From USA Today Bestselling Author Liz Long comes a new duology that “…belongs on the shelf with The Hunger Games and the Divergent Series.”When seventeen-year-old Reina is accepted to KEY, the King’s Education for Youth, she knows she’ll have to hide her true identity, as same-sex relationships are strictly illegal under President-turned-King Magnus Brighton’s rule. What she couldn’t have … What she couldn’t have anticipated was the King taking a personal interest in her, and his plan to have her marry his cruel son. When Reina discovers refusing the marriage means a punishment far worse than death, she also stumbles upon the reason King Magnus hasn’t aged in decades, and finds herself in the middle of a civil uprising.
Will she escape the King’s wicked reign or will she be lost to Brighton’s dark secrets?
In Brighton, blood means everything. Long live King Magnus.
Perfect for fans of The Darkest Minds, Divergent, and The Gender Game, The Blood King and The Golden City, the second book in the duology which comes out September 2018, will not disappoint!
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This book is an amazing piece of writing. It’s a tapestry of a novel that at first glance is an entertaining and enthralling dystopian adventure with a villain that is easy to hate and a heroine that you want to cheer on. Then you notice that woven throughout are thought provoking issues relevant to today such as gender equality, lbgtq rights and political differences. This author is someone that will be getting my money for years to come because reading this was all it took for me to become a loyal fan.
Wow! This is such a fantastic book that was impossible to put down! I may have lost a bit of sleep, but it was well worth it. Every time I thought I knew where the story was heading a new twist was thrown in. The king is the perfect villain (almost always my favorite character in this genre) with just enough appeal to make him dangerously intriguing. I can’t wait for part two because I know it’s going to be awesome!!
Long creates an interesting dysptopian world that also gives you a strong sense of similarity to our current climate – possibly hinting a worst case scenario of what our future could hold if our President were the extreme of all things bad that we hear about; even including how when the King started as President, he was a successful businessman and his sons took over his businesses, and at one point referring to “fake news” and including other similarities of things he has been accused of (as this is not a political view, I will leave my own opinions out of whether or not I agree with the things that are said, only pointing out that they’re said current day, and repeated in this book).
The King is very clearly a man who cares about his own power and nothing else. However, it is difficult for others to tell because those outside the city he lives in are practically sent to the dark ages with no current technology or schooling and are very poor. Even those that live and work in the city surrounding the tower he lives in know only what he allows, as he controls all media. The younger generation is exceptionally vulnerable, as the King has wiped any ability to access any version of history, so they only believe what they are taught – one thing being how lucky any teen would be to get into the KEY program.
It is not until Reina is ecstatic that she has been accepted into the KEY program to make a better life for herself and her mother, and sees her mother’s devastation rather than excitement, that she knows something is very wrong. She tries to see only the positive from the beginning, but continues to increasingly see red flags. If there were any things that bothered me about this book, it was that the majority of these red flags were pretty extreme and obvious that the King was a lunatic, but Reina continues to see everything as “an honor” – even when she’s carefully wording everything she says to not upset him. Also, it’s pretty clear if Reina’s grandmother was telling stories of the King, and most younger than her grandmother don’t know the history because of media control, the King HAS to be pretty old, yet it seems to take them way too long to figure out he’s younger than he should be. There were a few other things that came up (I don’t want to give spoilers) where as a reader, I knew things they were doing and/or saying would be found out, and it was pretty obvious why, yet the characters never seemed to figure it out until it was too late – and these were very intelligent teens that should have known pretty quickly.
Although some of the predictability was a bit disappointing, it still didn’t distract from the fact that this was a very good story, and kept me interested and engaged from the very beginning. It ended on a soft cliffhanger, like round 1 was wrapped up, and when we go on to book 2, we get to see what happens in round 2. I really liked the set up for the next book, and definitely look forward to seeing what happens next.
The Blood King is a YA dystopian type novel. Reina is the main character, who just wants a better life for herself. She signs up for KEY and that’s when the perfect kingdom starts to fall apart. I felt some of the characters relationships felt rushed which made them feel forced. I also found myself skimming at times because some parts seemed to drag on or not that important to the story. The story itself is unique and it’s a different twist on the dystopian worlds. I am looking forward to finish the duet and finding out what will happen with Reina and the others.
The Perfect City Is An Illusion . . .
Author, Lily King, has written a relevant, adventuresome, fictional, YA novel that mirrors past and contemporary situations that I hope never turn into her dystopian predictions. The main character is a reluctant heroine, who only wants to acquire more knowledge and find love but finds herself thrown into a world of power, lies and death.
Finally done with living in the outer most of Brighton, seventeen-year-old Reina Torres, applies for the KEY program. Reina is done watching her mother work hard for nothing and dreams of learning all she can from the Kingdom’s capital city. Being selected for the King’s special program is a privilege, one she intends to take full advantage of. But when Reina begins her studies in the Media industry and is hand picked to interview King Magnus himself things become more complicated as time goes on. How is Reina able to say no to her King, especially when that King begins to reveal his real self and his terrible agenda?
Overall, fantastic read, I love books where the hero doesn’t want the title but plays the part brilliantly. Reina as a character is awesome because she is a nerd at heart only wanting to study and learn while helping people do the same. Yet her caring nature leads her down a dark road where heavy decisions are made that have deadly consequences that leave her with some PTSD that she works through a little as time moves on. I also love how the author decided to let Reina be Reina without making her love life a complication of is she or isn’t she gay, because in in this story there really isn’t time for that drama. I’m also just fascinated with the level of girl power established in this novel, from main character to several core characters. So if you’re ready to see how a girl can take on a mega-egomaniac king who is literally bloodthirsty then you’ll love his book. I know I can’t wait for the sequel.