This sounded so promising and unique! I loved the idea of memory being the price for magic, and having a main character who's been branded a traitor. I love when characters have to infiltrate another lifestyle (e.g. royalty) in order to get answers. Basically, this premise and synopsis was everything I wanted.

However, I really struggled to get into the story. The beginning, where Michael is in court and has been sentenced and is telling his story before he probably dies, was an awesome framing device and really compelled me to keep reading. But beyond that, too much was introduced for world-building without context behind it. I just really struggled to grasp what was happening or why, and who all these different groups of people were.

I think there's a lot of opportunity in this book and the world, and I can see so many people have enjoyed it. Unfortunately, it just isn't for me.

Debut authors need to break out of the starting gate fast. And Martell does just that.

The Kingdom of Liars is edgy and clean and has a main character that makes the reader love him and hate him at the same moment. The story moves fast; it's filled with danger and intrigue, and the ending? I wish I could tell you the ending!

What comes next? That's what I want to know..

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an advanced readers copy of this book.

Memory loss for performing magic too often? This is intriguing. I also enjoy the fact that it plays into the character development in our learning about the other characters alongside Michael.

Unfortunately, the story has loose ends that I cannot seem to string together. With risk of spoilers, I will not divulge these. They are not those that leave one questioning the story or theme, but they bugged me ever so slightly that it took me out of the book.

Good start on what looks to be a decent entry point into the genre for the author.

"In this brilliant debut fantasy, a story of secrets, rebellion, and murder are shattering the Hollows, where magic costs memory to use, and only the son of the kingdom’s despised traitor holds the truth.

Michael is branded a traitor as a child because of the murder of the king’s nine-year-old son, by his father David Kingman. Ten years later on Michael lives a hardscrabble life, with his sister Gwen, performing crimes with his friends against minor royals in a weak attempt at striking back at the world that rejects him and his family.

In a world where memory is the coin that pays for magic, Michael knows something is there in the hot white emptiness of his mind. So when the opportunity arrives to get folded back into court, via the most politically dangerous member of the kingdom’s royal council, Michael takes it, desperate to find a way back to his past. He discovers a royal family that is spiraling into a self-serving dictatorship as gun-wielding rebels clash against magically trained militia.

What the truth holds is a set of shocking revelations that will completely change the Hollows, if Michael and his friends and family can survive long enough to see it."

Memory for magic is a memorable and fascinating conceit!

3.5 stars

You can read all of my reviews at https://www.NerdGirlLovesBooks.com.

This is a good first book in a new fantasy series. The concept is interesting but the book's pacing is uneven, and at 608 pages, it needed better editing.

This is the story of Michael Kingman. He and his siblings were branded as traitors after their father killed the 9 year old son of the King. Ten years later, Michael and his sister are living a hand-to-mouth existence trying to survive and take care of their institutionalized mother. Michael's older brother Lyon has been conscripted to the King as one of the court's executioners. Michael scrapes by conning minor nobles out of money with his friends, which has the added bonus of striking back at the world that rejected him and his family.

A lot of nobles have various forms of magic. The magic system is not fully explained, but it seems that magic is fueled by the user's memories. If the user is untrained, or uses too much magic, the user loses some of their memories. Michael doesn't appear to have any magic ability, but he still has huge gaps in his memories and doesn't know why. Michael is presented with an opportunity to earn money and discover if he has magic and if so, how to use it. The opportunity comes with risks, however, and the person offering it is a dangerous and untrustworthy man. It also requires him to return to Court and mingle with the very people that rejected him and his family. Michael's life is further complicated by rebels that are plotting to overthrow the King in his dead father's name. He is accused of being a traitor and must be careful to avoid having further contact with the law.

This book is told in first person, which is not my favorite viewpoint in fantasy novels, but it's ok here. The world building is a bit uneven, and there is little to no explanation as to the society's structure, or the kingdom's standing and history with neighboring lands. Some world building information pops up at odd times in the book. Certain concepts are inserted into the story early, leaving the reader in the dark as to the meaning of the terms or characters, and only later explained closer to the end of the book. While that may work for "surprise" revelations, it doesn't really work here where the author should be providing information to the reader to understand why something may be important. Considering magic plays a huge part in the book, I thought the author would provide more background and explanation regarding it, but he doesn't. Perhaps that will be explored in later books.

Another big mystery that is never really explained is parts of the moon that randomly fall and strike the city. Nothing is explained about how or why the moon is "broken", or how parts of it can strike the city. There is one small mention that the Kingman family "broke" the moon, but it's not followed up on. I'm assuming it will be explored in later books.

The book starts slow, and drags through the first half. It's understandable in a first book because of the world building aspect, but as I stated above, the world building is uneven. The last half of the book moves at better pace and I started getting excited to find out what happened next. Overall, I liked the book and will read the next one in the series when it is released.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review .

An evil king... a crooked prince ... kingsman ... legends and legacy ... fabrications (is magical powers) ... memory loss ... a murderer father ... A broken family

This book should have been so amazing, but fell so short for me. I feel like it had all the makings of a great novel (and series) but just didn’t deliver.

Final Rating: 2.75/5

Ten years ago, Michael Kingman's father was executed for murdering the Crown Prince.  Since then, Michael has grappled with dueling legacies: that of the Kingman ancestral duty to be protectors and advisors to the royal family, and that of the ruined family name that comes with being the son of a traitor. Michael has searched for years for answers as to what happened that fateful night without success.  But when he comes to work for High Noble Domet, the man becomes a surprising ally in Michael's quest for the truth.  With Domet's help, Michael joins the Endless Waltz, the annual nobility courtship events, where he hopes to gain access to information kept secret by the royal family.  As Michael delves deeper into court politics, it becomes clear that there are gaps in his memory from the time of the attack, and entire people he no longer remembers knowing.  But if his father wasn't responsible for the death of the prince, who was?

THE KINGDOM OF LIARS is a novel that has an incredibly intriguing setup that I ultimately just didn't connect with.  Let's start with the good parts.  There were many aspects of the worldbuilding I enjoyed, including the idea of a magic system where overusing your abilities could cause you to lose your memories.  This meant magic users have to take precautions to keep memories safe, from journals to tattoos.  The shattered moon that occasionally rains debris onto the city was also something I'd never seen before, and I loved the concept of the Endless Waltz, a series of events the nobility attend to arrange marriages and form political alliances.

After the broad strokes of worldbuilding, however, I found myself lost in the minutia of details that were left vague or unexplained. To name a few: How exactly (in normal times) did the Kingman family operate in their role as intermediaries between commoners and the royal family?  What exactly is a person who is a Sacrifice?  How on earth did a character who was a commoner when the book began suddenly show up as part of the Crown Prince's inner circle?  Some of these questions are answered late in the book, and it was at the point that things started being explained that I finally found myself enjoying the intrigue at hand.  The night of a fateful ball in particular was an outstanding scene, full of tension and confrontation, but also providing understanding of some key concepts that had been eluding me up to that point.

I also found myself struggling to connect with the characters.  Most of them felt only roughly sketched out. Some of this stems from the fact that, for an unknown reason, Michael can't recall certain details of his childhood, including specific faces of friends he knew for years.  But even the close friends he had in present day felt more like acquaintances than people Michael would put his life on the line for.

As for Michael himself, he's purposely written as brash and impulsive, which can sometimes make him a bit hard to read.  But he also does carry an enormous burden.  Since childhood, he's had the weight of being literally branded a traitor, reviled by everyone for his father's actions. At the same time, there's the weight of the ancestral family name - Michael comes from a long line of legends, of men and women who don't live history, they cause it.  Michael wants to uphold this legacy, not out of any sense of nobility, but because it's what he was raised to do. It's hard not to feel some sympathy with a character who is hated for something he had no control over, who is also under pressure to live up to the names of heroes.

THE KINGDOM OF LIARS was a book I unfortunately wanted to love much more than I ended up doing. Although it has some original concepts, it just didn't deliver as wholly realized a world as I hoped.  I will say that the last third of the book went much better for me than the beginning, as reveals and twists finally brought things to a head, especially as Michael uncovers what is buried in his missing memories. There were scenes where I could definitely see why this book has resonated with others (again, the scene at the ball is my favorite of the book), but overall, it fell just short of making me want to continue onward.

This quite prominent Moon on the cover has been breaking apart since forever. The parts sometimes rain down on Michael Kingman’s city “Hollow” where all of this doorstopper of a novel is situated. The Kingman family has protected the city since its founding, functioning as a check-and-balance for the king’s power. Michael’s father has been executed because he murdered the King’s son. Michael and his siblings have been branded as traitors, and they barely survived the following riots.

Ten years later, Michael hates everything that looks like nobility, and he works as a conman tricking country noble bumbkins from their money. This starts a long winded tale through saving his friends, his family including his mad mother, restoring his name, trying to remember.

It comes up quite early on, that his memories were failing – a side effect of using magic in this world. Only that Michael has never learned, which kind of magic he could wield.

He enters the “Endless Waltz”, a long tradition of Hollow nobility to present their youngsters and marry them off, in order to restore his name and prove that his father was not guilty.

On his desperate way, he meets a drunken madman, an extraordinary deadly Mercenary-sorcerer, a sexy police-girl, and old-new friends that he didn’t remember.

Up to some 40% of this novel, I had to fight the slow turning pages – I found it interesting but way too slow. Only then did it take off, starting with fantasy tropes like a huge library and a full blown, living dragon. The mystery entangled Michael ever more and went into hyperdrive for the whole second part of the novel.

I loved the closed setting and the diversity, liveness of the city Hollow, its contrast between the dark, drug-addicted slums, the shady asylum, the better situated residential homes, and the shiny nobility households. Most characters had their own motives, and played them well according to their characters – there were no damsels in mistress, but strong women driving, bribing, enchanting Michael.

I’m a sucker for unreliable narrators – and Michael fits well into this whole society of liars filling lost memories with their own versions of the truth. He is a likeable hero, because what he does is based on his main motto “Family looks after family” which he extends to friends. His complex social network with conman-friends, siblings, and new friends ground Michael’s stupid decisions and heroic actions.

As the start of a series, I give the novel some leeway in exposition, but nearly half the novel was too much, too slow for a balanced pacing, especially compared to the reckless speed in the later half.

The last one hundred pages found a lot of unexpected and excellent plot twists, and opened up the setting for further exploration in the next volume of the Legacy of the Mercenary King series. Which I will certainly read. This volume, I recommend with the caveat to be patient and endure the first half – the reward lies in the second half.

The Kingdom of Liars follows Michael Kingman, whose defining characteristics are being a Kingman and the son of a man who committed treason. While his siblings have mostly moved on, Michael has been stuck in the past and filled with anger. Michael gets involved with a mysterious noble after a rebel attack and begins to unravel secrets about the past. Our story opens with Michael on trial for killing the king and his story is revealed via flashback.

I enjoyed this book, but there were some issues that impacted my enjoyment. I really did not see Michael as a likable character and did not feel a bond with him. I thought he was self-centered and selfish. Throughout the story, there are instances where telling and not showing is in full force. It’s as if by stating something in plain language, the author is willing it to be so. I understand his intent, but it comes off as heavy-handed writing.

While the world-building and magic system are very detailed, it takes a long time for readers to understand some of the roles and names that we are expected to pick up through context alone. An easy fix to this would be to provide more introductory information or perhaps a glossary or chart to add clarity. While I can understand the author wanting to reveal this information bit by bit, it does cause confusion when basic world-building is still being established past the halfway point. The ending of the book also struggled with some deus ex machina, but I fully expected this as I’m not sure how Michael could have survived without it.

In terms of the writing itself, it was generally well done with lots of references throughout. However, I was frustrated with one of the writing choices. Michael finds himself not remembering the name of a girl who he meets. The girl realizes this and rather than introduce herself, decides that she wants to keep her name hidden. So, Michael spends over half the book calling her: “the girl in red.” It was unrealistic that someone wouldn’t slip and address her by name. Michael is a target for many as the son of a traitor. How is he not more invested in learning her name? It is eventually revealed, but her name alone adds no profound meaning to the story. Why did I spend half the book reading “the girl in red” did this, “the girl in red” did that? Just name your character.

All of that said, this book is undoubtedly something the author put a lot of thought into and I think many people will enjoy it. While this book is definitely introductory and suffered some debut growing pains, I ultimately found it to be a good book. I’ll be curious to see where the author takes characters in the sequel! The Kingdom of Liars releases on June 23, 2020. Thank you to Gallery Books and Netgalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Kingdom of Liars

DNF at 7%. (2/5⭐️) You can tell within the first two chapters of a book if you will like it. My rule is to read the first five chapters. If I’m not hooked by then, I set it asside. If nothing makes me want to come back to it later, I DNF. I’ve spent several days thinking about why I did not like this book and why I was unable to finish it. I also tried to pick it up again...nope.

My biggest problem was this: I wasn’t able to connect with the main character. He fell totally flat. As the plot evolved, I wasn’t given a handhold to grasp onto. Nothing to connect to his wants, needs, etc. I couldn’t understand why the things that were happening mattered to him. 🤷‍♀️ It could have been happening to anyone. Why was he so speical and important? Anyone could have been the son of a traitor. What makes him so unique as a character?

There’s a scene in the first chapter where he’s working with a friend to con some nobles for money. I did not find out until he had gotten the money how important the money was: to be used to pay rent for his mother in an asylum. The author could have earned my sympathy for the MC early on if he had shown the MC’s drive and need for the money. It would have increased the suspense, which is very important for keeping a reader around. It could have been something as simple as: “I really hope this con works because if I don’t get this money for my mom, she’s going to be thrown out of the asylum.” At that point, armed with that knowledge, I would have been rooting for him to earn the money from the con. Instead, I could have cared less whether the con was successful or not.

But that seems to be the style of the whole story so far. We are told nothing in advance. Everything is told as it crops up, like an after thought. Oh, let me add this now. Oh let me sprinkle that in. This creates a story lacking of suspense. Here is an analogy from Abbe Emmons: If you have two people talking at a table and there’s a bomb sitting under the table, if both parties know the bomb will go off in five minutes, we the reader sit for five minutes in suspense. If no one knows about the bomb and it simply goes off, we are given twenty seconds of suspense. The author follows the style of the latter. No hints are given throughout the plot of what is to come. Everything is just “happening” to the caracter one thing at a time. I have no understanding of why any of it matters, what he’s working towards, his goals, desires, internal struggle...nothing. He is simply a punching bag for the plot.

Moreover, I felt that the first few chapters were very dense. I was so bored. It felt like reading a text book. Dry. This was unfortunate because the premise sounded amazing! I loved the idea of magic costing memory. I wish the author would have shown this early on because it might have been enough to hook me. Oh well. On to another book. Time is short. Books are plenty. And I’ve got a lot of reading to do.

Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. Wish this one would have worked out but it just wasn’t for me.

I struggled to get through the first half of the book, I wasn't connecting with the characters and it felt slow though I do like the concept and after I got half way through things started to pick up and I started to enjoy the novel. I liked the different take on magic and the twists that followed through the second half, over all a great debut.

In the Hollows, there has always been a Kingman as the right-hand man of the King, until ten years ago when David Kingman was found next to the body of Davey Hollow, the eldest prince, holding the gun used to kill Davey. David was executed for treason and his three children branded as traitors. The oldest two children had gotten on with their lives as best they could, but Michael Kingman, the youngest, was convinced his father was innocent, determined to prove it, and spent his time conning nobles for money to help keep his mother in the asylum where she could get care, as he tried to find a way to cure what ailed her. The book opens with Michael Kingman on trial for killing the king, with the remainder of the book explaining the events leading up to the trial. Michael finds himself with opportunities to possibly gain the information he needs to prove his father innocent, but it means attempting to re-enter high society, where he is not really welcome, and it means working with people who have their own agendas, which do not necessarily align with Michael's. He is forced to make deals that will prove to be life-altering, gets himself into serious trouble and danger at times, puts family and friends at risk, alienates friends, and finds himself having to chose between an opportunity for his family to leave the Hollows and be safe and secure elsewhere or pursue his efforts to unearth the "truth." His actions and inactions force him to confront who he really is and what is truly important to him. This book is full of action, intrigue, and adventure, with some rather surprising twists and turns. It is well worth reading and it sets up the sequel quite well.

My only real critique of the book is that it would benefit from an introductory section that identifies the major characters and sets forth the basic structure of the society, especially the different groups/organizations that protect and administer the kingdom. Early in the book there are references to the Scales, the Ravens, Forgotten, Advocators, Skeletons, Advocators, fabricators, etc., but what some of these terms refer to or represent is not well explained until later in the book.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

This ARC was provided in exchange for an honest review and honestly I should have read it a couple of weeks ago.

This is an excellent debut from Martell who has created a unique world, mysterious characters, his own law system and a deep and yet, undefined completely magical system.

The world building has been done really well and it’s easy enough in your head to picture the areas that Martell is describing whilst the protagonist is in them. I really feel that Martell has only shown us the top of the iceberg with this world he has began creating and in excited to see what characters and other creatures live here.

The characters in this book are good, varied enough to be considered different and for the most part, deep and interesting. Whilst some of the less used characters lack a bit of personality I would put this down to the fact that Martell hasn’t had them in the limelight enough to develop them. He also might be saving them for another appearance in the inevitable sequel.

As for the magic system, I love it. It’s interesting and confusing at the same time. Once you get your head around it, there really aren’t any limits to what people can do. It’s almost if someone asked a kid what the coolest magic abilities would be and they’ve said things like ‘wood magic, smoke magic, sound magic’ and then Martell has included them. I am super interested to see who else can use fabrications and in what capacity. The cost for using magic too much is also very unique and varied. You use magic and lose memory? Cool.

The story is twisting and turning, keeping you guessing the whole way through. You feel for the main protagonist’s situation and also watch him grow from a boy to a man mentally. It’s also got some shock moments which you don’t see coming which I love. This is a fantasy/political/murder mystery all rolled into one.

If you’re on the fence about this I would dive right in. I really enjoyed this book and thought the story was really good. It’s a great debut from someone who is clearly not finished carving out this world.

Thank you Netgalley and Saga Press for an advance copy of this book. I actually finished reading in early May and just realized my review wasn’t completed. This was an interesting story for me with good world building and a nice twist to its magic. Apparently using fabrication “magic” causes memory loss, which makes it easy to rewrite history in this volatile kingdom. Our main character, Michael Kingman, a young man from an infamous political family was at times quite maddening. Although well intentioned, he frequently makes questionable decisions and takes off in directions you know won’t end well. It takes awhile to discover who are the heroes and villains and that is really the best part. There is a lot more to this world than was exposed here so I’m looking forward to the continuation of the Kingman saga.

Like many reviewers have experienced, I also had a hard time with the first 40% of this book. The world building wasn't solid and the dialogue was a little clunky in spots. But since they said it got better, and I'd just DNFed another book, I trudged on. And it did! But while there were some interesting things that could have kept me riveted (like more Celona mythology exposition, immortality info, etc.), I'm not sure that this part of Michael Kingman's story was enough to make me interested in the next book.

Fun debut. The main character is the son of an executed traitor and he just wants to find out what really happened with his father. The world building is very well done and the fact that magic can make you forget is an excellent tool to let the writer bring out plot points bit by bit and keep the suspense high. I look forward to book two.

This was a great read and I really enjoyed it! The story really drew me in, and left me wanting more, and the characters were captivating and had me intrigued!

An interesting tale of family and secrets disguised as a fantasy novel of magic and memories. Reminiscent of The Princess Bride, there is revenge, love, betrayals and a quest for the truth. The final twist was unexpected and, even though revealed, sets up the start of the series nicely. Looking forward to the next installment.

There is no easy way to say this but I. Was. Sooo. Bored 🙈🙈🙈. The only reason I picked it up was because of Brandon Sanderson’s blurb but this book was just not for me. I gave up on it at about 30% because the plot had nothing new to offer in so far as I had read and the characters were so bland that I couldn’t find myself investing in them.
No rating as I think it wouldn’t be fair to rate a book I haven’t finished.

If you did a mash-up of the Mistborn Series and the Kingkiller Chronicles, you would have something similar to this book. It leans more towards Sanderson, with sprinkles of other influences throughout. No matter what I compare it to, it still felt fresh and exciting.

The prologue leads us into the story as Michael is sentenced to be executed. The book thereafter is the story about how he got into this predicament and not only is it a page turner but it's also one of the best books I've read all year. I am quick to point out things I don't like even in books I love. There's always something negative I find. Not this time. This is Nick Martell's debut novel and clearly we are all privileged to be alive while someone is putting out quality work like this.

Back to the story: Michael wants to better the life of his siblings and ailing mother, but they live condemned because their father had killed the prince and was subsequently executed. They were branded as traitors and although they come from high noble lineage, they are not treated poorly. All this turns into one of the books plot lines where Michael has to find out if his father really did commit the crime or not. We also have to find out if Michael is guilty of murdering the king as he had been accused in the prologue of. There's magic and modern weaponry (Guns). The moon itself is split seven ways and pieces of it plummet to the ground. A rebellion has threatened the kingdom in the name of Michael's father. There's a missing but not really princess and an arrogant prince we love to hate. A variety of other characters flesh out the supporting cast and I am so in love with the world that Martell has created that I am apologizing to my wallet preemptively because I will buy everything that Nick writes. He is just that good.