The Fever King's premise drew me in. Viral outbreaks that lead to magic? That sounded right up my alley. And it was. But this book is also much more than that. There's politics, morally gray characters, an immigration debate, an examination of an "others are dangerous" mentality, and romance.

While The Fever King was good, I would have enjoyed it more if the world-building were stronger. For me, world-building is key in fantasy and I just didn't have a clear enough picture of this world. Although the plot was a bit slow sometimes, I was interested enough in Noam's journey to keep reading. I did like the characters and ultimately found myself cheering for the romance. It was a relatively quick read and I'm intrigued to see where the author takes the plot in the sequel.

One note - I'd highly recommend checking out the content warnings on Lee's website before starting this one.

*Disclaimer: I received this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Firstly this book was a complete cover draw, it's amazing and utterly eye catching, and when I discovered whilst reading it was a dystopian too that completely sealed it that this would be a book for me. Whilst the Magic virus is never fully explained, it's certainly an interesting take on an apocalyptic scenario and it's refreshing to have the result of an outbreak not end in zombies. The result of surviving Magic? Witchings, people with magical capabilities from healing to telepathy, or in the case of our protagonist Noam, an ability to control technology.  Through going in blind I also didn't realise that this book had such a intense LGBTQIA theme, this went hand in hand with the story perfectly and in a plot that clearly places diversity high on it's agenda, the acceptance of and high proportion of Witching's who are queer feels like a much needed social comment.

There really is a ton going on and the story has a very fast paced feel (which was I was shocked when the characters towards the end said it had been a year) it's easy to miss something important and I found myself rechecking a few times to make sure I was on track. But that's the thing with The Fever King, it keeps you on an edge very much with Noam who is often battling and becoming embroiled in something far bigger as his desire to reach his lofty goal reaches fever pitch. As the story progressed and I understood, I felt that this was a pretty genius piece of story weaving and really raised the story up.

The magic and urban fantasy elements for me then sadly took a back step as The Fever King becomes an ode to the political - challenging preconceptions on refugees, social class, and balancing humanity and human rights atrocities. It's tough to read at times and hard not to reflect on current affairs. Whilst I did like this aspect as it was unexpected and very well considered, I did find myself often wishing the story told us more about the magic and Noam's interactions with others like him. There are helpful snippets of background dotted throughout though which at first seem abstract but really help to drive the story forward as the purpose of what we're being told becomes clearer. I know this is the first part of a duology and with latter revelations in the story I'm hopeful that more will become clear in the conclusion.

Whilst I did enjoy The Fever King I found that it was perhaps a little too politics heavy and for that it's a 4* for me.

The magic was fun - I loved the way it was manipulated once Noam had it. I had a slight geek out about the way he used the moving charges to create telekinesis. There is only one scene that I would actually call science-y magic, because after that he (largely) just uses it. This is probably in part to make the book faster paced (do we really want half a page about the science in the middle of an action scene) and also because it shows how easy the magic is coming.

I had a hard time deciding the star rating of this book because, while I enjoyed it, the 'twists' seemed so inevitable and glaringly obvious from the get go. This meant that I spent the entire book wondering why Noam couldn't figure it out. Some of his decisions, thanks to this were frustrating. I knew he was playing into X's hand, and wanted to shake his blind trust out of him.

A good twist shouldn't come out of the blue, but rather should be foreshadowed throughout the story. This does means that sometimes a twist is expected, but I don't expect to predict a betrayal (that is supposed to have emotional weight) from the first time I meet the character. The reason was because it was such a cliche twist - a certain type of character who seems to only ever betray in YA books these days.

This meant that, by the time of the big reveal, I was a little switched off because I knew it was coming and just didn't care so much about Noam finally finding out. This meant I found the section after the reveal really confusing. I'm just not sure what happened in the penultimate chapter, or why Noam just... sat there.

In all, a fun read, but the obviousness of the twists sucked the suspense from it.

I was excited to read this book and couldn’t wait to get started. Once I started, I wasn’t sure where the narrative was going. I found the first few chapters a little confusing but then settled into the rhythm of the tale. I really liked the main character, Noam and felt that his story as a 1st generation refugee in a broken USA came across really well. This story came with adventure, magic, political machinations and a light touch of romance. I would definitely read the next one in the series.

First I just want to mention that this book has themes of sexual assault and if that's something you don't want to read, you should definitely stay away from it.

I LOVED THIS BOOK!!

I had a month of reading good books, but non of them really managed to touch me in any way and I had issues reading long passages at a time, then The Fever King came around and at first I didn't know what to think, but then I read like 80% of it in one day. No matter what I did, I just kept going back to reading and I didn't want to stop.

This is the type of LGBT+ dystopian that I always wanted ti read, but could never find. I enjoyed the humour, the world building and the characters, especially Dara, he's my new fave. Dara's and Noam's romance is such a nice slow burn. It does kinda start out with enemy to lovers, but they do become friends in between, so it was something I really enjoy.

This story has quite some twists and turns and while I did see all of them except one minor one coming, I was still always into it. The magic in this is terrifying and intriguing and I so wanna know more about this world and its history. Can't wait for the sequel!

I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I would give this book 4.5 stars. I decided to round it up at 5 because…well…it needs a higher rating. Because it's that good.

First of all, the themes. Immigrants, viruses, genocide, corrupt system, corrupt people, heavy politics…The Fever King has it all. It's so messed up and complicated, but so interesting to read about.

The world and the magic system are also really interesting. The fact that magic is presented as a disease and how witchings have their presenting power really close to their personality and set of natural skills, but they can also learn new abilities by understanding the science behind the magic. It's like SF is mixed with Dystopian and essence of Fantasy, creating this complex, full of colors and tasty cake.

The characters are honestly so precious. I had a hard time getting into Noam's character at the beginning – because I had no idea what the heck he was saying – but once he became a witching and went to train – I was sold. I love stories where we learn with the main character about their power when he/she goes through school/training.

And Noam is such a nice main character. He's ambitious and doesn't know when to give up and always has the greater good in mind. I really liked him.

Dara - he's my cinnamon roll. I loved him from the moment he made Noam put his bag on Lehrer chair. And his presenting power…I should've seen that coming, but I didn't.

Lehrer – hands down, one of the best villains I ever read.

I love how the characters of this book act like teens. Teens that act and feel like adults are so common right now, so it was refreshing to read characters that feel their age.

The romance was honestly so cute. Their chemistry is on point and just…aaa. And all the representation! Just…yes! This is good!

I can't really think of any flaws besides that fact that the pacing was a little bit off at some points, but the book was still such a complex, deep and enjoyable journey.

I think The Fever King is in top three best books I've read this year.

I can't wait for the sequel!!!

This book was incredible! In this book magic is depicted as a fever, with a extremely high mortality rate, that leaves those that survive it with magical abilities. The characters were incredibly complex and it was full of twists I couldn't see coming. I would highly recommend this book.

Wow, so, first things first: refrigerators are heavy as hell. Just so you know. (If you follow me on Twitter you’d know that our fridge broke the other day and yesterday I got to not only carry one up the front stairs, but carry one down! I’m so strong and tired!)

ANYWAYS, in between this misadventure with fridges and working at my cool new job, I’ve been checking out a cool new book: THE FEVER KING by Victoria Lee!

So urban fantasy. We can all dig a good urban fantasy, right? Especially if it’s compelling, and gives us something new – fantasy as a genre sometimes comforts us with minor twists on repeating tropes, but sometimes we want something that’s gonna make us double-take, right? Like, when you go look at ice-cream, hand itching to grab that chocolate you’re used to, and you spy one of those crazy Ben and Jerry’s flavors.

That’s what Victoria gives us in THE FEVER KING. Instead of magic as this all-encompassing force acting as a gift, it’s something to be feared; it’s a disease that can’t be vaccinated, and has a 90% mortality rate that leaves the anyone who lives through it amazing powers and survivor’s guilt. Not something you find in your average urban fantasy, right?

Of course, THE FEVER KING can hardly be called average. Noam, our protagonist, is compelling, compassionate, and easy to root for. His rival-turned-love interested Dara similarly gets presented to us with as little info as possible to drive that mystery factor up. The writing is excellently executed, and makes this book perfect for anyone ready for a new take on the “kid new to special power gets trained to use it among other likewise-endowed kids” trope.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a few things that I’d change or tweak. A few things that I find a little icky. Lehrer, our protagonist’s mentor throughout the book, comes across creepy and manipulative even before the major plot twist that reveals his motives. The queer romance has a rocky start that I can’t help but find sort of dubious.

But that just makes this book not a book for me. Not every book is! Just because I didn’t chase the pages of this book down doesn’t mean it’s bad. There are other people who loved this book, and that means that this book was for them. And that’s a-okay.

But overall, it was def worth the read, and I recommend it for anyone who’s ready for a new take on magic as a whole.

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Gosh, this book. I have sat on reviewing this for a while now. I still don't quite know how to organize my thoughts around everything that happened in this book. Overall, it was a wild, wild ride that I kept having to put down and talk to people about. Even then, I flew through it. It's definitely a solid 4 stars for me.

One of the things I enjoyed most about this story was the integration of magic and science. It felt like such a solid and believable magic system, and even then it wasn't overly complex and felt very easy to grasp. It also felt very solid because of how it fit so well in the context of the world building. All of what created magic and sustained magic, including the discrimination etc, of magic felt like something that could easily translate to our present.

The rest of the world building is the same way. During my time reading it I felt it was so solid in building off of what we know currently. Including the politics, discrimination, and political theory. I think this is part of the reason I flew through it so quickly - it felt so real I didn't have to spend much time trying to think and understand it.

The plot twists fit well within the world too, and definitely aided to how quickly I read it! It's such a fast paced book, and I definitely liked that about it. However, I could see that some people might have found it messy and hard to follow, though that was not a problem for me!

There are, of course, things I wanted more of or wished would be different. I wanted more from some of the relationships with side characters. Sometimes I felt there was more telling than showing. I also think that some of the back bone of the world could have been developed further, but I think this will come later in the series.

Overall, I felt like this is a solid introduction to a series. It definitely hooked me into reading more and I look forward to see what happens next in our story!

First a big THANK YOU to Netgalley and Skyscape Publishing for allowing me to read and review this book before the release date in exchange for an honest opinion!

I was very excited when I was approved for this book, I have seen people talking about it a lot, both really good reviews and others not so much so 8 am happy to be able to have my own option on it. Needless to say I didn’t fall in love... but I didn’t dislike it either. This is that sucked me in enough that I will probably continue with the series as it comes out.

While getting started I was pretty confused. There is a a lot that is not explained in the beginning of the book but by the end it is cleared up. Don’t get me wrong I like surprises and all, but if I don’t know what is going on to a certain point, I get frustrated. Which did happen a little. The word flow didn’t alway go smoothly for me also. There was a lot of third person talk it seemed which felt unnecessary.

Things I did like :)
I really liked the relationship between Dara and Noam. It was complex but they complimented each other which was refreshing. I also really liked the magic aspect of the book overall! It was a lot faster paced once you hit the midway point which made the read a lot more enjoyable.

Synopsis:
The United States has been plagued by magic. What was once one country is now divided into smaller separate countries. The magic virus spreads rapidly killing most of the people who contract it. Only a few survive and those who do, develop magical powers as a result.

Noam Álvaro is the son of refugees that fled the country of Atlantia who have been living in the migrant areas of the “witching” state of Carolinia. When an outbreak of the virus hits his neighborhood Noam is the sole survivor. When he awakes from the sickness he discovers that he has the ability to control technology. His power makes him highly valuable to the the people in charge of the Carolinia government.

Noam accepts a place in Level IV, the elite witching training program where he falls under tutelage of war hero Calix Lehrer, the Minister of Defense for Carolinia. Noam who has been fighting for refugees rights his entire life decides to use his new power and position to bring down the government that has been hostile to the Atlantian refugees over the years.

Noam meets Dara, a fellow student and Lehrers ward. When Dara warns him that he can’t completely trust Lehrer, Noam is torn between his attraction to Dara and his fight for refugees. Noam becomes confused on who he can trust. Can he trust Calix Lehrer despite Dara’s warnings? Or does he trust Dara? Who he suspects is working for another politician who has done horrible things to the refugees Noam is trying to help.


The Good:
The Fever King is very morally grey. There is no clear solution that will allow Noam to save the refugees. The decisions Noam makes have the potential to save many people but also the potential to hurt just as many. There is no clear line of right and wrong. The characters are flawed and are figuring out where they belong in the world. They have all been through trauma and they are all trying to find the right thing to do as they go along. Lehrer was one of the characters where you want to like him and you want to trust him but you just don’t know if you should. He was so well written that you really couldn’t tell if he was going to be the bad guy or the good guy up until the very end.

The realism to the political situation in the US today. Lee doesn’t shy away from how immigrants are being treated in the US right now. It may be fantasy but it feels very real and relevant at times.

Magic. Magic as a virus that gives people magical powers is a unique way of bring magic into the the 22nd century, which this book is set in. Often times magic and technology don’t mix well but Victoria Lee found a way to bring magic to the world scientifically and I think it works well.

The romance. Noam and Dara! The slowest of slow-burns. I love their relationship Dara starts off as a jerk and has an air of mystery about him. I knew he was hiding things and when more information gets revealed about Dara I just wanted to hold him and tell him it's going to be ok. The poor boy has been through so much and he loves Noam. The ending killed me, I just want them to be together and happy!

The Diversity! A bisexual, biracial Jewish Main character. A gay, POC, Jewish major character/love interest. This book is very diverse and it is fantastic to see that in a YA novel.

The Bad:
It was a slow start and it was confusing at times. There were times that I found the book difficult to follow. I had to go back and reread a few times to get everything straight. It took some time to figure out what the history was and get everything straight in my head. About half way through the story really picked up and the ending was a pile of plot twists and surprises.

I’d say this book is more on the Adult side of Young adult. This book does delve into quite a few heavy topics, so that’s something to keep in mind before you read it. There are a lot of curse words and some explicit content. Victoria Lee does have content warnings on her website.

Favorite Quotes:
“That was the whole point. Government didn’t have to listen to the pope until the people made it hurt not to listen”

“The void from earlier was back, yawning wide in Noam’s chest. Dara felt it to, he thought. Dara might not have last his family, but he had the same hole inside him, They matched”

“I meant it when I said I wasn’t gay” Noam said.
Ames looked disbelieving , but she didn’t pull away.
Noam smirked. “ Bisexual isn’t gay”



All in all I would completely recommend this book. I’m looking forward to the next book of the duology. I am eager to know how Noam’s story ends. Noam’s and Dara’s story. I really want to know what happens with Dara and his “fever sickness”.

4.5/5 Rounded up to 5

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. [I did, however, buy my kindle book the same time I was approved for the eARC and that is the version I read]

I ended up deciding to round my 4.5 up to 5 rather than keep it at 4 after sleeping on it.

First off I love this idea of magic being a virus, that it's not supposed to be a gift but yet still we have witchings.

Also, while magic is a good part and we have witchings which are the centre of a Holocaust scaled genocide in the US, Lee also gives us a good hard look at immigrants dealing with a country where the virus is an even more common fear for them, and so they go to another country, Carolinia to escape the horrors of Atlantia. And it is a beautifully tragic parallel to today's world and its problem with immigration. People just wanting to find a place to call home where they can feel safe. Not to mention I just felt the political games were well done and my favorite part of the book.

There's a dystopia really when you look at it as a world where we have failed to keep others safe, and that the immigrants are suffering and there's a deadly virus that means magic can kill you.

Noam is half Latino half Jewish, and bisexual. I love that he talks about his ex-girlfriend while also acknowledging he has feelings for men. [Won't disclose who as I'd hate to ruin the story for you all!]

Lee really brings a very teenage-like presence to all the teenage characters which sometimes authors can forget to do she also writes some tragic scenes and they are beautiful and Victoria Lee likes to tear out your emotions and dangle them above your head.

I love the little flashes of Calix information and I wish there would have been more if anything I would say maybe the pacing felt off at times because at moments I would pause and think so much as happened in so little time or so little has happened and yet I feel like I read 200 pages. That combined with the fact that it wasn't always clear how much time had passed made pacing one of like the two issues for me. So pacing and I wish there would have been more of Noam and his crush interacting, it felt like we didn't have a lot of time with them and so their feelings are sometimes a bit hard for me to believe. Those are probably my only complaints.


I really can't wait to read the next book and I can't wait to see more of Noam!

The Fever King by Victoria Lee

Disclaimer: First and foremost I would like to thank Skyscape Publishing and NetGalley for providing me the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shapes my opinion, all thoughts are my own.

I had heard conflicting opinions about The Fever King since the ARCs were floating around. I decided to give it a shot, knowing that I am slowly growing out of YA dystopian novels (as some surprise me!). I really wanted to like this. The world building was unique, a fever of magic spreading throughout a divided country and an impending war between said country and his heart. There are tropes that many books of this nature have such as child loses parents, gets whisked away to train, becomes powerful, overthrowing government, etc... but that didn't sway me into not reading it.

Things that worked for me (could be considered slightly spoilery):

- The representation for people who identify as bisexual. Noam and Dara having a relationship that is not based on tropes was refreshing. I liked the complexity and I didn't feel like the nature of their relationship was fetishized at all.
- Dealing with undocumented immigration, genocide, refugees, etc... and how it affects people who are just - Other representations of diversity (Noam's mother being Jewish and his father being hispanic) though it did feel like there was SO much diversity that it was like ticking boxes.
- Interesting way for a boy to gain his powers and learn to utilize them, as well as it being rooted in science.
- The last half of the book picks up the pace and it was enjoyable! I loved the powers that the characters possessed.

Things that didn't work for me (could be considered slightly spoilery):

- I was confused for the first 30% of the book. There wasn't much explanation as to what a witching was, what war was happening, who characters were, etc. It did come together in the end though!
- Per Lee's blog, every single character is queer. While I do appreciate the representation, I don't find that is really plausible, however we are talking about a future dystopian fantasy world where people obtain magic after a fever that potentially can kill you, so who am I to judge?
- I didn't really connect with any other character besides Noam and Dara, and Lehrer gave me serious Darkling vibes and that's all I could think about.
- The language structure did not mesh well with me. I think I would have enjoyed the book more if I didn't feel like it was a bit disjointed. This could be because I am outgrowing YA language structure. Noam utilized cusswords as did other characters but then it would be third person narrative and the narration would cuss and it seemed strange. For example:

"Maybe he'd be the first. A medical mystery. A witching without the witch. Fuck witchings, anyway. Noam'd rather have his dad back." For me, it makes more sense for the cuss word to be an inner thought rather than a narrative voice.

Overall, I didn't LOVE IT, but I didn't hate it. I think that after this debut novel, the second book in the series will be have kinks worked out and will deliver! I am interested to see what happens with Noam and Dara. There are adult themes that are explored so I would suggest "older" young adults explore this book!

What I liked

There was actually a ton that I liked and I really can‘t complain about „The Fever King“. There are minor things that made me take the choice to not give it a five star rating but I can proudly say that I enjoyed my time reading this book.
So first of all I really liked her writing style. You will probably see under my favourite quotes that I quoted a lot because of that writing. I loved it and it felt quite unique sometimes. And the author‘s descriptions were fabulous! I was amazed by some of her chosen words. Like for example the 11th quote. I mean you should definitely give the book a chance and I hope that you‘ll be amazed by the writing too. It was great!
Another thing I liked was the swear words. I think it‘s pretty rare that you come across fuck in a young adult book. Or definitely not as much as we came across this word in „The Fever King“. I really liked the fact that Lee put this in her book because let‘s be honest. Who never used to swear at sixteen? I still do it and I‘m 23. She stayed realistic and that‘s what I like so much about this novel.
Which makes us come straight to the next point. Her characters were perfect. Full of flaws, naive and complete normal human beings. Because we shouldn‘t forget that our main character is only a teenager and he reacts exactly the way a young person at that age would probably react. The characters didn‘t play the part of the responsible adult when they are only sixteen. They all acted their age and this is great! I know that it‘s difficult to remember how we were as teenagers. But seeing that some authors still manage to do the perfect portrait of a normal teenager is refreshing. I‘m not saying that all the other young adult writers don‘t manage to write their teenage characters like real-life teenagers (don‘t know if I‘m making myself clear) but sometimes I have the feeling to read a story about an adult but instead of being an adult the character is still a child.
Can we please talk about the Plot Twist, please? I wasn‘t prepared for this. And as you know me I love great plot twists. This one was great and I literally screamed at my kindle. I was like what the heck did just happen. Are you fucking kidding me? So yeah I was a fan of this plot twist and still, a little bit shook.
For once I can‘t complain about the speed. So I guess that‘s perfect as well. The chapters aren‘t that long so depending on your reading speed it won‘t take long to get through the book.
Oh, and before I forget, have I already mentioned the perfect writing style?

What I didn‘t like

Now let‘s move on to the tiny details that didn‘t make me give it a 5-star rating.
First of all, I felt that some parts were unnecessary. While the descriptions were perfect they were maybe too much during some parts of the story where we didn‘t really need them.
I mentioned above that I didn‘t have to complain about the speed but – and yeah there is always a but with me – I have to complain about the length. For me (again my opinion) it was maybe a bit too long. The story could have come earlier to an end. Maybe by skipping some parts. But the story was still great the way it was right now so it was honestly just a minor problem for me.

Overall this book was great. I really enjoyed reading it and would totally recommend it! If you love Marie Lu (especially the Legend trilogy) you can be sure to love „The Fever King“ as well.

ah yes, the fever king. my favourite political scifi, dystopian antihero novel of the year. I honestly had high expectations going into this because a lot of my favourite book bloggers have highly recommended it. I’m a political science major myself, currently studying a master of public policy, so I thought: how good can the politics and grey morality be? the answer is, VERY!!! I devoured this novel FAST. I’m haunted by what I’ve read and I will fight to the death to protect dara shirazi!!!

at the beginning of the fever king, our protagonist noam álvaro is a famous hacktivist but overall seems like a pretty unassuming teenager. he volunteers at the migrant centre, works at a convenience and cares for his unresponsive father. that changes when he and his father contract feverwake, a magical virus that kills most and bestows very few with powersif they survive. noam is one of the so-called lucky few, a witching with technopathic powers. he’s whisked away to a training facility with his fellow witchings and struggles to play catch up, all the while dealing with the enigmatic defence minister and national hero who wants to mentor him, and his protegé who seemingly wants nothing to do with dara. noam is torn between his old life and his new, allegiances and politics and the responsibility that comes with power.

‘None of these people, Dad would tell him, give a shit about you or anybody you know.’

the political intrigue and subterfuge was what really got to me, as well as the strong stance on immigrant rights. absolute power corrupts absolutely, and even if lehrer gave up the crown he’s still in a position of power. there wasn’t enough politicking for me imo, I wanted more backstabbing. the conversations about democracy, dictatorships and the right to power was so MY BRAND I wanted to scream!! i saw so many echoes of what was happening in the real world paralleled in the fever king and I know it was deliberately done to shine a light on issues.

‘That was where Sacha’s bullies went to crow about nationalism and call for the passive extermination of an entire nation.’

who has a right to representation? why should/shouldn’t refugees have rights? what makes a citizen and how can the disenfranchised exercise their power? I saw a lot of that in the fever king, including the hateful pro-nationalism and anti-immigrant rhetoric that’s been slowly and insidiously permeating the political realm for the last decade or so. history is a cycle, so lehrer seems to suggest. what happened before will happen again, back then with witchings and now with atlantians.

the concept of witchings was a biiit thin and on the whole I’d have liked to see a whole lot more backstory than we got. at times the worldbuilding was confusing and a had to pause for a sec before a detail came to me. maaaybe this might have been improved by a map? I got the uncorrected proof copy, so hopefully the finished version in store has a badass map to help with our interpretation of the events.

noam’s and dara’s relationship dynamics was just 🔥🔥🔥. although we didn’t get much backstory on dara, just going off his name I’m assuming he’s iranian (and possibly muslim? there was a line about noam knowing dara’s religion because of how tight his jeans were lolol). now my favourite brown-skinned telepathic KING reminded me so much of one of my FAVOURITE characters from my FAVOURITE book series of all time: captive prince. dara is laurent, the haughty and cold prince with a tragic backstory, his dynamic with noam (cautious, on edge, standoffish at first. then the knowing and slow, slow unraveling).

when noam mentioned being shocked by dara having telepathic powers, I was genuinely confused. I pinged that in the beginning of the book, when someone makes a comment about lehrer having another telepath in his ownership. I thought ‘oh, that must be dara’ and let it be. oh noam, my sweet summer child.

now lehrer is… a dynamic character. morally reprehensible, once you know what he’s done, but nonetheless him and noam have an interesting relationship. it’s one part awe, three parts resentment, a sprinkle of hate and a load of terror (on noam’s part). he’s very, very old and immensely talented, which means he has loads of cool powers and the control that comes with it. (I’m not gonna say- okay, I’ll say it. I was low-key shipping lehrer and noam because I am a terrible human being with dubious taste. I said it. ymmv. sometimes the ship just chooses you. not anymore tho, rip ss calnoam).

‘Everything worth doing had its risks. Sometimes you had to do the wrong thing to achieve something better.’

overall, the fever king was a delightful morally grey, nuanced political dystopian novel. I’m now desperately awaiting the electric heir next year (😭😭). it can’t come soon enough. by the end I was in a state of permanent shock like… wtf happened. I was so absorbed in it that I finished the fever king in under TWO days and even made a playlist for it!! filled with muse and digital daggers, my old favourites.

so, what are you waiting for? pick up a copy up from your local bookseller or library now!

The Fever King ~ Victoria Lee
A dystopian science fantasy set in the future United States. This Book touches on Class inequality and immigration themes Great storyline with an electrifying end .
A well-written book with a strong bisexual protagonists , A science fantasy filled beautiful metaphors, murder and gore .
I enjoyed this book all the way to the end. And would definitely recommend it.

My opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read a copy of this book.

Summary: In the former United States, sixteen-year-old Noam Álvaro wakes up in a hospital bed, the sole survivor of the viral magic that killed his family and made him a technopath. His ability to control technology attracts the attention of the minister of defense and thrusts him into the magical elite of the nation of Carolinia.

I really enjoyed this book. It gave me a bit of The Darkest Minds vibes with the magic that can either kill or give powers but the story line is unique. I am eagerly awaiting the next book in this series because I need to know what is going to happen.

My only con for the book is the constant use of the word f*ck. Now I swear worse than a sailor but this seemed a bit excessive. However, I would still highly recommend the book to everyone. .

✨ 4.5 / 5 ✨

This is the scoff dystopia I’ve been waiting for!

I binge read this book in a day, I couldn’t put it down! I think the author did a marvellous job at conveying the doubt, unease, and complexities of this world while only following one pov. I was always on edge and slightly paranoid, and I didn’t know who to trust in this book.

Noam was a fantastic main character with the best of intentions but faced with the realities of politics and war. He was wrenched away from the only world he knew to be thrown into the privileged life he’d always despised from afar. It was so interesting to see him wrestle with himself, his preconceptions and see that maybe not everything is as it seems. But he never stopped to fight and whatever else might be going on, he stayed true to his goal.

Now, Dara. My sweet angel child. The one you will fall in love with because no-one can resist him. He was magnetic from the get-go and then layers after layers of his character, his past and motivations are revealed to us. It’s easy to put two and two together before things are revealed but the impact and punch of it were still there.

The relationship was something I was rooting for and the slow burn was killing me in the best possible way. So many moments were teasing my heartstrings only to float away the next sentence but the pay-off was great. My heart belongs to these two boys now and I just want them to be okay and happy.

The other teenage characters present kind of lacked substance to me. The idea of them was great and I could see them as separate entities and how their dynamics could be, but it wasn’t there on the page. It felt like a missed opportunity for me to have these characters who were often mentioned but not explored beyond throw-away sentences.

The plot was engaging while not being overwhelming complicated. The complexity of this book resided in the characters, their dynamics and the politics of this setting which was brilliantly executed. The pacing also allowed the story to explore topics extremely relevant to today’s society without rushing over these important points and let them sink in.

I can’t wait to see where the next book takes us and see how the author will up the ante!

I really enjoyed reading The Fever King for many reasons. For one thing, it has a super interesting and complex world. There are people with magical powers (called “witchings”), and these magical powers can be controlled with science (like, for example, in order to learn telekinesis, you need to learn physics, etc., which is a pretty cool idea) and are obtained through a magic virus. The book is set over a century in the future, and it was super interesting reading about this possible future that the author dreamed up.

The book’s portrayal of this future isn’t just focused on magic, though: it has many political elements. In this future, the United States has split up into multiple separate countries, and the novel brings up issues of genocide, xenophobia and mistreatment of refugees, and corruption. I personally found that the incorporation of politics made the storyline even more interesting and complex.

Another thing about this book that’s complex is the characters and their relationships. These are the three major characters:

🌟 Noam, the bisexual, Jewish, half-Latinx protagonist who comes from a family of refugees. He’s feisty and brave and totally committed to being an activist for immigrant rights and also kind of morally gray—a bit of an antihero. I really loved Noam, and I appreciated that unlike many characters in cliché dystopian novels, he isn’t a total genius prodigy—he actually has to work hard and learn things, especially because he dropped out of school when he was young to help support his family.

🌟 Dara, the mysterious roommate at Noam’s new government school for witchings who has secret powers and seems to hate Noam…

🌟 Calix Lehrer, Noam and Dara’s complex and enigmatic teacher who’s basically immortal. You never really understand what his motivations are, which makes his relationship with Noam quite suspenseful.

I think that these complicated characters that Victoria Lee has created are the reason why most readers won’t be able to put down The Fever King. The author also did a great job writing-wise in my opinion—I especially enjoyed Noam’s inner monologue. He felt like a real teenager who’s confused and angry.

The Fever King is about so many things: magic, activism, moral ambiguity, loss, trauma, a hate-to-love romance, and when you put it all together, you have, in my opinion, a great book. The only downsides were that it could get a tad confusing as far as the history and the passage of time, but overall I think that The Fever King is a very well-written story.

The Fever King is one of my most anticipated releases of this year. I’ve read a lot of good things about it from other bloggers who had the chance to read it in advance, and it made me just want to get my grabby, impatient hands on it. Needless to say, I pre-ordered my copy early (because I am weak!)

This book deserved all the buzz it got!

I started reading it immediately soon as I got it on my Kindle and finished it almost in one sitting. Fast-paced and gripping, the story pulled me in and plunged me into this intriguing post apocalyptic world where magic runs rampant. I loved everything about this story – characters, plot, the topics it tackled without reservation, the diversity contained within its pages. The Fever King is easily one of the best books I’ve read so far this year.

Noam as a main character was so easy to love. He had a rough life, the son of undocumented immigrants fleeing magic-infested Atlantia, Carolinia’s neighboring country. After his mother’s death, Noam had to take care of his father who, in his grief, falls deep into depression.

But even his father is taken from him when the viral magic hit his neighborhood killing everyone except Noam.

Noam is a complex character. Fierce and good-intentioned, though a little misguided and naive. his story reflects that of many migrants especially in the Us. Being part of both worlds, I think he felt guilty, unnecessary but nevertheless there, and it drove him to strive to change things for the Atlantia refugees crossing lines and doing things he never thought he would do in the process.

It was a ride reading and tracking his journey knowing that some of the people he has surrounded himself with have hidden agendas. You don’t know how many times I wanted to reach out into the book, grab Noam by his shoulders and shake some sense into him. Frustrating as it was for me as reader, I think Noam’s naivety and moral greyness made him more believable and realistic – more human – and it’s what endeared him more to me.

The Fever King tackles some pretty heavy stuff. Immigration and intergenerational trauma are just two of the most prevalent ones. Victoria Lee pulls no punches and weaves these topics into her narrative. But if you’re worrying it will be too message-y, then fret not because it isn’t at all. This partly owes it to Lee’s seamless work, but mostly it’s because, I think, she really meant for this book to have half of its foundations built on politics. It’s one of the things I appreciate the most about this story.

As if it I need more reasons to love this book, The Fever King also features a diverse cast of characters. Noam is bisexual and Jewish. His father, while not directly stated in the book (I think, so correct me if I’m wrong) is Columbian. He converts into Judaism when he married Noam’s mother.

Dara, beautiful and mysterious Dara who got me trying to puzzle him out until the very end of this installment, is so unashamedly gay. He and Noam have this instant connection, tense at first then developing into something genuine towards the end.

Like Noam, Dara has been through some tough times. Some of it were alluded to in the book, but I could do with more. And maybe we’ll get that in the next book, but in this one I feel like I only half know him. The same goes for Calix Lehrer, the antagonist and Noam’s and Dara’s mentor.

Overall, The Fever King is an awesome book and a great series opener. Taking elements from both genres, it creates an intriguing balance between sci-fi and fantasy. I am totally in for this series and excited for the next book already. Let’s just hope my brain stops thinking about what might happen to Dara and how Noam’s going to play Lehrer’s game. I absolutely recommend this if you’re into sci-fi and fantasy with a generous peppering of political intrigue and manipulation.