Rating: 2🌈

Upon completion, I’ve found that there’s a few interesting things about the book and some really problematic aspects of the story that make it less compelling reading.

Let’s start with the world building. Half of the information and history or perhaps less, is included here. And that arrives at the end of the story. Which means the reader and actually the characters are operating on incomplete knowledge and assumptions.

We can assume the world is based on arranged marriages that has nothing to do with affection. The people here are bonded to animals. When that started and why ? Don’t know, no history. We get zero information about how each being acquired it’s bonded animal. Only that the type of animal is indicative of status. Dragon high, I would imagine mouse low, or something. Blood has something to do with it but what is not specified.

So immediately, some of the most important and intriguing elements are missing. This type of choice continues throughout the book. Even worse is that when some of the missing pieces are hinted at, as in many children tragically die because the father has forced them to bond with animals they can’t control, do we get more? No. It’s dropped completely and not brought back up.

Instead the reader is dumped into a politically charged situation that we won’t be given any time to “hear about “ or process the various family members of Genys, the MC who’s to be married off the the man bonded to a dragon, Prince Mikhail Vasiliev. The royal family is the Vasilievs and there’s a whole Russian themed world going on here with dachas and other Russian elements, but it’s haphazard at best. Russian names, objects, but Kings not Czars. Should have just gone with it.

We get no sense of who Genys is before he’s married and actually not much of one after. He’s a very young 19 years old, who’s been protected by a strong mother. Genys is bonded to a mink, Grusha. Mink cute , no magic. But his character traits are all over the map. He’s an innocent but he’s not. Socially adept but not. He’s a sexual person but he’s a young 19 who’s been protected by his mother and out of his element. The authors did such a weak job of creating Genys that it’s hard to establish a connection with him.

Now another thing about this aspect of the universe, there’s no magic . The main one seems to be the one where you and the animal are one in a bonded sort of way here. So Genys gets a cute pet basically and Mikhail/Misha gets a dragon to ride if the dragon is amenable and not a jerk. But if something happens to the animal, it happens to the person too, a fact acquired later in the story. So it’s a narrative tool primarily for the plot for book 2. So they are one and the same but they aren’t the same.

Please define the elements when it’s this important to your story, authors.

Is that substance enough in the form it’s in to make this element a huge aspect of the book? Not here it’s not. It’s just missing too much foundation.

Both authors reach wide when going for a wider arc and plot line but they focus more on book 2 than on the story that’s laying the foundation for the series and events that follow. How do I know this? They include the first chapter of book 2 at the end of this story. SMH. Incredibly frustrating to see those events that should have been folded in here in some manner.

That’s like saying, if you are running a race, “ok I’m going to have to move sections of it around, let me get back to you about the map. “

And no I didn’t even like the romance, not that there was any, or relationship ( not much of that either) between the two main characters. No chemistry, no communication, zero respect. But they then immediately say I love you. Yes , it’s one of those.

The more I think about it, the problematic area far outweigh the few interesting ones. And there’s a King who’s not in his right mind but that’s not even a minor issue here. So much isn’t even addressed because there’s such a lack of world building, the animal bonding is nonsensical, and that’s a major part of the series.

When there’s an issue with even the smallest to the largest of characters, then the narrative becomes a storyline that’s constantly stumbling.

I’m surprised to find that with Sam Burns. And I won’t be recommending this.

To Kill A King series:

✓ Dragon’s Dawn #1

◦ Dragon’s Dusk #2 – Sept 28, 2023

Buy Link:

Dragon’s Dawn (To Kill a King Book 1)

Blurb:

Trapped in an arranged marriage with a beast of a prince, Genya has nothing but his beauty and wits to help him survive.

For nineteen years, I have carved myself into a dutiful son, a courtier of unimpeachable wit, and a genuine delight at a tea party. Now that my success in society has planted me in the path of Mikhail Vasiliev, it’s clear I’d have been better off keeping my head down.

Prince Mikhail is the second son of a traitor. Third in line to the throne, he has a reputation for violence, debauchery, and being a thorn in the side of his cousin, King Dmitri. That is, until the king decides to get him out of the way—by marrying him off.

To me.

Suddenly prince of a brutal, frozen land, I have no choice but to spy on my father’s behalf. From the morning of our wedding, my beastly husband and I have been at odds, but if I cannot win him over, I’ll find myself in the jaws of his colossal red dragon.

By the time I realize there is more between us than hostility and mistrust, it is too late. The die has been cast, the knife thrust, and our private battle is set to topple the whole kingdom.

Beauty gets tied to a real beast in this MM high fantasy romance, featuring: the cutest companion mink to ever bite the hand of a prince, two reluctant husbands who hate each other everywhere but between the sheets, and a heap load of court intrigue to ensure things go perfectly wrong for our murderhimbo and his slinky courtier beau.