This was a refreshing take on the enemies to friends idea. Local exile, Leena Edenfrell, is a Beast Charmer. Gifted with the ability to bond with magical creatures, Leena makes a living selling certain beasts to greedy, rich clients. Charmers by law aren't allowed to sell their beasts, but when you are exiled from home, you do what you must.

After one of those sales, Leena is confronted by one of the Crucor. A literal "Shadow" group of assassins. A contract has been taken out on her. Leena quickly overpowers her potential assassin and shows up at their estate with the badly wounded man. Noc, the Crucor leader is irate. Young, powerful, and cursed, Noc eventually makes a deal with Leena. She is to supply some of the Crucor with Beasts, all of which are attuned to each individual, and he will not allow any of his assassins to harm her.

As a group they must travel to the region where a legendary beast is said to have appeared and along the journey she finds friendship and kinship with them. With Noc she finds a closeness she has not seen for a long time. Betrayed by her lover and then exiled from the Charmer lands falsely, Leena is naturally cautious. Noc, on the other hand, has a curse on him and it has an effect on his personal dealings with others. A powerful draw develops and I can't wait to see them team up and set things right. This couple has all of the makings of a great fantasy/romance couple. Strength of character, and tenacity are traits that they both share.

I must admit that I do love a "collective" journey in a fantasy setting. Martineau's ability to give us distinctive and well developed characters, believable beasts, and a strong story line shines through in this first of a series debut. The author's descriptions are distinct without being overworked. I had a vivid feel for this world and never needed more in my mind's eye. Creative and quality writing bind this narrative into a magnificent tale, and I can't wait to delve into this "Charming" series again.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley and the opinions are strictly my own.

I read so many good reviews of this book but sadly, it wasn't for me. I found Leena especially irritating, and if you can't get on board and root for the main character its just a bad beginning all around. Still, I pushed my way through for a while but the plot felt slow to develop, I was underwhelmed by the world building and I could not get invested in the writing, story, or characters. I do love fantasy romance but this series is not one I will continue.

Kingdom of Exiles is the first book in the new Beast Charmer fantasy-romance series set in a world where Charmers have the ability to tame and control wide-ranging classes of beasts. The author builds the world over the course of the story, with much left to experience and learn in future titles.

This first story introduces Leena, an exiled Charmer, who illegally trades in beasts to keep herself alive. An unknown Charmer places a bounty on Leena with the undead assassin guild, Cruor. After she defeats the first assassin who comes after her, she makes a deal with Noc, the leader of the guild, that will keep her alive in exchange for beasts. Journeying together to find beasts, Leena, Noc, and a group of Cruor assassins grow close and alliances begin to change.

At about a quarter into the book, I found myself struggling to get into the story. I didn’t find the conflict compelling, yet I still wanted to find out more. So I paused reading for a while, and ended up coming back to it after a week, splitting the time between listening to the audiobook and reading on my Kindle. I mention this because the narration definitely added to my enjoyment, helping me to get further into the story.

Leena and Noc have a difficult journey. There is a strong attraction, but neither trusts the other, and both have compelling, selfish reasons for working together. She was betrayed by the man she loved, and he is cursed so that anyone he cares about dies. It takes time to build trust and finally share their pasts, allowing them to begin a future together.

The reason for the hit placed on Leena is a mystery at the core of the story, but doesn’t really come into play until the last third of the book. I like that Leena and Noc work out some of their issues before this conflict takes over the storyline. While I’m not one who usually uses content warning tags, I do want to comment on the fact that Leena is tortured at length. These scenes are not graphic, but it is clear she is treated horrifically. I feel the impacts of this torture were not adequately addressed; however, there wasn’t a lot of book time afterwards, so I’ll wait to see if it is more fully addressed in the next title before giving my final verdict.

I don’t know if this series will have a unique couple with each book, or if Noc and Leena will remain the central focus. The epilogue reminds readers that their story isn’t over, so I’m hoping we’ll continue to focus on this couple, with the supporting characters getting their due within each book.

My Rating: B- Liked It, but I had a few small issues

Link is active on 8/14/2019

This has been a sad run for me lately in the urban fantasy arena. First, the Patricia Briggs’ “Alpha and Omega” series introduced a new aspect into a beloved character that has some pretty unfortunate consequences not only for that series but for the “Mercy Thompson” one as well (though I’m working my way through the latest, so check back soon to see how that fares!). And then my beloved “Kate Daniels” series finished up. So, naturally, I’m on the look out for a replacement urban fantasy series and when I saw “Kingdom of Exiles” pop up on NetGalley, I requested it right away.

Leena values her magical beasts above anything. But when things get dire, she finds herself exactly where she didn’t want to be: deep in the underbelly of society, trading away her beats. And things only get worse when an assassin shows up on her doorstep with an order marking her for death. Luckily for her, Noc is too intrigued to simply off her right then and there, and they both find themselves caught up between several rocks and hard places, with their growing affection and love putting the other at greater and greater risk.

For me, the largest appeal of this story was the unique “charming” ability that Leena possesses and the super cool magical beasts who surround her because of it. Like the book description implies, there are a lot of similarities with these animals and the ways in which Leena interacts with them and keeps them that feels very similar to the “Fantastic Beasts” series. So if you’re a fan of that particular aspect of that story, the same will be found here. But I was glad to see there were some added twists to this version of the concept, namely the idea that these beasts can be animal familiars, essentially. And it is this fact that makes them so valuable and Leena’s ability to gather and control them so important.

The comparison to “Assassin’s Creed” is a bit less on the money, and this is where things began to fall apart for me a bit. The action of the story was quite a bit less than I’m used to finding in my urban fantasy/paranormal stories. Compared to the two series I mentioned earlier, this one has very little going on in that area. There were a couple of action-oriented scenes, but they felt very fleeting. This also added to the uneven read of the book, with the balance between plot and character moments felt odd at times.

I also didn’t love Leena or Noc, particularly. I could see how on their own they might be better, but for a book that is a paranormal romance story, it’s pretty important that they work well together. Leena, who comes across as pretty competent in the beginning of the story, immediately falls into the trope hole of becoming useless and making stupid decisions once the love interest shows up. Noc, for his part, talks on and on about how important it is to keep one’s distance from one’s target and then promptly makes zero effort to follow his own advice, quickly falling for Leena.

The romance itself was also not to my taste. It was a bizarre mix of the type of romance you would typically find in YA stories, full of angst and unnecessary drama. But then all of the steamy scenes one can expect from adult romance novels. The two did not mix well together, in my opinion. But I’m generally not a fan of angsty or dramatic romantic relationships, so this was going to be a hard sell for me regardless of anything else.

Overall, this book wasn’t for me. I think the world-building and fantasy elements were very interesting. And I could even wave away some of the pacing issues as simply the learning curve of a debut book. But my dislike for the main characters and the way their romance played out was enough to land this book solidly in the “meh”-to-dislike category. However, if you are more interested in this type of romance, this could potentially be a good paranormal romance series to get in on early! And to help you with that, make sure to enter our giveaway for a copy of the book!

Rating 6: More romance (and not my favorite kind either) than urban fantasy, this book was a miss for me.

This is wonderfully creative and intense!

Leena is a beast Charmer exiled from her beloved community by a vicious lover. The council believed him because he was older and on the council. Leena has since had to sell beasts which isn’t permitted. Leena is determined to tame a council level beast and return to prove her innocence. But someone has other plans – they have engaged one of the most powerful assassin groups, the Cruor, to kill Leena.

Leena manages to capture the first assassin sent after her. She returns to the Cruor lair to try to negotiate for her life. She meets Noc, the leader of the dark shadowy group. She is able to make a deal to provide his people with four magical creatures in exchange for her life. She doesn’t realize there is a loophole to his contract and she has no idea that he is burdened by a curse.

Noc’s curse brings death to those he loves. He has seen the devastation and now must hold himself aloof or risk even his brother assassins.

As Noc and a handful of his leaders travel with Leena to allow her to capture their beasts, they all grow in respect for the caring nature of their ‘target’. Especially Noc is conflicted by his growing attraction which he cannot allow without a cure for his curse. Noc believes that Leena may be able to provide him with a creature that can fulfill the wish to end his curse. Leena tries to warn him that such wishes come with unexpected and usually damaging consequences, but Noc is desperate.

I was captured by this story from beginning to end. The characters are intense as is the tension.
Early on I was struck by the risks and extreme choices being set up for the hero and heroine to face. The creatures tamed by Leena are wonderfully creative and imaginative. There is a strong sexual scene at bout 70% in and another near the end, but these are fitting to the intense romance that is developed. It is secondary to a well-developed, action packed, intriguing plot.

I definitely want to read the next book in the series. I cannot think of any reason not to give this 5 stars. I highly recommend this to readers who like intrigue, fantasy and tension filled romance; magical beasts are great too.

Source: 2019 NetGalley;

I have a problem with a rating that book as I liked it, and yet I have moments where I thought about stopping reading. That's why - 3 stars.
The concept was indeed really intriguing. A great fantasy novel, but the execution of the blurb went sometimes off the rail.
I felt like I was reading something like Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh in some parts. That's not bad, I just was looking for something with more fantasy vibe about the beasts. I hope you understand what I mean.
Overall it was a nice story with rather good characters and a plot that I would make more detailed (the same goes for characters and beasts).
I will be reading book 2 for sure as their one left me with want to know what had happened next between Leena and Noc as well as others from the gang

Good world building. The best part were all of the interesting creatures, and all of the other assassins. I have to say though, that it was filled with a lot of inst-love cliches, and I can’t stand insta-love. It got to the point where I started to skim a bunch of pages because some of it was cringe-worthy. Not really for me.

Unfortunately, I didn’t like or dislike this book. I just couldn’t get invested in the story. The world building was intriguing and I think that’s really what kept my interest. The romance was fun at times but I didn’t feel a real connection between Leena and Noc. With that said I did enjoy their interactions and I believe there is a great deal of potential for the series so I’ll be looking forward to Book 2 in The Beast Charmer series.

Definitely not what I expected. It took me a few tries to push on with this book. The premise was just so unlike anything else I've read and at first that was off putting but after a few chapters I realized it was amazing, The story is unique. Not just a fresh take on an established concept but a truly unique story that I honestly can't really compare to anything else. The world-building is fantastic. The characters are thoroughly developed. And the story line manages to suck you in and leaves you wanting more. I already cannot wait for the next installment, Leena is everything I want out of a heroine. She's brave and stubborn and willing to bend the rules when necessary. She's not some wilting flower and watching the bit of romance unfold between her and Noc gives you the feels in all the right places. I cannot recommend Kingdom of Exiles enough. If you love the action and character style of the Kate Daniels series mixed with the imagination of Harry Potter then you'll love this book!

Great characters, great settings and a great story are all involved in the making of KINGDOM OF EXILES.

KINGDOM OF EXILES started off a little slow, but I had no problem getting into it with the great world building and action packed storyline. There was plenty of mystery and some romance as well. I really enjoyed learning about the different beasts and their roles in Leena's life.

I will definitely read more.

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

If you like vivid world building, engrossing plots, and romantic angst for days, then do yourself a favor and read Kingdom of Exiles. I read a lot of unremarkable fantasy romance, but within just a few chapters I was really excited about this book. It’s whimsical, action packed, heartwarming, sexy, dark, and spooky. There’s hidden realms, shadowy assassins, and magical creatures that will be your best friend (if they don’t kill you first).

Leena is a Charmer, a race of humans with the ability to tame magical beasts. Exiled from her people for a crime she didn’t commit, she’s forced to do the unthinkable to survive; sell her beloved beasts. But she has big plans to clear her name and return home. Unfortunately, her big plans are temporarily derailed by the assassin that comes within a hair of killing her.

Noc is the (sexy and mysterious) leader of said punk ass killers for hire. Called the Cruor, they’re dead humans who have been resurrected to become elite assassins (they can turn into shadow, it’s all very cool). The assassins are supposed to leave their past lives in the grave, but Noc has a really big secret. Well, two really big secrets: his identity while he was alive, and the curse that dooms everyone he cares about to a painful death.

When Leena arrives at the guild’s doorstep with the assassin sent to kill her as a hostage (because she’s B-TO-THE-ADASS) she has a proposal: the guild won’t collect the bounty on her, and she’ll procure the guild four valuable beasts. Noc desperately wants a beast capable of removing his curse, so he agrees. However he does neglect to inform Leena that, thanks to some ancient magic, removing the bounty after it’s been accepted is basically impossible. Does that make things awkward when he starts to fall for her? Of course it does! (Sexual tension is my favorite!). And thus Leena, Noc, and the assassin gang (you’ll love the gang!) embark on a merry adventure to charm some beasts and break some curses and avoid some assassinations and try really hard not to fall in love.

99.9% of the time I am just here for the romance. But this book, with its menagerie of precious/deadly/crazy creatures, touched my jaded, cynical heart. And I am not, in any way, an animal person. But now I want to be a Charmer SO BAD. There is literally a creature in here that exists solely to cuddle, and its natural scent is lavender. IT’S A TEDDY BEAR THAT’S ALIVE AND EXISTS TO LOVE YOU AND HELP YOU SLEEP. Were do I get one of these things??

Overall, the author has done an excellent job of creating an immersive world that is so cool. Kingdom of Exiles is the first book of The Beast Charmer series. There are hints that there’s a much larger story to be told, but fear not, no cliffhangers here! It works fine as a standalone, but I’m betting that you’re going to enjoy this world so much that you’ll want to go back for more.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review.
Charming animals and then matching them to people. What an interesting premise. Throw in Leena, the beast Charmer, who has been exiled for something she didn't do. Then add that assassins have been hired to take her out. And that makes for an exciting read. But it doesn't end there. There is a twist to the story that is very interesting and you wonder how it's going to turn out.

I was hesitant to read this because of the whole fantasy aspect of it. But it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
Leena is an animal charmer, which is kind of cool (and a little Snow Whitish to me) although her animals are more or less beasts with magical powers. She's been banished by her homeland. At first you don't know why she is banned but as the book goes on, you start to learn what happened. I like that this book has a strong character lead who didn't appear to be mooning over a guy (Like Feyre did in the A court of thorns series)
I'm not sure I would call this a mix of Fantastic Beasts and Assassins Creed. It more was like a mix of Fantastic Beasts and Pokeman.
Its a LOOOOONG book though. At least it felt that way to me. Maybe it was long because they were setting up the additional books?
Either way, thank you to the publisher for a chance to read this in exchange for my honest review.

Romantic high stakes fantasy is always an interesting concept for a novel, and to be honest, it quite often falls short of expectation one way or another. And yet, somehow, in Kingdom of Exiles… it all worked.

Beast charmer Leena Edenfrell knows two things. One, she can’t go home (being exiled will do that to a girl), and two, even though it kills her, selling her magical beasts is the only way to fill her pockets. Unfortunately, selling things on the black market isn’t a great way to stay unnoticed, and Leena has ended up with a price on her head despite her best efforts.

Enter Noc, murderer-for-hire and attractive thorn in Leena’s side. Desperate to avoid death, Leena makes him a deal, she’ll supply him with four magical beasts, and he doesn’t kill her. Sounds simple enough. Unbeknownst to Leena, however, is the magical contract that bids Noc to complete all his contracts, and despite his growing affection for the beast charmer… he can’t place her life ahead of the rest of his guild.

Okay, so here’s the thing about fantasy romance, or paranormal romance for that matter. Lately, there’s been a trend towards it being somewhat formulaic with a heavy push on the romance, which is fine, but it doesn’t make for the most interesting read of all time. Kingdom of Exiles doesn’t fall into that category, it’s not your typical romance novel that just happens to be set in a fantasy world. And to be honest, it’s actually a fairly well rounded fantasy novel all on it’s own, but just with more sex.

That’s probably the one thing I’ll mention earlier in the review rather than later - this book is marketed at being a fantasy romance for a reason friends! And that reason is the sex. It’s in there. Consider yourself warned.

This book was pitched as Assassin's Creed meets Fantastic Beasts, and for the most part, it fits the bill of the second, with a little bit of Pokémon thrown in for good measure. The only link it has to Assassin’s Creed is the fact that there are assassins thrown in as there wasn’t any kind of exceptional parkour—just the normal kind of fight scenes you’d expect from a book about hired killers.

Leena is our beast charmer, a class of magic-possessing humans who have the ability to “tame” beasts that she finds (Pokémon style, but without the Poké Ball) and keep them in the magical beast realm that she can access (Fantastic Beasts, think Newt’s suitcase). After being banished from the charmer’s haven for a crime that she didn’t commit, Leena finds herself destitute and resorts to selling beasts to get by. Unfortunately, this draws her to the attention of the very people she fled from and she ends up with a bounty on her head.

I really liked Leena’s character as she was this really awesome blend of feminine and masculine. Her character combines sarcasm, wit, and badass fighting ability with the heart and soul of someone who cares so desperately about the people (and creatures) that she loves. It’s always great to see characters (male or female) that combine traits, and here, it made for a well-rounded and interesting character to read about. I will sometimes find myself skim reading internal dialogue, particularly if they’ve got a more annoying voice, and yet, I didn’t catch myself doing that with Leena.

Noc is the leader of the Cruor, a guild of reborn assassins that are essentially mercenaries for hire. His guild is tasked with ending the life of our intrepid beast charmer, but when the first attempt fails and she shows up on his doorstep with an injured assassin and a chip on her shoulder, they come to an arrangement - Leena provides Noc with beasts, and he doesn’t kill her. Of course, what he doesn’t tell her is that he has to kill her… or he himself will die in her stead. Noc is such a stereotypical hot, tortured male… and yet, he’s just such a cinnamon roll underneath it all that it’s okay.

Leena and Noc’s relationship is explosive, the sexual tension will quite literally sear itself into your mind, and as they take off on their journey with a few other of Noc’s Cruor compatriots, the banter and adventure really sets in.

The side characters are also a great addition to the story and they bring in a few different levels of friendship and familial love that tie together with Noc and Leena’s storyline in a beautiful way. Maxym uses the book as a way to explore bonds and love and friendship, and it manages to be surprisingly poignant in something that’s perceived to be “all about the sex” as romance novels often are.

The plot in Kingdom of Exiles is probably its weakest aspect, in comparison to the portrayal of relationships and character dynamic, but it was still interesting and we moved through a vivid (if simple) world along with our cadre as they hunt beasts and kick ass.

I found Kingdom of Exiles quite a surprise: it was a fun read, emotional at times, and quite dark during others (trigger warning for some fairly serious physical and mental assault at one point), and I’m definitely looking forward to the sequel!

[To be published July 30th on The Nerd Daily]

This book was pretty great! It started out with action and continued with action throughout the story. You have suspense, a strong female heroine who happens to be an outcast fighting for her life against a force of evil, then using that evil force for her agenda.

Rating: 4 1/2 Stars.

Maxym Martineau creates a highly imaginative reality in Kingdom of Exiles. The characters are well developed and perfectly suited to their roles in the story. I love Leena. She's lived a hard life since her exile. Been forced to do things she never should have, or would have otherwise, just to survive. She loves each and every beast, especially those she's tamed. When forced to work with the very men sent to kill her, she can't stop her natural kindness and sweetness from ruling her personality when many would have given in to the darkness of her situation. It's not long into their journey to the coast in search of the beast she's promised each of her four assassins in exchange for her life, that she's got one them all over. Even Kost whom she sicced a violent beast on in an act of self-preservation and who has another reason to loathe her, is eventually won over. But it's never like she's consciously trying to influence them in her favor. It's just a natural by-product of her personality.

Noc has never failed to fulfill a contract to kill but in his desperation for a release from his lifelong curse, he sees and seizes an opportunity with Leena. She can gift him the one beast capable of breaking the curse. He never expected to start falling for his target and falling for her is a death sentence to the last person he wants to see die.

In the midst of this sweet but impossible love story, is a lot of paranormal intrigue. The world is a very dangerous place, beast taming can be life-threatening and there's still the matter of Wynn who wants Leena dead or worse and the woman who hired Noc and his team to kill her.

Martineau creates a story with the perfect blend of character-driven scenes and thrilling, unique action to keep the reader turning pages, anxious to find out what comes next. She also left us with just the right amount of curiosity in what comes next to ensure we'll read the second book in the installment but not to leave us with an unsatisfying cliff hanger.

reviewed by Jem

I don't know about you but personally, I don't like it when books, especially debut books, are marketed as This meets that and this and that are usually famous books or movies. I just lose interest in that kind of marketing because it makes me expect higher than I should only to be disappointed. You know what I mean? So anyway, when I saw this book on Netgalley, I was a little hesitant because of "Fantastic Beasts". Never mind the Assassin Creed but Fantastic Beast is one of my favorite books. I love Newt and his beasts.

But this book made me very, very happy because even though it has its own flaws in my eyes, it delivered. Fantastic Beasts indeed.

Leena is an exiled charmer that was forced to sell her beasts for provision. Unfortunately that was illegal but Leena is determined not to be caught. Enter Noc, leader of Crour, some kind of guild of assassins who are previously dead. He was hired to kill Leena but ended up bargaining with her.

I love the premise of this book. This is definitely worth reading and I'm so glad I requested it. I love the idea of the undying assassins and beast charmers and the beasts themselves. Some of them really stole the show ones or twice. I love the layers of the story that it just didn't end with asssassins and beast charmers. There's more to the plot than I was expecting and made me add another star in my rating. There was a lot of action, intrigueand twists that I can call this a page-turner. There was also, surprisingly some steam. Yep, I was surprised but I loved it. And my favorite is Noc's being a tortured, angsty, distant hero who couldn't help himself but fall in love with his job. I always love that kind of element in the story. The worldbuilding is also properly done. I think the author did a good job at making s believable world where beast charmers and Undying exist.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book more than I thought I would. My only issue is that the villain seems a little bit one dimensional. No depths and personally aside from being the villain. Aside from that, I enjoy every element of this book.

Great read! Loved Leena’s personality, the other original characters, and the interesting storyline. Would highly recommend!

This was my first time reading a fantasy romance. Martineau built a world of mystical beasts with different powers. There were also some nice surprises to the characters that I enjoyed. The book left me on somewhat of a cliffhanger, but it is the first in a series and I'm game for reading the next one.

If you're looking for something different in your fantasy (i.e. steamy scenes), this would definitely be something worth checking out.

Fantastic Beasts meets Assasin's Creed? Yes, please!

Kingdom of Exiles is the first of The Beast Charmer's trilogy and if Kingdom of Exiles is any indication of how the series will play out, then I am here for it! There's so much that this book brings to the table. There's a fiery female MC, a magical world, a bevy of beasts, and a slow burn romance.

Leena is a Charmer, possessing a rare magical talent of being able to "charm" the beasts living in her world. Accused of committing a crime that she did not, she's forced to sell her beasts on the black market to survive. She soon discovers that she has been tagged by the merciless assassin's guild of Cruor. She makes a deal to exchange beasts for her life, but what she doesn't know is that the assassins are magically bound to their contracts, or they forfeit their own lives.

Diving straight into the action, K of E is unrelenting. In spite of that, or maybe because of it, the characters and world are introduced to you as you go. There's no telling and all show, which I appreciate. I loved the characters, Leena and Noc, and all the secondary characters too. And the beasts? Beautiful, imaginative, and diverse!