Kingdom of Exiles by Maxym M. Martineau

Cover Art Courtesy of Goodreads

I absolutely ended 2019 on a high note when it comes to reads. I didn't know anything about this book until my TBTB Santa (Katie!) sent it to me as part of my gift, and I decided to take it with me on my cruise at the end of the year. I am SO SO glad she sent me this book because it was incredible! Kingdom of Exiles by Maxym M. Martineau is the first book in a new series, The Beast Charmer series. It's a fantasy romance touted as Assassins Creed meets Fantastic Beasts, and that is spot on.

Leena is a charmer, a person who can charm and control wondrous beasts. Unfortunately, Leena has been exiled from her homeland and forced to sell some of her beasts to survive, something unspeakable by Charmer standards. Soon she finds that there is a bounty on her head for her actions. Enter Noc, the enigmatic head of Cruor and its assassins. Leena bargains with Noc, offering to capture beasts for him in exchange for her life. But things just can't be that simple.

I really enjoyed this read! I've mentioned on here before that I'm still slowly dipping my toe into the world of romance, having started with romantic comedies just last year. I don't read a ton of this genre so I can't be much of an expert, but I thought there were surprisingly few explicit scenes, which is perfectly fine in my book!

The plot was incredibly thrilling and I was so excited to pull this book out by the pool and on the beach on my vacation. It is told from two different points of view, both Leena's and Noc's, and I really enjoyed seeing their different perspectives on things. I loved all of Noc's brotherhood as well and they provided some fantastic comic relief. I definitely agree with the Assassins Creed meets Fantastic Beasts comparison, but I'd throw a little bit of Pokemon in there for good measure as well!

Interestingly enough, it appears that there is also a YA version of this book out, which I would assume removed the explicit language and sex scenes present in this version.

I'm so excited to get my hands on the next book, The Frozen Prince, when it comes out. I think this book definitely opened up my eyes to the fantasy romance genre, so I'm definitely going to be researching some more books along these lines to check out!

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars