The worldbuilding and writing is so beautiful and totally felt like a journey to another world. A rich story with a mixture of action, heartbreak, love, sacrifice, hope and forgiveness written in a style that truly took my breath away, so wonderfully tragic. The characters are complex yet so human in a way that feels raw and real. I was hooked from the very beginning and it’s a great continuation from the first book. A powerful and emotional read that stayed in my mind even after finishing.

There isn't a way to read this on kindle or the kindle app, so unfortunately I won't be reading. The NetGalley app is way too glitchy and it's unfeasible to read on my phone.

A stunning finish to this beautiful duology! Where do I start?!? I adore Razhar and so love that he is a POV character in this one. Finding out the secrets he’s been keeping had me feeling all the feels. So did El and Lystra and their finally (FINALLY) admitting and acting on their feelings. Each character’s arc is solid and so very satisfying, and I cried at least three times as the Jarkins, the curse, the secrets, and grandma’s plotting all came to a head. Do not miss this duology!

I actually liked this book better than the first.

Be forewarned that this book is HEARTBREAKING. Absolutely heartbreaking.

The world building, as usual, was absolutely immaculate. The author builds amazing visuals and scenes and history. It’s like watching a painter paint and I loved every minute of it. You can tell that so much went into the background of this story.

And I adored Lystra. It’s rare we get a female character that’s so bad ass without being extra-worldly (though…. I guess technically at the very end she was. But for 95% of the book she wasn’t superhuman.)

She showed emotion and weakness but still had strength. She was bred to be a queen and she acted as such from start to finish. She was smart and cunning and capable. Seriously, she was such a well developed character. She was bad ass because she had been crafted to be that way her whole life and it was amazing to watch.

My biggest issue with this book was actually the same I had with the last book. It dragged for about 50% of the book before picking up. I felt like a lot of the time in the desert could have been cut out. And it would have benefitted more to see what was happening back in Instanolde.

An amazing conclusion to this duology though and definitely worth the read.

🌌📖ARC REVIEW📖🌌

King of Star-Cast Skies by Kaitlyn Carter Brown
🎉HAPPY PUB DAY🎉

Thank you to the author and Whimsical Publishing for a free advanced reader copy of this book and including me on the street team!

💭BLURB💭
One summer to live becomes one night to die.

A curse, a consequence, and a choice. Elerek, Lystra, and Razhar work to save their kingdom, their people, and hopefully themselves.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Coming full circle again, Queen of Shifting Sands was one of my ARCs I reviewed, so being able to be in this street team is such an honor.

This book is the perfect conclusion to this story. The found family, the romance, it all wraps up in a heart wrenchingly beautiful way. I loved the addition of Razhar’s POV. The growth of the characters was well paced and done so well.

Definitely don’t skip this one.

"Dying for her was easy, the best and most responsible thing he could do. No, he wanted to live. To give her each glorious sunrise filled with the splendor of a thousand possibilities...To see what might grow from the barren soil of their grief and to rise from the ashes of every ravaging fire."

Books that can make me cry are a rare thing. This one absolutely wrecked me.

Queen of Shifting Sands was a book where the mounting threat and growing tension piled up like a wave behind a dam. But the full fury of the situations, consequences, and characters broke in King of Star-Cast Skies. Instead of a city with its royal palace, vibrant night markets, and side characters aplenty offering support in the bonds of family and friendship, this book pushed its characters to the razor edge of survival in the Sancen wilds.

As someone who grew up enjoying adventure and survival stories, I thrived on the tension created not only from the Jarkin threat, but the Sancen itself. The characters were fighting a desperate war for survival on all fronts, while battling their own inner demons, which made for a compelling read that kept me turning the pages, desperate to find out how it ended.

The tension throughout was so intensely crafted that I was legitimately afraid for every single character. I've read a lot of books where I felt like the characters had so much plot armor that the tension and stakes weren't real enough to concern me, but this wasn't at all one of those. I was tense every time one of the characters (or multiple of them) experienced a life threatening situation, and let me say there were a LOT of those.

I won't spoil anything but I will say the ending shredded my heart into tiny pieces and I can't wait for this book to release and have yet more readers so that I have more people to cry over it with...

When I see stars, l think I will remember these characters, and their story. I will remember to not grow weary of life.

Queen of Shifting Sands and King of Star-Cast Skies has epic worldbuilding, beautiful prose, characters to love, sympathize with (or hate), real and raw themes, and a satisfying conclusion.

Kaitlyn Carter Brown is an amazing storyteller and I am so thankful for her words.

As a person, a reader, and a writer, I will be thinking of this duology for a long time.

(Please read it and fangirl with me!)

Wow! Felt all the feelings with this book! Action, strife, love and sacrifice that leads to an epic conclusion. Full of vivid descriptions, heart wrenching moments and beautiful moments.

-Multi POVs
-A dangerous desert journey
-A deadly curse
-Secrets & sacrifices
-Friendships tested
-Love ❤️

*I received an ARC from NetGalley. Opinions are my own.

King of Star-Cast Skies is such a good book! Kaithyn Carter Brown is a genious! I totally recommend everyone to read this book as fast as they can because it's really good and the characters are fantastic.

Oh my heart. I'm not crying. This is a long heart string tugging adventure. One of love and hope. Of realizing your own worth. One of sacrifice. Discovering your strengths. And realizing your weaknesses. I have loved this series from the beginning.

I have no words. This book was perfectly heartbreaking yet hopeful. Beautiful yet tragic. A back and forth pull of giving into the darkness and holding onto starlight. 😭😍🤩

The first book started slow, then once it picked up I loved it, so I was afraid this one would be the same, but no. King of Star-Cast Skies started with so much tension and never stopped for the entire book. I literally couldn’t put it down!! 😆😱 You have no choice but to keep turning the pages to see what would happen next, if the characters would find healing amidst all the lies, secrets, and betrayals, if they would make it through the harrowing journey across the desert with cruel captors taunting them, if the cursed king and fierce queen would reconcile and find happiness in stolen moments, if it could even possibly end without their deaths.

I won’t give any spoilers, but I am thoroughly satisfied (if a little sad) with the ending! The author had the events happen in such a way that I hadn’t thought of, and that fit the book so well. Things aren’t perfect. Deaths and sorrow riddle our MCs, but there’s also life. Hope. Love. Starlight. ✨

Lystra and Elerek were such great characters, each broken and imperfect, but striving to save their kingdom whatever the cost! And they literally gave their everything to it. I loved loved LOVED their relationship and watching the romance finally take flight!! 😍😍😍 The ending was so sweet. 🥹 Rahzar was an intricate character and I really enjoyed getting his POV as well. There was so much hurt yet sacrificial love in him, and my heart broke for what he went through. 😭 But again, I think the author did such a great job writing him and his ending!

Also can we take a moment to appreciate the GORGEOUS covers for both this book and Queen of Shifting Sands??!!!! Stunning!

If you love adventure, curses that doom you to die, clean romance that grows despite the adversity, friendships, themes of forgiveness, hatred, redemption, and finding hope, an immersive desert world that will teleport you to beautiful yet dangerous lands, and so much more, I HIGHLY recommend this duology!! 😆😍

/I received an ARC from the author and Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own/