High Gothic, but make it boring.

I love a slow burn book, but this one fizzles out badly. It’s a good premise, or at least it’s a premise that has worked well in this genre dozens of times before. But here the most interesting components of the book don’t ever go anywhere, and the least interesting components drone on and on. And on and on and on.

It’s not scary, which generally means it’s a failure if Gothic is the aim, and that’s no exception here. It’s strange because the writing itself isn’t bad at all, but it feels like it doesn’t match the genre or whore the story is attempting to go.

And I’m at a total loss as to where the enigmatic King Nyx (which started out as one of the book’s most intriguing elements) was meant to go, because it’s largely a non factor to the plot in the end.

The only real redeeming thing happening here is the birds, and the narrators relationship with them. There are some lovely moments in this tiny piece of the story, as it’s where the author’s writing shines.

3.5 Stars

King Nyx by Kirsten Bakis is a captivating read set in the eerie winter of 1918. It blends elements of gothic suspense and mystery. This atmospheric novel is a fantastic journey into a world of secrets, trauma, and intrigue, set against the backdrop of a reclusive billionaire's private island.

The story unfolds with a cast of perfectly crafted characters, each bringing their secrets and complexities to the narrative. The setting—a remote, wintry island—adds to the novel's spooky ambience, creating a sense of isolation and tension that is palpable throughout the book. While it carries a horror tag, King Nyx leans more towards the eerie and suspenseful rather than outright horror, making it a more universally appealing read for fans of gothic fiction. This emphasis on eerie and suspenseful elements keeps the reader intrigued and on edge.

One of the book's strengths is its exploration of mental health and trauma, seamlessly woven into the plot. The characters' interactions and struggles add depth to the story, making it more than a simple mystery. The billionaire host and his enigmatic guests each have hidden agendas and dark pasts, which are gradually revealed in a way that keeps the reader engaged and eager to uncover more, fostering a sense of intrigue.

Despite its many strengths, the book's title character, King Nyx, plays a different role than one might expect. Given the prominence of the name in the title, a greater focus on this character would have enriched the story further. This slight misalignment between the title and content is a minor drawback in an otherwise compelling narrative.

Bahni Turpin's narration is a standout element of this audiobook. She brings the characters to life with distinct voices and emotional depth, capturing the pacing and atmosphere of the story perfectly. Her performance enhances the eerie and suspenseful mood, making the listening experience thoroughly enjoyable. Turpin's ability to convey the nuances of each character and maintain the listener's interest is truly impressive.

Overall, King Nyx is a well-crafted gothic story that delivers on atmosphere, suspense, and a touch of creepiness. The combination of a haunting setting, intriguing characters, and a suspenseful plot makes this book a fantastic read. Additionally, the cover art perfectly encapsulates the mood of the story, adding an extra layer of appeal. King Nyx, with its blend of gothic elements and profound psychological depth, is highly recommended for those who enjoy eerie and atmospheric read.

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media | Recorded Books for gifting me the Audio-ARC of King Nyx.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

King Nyx by Kirsten Bakis was an excellent read. I loved the world building and the audiobook was well-narrated. I would read more from Bakis.

Truly bizarre and haunting. I didn't want to finish it because I was so enjoying the dreamlike, hallucinatory story. I never knew what to expect next.

I was aware of the term Fortean, but I didn't know it came about from a man named Charles Fort.

Not much I can say without spoiling things. Suffice it to say nothing is as it seems. And the most baffling occurrences on this earth are more likely caused by the evil of mankind than by the supernatural.

I didn't find it a particularly feminist book, although it's described that way. I find books are often described as feminist just because they have a few strong female characters or a female main character who breaks the mold in some way during the story. This is certainly at least a female-centric book.

I have both the hardcover book and the audio ARC--thank you to NetGalley for the audio version for review. The narrator is Bahni Turpin. I've listened to her books before and she's an experienced actress with a unique, pleasant voice. However she does not sound, and in fact is not, white. The main character is very white, as are the other characters, and so I found it distracting sometimes to listen to someone who to my ear is obviously black reading their story. Other than that, it's a good audio version.

I really tried, but the plot of this book felt too convoluted and disjointed to follow. I couldn’t make myself care about the setting, or the characters, or even trying to follow the disparate threads of the story until I could tie them together. There was no charm to the writing to grab me, no intrigue to the mystery to grip me. It fell utterly flat for me. I’m afraid that this author’s work just isn’t for me. Which is a shame, because the synopsis sounded promising. The narrator did a lovely job.

I wasn’t crazy about this book. I really wanted to like it but there was so much happening at once and only some of the plot points wound up contributing to the conclusion. In the end the whole book wound up feeling very jumbled and unfinished.
The narrator did a wonderful job though!

I have been sitting with this one for a while because I found this to be a book that I wasn't too excited to come back to. I will admit I picked it because Bahni Turpin narrated, and she's one of my absolute favorites. But I found this story to be really slow moving, a bit confusing at times, and it felt disjointed at times. I had high hopes, but it just wasn't for me. I hope readers who need it find it.

This was an interesting but a bit hard to follow book to listen to. It took some time to determine what was going on, but the storyline was interesting.

writing style was really heavy-handed and overdone; narrator went into such unnecessary detail about anything it didn't feel like there was any actual story, just the narrator rambling about nothing.

This is a fantastic read! I really enjoyed it! It was eerie and entertaining. A reclusive billionaire on a private island in winter, houseguests with secrets, mental health and trauma, violence and mystery. It definitely kept my attention! The characters were likeable and interesting. It was a fast read at only 300+ pages and the narrator did a great job! I would highly recommend checking it out!
I’ve already suggested it as our book club book for May. Thank you so much for letting me read this as an arc! I will be looking for more from this author!

3.5 A mysterious house with a mysterious owner. Three young women missing from his household. Anna and Charles Fort were actual people, Charles is focused on strange , occurrences that have no known explanation, such as raw meat falling from the sky etc. This though is narrated by Anna and flashes back and forth, from her time as a servant in Charles fathers house, to the present. Invited to the island with another couple by Mr. Arkel, supposedly so Charles could write his book. There is another couple also there and I loved Stella, who would become Anna's wingman, so to speak.

A very strange book, atmospheric and tense. Things, are of course not as they appear. Unexplained happenings and a strange coincidence in regards to King Nyx. Loved the eerie cover.

Audio was terrific.

ARC from Netgalley and RBMedia.

This book was eerie and definitely true to its time. It was set in the winter of 1918 and the characters and themes were perfectly on point. I do not think this is my type of read because at one point in a flashback the main character, Anna, is saying how radical vegetarians are and it just made me sad. She is full of brilliance and beauty and she’s not recognized for it. I know this is the time but I am happy we have come so far that women can be smart and passionate without “hysterics” coming into play.
All that to say and I really think the author did a fantastic job telling this story. If you like mysteries and tales from another era, this is a very well done work to immerse yourself into.

King Nyx is one of the best narrated books I've listened to in a long time. Bahni Turpin excels at her craft. The narration is so strong, after finishing this book. I'm going to find other books Turpin narrated.

As for the story, I thought it was quite entertaining. I was captivated by the mystery. I do wish more were done with the automatons, as I didn't see their necessity other than to hide the disappearances. I liked Anna, and by extension, Stella, as they navigated the island. I'm still unsure what the exact tension was between Mary and her daughter. The atmosphere was creepy, buy I do think the end wrapped up bit too neatly. None of that takes away from the entertainment value of this book.

Thanks NetGalley and Recorded Books for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook.

This was definitely spooky without being horror.
Set in early 1900s at time that SHOULD have been more innocent, but wasn't. We are set up to wonder who will get our protagonists when the get to a private island. It's post-WWI and there's a flu pandemic going on. Will they be infected by the flu? There is a scene early on that makes you think it's a possibility. Will it be the mysterious and pretty creepy owner of the island? Will we ever met him? And just WHO is he and what is HIS issue?

And what's up with children's mechanical toy, named King Nyx? What are these mysterious weather phenomena that Anna's husband Charles is writing about? And what about Stella and her husband? I had immediate trust issues with them.

All in all, a lot of questions that kept me engaged. I could see this happening so clearly, though I listened to it. Would make a fabulous movie.

By the way, the narrator was incredible. I'll have to watch for more of her work.

This is one of those books where you think the author can't be American because it's so very, very dark without any gore until the end. Europeans do darkness of the soul so much better than we do. This book took a bit to get me hooked, but once they made it to the island, I was completely focused and full of dread. It's a haunting story with strong and realistic female characters, trapped in an era when they had no power so they did whatever they needed to do to squeeze out as much as possible. Brutal men dominate the landscape, twisted and misogynistic, with Charles being the only exception. Mary, and Stella are very different women with very different motivations, who connect with Anna in different ways, at different times. Interesting arcs for them all. This would be a good fantasy/horror for a book discussion with multiple talking points throughout.

I honestly didn't expect to like this as much as I did. But it was truly a treat to listen to this audiobook.
It was a very engaging story and I was hooked pretty early on. Very interesting story and I loved the writing. It just flowed and I got through it rather quickly.
I enjoyed that the main character in the beginning mostly focusses on her husband and we then mostly learn about him. It matches perfectly her personality and how she has lived the last several decades of her life.
The only downside of the book was the lack of envolvement of this "King Nyx" character. Considering the name being the title, I had hoped for it to have played a much bigger role. Although it was pulled in towards the end in the main confrontation scene, it felt a little... loose and uncoordinated. I wish it had dived much further into that and the role that King Nyx played for the main two characters knowing about them.
It is clear that the King Nyx concept is symbolic of something. But either I'm just very oblivious or it wasn't spelled out enough. I still don't known exactly what the point with King Nyx was.
Despite all that, it was a lovely story and I would definitly recommend.

"King Nyx" is an evocative novel set in 1918 on the secluded Prosper Island, blending gothic mystery and contemporary feminist themes. It explores the enigmatic circumstances surrounding Anna and Charles, married guests of millionaire Claude Arkel, amidst the backdrop of the island's dark secrets, including the mysterious disappearance of three girls.

IRL, I’m learning something new every day with books recently. Part of the narrative in "King Nyx" reimagines the true life of Charles Hoy Fort, an early 20th-century researcher and writer of anomalous phenomena. Until a quick Google search, I figured the book was just poking fun at people who believe, but won’t admit outright, that aliens occasionally shower things at us Earth-bound folk.

I haven’t read Kirsten Bakis’ first novel, "Lives of the Monster Dogs," but "King Nyx" introduced me to her flair for the imaginative and the macabre.

There are moments where I lost the plot a bit and felt that the novel could have benefited from tighter pacing and a more focused narrative arc. Despite these minor detractions, I loved the story's beautifully eerie setting and appreciated the subtle yet poignant feminist commentary.

Stella was by far my favorite character. Honestly, the smartest one among the cast. And I love the cover—definitely what drew me to the book!

Thanks to Netgalley, RB Media, Kirsten Bakis, and Bahni Turpin for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the audiobook.

I liked that this story was set in the early 1900s and hand many "look back" periods to the 1800s. I enjoy the back and forth. I did find it a little too bizarre for my normal liking. The story started off slow and then was an information dump, which was hard to understand.

Anna feels as though she is always on the edge of fracturing. Her mind is fragile and her husband's eccentricities don't offer much aid. The book is told in the form of a flashback. We start in present time, where Anna's husband has passed and Anna is planning to move to a farm she has secretly owned. However, we flash back in memory to when Anna and her husband Charles were requested as guests to an island of another eccentric man named Mr. Arkle.

A mystery starts to unfold as Anna and Charles wait for the ferry and there are several women with petitions about missing girls. Anna is moved but Charles believes them to be merely run aways . However, once on the island several other anomalies occur as they are quarantined away from their host far from the mansion without meeting their host and Anna believes there are people or ghosts in the woods. She also believes the ghost may be her long lost friend, Mary and is determined to figure out what is going on in the island.

I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to receive an advanced Audiobook of this novel in exchange for an honest review. There are lots of good twists and turns and mysteries to uncover. I enjoy psychological mysteries and this one does give the dark, gothic vibes with the ominous woods, mysterious host, missing girls, murders, and much more.