The Kingdom of Liars follows Michael Kingman, whose defining characteristics are being a Kingman and the son of a man who committed treason. While his siblings have mostly moved on, Michael has been stuck in the past and filled with anger. Michael gets involved with a mysterious noble after a rebel attack and begins to unravel secrets about the past. Our story opens with Michael on trial for killing the king and his story is revealed via flashback.

I enjoyed this book, but there were some issues that impacted my enjoyment. I really did not see Michael as a likable character and did not feel a bond with him. I thought he was self-centered and selfish. Throughout the story, there are instances where telling and not showing is in full force. It’s as if by stating something in plain language, the author is willing it to be so. I understand his intent, but it comes off as heavy-handed writing.

While the world-building and magic system are very detailed, it takes a long time for readers to understand some of the roles and names that we are expected to pick up through context alone. An easy fix to this would be to provide more introductory information or perhaps a glossary or chart to add clarity. While I can understand the author wanting to reveal this information bit by bit, it does cause confusion when basic world-building is still being established past the halfway point.

Spoiler

The ending of the book also struggled with some deus ex machina, but I fully expected this as I’m not sure how Michael could have survived without it.

In terms of the writing itself, it was generally well done with lots of references throughout. However, I was frustrated with one of the writing choices.

Spoiler

Michael finds himself not remembering the name of a girl who he meets. The girl realizes this and rather than introduce herself, decides that she wants to keep her name hidden. So, Michael spends over half the book calling her: “the girl in red.” It was unrealistic that someone wouldn’t slip and address her by name. Michael is a target for many as the son of a traitor. How is he not more invested in learning her name? It is eventually revealed, but her name alone adds no profound meaning to the story. Why did I spend half the book reading “the girl in red” did this, “the girl in red” did that? Just name your character.

All of that said, this book is undoubtedly something the author put a lot of thought into and I think many people will enjoy it. While this book is definitely introductory and suffered some debut growing pains, I ultimately found it to be a good book. I’ll be curious to see where the author takes characters in the sequel! The Kingdom of Liars releases on June 23, 2020. Thank you to Gallery Books and Netgalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.