terror. While he is loved by some lords and ladies, King Eoghan is mostly hated and feared.

Twenty years prior to the start of this story, Eoghan’s father devised forced marriages between the Reaches in a supposed effort to fighting amongst the Reaches. Now Eoghan is ready to take the next step. King Eoghan demands the eldest daughter of each of the marriages between the Unions be presented to him as his four brides. Things don’t go as King Eoghan had planned, however. The four would-be queens have disappeared for varying reasons without leaving an explanation or trace.

As the story progresses, we follow the four women and the people who have sworn to assist them on their adventures through the Reaches. The women rush forward to meet their fates while the rest of the kingdom faces chaos as the families left behind must plan for when they must face King Eoghan without the intended brides.

I was entranced by this epic fantasy novel. There are a lot of characters, but the author fleshed them out beautifully. The author engages the reader in the lives and emotions of these characters, bringing the reader along for the ride on their adventures. The story is a journey filled with fear, love, adventure, and horror, spanning across the kingdom. The Reaches within the kingdom itself are detailed by the author to offer a full background of the kingdom and what drives the characters contained therein.

Overall, I loved this book. There are a lot of characters, but I believe the author thoroughly distinguishes each of them, making the characters come alive. I highly recommend this book, as well as the audiobook. The narrator in the audiobook does an excellent job of keeping the numerous characters differentiated. This book would be a good choice for fans of epic fantasy novels, as well as readers looking to start in the fantasy genre. The only part I didn’t like about the book was that it ended! I’m definitely going to be picking up the rest of the series as soon as possible to see where this adventure takes me.

After a week of listening to the audiobook and trying to engage in The Kingless Crown, I decided to DNF it. I made it about 22% into the book, but after spending a lot of focused time trying to become engaged in the story I decided it wasn't going to happen for me.
The narrators do a great job of trying to make the characters come to life, but there are too many characters to keep up with at least in an audio format. I feel that even in a written format I'd spend a lot of time flipping back and forth trying to figure out who was who and how they're connected.
The parts of the story I was able to follow were only due to the synopsis that I had to go back and reread, because I was generally lost.
The story starts by plopping us into the middle of whatever is happening and doesn't take a lot of time introducing the reader to the world, families or situation.

This YA novel has multiple POVs from characters of different ages. The story moves somewhat slowly, but the progress is linear. There are plot elements that prevent the conclusion from being easily guessed. “The Kingless Crown” builds to a crescendo that leaves the reader ready for the next book in the series.
It makes for interesting reading and I found it challenging to keep up, especially in the audio version. Fortunately, the narrator is especially talented. She manages to keep the various accents and voices separate while conveying the underlying emotions. She is truly exceptional!
Four stars is my rating. YA and Fantasy readers will enjoy this tale, provided they don’t need constant action. This version was 20 hours 58 minutes long.
My thanks to OrangeSky Audio via Netgalley.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audiobook.

I wanted to like this more than I did... I think if I had been actually reading this instead of listening to it I would have enjoyed it more, but it was hard to keep up with the shifting perspectives while listening. The narration was great, but there were too many characters and I just couldn't keep them straight. I might go back and attempt to actually read this to get a better grasp, because it seems like it could be interesting.

I had a very hard time understanding what was going on in this book because there was so much happening! There were so many characters that it made it so hard to keep up! It felt like I was struggling to finish this and then I learned there were 2 more! I felt like this book has a lot of potential but it takes severe concentration to understand it! I was given the audiobook to read and it may have been easier with a physical book!

I received an early copy of this audiobook from Netgalley and OrangeSky Audio. All opinions are my own!

I was going to try to add my usual quick summary here, but I honestly have no idea what I just read.
This book is a pretty good example of "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should."

When I first started this book, I remember thinking "wow, I'm going to end up loving this book." It started out so mysterious and with beautiful writing. But by 20%, when I realized that there hadn't yet been 2 chapters about the same character(s), I knew I was wrong.

There are far too many characters to keep up with. So much so that I can hardly name any of them by the end. And the ones I can name, I'm not sure who they are or what their importance is. The worldbuilding is pretty much non-existant. There are people who can turn into ravens? Not sure why. There are familiars? Not sure who they are familiars of. There's magic? Not sure who has it or what it can do. The king wants 4 brides from 4 kingdoms? I have literally no idea why he wants them, how that was arranged, or what it's supposed to achieve.

Not to mention how strange the characterization is. The villain seems almost to be written as someone with a cognitive disability who doesn't seem to function at his age level. Every scene with him just felt very strange and gross. There are people who like others to act like dogs/mice. A child gets raped and then that rape has literally no bearing on the plot from there.

I had such high hopes for this book, but it definitely disappointed. I wouldn't personally recommend it.

Unfortunately I had to DNF this one. The audiobook narrator is excellent, but there were just too many characters and information thrown in at once that I had no idea what was going on. I was also super put off almost immediately by the fact that it was suggested a brother and sister basically might end up doing *the deed* (pretty sure I understood that part correctly?). Not my cup of tea.

4 stars
The Kingless Crown is a really strong high fantasy reminiscent of Game of Thrones with some great underlying feminist themes. I really liked the characters and romances, but I found it a bit difficult to keep up with the plot and distinguish between different characters' voices (there's multiple POVs). Granted, I haven't read a high fantasy in a while, so it could just be me. I don't know if I'll continue this series, but I'd definitely recommend it to those transitioning from fantasy to high fantasy.
TW: sexual assault
Thank you to NetGalley and Orange Sky Audio for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’m so sorry, I had to DNF the audiobook. The narrator did a wonderful job, this is just a book that I think I need to read in print to keep up with.

It was interesting and i really enjoyed the narrators voice. However felt like there were too many povs and i could not really get a feel for any of the characters maybe if we just got more set povs and interactions that werent just plot related