In the Forgotten Empires magic is forbidden, dreams are destiny, and love is the greatest power of all…Perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, the lush romantic fantasy world of the Forgotten Empires series will sweep you away. A PRISONER OF FATE As Queen of the island kingdom of Calanthe, Lia will do anything to keep her people free–and her secrets safe–from the mad tyrant who rules the … the mad tyrant who rules the mainland. Guided by a magic ring of her father’s, Lia plays the political game with the cronies the emperor sends to her island. In her heart, she knows that it’s up to her to save herself from her fate as the emperor’s bride. But in her dreams, she sees a man, one with the power to build a better world–a man whose spirit is as strong, and whose passion is as fierce as her own…
A PRINCE AMONG MEN
ConrÃ, former Crown Prince of Oriel, has built an army to overthrow the emperor. But he needs the fabled Abiding Ring to succeed. The ring that Lia holds so dear to her heart. When the two banished rulers meet face to face, neither can deny the flames of rebellion that flicker in their eyes–nor the fires of desire that draw them together. But in this broken world of shattered kingdoms, can they ever really trust each other? Can their fiery alliance defeat the shadows of evil that threaten to engulf their hearts and souls?
“A lush… perilous and passionate world.”–New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Estep
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“Captivating characters and lush descriptions transport readers to the perilous and passionate world of The Orchid Throne. Jeffe Kennedy weaves a potent tale of passion, prophecy, and political intrigue.” — Jennifer Estep, New York Times bestselling author
I will say the first few chapters were hard for me to get into, but then it finally clicked. This is a bit different for me and more of a slow burn on the romance part. I also wished during the pov changes, the character’s name was mentioned, because at the beginning of each chapter sometimes it wasn’t easy to tell who was talking. There are still questions I have on what’s going on though. Overall, this is a good start for a trilogy and I’m curious to see how the next one plays out.
I received this book at my request and have voluntarily left this unbiased review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Rating: 3 stars
This was so close to being a 4 star book I almost feel bad for giving it 3 stars… almost.
The thing is I can split this novel into two parts: the 50% before Lia meets Con, and the last 50% after Lia meets Con.
This book had me in the first half, I’m not gonna lie. Between the savage violence of Con, and the beautiful imagery and politics of Lia, I was intrigued. The writing was exquisite; I never got confused in who’s POV I was in because both of the voices were unique and distinctive. I absolutely loved Lia’s POV; the beautiful dresses, the connection to Calanthe, the calculate politics, the Night Court—everything. I loved it. Con, on the other hand, was a very irritating character. But in the first half, I was able to tolerate him because I really enjoyed his side companions: Ambrose and Sandra. Sandra balanced Lia in the terms of femininity. Lia offered a very stereotypical view of female leaders in their grandose dresses and aversion to violence; and Sandra balanced this with her tough as nails & violence prone personality. Ambrose was the comedic relief, which was very much needed because the only Con does the entire novel is brood.
But after the first 50%, the novel was lost on me. Once Con and Lia meet, you really can’t avoid or distract yourself from how self righteous, bitter, annoying, feel-bad-for-me-at-all-times Con was. And talk about insta-love and lack of compatibility these two exerted. There was no fire, no sparks, I didn’t fall for their romance at all. Even their sex at the end was weird and felt so…. forced to me. Like the author was trying too hard to make it seem like they were good for each other, or iN lOvE with each other, when there was clearly no dynamic between the two.
Then, the author also throws Ambrose and Sondra out of the picture. It was heart breaking and irritating how mean Con was to Ambrose, when Ambrose was literally voluntarily there to help him. Ambrose is supposedly a “loyal follower” because he was charmed by Con’s charisma (the author keeps STATING that Con has charisma…. I did not see him exert any kind of charisma in the novel whatsoever). But every time Ambrose tries to tell him ANYTHING, Mr. Know-it-All-Con decides the wizard is wrong and that he knows better. I mean, how many times did that wizard tell Con he was going to marry Lia, and how many times did Con tell him he was basically stupid? And guess what happened?? I mean the nerve of this dude seriously.
This book was on the route of being something very good. I almost, almost, ALMOST fell head over heels for it. But at the ending everything was lackluster: the love was lackluster, the politics I enjoyed so much faded out, and the MC’s bullied my favorite character. The author knows how to elaborate beautiful setting with quick descriptors that make the world vivid and bright, but I’m just hoping for some better character arcs in the sequel.
I wished it wasn’t as slow as it was but overall the story is consuming.
Elizabethan era meets Merlin’s Camelot, The Orchid Throne is a science fiction fantasy story about Conri and his destined mate, Euthalia.
I was not initially drawn into the story. Hard to pronounce names and a lot of explanation to be drawn into this world, kept me from just mindlessly enjoying it. However, I stuck to and was glad I did. Overall, it was an enjoyable story. Both Conri and Her Highness were likeable characters. I’m interested to see if there will be more, this ended with a bit of a cliffhanger. I gave it 4 stars because I felt there could be less inner monologue. A lot of it didn’t really add anything to the story.
Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team
Shelby –
I read through this book two times in hopes that I’d be able to find the right words to convey my feelings on this story. This method did not help, and I’m still at a loss. I truly enjoyed the story (both times), and as any book does, it has its highs and lows.
We are transported to a world where magic has been deemed illegal. All the royal families have been slaughtered or taken as slaves, and the “emperor” has found a means to control the world. All the old lands are controlled by Anure, with the exception of one: Calanthe.
When the slaves revolt from Anure’s clutches, the story begins.
What I loved:
Sondra is my, hands down, favorite character. The ever loyal friend of the slave king, she has a sharp wit and sassy mouth, not to mention a skill with weapons.
The worldbuilding is fantastic and I felt like I was present in the scenes: I was there after the battles and subsequent victory, I envisioned the beauty of Calanthe, and the Queen, and I was able to picture Leuther in all his smarmy “elegance.”
What I didn’t love:
The story took an awful long time to progress. I understand that we need the buildup for the story to take root. We need to learn the backstory to cheer for the main characters, but sometimes the scenes took forever. I understood Con’s position, but I didn’t really understand him (until the end).
I also knew, from the beginning, how this book was going to go.
Overall, I really enjoyed this story and can’t wait to continue the series. I need to see Oriel avenged. I need to feel the victory of slaves over the Empire. I need to see Anure suffer.
Erica –
Spoiler-Free Review
The Orchid Throne is the debut in a new fantasy series, Forgotten Empires, and Jeffe Kennedy is a new-to-me author.
Intriguing fantasy worldbuilding, surrounding political intrigue, structured beneath a monarchy ruled society, where autonomy isn’t a right, even for the queen herself.
To be quite honest, I struggled at the start, as the reader was inundated with necessary information that didn’t exactly flow fluidly for easy digestion. It was the introduction to the world-building, their way of life, and the characters themselves, but it was done in such a manner, that I wasn’t sure I could remember it all, let alone process it. Info-dump. But I did what I always do in this situation, I just rolled with it, knowing cues within the story would spark recognition as I read further along.
While I would love to say the story flowed at a rapid rate, engaging me page after page, that wasn’t the case. I’ve tried to explain this in other reviews and to my fellow readers when discussing books… The Orchid Throne, while interesting, it read longer than its page-length, drawing the pacing to a crawl with description, dialogue, and monologue, and sometimes redundancy. This is individualistic to the reader, whether or not they enjoy that, as some love a wordy novel, wishing to extend the journey as long as possible. With me, I felt the lack of depth of the story couldn’t support the page-count.
Between the third and halfway point, the novel’s pacing picked up, to where I fully immersed myself and was able to read the last portion in one sitting, no longer fearing that I’d struggle to lose myself in my quest for an entertaining escape. So if you’re reading reviews, do note that eventually the pacing quickens.
Queen Lia is intelligent, calculating, and witty as she tries to avoid her fate, betrothed to an infamously cruel emperor, where she uses the guise of naivety to protect herself and her people.
The slave king and a prince stripped of this throne, Conri seeks the engagement ring on Lia’s finger to stop the tyrant usurping his land. This is the intriguing setup to The Orchid Throne. There’s forbidden, love-hate vibe between Lia and Conri, which is infectious to read yet borderline insta-love. While there is a ton of quirky situations at court, the romance is shipped pretty hard, not leaving much room in the heavily padded novel for plot nor character development.
Another area where I struggled is how this is dual point-of-view, where there was nothing to denote when the narrator switched, and sometimes Lia and Con sounded exactly the same, where I had to reread passages based on what was being thought or said to determine who was currently narrating. This also led to redundancy in the monologue.
I’m curious to read the next in the series, but not necessarily to see what happens next. Jeffe Kennedy and I may not be a good fit, reading-wise, and I’ll discover if it was my mood during this novel while reading the next to determine if I finish out this series.
Reviewers received a free copy of this book to read and review for Wicked Reads.
This is a heart racing, action packed, emotional and engaging adventure filled with secrets, danger, passion set in a magical and fantastically broken world… was a edge of your seat read from beginning to end. The charters are both exciting and relatable, storytelling and world building are excellent. Really enjoyed this journey!
I was excited to read The Orchid Throne. When I read the blurb, I thought to myself: “I am going to like this book.” I mean, it had the two genres I love the most: Fantasy and Romance. Now that I have read The Orchid Throne, I was a bit disappointed. It fell short of my expectations.
The Orchid Throne starts slowly. It creeps along. There were several times where I wanted to swipe to the end of a chapter because it was that slow. I understand that the author was world-building but still. Once Conri and Euthalia met, the plotline got going. By the end of the book, it was moving along quite nicely. But, the slowness of the first half of the book did put me off.
I wished that I could have connected with Euthalia more. But it was hard to. A big part of me not being able to connect with her was the usage of the royal Us, Me, We (etc.) as part of her dialogue. It drove me nuts reading that. I did like the glimpses of the woman underneath the facade, though. The woman that peeked through was a tough cookie. But that was overshadowed by the games she was forced to play.
I did like Conri. I felt that he was more fleshed out than Euthalia. He was upfront and honest with his end game. He wanted to kill the Emperor. He didn’t play games or deal with court intrigue. He wanted to get there and get it done. And in no way did he want anything to do with the prophecy.
I wish that more information was given on Ambrose, Sondra, and Tertulyn. I was fascinated with Ambrose, but so little information was provided about him. He was shrewd, and everything he did was part of a grand plan. Plus, he had a crow as a familiar, which I loved. Sondra was Conri’s right hand. She was a strong woman who had been through a lot in her life. It showed both mentally and physically. I liked how she brought Conri down a peg or two during the book. Tertulyn intrigued me. I have a couple of suspicions about her, but nothing was confirmed in this book. I can’t wait to see what the next book will bring with her!!
I will say that I have never had a favorite villain before. But the Emperor Robho might be one. He doesn’t make a physical appearance in the book, but his presence was always there. He was feared and hated by Conri and Euthalia. Euthalia feared his letters. Which makes me wonder, what will he be like in person? If his letters were enough to strike dread in Euthalia, the real deal must be terrifying. And I can’t wait to read it!!!
I wish more time had been spent explaining what the Abiding Ring did and why it was so crucial that Conri gets it. There was a primary blanket reason, but I believe that Ambrose is hiding something. I did find the ring fascinating. The way it responded to Ambrose was telling. As was the way it responded to Conri.
The romance angle of the book was “meh” for me. Conri and Euthalia did have some insane chemistry. But that didn’t translate to hot sex scenes. Unfortunately, the first sex scene was awkward and uncomfortable. That set the tone for me. The rest of the sexual encounters seemed the same way for me.
I liked the fantasy angle of the book. But a lot of what was going on with Euthalia was released too late. But to keep it until the end of the book? I didn’t like that.
The end of The Orchid Throne was exciting. None of the storylines were ended. I am interested in what will go in book 2.
To be fair, The Orchid Throne is a little out of my wheelhouse. It’s closer to high fantasy, and there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just not the norm for me. That could be a big part of the reason I struggled to get into this one. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind for the fantastical setting and people. Nevertheless, I plunged ahead, and everything finally started to click. The world-building was good, but I found the story a bit wordy, as in a lot of unnecessary descriptions and lengthy dialogue. I would’ve preferred more character building over detailed descriptions of everything the characters were wearing. Again, maybe that’s just me. It does seem to take quite some time for things to really get moving, but they eventually do, and I was able to settle in and enjoy the story. The author is clearly talented, and I envy her ability to create such a fantastical world. I think, in this case, it was one of those it’s not you, it’s me things, and I would say if you like fantasy, you should give this one a shot.
Another new to me author, I was excited to read this novel. The description sounded like something that was right up my alley and the cover intriguing. As the old saying goes, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” I found the story too wordy and it dragged on and on…I finally just skimmed through the chapters to the end. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.
My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a copy of this book.
It was a bit of a battle to get through, it was really dragging for most of the book until the very end. That’s where we learn a bit more about Lia and that’s when thing got super interesting especially about who she really is.
It honestly felt like not a whole lot was going on. I did like Kennedy’s writing style, but dragged at slow pace for most of the book. The book is littered with so much detail about their world and the different empires, but it didn’t necessarily help with the plot development. I would have love to see more of magical and fantasy side of the story. I, personally, didn’t mind the romance aspect, but there honestly was much of one either. Just at the tail end of the story.
It’s a HFN for Lia and Con since everything is very new between them. I wanted to love this book so much, but it wasn’t for me.
**I RECEIVED A COMPLIMENTARY READER’S COPY FROM THE PUBLISHER AND NETGALLEY, THIS DOES NOT AFFECT MY OPINION OF THE BOOK OR CONTENT OF MY REVIEW**
The Orchid Throne (Forgotten Empires, #1)by Jeffe Kennedy Thank you to the publisher and #NetGalley for letting me preview this book. That said I would give it 3 stars…it slow starting and I had to make myself read on. It was not really for me ..but that doesn’t me someone else will not love it. Also it doesn’t feel like a stand alone.
Jeffe Kennedy’s The Orchid Throne is an epic tale of grand scope with its battles and political machinations, and above all, its relentless pursuit of hope in the face of suffering. Con and Euthalia, united in their goal of destroying a usurper emperor, are a perfect match for each other. A beautifully told story of loss, endurance, and abiding devotion from a master of fantasy romance.
A solid 3.5 for me.
I loved the premise of this book and enjoy reading high fantasy. This beginning, up til about 45% in , of this story dragged for me and had a meh feeling to it. Really, it didn’t catch my attention until Conri and entourage landed on island kingdom of Calanthe and the interactions between Lia and Con commenced.
I feel like some of the backstory could have been told after they met instead of up front. The marriage consummation scene fell flat for me. I loved the morning after, that is until the story just stopped. Not really a cliffhanger, but just no warning, no nothing.
Will I continue the story in book 2, probably if only to learn more of Lia’s background and see more of Lia and Con together.