Book Review: Kingdom Cold

Thank you to the author of Kingdom Cold, Brittni Chenelle for my free copy of Kingdom Cold in exchange for my honest review.

This review contains spoilers! You have been warned!

Book Description from GoodReads.com:

Attempted murder, that’s how sixteen-year-old Princess Charlotte’s engagement starts. It seems like the only thing she has in common with Prince Young of Vires is their mutual discontent.

When her kingdom’s attacked, Charlotte’s parents renegotiate her hand in marriage to a handsome stranger with a sinister plan. With the people Charlotte loves dying around her, and her kingdom’s future at stake, the only person she can turn to is the prince she betrayed. But, should she save her kingdom or her heart?

One must fall.

Setting:

This book is set in the fictitious kingdom of Besmium, which as it turns out, ends up being Camelot at the end of the story. There is a lot of talk about neighboring countries and a bit about the castles but the setting doesn’t really come in to the story. This is a story about relationships, not where those relationships take place.

Characters:

This books is told through the eyes of a few of the important players in this books. There are many points of view that are given a chance to speak, which allows us to see into the minds of specific characters at pivotal parts of the story. This gives the book an interesting flow as you work your way from person to person.

I’m not sure that I had super-strong feelings about any of the characters until they started dying. Then “the feels” started to kick in. That being said, I cared enough about the characters to keep reading and want to know what happens to them, which is always a good sign for a book. If I don’t connect with the characters, I can’t finish or enjoy a book. That definitely did not happen here.

Plot:

The story begins as the main character, Charlotte, as she finds out she is going to be married to a prince from a far away kingdom. From there, we meet a line up of characters including Young, Charlotte’s fiancee. The plot line follows the development of their relationship, marriage and final separation as the kingdom around them crumbles.

The use of the various character voices allows the reader to see the plot develop from many different angles. I once heard an author say that if you are going to write a book from different points of view, you need to decide who has the most at stake in a chapter, and write in their voice. I think for the most part, this book achieves that. The plot is well-layered through the characters that voice it.

The Feels:

I read this book over my July 4th holiday and had a good time reading this book. There were parts where I smiled and there were some parts where I felt sad. I didn’t have any overwhelming feelings while reading this book, but as I have said before in this review, I wanted to keep reading it. It was exactly the escape I needed on a hot, humid holiday weekend: a little bit romance and a little bit fantasy.

Last Word:

I love books that let me get to know and care about the characters. I also love books that are written from many points of view so we get to see inside the minds of those characters. Finally, I love books that play on the takes of King Arthur and Camelot. Kingdom Cold checks all of these boxes!

(Yes. I realize that the Arthur-twist doesn’t come in until the last few pages, but now I feel like I have to go back and re-read to see if there were clues that I missed!)

The plot was fast-paced and I wanted to see what was going to happen, so this was an easy holiday weekend read for me.

I can’t wait to read the rest of the series and see what happens!!