I went into this book not really knowing what to expect but I enjoyed the unusualness of the world. It intrigued me enough to keep reading. Overall, I enjoyed my experience.

By far the world building was this books greatest strength. It was well thought out and imaginative. It was not like the regular fantasy worlds readers are used to.

The plot was intriguing though the ending was slightly anticlimactic. I felt like I was waiting for something to happen the entire book then I finished the book with no real resolution. The book could have done a better job of cutting exposition and extending the ending to accommodate plot progression.

3.5* ARC

This was my first book by this author and it was a good, fun ride.

I really loved the FMC Lydia, she was an incredibly strong willed character. She was very feisty and didn't take crap from anyone, no matter what situation she was in.

Edu's character didn't appear to have any redeemable qualities. The author did describe him very well and I could picture him clearly when he was in scenes but I thought he was going to be in the book more than he was, alot of other side characters talking for him and doing his bidding. I just found him boring.

Aon's character was interesting from the start and was one main driving force for getting to the end of the book. His character was a very dark character, one minute he was talking about being a complete nightmare to Lydia, almost cruel in some scenes and the next he was consumed by the thought of her, The last 10% of the book had me on the edge as I just didn't know what he was going to to next as he was so unpredictable.

The author's worldbuilding was very good and I enjoyed learning about Under and all the creatures that reside there. However I felt that there was info dumping in parts of the book but as this appears to be the first book in a large series, the other worlds within Under will be better explained as the series progresses.

I am looking forward to reading what happens next to Lydia, especially after the ending of this one.

Thank you to Netgallery and Second Sky for the opportunity to read this. #KingofFlames #NetGalley

Another new fantasy romance to grab my attention. Dark, mysterious, well crafted and completely potty is the best way to describe The Under!

The story was well paced but did feel as though it dragged slightly at the start, most likely as I was trying to keep all the new people, places, etc in my head straight! The vibe of Under was kind of Steampunk, a mish mash of old and new, ancient and modern.

Lydia may thinks she unravels and is completely useless but I think she and Nick keep it together remarkably well! She is shaping up to be one determined FMC - she leaves the panicking until she has time and just soldiers through. I loved the fact that she and Nick are firm friends - there is no friends-to-lovers or love triangle in the offing that I've managed to determine anyway.

There is no romance as such in this 1st book but the vivid dream connection between Aon and Lydia is the set up for the future romance.

Beware this does end in a cliffhanger...

This was a very interesting book. It is fast paced and has very interesting characters. I am still a little confused about the world Under but it was a good read. I leaves you hanging at the end of the book.

This book was horrible and a complete waste of my time. I wish that I had never requested it.

I read the synopsis and I thought I might like it. Boy, was I wrong.

The only good thing about the book is the badass FMC, Lydia. Apart from that, nothing else!

Especially Aon, the serial killer wannabe that will probably be the fmc's love interest🤮🤮. It's annoying that this kind of character in a book.

Don't even get me started about The Under, a fucked up place.

I will definitely not be reading any other book in this series

I normally really enjoy KAK's writing but this one felt scattered and I just couldn't enjoy the characters.

3.75 Star
Though I was in a bit of a reading slump this past week and read few pages here and there - I did enjoy this book. The concept of the world and magic system was super intriguing - when their planets align - creatures from the world of Under are able to go to earth and find the ones the Ancients have marked to bring them back and replenish their population.
Only when Lydia is brought back she changes everything for everyone. Haunted by a sleeping king in her dreams she has to figure out how to save her self while also escaping the current King hunting her and the one attempting to wake to find her. Lydia was strong willed, didn't give up on her friends, fought to save herself and others! The two kings were definitely interesting and I'm curious to read more about why they have such animosity toward each other! Definitely intrigued and will for sure pick up the next book to see what happens next!

I’ve read better written books, this style was basic and not the best to read. The story was a bit all over the place and not gripping. I won’t be recommending this to anyone nor will I be reading the next in the series. Far better fantasy books out there.

So I genuinely love the Fae Duke series from Kathrynn Ann Kingsley. KAK does super well writing dark fantasy romance. There is genuinely no doubt in my mind about that. This book was super action packed and to be honest was a little overwhelming to get into. I felt a little lost which I think was the point considering the FMC was just as lost and confused as I was. Our FMC Lydia wakes up one morning with a strange tattoo. Later that day, a vampire (I think) assaults her at work, only to have a warrior clad in armor trying to kidnap her. Lydia then finds out that the tattoo means that she has been chosen to join the Under, only her commencement doesn't go according to plan.

The information about the world of Under was extremely slow to be released. Once Lydia started learning about what was going on, I felt more interested to keep reading. The plot is definitely different with an edge, so my interest level was high. Unfortunately, I still don't feel like I really know what is going on, but I know enough to feel the need to keep reading after the cliffhanger we were left on. Aon's character definitely intrigued more than anything and if my assumptions are correct, I will definitely scream for joy!

This book was the most confusing thing I have read. I still am scratching my head. I just could not figure out what the point of this was. I just was not a fan of this at all.

*ARC received from Netgalley - all opinions are my own*

TL;DR: King of Flames is a solid introduction to the series, though it feels more like a stepping stone than its own full story. While the story ends a bit too soon, the series looks like it will be great. Despite the 3-star review I still recommend King of Flames as I believe the rest of the series will make up for this one being a bit on the short and actionless side.

| 3.5-stars

Review:
After finishing King of Flames, I discovered that Katherine Ann Kingsley originally planned The Masks of Under as a trilogy, but the series was eventually split into six books. In my opinion, this might not have been the best decision, as King of Flames feels like it ends prematurely. At just 256 pages, it could have benefited from an additional 100 pages to further develop the plot and characters. The ending just feels so abrupt considering we took nearly the entire book to get some action going!

As for the characters, including our FMC Lydia, I’m intrigued by what I’ve seen so far, but there simply hasn’t been enough time to form a strong attachment to any of them. However, I do feel like Lydia leaving Nick (more than once) to fend for himself against potential murderers and then not even give him a second thought is a little shady of her.

I’ve seen a lot of praise for Kingsley’s writing, so I’m not giving up on the series just yet. I’ll be giving the next book a go as I do feel like this series could be great! King of Flames may not have hit all the right notes, but the potential for greatness is there, and I’m eager to see where it goes next.

First book of new series.
2 people from Earth are taken and go into another world. While there you are thrown into like a pool and it decides what kind of creature you are going to be. Then you are sent to a like kingdom, which there are several. You have marks on your body or you wear masks depending on your rank within that kingdom..
I had originally planned on a 3 star review but the more I got thinking about it I ended up giving it a 4 star.
Thank you to NetGalley and Second Sky for the ebook to review.
#KingofFlames #NetGalley

Strange creepy monsters. Tall, powerful, dangerous masked men. I’ll take it.

The first half was a fairly slow read but it picked up massively from the 50% mark. It made for an enjoyable quick read and the end left me wanting to read on.

I had a really fantastic time reading this book! I know this book was previously published and I'm really glad that it got updated and I got a chance to read it, because I loved it! This is the second series that I've read by her, but this one was originally published first, but has now been updated, which is the best of both worlds!

Things really suck for Lydia-she wakes up with a weird tattoo, a supposedly dead body walks up and somehow makes off with a coworker, she almost gets kidnapped and in the process kills a guy, then she really is kidnapped to this strange world. And when the process to make her part of this world doesn't work for her-the first time ever, and she's got a strange connection to a feared and hated prince dude? Not good! I was rooting for her!

We mainly were in Lydia's perspective as all of this was going on, but we also got some of Aon's perspective, so we could see this world from a newcomer and from someone who's been there a while and has a lot of power. So much was set up, from the different houses, to the power structure, and some of the politics. I'm so pumped to see how things develop from here!

This book started on a wild ride, and ended on a wild ride, and I'm so excited to see what's going to happen next! I've read the synopsis' for all the books in the series because once I started, I couldn't stop and I needed to know where the story is going to go, because the anticipation is high!

This was such a thrilling read and I can't wait to continue on!

King of Flames is about a mortal who gets chosen to go into the Under, but once there she is not selected to be part of any of the Houses, while also being visited by the King of Shadows in her dreams. This book was just alright to me, I felt like it seemed to be building up to something crazy happening, but once there it fell flat. It works as a first book in a series because there is a lot of buildup but not as a book that could stand alone. This book had multiple POVs, and even though the book does not list who's POV we were in, and it switched between POVs in the same chapter, I thought the way it was written makes it was clear to the reader who the POV is from.

This was a really good set up book to get started with a five star series. The world building was really intriguing and the characters were very entertaining. I absolutely can not wait for the next book in the series. This is a perfect book for romantasy readers looking for that dark spice. I loved it!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and plan to continue reading the series! I loved the mixture of modern world, magic, other dimensions, monsters and mystery. I enjoyed how sassy Lydia is and how her sarcasm truly comes through even when dealing with characters that may not fully understand it. The aspect of characters coming into this other dimension/word, Under, is also really cool and the fact that many of them were once human is another very cool aspect of these book. I feel there is more to our king Edu and I cannot wait to see what Aon is up to! I gave this book 4 stars.

I really enjoyed this book! The story had me hooked in the very beginning, and I loved the ending of this book. I cannot wait to read the next one. I will say it got a tiny bit boring around the middle of the book, but it seems like this book is kind of a large prequel for the next book. The book starts with Lydia getting to work (she works as a medical examiner doing autopsies) and all of a sudden the corpse she was examining comes to life and tries to attack her! Lydia then gets stalked by various monsters and has no idea what's going on around her. Eventually she gets trapped in a strange new world and must find her way out before she is killed. Overall I would recommend this book, even if it does leave you wanting more. I'm excited to read the next one!

The speed of the book just wasn’t my thing, I finally got interested into the story at the end which is why I’ve lowered my rating. I will definitely be reading the next book now that i’m interested! thankyou.

I have no idea what I just read, but I enjoyed it? The entirety of this book is essentially a setup for books to come, so it wasn't super satisfying, and I was confused for the majority of it, but I'd like to read the next one, if only to see if it sheds some light on what the hell is going on.

Lydia is a forensic something or other who pokes and picks at bodies to get all the bits together for the investigators to go over. There's some wtf vampire action on the job one day which leads to her being abducted and brought to Under. Under appears to be some kind of parallel universe, not hell but certainly hellish, and honestly... I don't fucking know lol. Almost nothing happens. I could sum the entirety of the book in a single sentence, but it would be a spoilery sentence. There are kings. There are servants. Humans get changed into monsters. I'm not quite sure why. Not much is explained. Still, I'm reading the next one since it's on kindle unlimited and comes out this month. This cover is a travesty, the cover of the version I got from netgalley is much nicer. It seems that this author wrote this series years ago and is rereleasing it, which is slightly irritating because I could be reading the next one right now, but it seems to have been pulled.