*Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for early copy for review*

This had a lot of potential, but ended up getting lost in the repetitive nature of it being a travel storyline. The biggest thing with a fantasy series book one is if it makes me want to continue and this did not do that for me. I would have preferred a restructuring and making this a standalone maybe.
The narration in the audiobook was good, but the audiobook does not add anything special to make it a must listen.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Evan Leikam for providing me with the opportunity to listen to this advanced listening copy of Anji Kills a King.

This story knocked me out of my slump and I’m thankful. This book is a fiery and beautiful debut! Congratulations Evan!

I’ve been following Evan and his book reviews/rants for a while now, I can see that his debut is a love letter to all of the fantasy books he’s enjoyed in his lifetime. This new world is so inviting, easy to understand, and the magic system wasn’t too difficult to grasp. I enjoyed how the characters could never catch a break because, OBVIOUSLY, ANJI KILLED A KING! I never knew what to expect next.

I can’t wait to learn more! I can’t wait to see what other shenanigans Anji gets herself into.

I’m really looking forward to continuing this series and I’m excited for Evan’s journey as an author.

I can actually see a lot of people liking this book, but it wasn’t for me. It starts off intriguing, is fast-paced, a unique fantasy, and has a great narrator on audio. However, I never felt fully invested in the story and had a hard time getting into it. The gory shock factors got pretty old.

Fans of Joe Abercrombie will love this book! The story follows Anji, who as the title proclaims, kills a king. But what happens after is dark and gory, with twists you may or may not see coming. The book took a minute to get going, but by the end I could not out it down! I will definitley be reading book 2 and look forward to reading more about this world!

Rating = 4.25

Anji Kills a King has such a nostalgic quality to it while still standing on its own as a unique story. It feels like ‘coming home’ into classic grim-dark fantasy and reminds me of all the fantasy worlds and tropes I fell in love with as a kid.

Part of what makes this unique is it is a story told in reverse to the typical tale. We open the first book on a scene where a series would usually end: the protagonist kills a corrupt king. The rest of the story uncovers the motives and rippling consequences of this act.

A lot of the plot is a fantasy ‘travel’ story which lends to the nostalgic feel of the book, but can feel a little slow and repetitive at times. I loved Anji as a character and despite her impulsiveness and naivety, will always root for her.

The ending had me tearing up and I was surprised how much I had grown attached to these characters and their complicated relationship. I am so excited to see where this series goes from here.

Moira Quirk truly brings this story to life in the audiobook. Cannot recommend the audiobook version highly enough!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an ALC in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan.Audio for the arc. This one was a miss for me, so take my review with a pinch of salt. As always, your mileage may vary.

I’ve been complaining about sff book covers for the traditionally published books for two years now but I have no complaints with this cover. It has an excellent cover that immediately drew me in. Take a bow Oliver Barrett and Shreya Gupta. And another bow to Moira Quirk. What a narrator. She is excellent, brings more to the book, and is instrumental in me finishing the book.

Coming to the book, it is similar in plot to The Blacktongue Thief definitely. It follows a quest narrative with two MCs traveling far and wide but my main problem was that I wasn’t able to be invested in either of the two. There was not enough wit, emotion, or character development to endear the two characters to me. Anji especially fell very flat for me and I would have enjoyed the book significantly more if I had endeared her. Even after 50% of the book, I was feeling no intrigue in her journey and might have stopped reading if it weren’t for Moira Quirk and it being an arc. And this lackluster character work also extends to all of the side characters, none of them are the least bit memorable.

Another major stumbling block for me is the way these two MCs interact. Hawk does something and then Anji asks her why she’s doing that thing and Hawk tells her to shut up and then no information is revealed at all. This keeps happening throughout the book. I have read books that have this kind of behavior between the MCs but it is not done well here. I don’t like Hawk enough to enjoy it when she’s being haughty and I don’t sympathize enough with Anji to feel for her when she gets no answers from Hawk. Specifically they get into a big fight in the second half of the book after they are separated from each other briefly and the way this argument went drained all of my interest. And I learnt nothing new about the characters, the journey, the world, the magic, the lore, anything… Hawk kept going on about how Anji doesn’t understand the consequences of her action but refused to elaborate for no reason. It is only after 80% of the book this is revealed and at that point I was just waiting for the book to end. There were also other inconsistencies but talking about those would venture into spoiler territory.

The action scenes did not grab me too. I felt like there was potential for a lot of good action because the book literally had people taking drugs and becoming monsters as a side-effect and yet I didn’t get to enjoy it. I also did not learn enough about the world, the religious order, why the king had to be killed, the magic system, how the mercenary group became so feared, and what little I learnt was toward the very end of the book. I understand that everything cannot be expanded in the first book of a fantasy series but even allowing for all that gradual unfolding I still sincerely feel what was present is not enough. I definitely need more depth than this in the first book for me to build enough momentum and pick up the sequels.

In conclusion, this book was not for me and I did not find many redeeming qualities to end on a positive note. As I read more books I have realized that any of the deficiencies I find in different aspects of the book like plot, world-building, action scenes, magic systems can be overlooked if I just liked the characters enough. Conversely, poorly developed or uninteresting characters completely kill the interest in the story and that’s what happened to me here.

Anji has an opportunity to kill an evil king, she takes it. Hawk captures Anji and is returning her to face justice and collect the bounty. The chemistry between the two is magical. There is a rollercoaster of emotions grief, trauma from harsh religion. The story is filled with action and adventure. This is an incredible debut.

4 stars


Thank you to Tor Books and Macmillan Audio for the ALC. The narrator Miora Quirk was great.

Anji Kills a King starts out very strong, getting right to the action. But after that, the pacing seems really off. It's a "travel" type story so it felt repetitive at times. I also found the FMC to be aggravating in the way she constantly worked against her own interests.

I did enjoy the ending of this book, but I feel like it could have built up to it better. The book was easy to follow and overall the story was good.

The audio quality and production was fantastic and I did very much enjoy the narration.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for this advanced audio copy.

I was able to receive an ARC of the audiobook. Thank you Net Galley! This was a great start to a journey I’m looking forward to continue! Watching characters deal with their own personal struggles added some extra depth into the story and really helped capture my attention throughout. Moira Quirk KILLED as the narrator for this one!

4.5 ⭐️ This is an absolute triumph as a debut for Evan Leikam.

This had all the makings of a classic, thoroughly enjoyable epic fantasy. Traversing the world and seeing the people, cityscapes and terrain up close and personal. ✔️ Unruly magic and systems set in place to "control" the users of said abilities. ✔️ Corrupt religious organizations and an even more corrupt monarchy. ✔️ Miserly assassin and a hot-headed runaway combo. ✔️

This was a story of rising above your station through whatever means available and necessary, regardless of the moral dilemmas one might face while clawing their way higher. Through grit, grief, desperation and outright violence, we watch our MCs face unspeakable evil (both human and supernatural) all while trying to survive just another night in an oppressively cruel world.

The twists and turns in the final 20% of the book had me gaping and near-tears... it was one of the MOST satisfying endings to a book that I've read in a long time.

And to speak on the narration done by Moira Quirk: an absolute masterful job done. I'll be looking for more books read by her; she breathed life into the characters and world of this story.

The only reason I didn't give this a 5 ⭐️ review was due to the somewhat repetitive dialogue/plot/pacing. A good chunk of their journey could have been cut shorter or the same arguments they were having could have been omitted once or twice. Otherwise, this story was quick, sharp and engaging.

I truly hope we see more of this world in the future!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for giving me the opportunity to listen to this book early and share my honest review. All reviews will be posted to my socials (Netgalley, Goodreads, Fable, IG).

My Rating: 4*

As the book opens Anji has just killed the king and is on the run for her crime. She is able to slip out of the castle quickly, but knows people will be on her tail soon so she has to find a way to hide herself and blend in with the crowds. She shaves her head and tries to look more like a boy, but soon a bounty hunter named Hawk finds her and drags her kicking and screaming out of the pub.

As Hawk drags Anji across the country to be tried for her crime, we learn Hawk is part (or was a part) of a group of bounty hunters called the Menagerie. However, it seems Hawk is going against her fellow members and as she and Anji travel, they encounter the others which does not go well for anyone. Tensions run incredibly high through this entire book and even though Anji gets beaten up (a lot), one could really argue that she’s a fugitive and king killer so should she really be given leniency.

Overall, the book is action packed and stakes are high. Anji does complain about the unfairness of the situation, but she’s not really a super likeable character so it’s hard to find much pity for her. Hawk is also not a likeable character and her mysterious illness seems to be killing her quickly. Everyone is subject to the consequences of their own actions in this book, so be prepared for more than a handful of characters to meet their fated end.

I enjoyed the fact that this book was fast paced, action packed, and had some good banter/bickering. But I found that it lacked in a lot of areas. I know there’s inspiration from character driven books such as Abercrombie’s work- but the character motives and wit weren’t enough to carry it along. I think it needed to add more depth earlier on, or have more plot and backstory. Without more of those elements, it did feel like a mini-boss-to-mini-boss traveling story. I just wanted to know MORE. It was intriguing though and I’ll probably read the next installment. Moira Quirk was definitely key in my enjoyment- her narration never misses.

Anji Kills a King is the debut of a sweeping new fantasy series by Evan Leikam. The characters were charismatic and easily distinguishable, even in audio format. The biggest strength of the novel is the flowing writing style and the beautiful landscapes that Anji and her companions travel through. While a bit more worldbuilding would be helpful, I'm sure we'll see more from subsequent books in the series, and I'm curious to see where Anji goes next. Many thanks to NetGalley and Tor for the eARC and audio ARC!

Anji Kills a King is a brutal, action-packed, grimy fantasy and I had a wonderful time with it. So often in fantasy stories, our heroes ride horses down packed dirt roads on a journey from a fire in the middle of a woods one evening to a tavern in a random village the next. In those stories, we don’t get the brutality and dirtiness as a character, but in Evan Leikam’s debut novel, he took the nature of the world and made it a core feature of Anji’s story as she has to grapple with the consequences of her actions.

Leikam starts quickly with the plot. The book isn’t about Anji in her journey and process to kill the king. Instead, the assassination happens almost before we are more than a few beats into the book. The plot, instead, is about what happens to Anji afterwards -- the ramifications of her actions on the world and her future. Her killing of the king might have been correct -- might have been justified -- but she is still a royal assassin and has to be held accountable.

That’s where the Hawk steps in. The Hawk is one of the members of the Menagerie who are like a Seal Team 6 for this fantasyland with animal-themed names and masks. There’s a lot more to the Hawk’s story that takes a lot of coaxing and time by Anji to discover and the Hawk’s backstory ultimately shows what the story beyond this book will be.

The interplay between Anji and the Hawk is brutal and rough. Anji has a big mouth, and at first, the conversations between the two are entirely one-sided and as a reader, it was a bit understandable when Anji was told to shut up or threatened with violence. But even with the Hawk’s treatment of Anji, we see that it could be worse when other members of the Menagerie show up.

I really liked this book, but I can totally see where someone might claim this book was just a giant set-up for the next book in the series. The ending is a huge payoff for the journey that Anji and the Hawk go through and helps to show what’s really at stake and what our protagonist will be up to once the second book starts (presumably with a bang).

Evan Leikam did really well for a debut novel and I’ll be on the lookout for the second book in The Rising Tide series down the road. And as always, Moira Quirk did an excellent job in narration for the book, capturing Anji’s fresh attitude and the Hawk’s war-weariness.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Tor Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I think this was a good book overall but I do have some mixed feelings. Let start with the pros:

Anji has a fun personality and the story told in her POV has style. I also think the dialog was fantastic and very entertaining.

In general, I think the prose is good. It has a little bit of a YA vibe, but also strong action-adventure vibes. This is a writing style that I feel could solidly fit into a "new adult" category if that phrase had any standard meaning. Except unlike how that term is usually used (feels like YA but the characters are technically over 18 so it also has spice), this book has NO ROMANCE. I mean zero, zilch, nada. Do you know how impressive that is to me? I know that will be a downside for some people, but I really liked it. If you want to write a story with big stakes at the same time as a romance plot, it's very difficult to pull that off believably. And this book had a lot of other big themes to address instead including introduction to some political woes, a corrupt religious power, and a drug-addiction epidemic. So I think trying to fit a romance into this story would have been a big strain. Plus, there was some strong and lovely friendship development and I feel like we don't always see that enough in books, especially in fantasy novels.

Now onto some mixed things:

In some ways the book seems to start slow, not in the sense of action; that hits the ground running. Point: Anji literally kills a king in the opening line. The slowness was in my investment in the characters, world, and story. I felt like it was a struggle to find something to click with me to help me want to keep reading. I felt like I was really missing something for the first 30% of the book and couldn't help but wonder where is all this going? I definitely got into it more as it went along. But gets better slowly too. So for the first 30% I was like.... ok.....and? The next 30% was very: sure... I geuss. And then the final 30%, I was actually interested. Maybe that's not a bad breakdown in the scheme of the whole series, but a lot of people will dnf before they get that far. A first book, especially has to be something that hooks people rather than something they push through. BUT its a debut novel. And it's still significantly better and more interesting than some things I've read by established, traditionally published authors. I think it's important to point out here that my standards are pretty high and what I wish was a bit more engaging and less "trust me, keep reading", might be perfectly fine, if not great, to others.

I also really liked the narrator of the audio book, but I did at times wonder if she was carrying the story through some of the parts that I felt dragged a little.

My last mixed thing is that I really wasn't expecting this to be a story about substance abuse, but it turns out, it is. It's actually a pretty big theme by the end of the story. And wow; I was both confused by it and appreciative of it. The confusion comes from a sort of lack of foreshadowing I think. It's not until Anji meets an addict at what feels like, 40% of the way through the book (don't quote me on that) that it even comes up. I suppose that could be considered foreshadowing, but it's already pretty far in, even if it's closer to 30%. But, also, I really like the idea that magic can make evil destructive things as pedestrian as transformative (as in shape-shifting) methamphetamine. It's a fantasy trope for the evil things to be like pure evil and the biggest ever stakes (like, this magic will end all life, or the villain will control your mind and rule the universe), but this is everyday stakes, though still very life-altering ones, with a magic twist. And its and incredibly important topic that our real lives need some humanizing influence for. So I think it's an amazing thing for a fantasy book to try to tackle that.

And speaking of drug use, this book seriously needed trigger warnings, so if you havent read this book yet, and you've gotten this far and are keen to check it out but concerned about triggers, please check the storygraph and good reads content warnings.

Now for cons:

Anji is kind of a brat and she's pretty stupid. Those aren't deal breakers for me, unlikable characters are totally allowable, but it's tough to pull them off if you're not really practiced at character work that can keep the reader wanting to read. Sometimes we want to read unlikable characters like we want to watch car accidents. But this kind of story makes me think we're supposed to route for her, which I personally found difficult. I think that main reason is that was was extremely difficult, especially in the beginning, to understand her motivations. It felt like a hero-driven fantasy but without any kind of quest or goal which was just strange.

Anji kills the king on page one and the why is kind of a mystery. Her explanation seems to be "He kinda sucked. Everyone hated him and he did bad things, so I got rid of him." Awhile later she condemns the actions of "murders and rapists" as if she herself isn't a murderer. She's quickly captured by a legendary warrior and her only goal is to escape. In many stories that's enough, but then what? Will she continue to rebel against the government? Does she have loved ones to live for? Does she dream of living in a secluded cabin in the forest with a hive of bees and a mangy dog? What does she want for her life? What are her dreams? What are her values? What drives her? She just seems to think that being captured for regicide is ludicrous and her captor is incredibly unfair for wanting to turn her in, not to mention rude. And that seems to be why she wants to escape. She occasionally expresses a moment of desperation to escape, but I'm just not buying it.

I felt like the author withheld a lot about Anji: her backatory, her motivations, etc, in order to make us curious, but I think he held back too much. If you want to make readers curious, you need to dangle a few details. Just not knowing something doesn't inherently make it a mystery.

Let me explain:
Imagine someone telling you simple that someone they know died. You might be a little curious about what happened, but it's not a burning curiosity. Mostly, the instinct is to reassure and condol the person sharing the news. Now imagine you come across a dead body. You'll definitely want to know what happened to that person. Why? Because you have direct access to just a few details. If they appear to have fallen off a building, you'll wonder how. Was it accidental or intentional? Was it self inflicted or perpetrated? What if the body looks stabbed? You'll naturally wonder who stabbed them? Why? With what? What if there's not a mark on them? That's also interesting. Did they have a heart attack? Did something trigger it? Were they poisoned? Notice how having some details, but not all the details makes us curious. I got the feeling I was supposed to be more curious about Anji but I just wasn't. I really wasn't invested until I had some more details to make me curious and also give me some context for what was happening.

In the end, I enjoyed this book and I'm glad I read it, but I did not feel that way at first. I'm really glad it got better and I'm really hopeful to see more from Evan Leikam.

***5.0 Stars***

Overall,
What a fantastic debut novel by Evan Leikam. I have followed him on TikTok for years so when I got the opportunity to receive an audio Advance Reader Copy from netgalley, I jumped at the chance. I was also lucky enough to receive a physical ARC from a goodreads giveaway. So with all of that said the book. This book posits the question of what if a no name nobody kills the evil king and almost gets away with it. It explores what the fall out is and really hits home on the fantasy trope that is kill the bad guy and its happily ever after. Instead this book explores that one person is not the only reason for all of the bad in our lives. I highly recommend that you pick this book up and am eagerly awaiting the next book.

***I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my free and honest review***

Anji did something terrible. She killed a king. Now everyone tries to make some coin by catching the kingslayer. Anji doesn't have a plan. She's a go-with-the-flow person. When the famous Hawk traps her, they form an interesting relationship—one for the stories. And here we are.

Honestly, I had an extremely hard time separating my love for Evan's content from the fact he's the one who wrote this book. I must admit that he has a way with language. Yet the story and its presentation didn't land for me. Quite the opposite. I was lost between the action and characters. I couldn't find any connection to them, their personalities dry like raisins in the sun. I also think that the delivery of the audiobook did a disservice to my review. Unfortunately, the narrator has a problem with properly annunciating words, and it was hard to understand her at times. It completely ruined my experience. The production itself had some whistling sounds in the background, and that distraction didn’t help, either.

With all that being said, when the dust settles, I might pick up the physical copy of the book to see why this story lured me with its synopsis in the first place. I'm always a sucker for hard friendships, and I thought this experience would be the same.

The premise of this book is so fascinating to me because often a series will end with the death of a king and this book was done in the reverse. I listened to the audiobook and I had experienced and loved a Moira Quirk book before but she really demonstrated the art of narration with the emotion and performance she puts into her work.
I thought Anji was a fantastic character- she's close to a normie thrown into a fantasy novel where she needs to slay the dragon and didn't realize the ramifications of her actions until afterwards. Naively, she performs regicide thinking that is the issue, not realizing all of the other factors in play.
I'm fascinated to see where the series progresses from here especially with that ending!

Anji kills the king, then flees in hopes to evade those searching for the assassin. Unfortunately for her, the bounty is so high for her capture that the famed Menagerie, a group of mercenaries, are after her.

This was an anticipated read and it was an enjoyable read. It was fast paced, full of grueling travel, & constant danger lurking around every corner. I think Leikam did an excellent job with his imagery. He didn’t shy away from grotesque descriptions and really showed the nitty-gritty aspects of the characters. I really appreciated the back stories we got for Anji and Hawk. This is definitely character driven and we are given some pieces of the world and magic relics but I wish I was given a little more on world building. There were bits that were predictable but still enjoyable. And the epilogue definitely made me want to continue on and see what happens next.

The narrator did an excellent job! I really enjoyed listening to this.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an ALC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this advanced copy! You can pick up Anji Kills a King on May 13, 2025.

After following Evan's journey for years, I'm so glad to report that his debut novel was a really wonderful fantasy entry. His voice was clear, his world-building complex and well-rounded, and the characters absolutely leaped off the page.

We're thrown into this book with Anji murdering King Rolandrian, prompting her run from the law and the zealous Sun Wardens hunting her down. Little did she know that the Hawk, a member of the renowned Menagerie, was also on her tail. At first, the Hawk and Anji's relationship is fraught, with Anji being the most unwilling prisoner to ever exist and the Hawk sick of putting up with her antics.

But as the duo continue to evade death and capture from other bounty hunters, they begin to open up to one another and develop a closer bond. We learn more about Anji's rebellious parents and the Hawk's history growing up in a gang, as well as her addiction to a debilitating drug, Rail. Similar to The Witcher or The Mandalorian, what started out as a lone wolf figure putting up with this kid for duty's sake turns into something much more meaningful.

Which makes the ending that much more devastating. No spoilers, but the choices made by Anji and the Hawk hurt the reader just as much as the characters. I'm curious to see where Book2 goes, and excited for Evan's progression as an author!