Oh. My. God.
That was freaking spectacular!

I do not trust books by new authors I've never heard about that have such high ratings, such glowing reviews, but I can tell you that every single one of those 5 star ratings is completely deserved.

This story follows our heroine, Lydia, an ordinary young woman who one day wakes up with a strange symbol tattooed on her forearm. From then on, everything seems to get out of hand as monsters start showing up, chasing her around, and finally whisk her away to the World of Under, a dark place full of dark, blood-thirsty creatures, ruled by powerful, ancient beings.
The World of Under is slowly dying out, so in order to ensure its existence, fresh blood in the form of unsuspecting humans needs to be brought in to join their ranks of supernatural creatures.
Too bad being the special snowflake isn't always what it's cracked to be, as Lydia soon finds herself the center of attention when things don't go as they should.

To be honest, I regretted requesting this book on NetGalley the minute I got approved. Why? Because I'm not good with fantasy stuff. I like Urban Fantasy with easy, undemanding worldbuilding that doesn't require much imagination on my part. I'm a total lowbrow when it comes to intricate, lavish worldbuilding, and high fantasy, for me, is the stuff of nightmares.
So when I re-read the blurb after downloading this book, my first thought was: "What the hell have I done?!" ... Realms? World of Under? Kings of Fires and Shadows? Masks? Creatures? Ugh.
HOWEVER! I. Freaking. Loved. It. Not because the worldbuilding is undemanding and unimaginative, but because Kingley's way of explaining, of showing her world to me was just perfect. There was no info-dumping, no leaving the readers to figure it out for themselves, but a gentle introduction, alongside Lydia, to this complex new world the author has created.

Speaking of Lydia... I may have a new girl-crush. She was so relatable. Not your typical Urban Fantasy badass heroine, but a smart, spirited, ressourceful young woman with an amazing deadpan kind of humor. I loved how her reactions to all that's been happening to her felt so real and reasonable, and that she didn't lose her will to fight no matter how dire the situation.
Then there was Aon, the King of Shadows, a sadistic and inscrutable SOB who may either turn out to be the love interest or the main villain of this story. I'd be fine with either. I really shouldn't have the hots for him, but hoo boy... it's hard. He's intriguing as hell and I can't wait to find out more about him.
But then again, I loved all the characters. Nick, Lydia's best friend who got abducted right along with her. Lyon, the ancient, weirdly compassionate "vampire" who keeps popping up and kind of saving Lydia from herself. King Edu, Under's current ruler who I, again, can't seem to decide if he's going to be the villain or some sort of anti-hero. And so many more.

This first book in the The Masks of Under series was a riveting, unique and intense ride, a little gory, a little funny and hella amazing.
Welcome to my sacred love-love-love shelf, my little friend. You certainly earned it.

To all the fantasy fans out there: read it. Like now.

I liked this book in 75%. There were great chapters to read and story evolved quickly into a nice and pleasant fantasy read, although it started slow.
I almost quit reading because of that, bit decided to continue and I am glad I did. The book was getting better. It was a good book to read on rainy afternoon day.

Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.

I have read a lot of fantasy, urban fantasy and paranormal romance in my life some has been fantastic, others have been bloody awful, and King of Flames is somewhere in the middle for me or upper scale.

I didn’t know what to expect and it was difficult to get into the book at the beginning, but this book is unique, and with the author’s idea she has truly put her book in a league of her own. I find her writing similar to (view spoiler) but that was the vibe I was getting here. The good was I had no clue where we were going to go with this book and that is exactly what I needed there was also zilch in love interest and sex which is refreshing so you had to focus on the plot and there was no room for error here but the author did a fantastic job and I can’t really pinpoint why I can’t give it 5 stars or even 4 stars and quite frankly that irks me a lot. I fekt that the author could have maybe given more in fleshing out the world of under? It was like we just touched the surface but take my review here with a pinch of salt.

What do you do when you wake up with a tattoo you didn’t have the night before?

Well that happens to Lydia and whereas she is a bit of an oddball what happens to her is even out of her realm of possibility. Until her and a bunch of people throughout the world are teleported to under. Where every so often the worlds between earth and under align and where no souls are born in under the realm still needs to keep living.

The Fallen with the help of the ancients decides who becomes what. Be it a monster or something else completely.

Turns out I’m not immune to everything. Someone pulling off their skin? Yeah not my thing, kind of made me want to puke

Kings, Flames, Shadows, Elders and Ancients is worth a read.

*ARC received from NetGalley in return for an honest review*

While I highly enjoyed this book it left on such a cliffhanger that felt so abrupt and out of place. I did end up getting the second book just to figure out what happened next since the second book literally picks up on the exact same line. I really feel like this book would have benefited from being a combination of both the first and second book.

On its own, this story built a very interesting world. There was so much world building that I felt like character building was left out. Everything was just told to use instead of shown that I felt like I couldn't really connect to the characters. It wasn't until the second book that I felt like I could connect with them. This is a book I would only recommend to people if they decide to also purchase the second on as well since the two seem almost like one book that someone just randomly decided to cut in two.

awesome,exciting book. Things (aka beasts, monsters from the other world) mentioned in the book might be a bit too hmm horror which may cause unease and fear so beware otherwise its a great book can't wait for the second book in the series.

It’s a bad day for Lydia when she wakes up with a tattoo she doesn’t remember getting and then the cadaver she was working on comes back to life and attacks her.

She’s rightfully spooked.

After defending herself and running away, and shooting a second attacker point blank in the head, she is captured and taken to the land of Under.

Under is a dying place, where Earth intersects with it every few years, and the people of under claim (kidnap) their new citizens from earth.

There’s a ceremony, and the newcomers are thrown into the lake of the Ancients and are transformed into their new selves. They are then claimed by different houses - some are shifters, vampires, witches, warriors, etc. But when Lydia is thrown in, she is rejected by the ancients and stays human. This abnormality causes the current king Edu to fear her, but also draws the attention of the sleeping king Aon.

Looking back, there’s a lot of character development and world building but not a lot of plot. It’s paced very well. The author has done a great job building a unique world. It’s a spooky world, it reminded me a little of The Call. Lydia is a strong main character, and I really liked her friend Nick. I would like to note this is not a YA fantasy- the main character is in her late twenties.

If you are looking for a unique and slightly unsettling fantasy with a strong heroine and the hints of enemies to lovers romance to come, you may want to give this book a try.

I received this arc in exchange for a honest review. This book is already released and free on kindle unlimited.

This story starts off slow. But once it got rolling I just devoured it. The world building was interesting and I like the characters. I feel like this book ends very abruptly and the tiny bit that I've read of the second book just picks up on the very sentence that ends this book. I probably would have just combined the 2 books as a part 1/part 2 thing.

The main idea for this story is intriguing but the first book is just a taste. I feel that I will finally figure something out about what's actually happening in the second book. If you are interested in this story, I highly recommend getting both books at the same time.

Interesting storyline and with a main character that really snagged your interest and made you like her, fun story.

King of Flames is an okay read. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either. It's an interesting and unique fantasy story, but I didn't connect with it enough to care what happened in the end. Maybe just not my type of story. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Lydia was content with her life up until a mysterious tattoo appears on her arm and the corpse she was autopsing tires to grab her. Her friend and co-worker Nick also has a tattoo appear and the two end up fleeing when a giant masked man begins chasing them. Eventually both are caught and Lydia wakes up to find herself in a place filled with masked monsters. A small group of humans have been selected to travel to Under a world parrall to Earth but where no one is born and very rarely dies.
Lydia has captured the attentions of King Edu but he is not the only one. While asleep/unconscious Lydia meets the mysterious Aon who warns he that if she mentions him to anyone in Under she will find herself in grave danger.
This book isn't my typical fantasy. I prefer more urban fantasy/paranormal fantasy but I gave this one a go and it was fairly interesting, the word building is robust and the new to me author has devised a new world full of unique characters. I won’t be sticking with the series but that has nothing to do with the execution. It simply wasn’t to my taste, but I would recommend it to fantasy fans who like a kickass heroine and complex world building. It ends on a cliff hanger and to be frank this entire book is devoted to word building with limited character or story growth.
I received an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

While it was hard for me to initially get invested into the book, once I figured out the characters and world building I enjoyed it. This book is very different from most fantasy books I have read and it was this uniqueness and one of a kind world that kept me reading. I am looking forward to the second book and I am curious to see where the author takes the characters.

**I received this ARC from netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

The ultimate fantasy experience!
This has to be one of the top ten fantasy/paranormal reads of the year.
"Panic Later. Deal with this First. Panic Later" - Lydia's Gran
This was Lydia's mantra throughout this amazingly entertaining and riveting journey that was King of Flames.
I truly can not recall the last time I was so bewitched by a read - It had such an eccentric cast of characters. It was fast-paced, twisted definitely kept me on my toes! One moment I would find myself in a scene that had me wanting to look away until it was over and then the next I was gasping for breath from laughing so hard. And Lydia what a refreshing in your face collection of intensely crazy and "it is what it is". I loved her! She was genuine and fun and intelligent and her sidekick Nick, yeah loved him too.
I truly can not express what a blast this was to read. The universe that Kingsley created was so vivid and this was just an opening glimpse. I am truly excited to see where she takes us.
This ends on a hellacious cliff hanger - The kind that had me screaming " H @ll NO!!" my son laughed at me - no kidding
I am not giving spoilers. The storyline is in the blurb. I will say if you are looking for a read that will have you cringing, laughing, a bit spooked, really curious and all the emotions in between - ONE CLICK

Did I like it? Enough that I was disappointed that NetGalley didn't have the sequel waiting for me to request.

Would I read it again? Probably not, because...

Biggest faults: Fourteen chapters is too short. This and the sequel probably should've been one book, because it ends way too quickly to make a good story. (I read the table of contents and thought, "Only fourteen chapters? Really?!")

Biggest disappointment: Lydia came out of the water with nothing on her. I would've been more excited if she'd come out with a rainbow of tattoos and confused them that way.

=====

The sequel comes out a week from today. Not fast enough for my liking!

This was slow and boring. I could not engage with the protagonist, I found the introduction to the story vague. Bordering on horror in the first chapters, it was a DNF for me.

King of Flames by Kathryn Ann Kingsley, a fun read. She woke up with a tattoo on her arm that wasnt there the night before, and as the day progresses things keep getting weirder and weirder. A dead man who isnt dead, and man she kills who wont stay dead, and then it gets worse.

Addictively terrifying

I’m slapping a 5 on this. Kingsley truly deserves recognition.
When a dead man says, “Don’t run” what do you do? RUN!

Not only did this book give me the creepers it scared the snot out of me. Kingsley has created a mind-blowing world. A unique, horror world filled with nightmare creatures.

It starts off with adrenaline, pumping, running for your life. Once the story gets to Under that’s where Kingsley is in her element and the story takes on a whole new life. So addictive, I couldn’t put it down. I need book 2!!

I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book, so I could give an honest review.

I was really excited about this book, it sounded new and different. But it felt forced and drawn out. It even made references to how she loved horror and would make fun of how people reacted in her situation (which was very comical). The book showed a lot of promise, it just had a lot of scenes at the beginning that were slow.

I received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.

King of Flames, the first book in the Masks of Under series is thrilling, intricate, and wildly engaging. Kathryn Ann Kingsley gives us just a taste of what’s to come and leaves you hungry for more. This novel was so well written and exceptionally developed with an incredible amount of depth. King of Flames is a little dark, steam punk with a sprinkle of humour. Its face paced and engaging. Highly recommended and I need that sequel now after the cliffhanger!

This novel is a little on the dark side. Things were normal for Lydia as a forensic autopsy technician until one morning she woke up with a strange tattoo on her arm. She goes to work and is given a dead body to autopsy. Little did she know it would come back to life. Terrified, she meets her friend Nick who also happens to have a tattoo similar to hers. Both get caught up in this word called Under, where the immortal reign and torture is not uncommon. Lydia and Nick are unsuccessful at escaping. Lydia cannot understand King Edu or King Aon's interest in her. Yet one wants her dead, the other alive. She is an anomaly after all. Lydia cannot trust anyone and plans to escape before either king has their way. But nothing is as it seems and The Ancients have their own reasons for Lydia's transformation.

This was a surprisingly really good book- I was hooked from the first few pages.

The plot was engaging and I appreciated well-paced scenes that kept me interested. The worldbuilding was fantastic- complex but easy to understand so that you aren't hung over on minute details. The fantasy aspect was well written and was well developed.

I loved the protagonist, Lydia, a forensic autopsy technician with an introverted life being thrust in the magical world of Under. She was the perfect combination of snarky, hilarious and fierce without suffering from special snowflake syndrome- I can't wait to read more about her in the next book. Additionally, I appreciated that romance wasn't a prominent feature in this book although there is hinted to be a romantic subplot in the next installment. Also, so many side characters to like- I can't wait to learn more about Nick', King Edu and Aon.

Can't wait to read King of Shadows because of the epic cliffhanger.

*Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for providing a free ARC*