A Reader's Guide to Books and Reviews

Kingdom of Blood and Salt by Alexis Calder

Genre:
Fantasy, Romance, Shape Shifters, Vampires, the Fae, Werewolves, Enemies to Lovers, Spicy Romance

Publication Date:
March 30, 2023

Rating:
4.2 out of 5

Blurb:

An epic enemies-to-lovers fantasy romance perfect for fans of Jennifer L. Armentrout, Raven Kennedy, and Sarah J Maas.

After spending years training to defend my people from our enemies, I never expected that my enemy would be the one keeping me alive.

Athos is the last human city. A treaty with the Fae keeps the fae, the vampires, and the wolf shifters at bay, while we fight against the dragons at our border. Being a human in this world is dangerous and we all make sacrifices to survive.

When the delegation sent by the Fae King arrives to claim the human tributes required by our treaty, I never expected to forge a connection with their leader.

Ryvin is as dangerous as he is handsome. I know he’s my enemy, and I know I’m supposed to hate him, but with each passing day, he’s more difficult to resist.

But things are changing in Athos. Humans no longer want to bend to the Fae King.

Alliances blur and centuries of lies begin to unravel.

And I’m faced with a choice.

No matter how much I hate him, Ryvin might be the key to preventing war.

But it may mean sacrificing everything….

Kingdom of Blood and Salt is the first book in a fantasy romance trilogy with fae, vampires, and shifters. This enemies to lovers series contains violence, mature language, and spice. This is a NA/adult fantasy romance and steam level will increase as the series progresses. Mind the cliff.

Review:

With dragons being kept at bay by a wall and a treaty in place with a Fae King, Arthos is the last human city. Ara, our female lead, is the illegitimate daughter of the king and has been training most of her life to join her aunt Katerina at the wall. That is until the Fae King's delegation comes to collect the human tributes from the kingdom. Ara is tasked with entertaining the delegation including Ambassador Ryvin. She has no desire to do any sort of entertaining of Ryvin and she wants him to stay far, far away from her as possible, but her father wants her to keep him busy while they search for other ways to get rid of the delegation.

Ara really annoyed me as a character. She never seems to grow in character and only grows more annoying throughout the entire story. I tried on numerous occasions to connect with her throughout the story and I could not. I could find anything I liked about her. She claims to want to protect her people, but we see that she finally takes off those rose-colored glasses and sees that the city is much worse off than she realized. It takes Ryvin to show her that her family does not seem to care at all for their people.

Another thing about Ara that annoyed me is the way she treats Ryvin. He is nothing but kind to her. Never says anything horrible about her and yet she calls him all sorts of names until the sun. She doesn't try to get to know him and does not even bother to spend time with him. It's only when her father asks she "entertains" him that she does.

The only redemption she has is the way she loves her sisters. She will do anything to protect them and that shows even toward the end of the book. You see that she loves them and although she does question their love, she believes in them.

Ryvin is the Ambassador of the Fae King. His powers come from the dark and shadows. From Ara's view, he is the bad guy. He has come to take the hundred human tributes back with him and yet he does not do anyone harm. He saves Ara a few times and yet, she still treats him horribly. I could not understand what he saw in her at all. I don't understand why he continued to bother to pursue her.

This book is the first in a series. Currently, this one I am still struggling to decide its rating. There were some hits to this book and then there was a miss - the female lead. This book has potential and I am excited to see how the next book connects and explains some things. I would like to know more about Ryvin and I hope we do.