Tome Thursday: Rise of the Fae King

 

Hello everyone!

 

Look at us going, making it almost all the way through January already.

 

However, 2025 has been ... a lot, already. And it's difficult to put into words the feelings that come along with such a realization.

 

I think that, if this is just the beginning, we better buckle up, because DAMN the year's going to be BRUTAL.

 

On the other hand, my copy of Onyx Storm is in the mail and on the way to me, so there's at least a spark of hope somewhere down the road.

 

In the meantime, I'm working my way backwards through my read pile, having finished most of these before the Christmas season started, and then I put them on the back burner to keep handy when I needed to write a review.

 

So we're going back to see some cute little dragons this time! They're actually cute, and called fliers, while they're at it. Make sure you don't call them anything else, and hop along through the Veil with me in Rise of the Fae King.

 

Links to previous related posts can be found at the bottom of this page, as per usual.

Hypatia Rae is an author I stumbled upon completely by accident, through BookSirens initially, I think, then I joined her mailing list and the rest is history, since I fell in love both with her style of writing as well as her characters. Her Beyond the Veil trilogy is set to conclude this year, so what better way to get some hype going than by talking about the prequel she wrote in the meantime??

Rise of the Fae King tells the story of how Kalanthami and Chantria, the two female characters we get to know in Blood of the Dragon, or know about at least, came to be in the human world, and what happened that sent them there.

See, Kalanthami is the Crown Princess of her people, destined to rule them one day - or so they think.

Actually, however, because she lacks the traditional magical skills that everyone else has, but possesses a far, far rarer gift that's probably going to be put to use as soon as an actual heir's born, she CAN'T rule.

Only, neither she nor her parents have ever disclosed that piece of information. Fae live to be thousands upon thousands of years old, and her grandfather is about to retire and pass the torch to her mother, who's FINALLY pregnant with her second child after literal forever trying. She also apparently took to spouse a ... vampire? I'm not sure that's the correct term, but the dude is from a rival clan/people, they're madly in love, and he has the red hair that we later see Everleigh inherit in the main trilogy.

Anyway, I digress.

Kalanthami is happily practicing battle skills with her protector, who happens to also be her lover, not to mention her best friend, Chantria, who ALSO happens to be her lover.

It's a very free and open society, y'all, and I kinda dig it.

Everything seems to be going according to plan, until the part where the grandpa's going to give his power over, and Kalanthami's uncle sabotages everything by killing the entire royal family. Why? He's "concerned" that by letting his sister rule, her husband will have a huge sway over her (this has never been spotted by anyone up until this point, so you can tell he's making excuses and being paranoid) and the Fae people will fall under the spell of his own people, fall from greatness, traditions will be lost, they shouldn't make so many modern changes, blablablaba.

You can see where this is going. The dude's an archaic monster.

Kalanthami manages to escape only because Chantria hides them both under her invisibility spell, and the two girls get out of the royal palace and hit the road. Kalanthami knows if she reaches out to other kingdoms, offering herself as a marriage prospect, she might just find the support she needs to have an army at her back with which to reclaim her birthright.

They're discovered at one point, hunted by her uncle's people, but the commander helps orchestrate their escape, and Chantria tells her friend that, even such a short while after his crowning, people are already learning that supporting her uncle was a mistake, as he's put many to death simply for thinking he didn't have to kill everyone to get where he was.

So the tide's turning against him already, showing him for the tyrant he's always been hiding underneath his polite face, and if they knew their princess was still alive ...

But Kalanthami knows that she can't risk it, so she's counting on help from the human lands. Humans aren't looked at all that well by the Fae, but she thinks there might be usefulness in them, and when she receives an answer to her schemes, she and Chantria make for the Veil together.

The journey changes them both, as they have to do things to survive neither one expected (including, but not limited to, killing), and once they cross, Kalanthami places a powerful enchantment along the Veil that would prevent anyone but someone with her own blood from coming or going through.

Then it's off to the human world, which seems colourless and somehow diluted to them, and where the human prince explains time runs differently (as in, faster) there, and also mistakes Chantria for the princess.

Kalanthami eventually realizes that, while the prince WOULD do his duty, he's in love with her best friend, and she with him, but they'd both be willing to put that aside to protect her, so she cooks up an excuse, telling Chantria to keep an eye on the prince and see if he'd stray from her, while she takes off on her own.

Then she finds the Witch in the Woods, a woman with her own type of magic, and joins her in her hut ...

And we know how the story goes from there, even if the actual novella chooses that spot to wrap up!

Kalanthami and Chantria switched places sometime afterwards, with Chantria assuming her best friend's identity and sacrificing her own memories for it (it's so sad to see she had a younger brother named Silas, who is supposedly the inspiration for the name of her son). And Kalanthami has apparently crossed back over since then, or been dragged back, and Everleigh and Silas in current time will have to discover how to help - because Kalanthami was just a placeholder, and either her unborn sibling OR HER CHILD would rule the Fae land someday.

Looking at you, Everleigh, and we all know you do NOT want that whatsoever LOL

I was incredibly generously sent an ARC of this book; my opinions are my own!

I loved getting a glimpse into the world Everleigh is destined to walk into, but more importantly I loved getting to see Kalanthani in person, be in her head for a moment.

I'm super sad about what could have been with Valero, and tbh I was secretly hoping he'd turn out to be the dad but, I feel like Kala still has secrets she'll eventually get to share with readers.

The writing remains engaging, as always, and I love the way the author weaves different points into a cohesive plot. There's definite Asian influences on the Fae culture, but I think it only makes everything more magical!

All in all, absolutely recommend.

xx

*image not mine

The Witch of Faymeria Wood - Blood of the Dragon