This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews
When Maggie wakes up cold, filthy, and naked in a gutter, it doesn’t take her long to recognize Kair Toren, a city she knows intimately from the pages of the famously unfinished dark fantasy series she’s been obsessively reading and re-reading while waiting years for the final novel. Her only tools for navigating this gritty world of rival warlords, magic, and mayhem? Her encyclopedic knowledge of the plot, the setting, and the characters’ ambitions and fates. Soon, instead of trying to get home, she finds herself enmeshed in the schemes—and attentions—of dueling princes, dukes, and villains, all while trying to save them and the kingdom of Rellas from the way she knows their stories will end: in a cataclysmic war.
By Damla
“I had reread them three times, because everything was falling apart in Rellas, and wading into that darkness again and again kept my anticipation of justice fresh. The reckoning was coming, and I would relish it. I couldn’t wait to see the bad guys fall and my favorite characters -the few who had survived- get their happy ending.”
Political intrigues and backstabbing, heists, balls, secret identities, magical duels, crazy chemistry, badass characters, and high stakes…
This book has all I ever want in a fantasy, done in the best way. Which is probably why I now have the worst book hangover of my life, because I don’t feel like picking anything else up until the high of this epic portal fantasy wears off.
The story kicks off with Maggie finding herself flung into the ruthless world from her favorite fantasy book series, naked and vulnerable, just trying not to die. She promptly realizes that she is in the very first chapter of the very first book. Now, she must use what she knows to first survive the day, and if she succeeds, then move on to protect her favorite characters and the future of the kingdom from burning. If this kingdom doesn’t kill her first. Because what do you do when you have no identification papers, no acquaintances, no money, and no relevant skills in a ruthless medieval magical world?
Rellas, the kingdom in question, is very much like a Game of Thrones type of merciless, violent world balanced on the teetering edge of political schemes. Wildly immersive and rich, there were so many layers to the world building, politics, and history. On top of it all, the juxtaposition of medieval style fantasy setting with Maggie’s 21st century perspective was really fun -and at times so meta-, creating some genuine laugh-out-loud moments.
As far as main characters go, Maggie is one that is genuine, inherently likable, and very competent that makes her an excellent guide into this new world. Despite the high anxiety-inducing chain of events and the cutthroat society, her quick-thinking, tenacity, and kindness make her a great underdog to root for (cue me yelling “you’re doing amazing, sweetie!” to my book Kris Kardashian style). But the supporting cast of characters from the dark broody love interest to her found family -and the unexpected fauna of Rellas- are also just so fantastic.
Just a warning: this book has so many plot twists (where I did not see a single one coming) that my partner was genuinely concerned at one point after seeing my facial expression while reading a certain part of the book. I won’t give any spoilers as to which part but honestly, it could have been any one of the plot twists. Each of them FLOORED me in the best way possible.
This book was just such an enjoyable epic fantasy that twists the classic tropes into a highly entertaining form. As much as I like to joke that I will be pushing this book to anyone who comes inquiring about a specific topic (You want a book about politics? TKWNKM. About psychology? TKWNKM. Crime thriller? Military strategy? Fashion? Animal care? Soap-making??? You guessed it. TKWNKM), it really does have it all. The pages were flying as I was reading, and although I couldn’t wait to see what the ending held, I also grieved with each page that the story was coming to an end. Now comes the torturous wait for part two to come out. In the meanwhile, you can be sure that I will be rereading this gem multiple times.
10/10 would (and certainly will) recommend it to all fantasy lovers.
