The Hollow King #1
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
A dark and addictive fantasy read for fans of Graceling and Sarah J. Maas. The life of an orphan soldier becomes entwined with that of the mysterious heir to the throne, whose very presence draws out the secret magic living inside her: a magic that breaks every law she is duty-bound to uphold…
Sold to the Crown in the aftermath of the Last Great War, Grace Marchant has never known her parents. Now, she trains as an elite soldier tracking down mageborn – and destroying them if they don’t surrender their power to the Crown.
The mageborn who submit are collared, then handed over to the King’s cousin and heir: the elusive Bastien Larelwynn, Lord of Thorns, locked away in his shadowy workshop deep inside the castle. What becomes of them is hard to say – the Lord of Thorns keeps his secrets close.
As raging fire melts blackest ice, passion and desire quickly quiet her fear and suspicion. But with her golden mageborn light growing stronger every day, Grace must ask herself if she can really trust her former enemy… and with betrayal at every turn, will they save the mageborn and get out alive?
Thankyou to Netgalley and Bookouture for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.
I was intrigued by the synopsis for this book and I was pleasantly surprised by how engrossed I got in this story, as I had never read anything by this author before. I love the main characters and the slow burn, enemies to lovers romance. There were some good side characters too, but the bad guys were pretty obvious. The magical system is cool, but also gets quite dark and gritty at times, unlike a lot of historical fantasies I’ve read. The plot starts out as a murder mystery but it turns into so much more and I did not see it coming.
About a third of the way through the book I went: Hang on a minute. There’s a prince, he’s been referred to as cursed, people think he’s a monster - Oh wait! It’s Beauty and the Beast! The cover makes sense now. Well played, I like my fairy tale adaptations to be subtle. The main character Grace is pretty different from the fairy tale, as she is a fighter, strong and independent as well as hiding her own growing magical powers. I also liked the equality portrayed in this book, women hold positions of power, and there’s also a gay couple and it’s all totally normal.
I said the magical system is gritty, because our first real introduction to it is with a Gore, one who can control others’ bodies, who also happens to be a serial killer. The next Mageborn we meet is a Leech, one who can steal others' magic. There is always the risk that when a mageborn loses control, they go hollow, the magic burning them away to an empty shell. Normal people in the book hate and fear the mageborn, and I can see why as the magic in the book gets quite scary and complex. I like that it’s not all sunshine and rainbows.
I really like the main characters; Grace is strong and capable and does her duty, though she is shadowed by a childhood she can’t quite remember. Bastien, the prince and keeper of the mageborn, is the most powerful mageborn in the kingdom, but he is also lonely, vulnerable and at times naive. This is definitely a case of beauty saving the beast, and I loved that about this book. We get to see the points of view of both Grace and Bastien, which I think works really well, and I couldn’t get enough of their slow burn, and slightly magical romance.
I’m very much looking forward to the next book in the series.
Thanks for reading!
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