Thank you for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

I might be in the minority here but...

I feel really bad for this one because I was kindly gifted the e-arc for a review.
*minor spoilers ahead*

But I couldn’t bring myself to pick up the book once I set it down. It felt like such a drag to get through. In the first 30% there’s the inciting incident (which we don’t get a bunch of detail about) and then Anji is on the run…only to stop in a small town, get wasted and get captured by the Hawk.
I’m sorry but if she had planned to kill the king and worked her way to that point without any suspicion, it felt wrong for her to have been captured so easily...I get that you could read into it as she is flawed...blah blah but I just didn't believe it.

Additionally she talks big talk against the Hawk when we have little to no background on how she could possibly back up her claims of being able to beat the Hawk if given the chance…

It just felt unbelievable and I was bored of their constant bickering and the slow “travel.”

In the end, I just didn’t feel attached to either of them to continue on.

Something about "the packaging" isn't working quite right. It feels "aimed at" a younger (teen) crowd, but it definitely is not with all the swearing and snark within the text, but then the writing itself just feels so young---and the dissonance is putting me off. I stopped reading after chapter 2 (9%). I think this book would have been better served had the focus been "teens with adult crossover potential." I'd imagine this will end up very niche in terms of fan base.

Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for the ARC.

Anji Kills a King is a prodigious, unputdownable fantasy debut; The Rundown meets Christopher Buehlman's The Blacktongue Thief in this whirlwind adventure that yearns to be devoured. Leikam is going to make a ton of Top Reads of 2025 lists - guaranteed.

A pissy laundress murders one little tyrannical king and all hell breaks loose. She’s immediately caught by a grumpy bounty hunter who spits, like, a lot, and they make their way across a frozen tundra while fighting off cultists, endless bugs, fantasy-meth, and being cold literally all the time. The plot dips and weaves but doesn’t leave any holes, just a lot of “oh my god”s from all the trauma strewn around like so much confetti. Should Anji have killed the king? I’m not really sure (and neither is she) but we got this book out of it, so probably.

This debut epic fantasy novel by Evan Leikam is so inventive. The detail and world-building is remarkable and the plot and pacing make it a page turner. I loved the characters and how effortlessly they are brought to life. Anji is an imperfect hero (best kind) and, as readers, we are keenly aware of her emotional trauma. The book is filled with recognizable social commentary, which makes it all the more fascinating. I will be thinking about this one for a long time.

This book immediately drew me in and started right in the middle of the action: the moment that Anji kills the king. I really enjoyed Anji as a character, and while I initially disliked the Hawk, she grew on me, too. Anji and the Hawk's dynamic reminded me a lot of Arya and the Hound's dynamic in Game of Thrones, which was so much fun. A lot of this book was focused on the journey itself and the banter between Anji and anyone she ever encountered, but it looks like the next book is going to focus a lot more on the revolution and the worldbuilding.