Evan Leikam's Anji Kills a King is a fast paced debut that kept me on the edge of my seat the entire read. High stakes dark fantasy worlds always are a huge hit for me, and this one checked all of my boxes. The perfect mix of grimdark and warmth will be found in this book. It was a fresh new voice in the grimdark scene. I loved it.

Okay, so first off—Anji kills a king. It's literally in the title and happens right at the start. No build-up, no hesitation.

This debut novel is a wild ride from page one. Anji’s on the run, dodging a group of bounty hunters called the Menagerie, who are as intense as they sound. The world-building is subtle but effective—Leikam doesn’t info dump on you; he lets it unfold as Anji’s journey does, laying down ground work for what is sure to be an epic trilogy... and did I mention there's magic? It’s gritty, grounded, and adds another intriguing element to the story. There's definitely a lot to build upon, and it leaves you wondering where it is all going.

What really hooked me though was the character development.. Anji, a spunky laundress who doesn't know when to shut up, is this morally grey character that you're just itching to get to know. What drives her? Why did she do it? Who is she going to grow to be? Not to mention the relationship she develops with the enigmatic bounty hunter Hawk. It's layered, complex and keeps you compelled to keep reading.

By the end I was feeling ALL THE FEELS, but felt satisfied enough with how things wrapped up that I'm prepared to wait for the next book.​

If you’re into fast-paced fantasy with a strong, flawed protagonist, Anji Kills a King is a must-read. It’s brutal, bold, and absolutely unputdownable.​

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for this ALC -- The narrator did an amazing job understanding the material and bringing the story to life. I hope they continue to narrate the entire series.

I'll start by saying Moira Quirk was AMAZING and absolutely made this experience lovely. Her voices, her pacing, her emotion. She brought this story to life!

Anji Kills a King is kind of like if the side quest in your favorite fantasy became the whole story. We're on a journey, but not sure why or what for. The stakes were incredibly high, and the deaths/loss along the way were violent and sad, but again, I wasn't sure why. In order for the traumatic events to make sense, we need to truly believe in our hero, support their cause, and root for their success. But with Anji, I just didn't know enough to say with confidence, yes, the deaths of these innocents are worth ensuring our hero's success.

I also think this book should be a stand alone. We didn't get enough world building or history to justify a continued storyline. I don't even know what the hero is fighting against. General corruption? Religious extremism? There just wasn't enough plot for me to know who the bad guys are and why they need to be toppled.

But all that being said, I had fun with this book. It was a very fast, fun read. A really impressive debut from Evan. I'm just not craving any more of this universe or this character.

I enjoyed this book enough to want to finish the book, but it wasn't amazing for me. I do think there is an audience for this book and I will be recommending it for the people that I think are a good fit for it.

I really enjoyed the beginning and the end, but the book really slowed down and I lost interest in the middle of the book.

I love the characters. Anji was spunky and fierce. The Hawk seemed ruthless, but you can tell it is in a protective, "this is for your own good" kind of way.

I also enjoyed how the book started after Anji had already killed a king and she was on the run. I thought that was different and creative.

This was a fun adventure and not overly complicated. I have heard/read complaints about Anji being annoying and I think she can be at times but I'm guessing her character arc is going to be a good one. I think the fact that she is this immature, talkative, naive character will lessen a bit as the series goes on, or at least I can hope. My complaint with this book is that I didn't really feel like enough happened. I liked the story as a whole, but as this is a setup for a bigger storyline I felt a bit let down by where it ended. I do appreciate that this book wasn't overly long and drawn out, but at times I did feel like some of the scenes were a bit repetitive. It's so hard to rate a book that is just beginning a series because you can't always see the bigger picture and I feel like Evan has a good storyline going and I almost wish I would have waited until this series was complete before delving into it but I'll say this was a good start. I'm not in love with it yet, but I see the potential and I'll be interested in reading the next book to see where we go from here.

Audio narration by Moira Quirk was spectacular and after listening to some of her other works, I was so excited to see she was narrating this story!

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

I devoured this book. What a fantastic debut novel for Evan Leikam. The cover of this book is what drew me in, but it went a lot further with clever plotting and character development between our two main characters. Anji is just a stubborn young woman hellbent on revenge but when the Menagerie, a lethal group of bounty hunters is tasked with bringing her in, she will learn and grow in something more. The Hawk stands out the most in this story. She is such a complex character who I wanted to know every detail about. Now for the audiobook aspect of this review. Moira Quirk narrated this masterpiece and she is now my new favorite narrator. Her ability to create such unique characters with her voice is top tier.

I really enjoyed this story. We follow Anji after she commits regicide and is found by a famous bounty hunter. This is a story of morality and the corruption of power, of how the many would terrify the few if they could ever unite and come to terms with a little discomfort for greater good. How there will always be someone waiting in the shadows to swoop in to keep the status quo of hierarchy if the many don’t band together. While this did have points that slowed, I enjoyed Anji’s story as well learning about The Hawk and lessons they both learned along the way. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Moira Quirk's narration really elevated this book. She is a favorite narrator of mine, and when I saw her name on this one I just knew I had to listen to it. Her performance is always a boon, and this is no exception. On book alone, I'd rate 3 stars. For the audiobook, Quirk brings it up to an easy 4 stars.

For the book, I liked the way it started out, but it is a bit too fast-paced to really get comfortable with the story or connect to the characters for me. I don't feel like I got enough explanation for their motivations. The world seems really interesting, especially the Menagerie and their masks. I liked the humor built in to what is otherwise fairly dark. The reveal at the end caught me off guard and I suspect a good adventure is coming in book 2, but I'll probably be skipping it.

Thank you Macmillan audio and NetGalley for the ALC!

"Anti Kills a King" is full of adventure! Reader's get dropped right into the deep end-- the king has been murdered in his sleep and the killer has escaped from the castle under the noses of the guards. Pretty soon, we meet the killer, a small girl named Anji who was working as a laundress in the castle.

What follows is a fast paced adventure, full of fighting, killing, scents of a revolution, and plenty of banter.

This book would be fantastic for young adults and fans of fantasy.

____________________

While I loved this story, I rated this story three stars because of the plot. It was very linear which lended itself well to the fast pacing but I found it slightly monotone. It felt like sword fighting at point A, then fighting at point B, then fighting at point C. I was excited when we met Anji in the pub drinking away and swindling the village folk out of their coin but we didn't get to see that side to her again until the very end. The story did leave off at a point where a second book is maybe in the works and I would be excited to see where that goes!

Thank you author Evan Leikam, Macmillan, and Netgalley for bringing this story to readers!

I wish I had enjoyed this more but unfortunately struggled to connect with the characters or feel engaged with the plot.

The narrator was, of course, a dream. I would listen to Moira Quirk read a grocery list. I appreciate the range of tones she does for different voices without it seeming too awkward or forced, and how well she inserts emotion into her inflections. A+ experience as far as listening goes.

However, I just didn’t feel like the characters had enough depth to truly feel connected to them. Anji started off enjoyable—funny, defiant, mysterious. But she never really developed beyond that. She didn’t even have a particularly deep or interesting reason for killing the king. I also started to get very irritated with her inability to ever stay quiet. Some quips are enjoyable; non-stop talking every single time the Hawk or anyone else tells her not to, even when they are like, “we will literally die if you don’t stop quipping,” was too much.

I was also hoping for more in terms of plot, magic system, world building. The people in power are corrupt and the rebels are being hunted by them. Okay. That is the baseline for 90% of fantasy novels. What new thing does this book have to say that hasn’t been said before? And if it doesn’t have anything new to say, at least explain more about the menagerie’s magic, the particulars of why they are rebeling. I felt like very few of my questions were answered beyond what I already knew from the blurb or what I could have guessed from reading fantasy on a regular basis. The endless travel did not help either, as far as breaking up the plot or keeping things engaging. I was often torn between feeling bored and feeling grossed out at the gore/fluid descriptions.

I will say, on a prose level, I had no complaints. Technically this is well written, easy to understand, and different characters had distinct tones and mannerisms. I’m sure someone will enjoy this.

Any book narrated by Moira Quirk is a delight to listen to.

Anji kills a king and from there it only gets worse. On the run for her crime with virtually everyone in the country looking for her, Anji gets captured by the notorious bounty hunter known as the Hawk, and it somehow gets even worse for her. I am a fan of journey stories , and “Anji Kills a King’ did not disappoint in that regard: Anji and Hawk’s travels are non-stop action, constantly fighting enemies, flesh-eating spiders, or each other. Throughout the journey, Anji grapples with what she has done, how her actions fit in the broader scope of the world surrounding her, and what it actually means to stand up in the face of injustice.

At first Anji comes across as hotheaded and annoying, but as I mentioned before, she does get her well-deserved character development in the end. The Hawk, however, was the spotlight of the book for me, as we need more badass old ladies in fantasy. The secondary characters did not disappoint either, and I loved how fleshed-out each member of the Menagerie felt.

At only 10 hours or so, the book didn’t really meet my preferred quota of worldbuilding, but this can be forgiven as this is the first book in a series, and I hope the glimpses of worldbuilding we got here will be expanded in the sequel. The ending was the right amount of shocking and it got me rightfully thrilled for the next installment in the series!

The audiobook was a 10/10, Moira Quirk never disappoints; the action scenes especially were great to listen to, as she perfectly conveyed the sense of urgency in her narration.

4.5/5, a great debut!

Anji kills a king (this isn't a spoiler, it's the title and first sentence), and then goes on the run, only to be captured by The Hawk, a bounty hunter and member of the legendary Menagerie. As they travel towards Anji's demise and The Hawk's reward, they soon find themselves on the run, attempting to survive both the monsters of the world and the rest of The Menagerie, who want Anji for themselves.

I couldn't put this book down (or rather, I binge listened to the audiobook in one day)! It's action packed and quickly paced, which made me want to keep reading/listening to find out how each obstacle would be overcome. This is a book for plot readers, as it's the action and constant movement that make the story addicting. While the characters (beyond Anji) aren't very developed, I thought the author gave us enough details to move forward the plot. The main character is a bit yappy and insufferable in parts, but the relationship between Anji and The Hawk was interesting enough that I wanted to keep reading to see how it would develop. The ending was also very satisfying, and I certainly didn't predict how it turned out, which made it all the more satisfying. I thought the writing was excellent, with just the right balance of showing vs telling and enough description to get me interested in the world and fantasy elements. The audiobook narrator was excellent and really added to the reading experience via her use of different voices for different characters and general emotiveness - she really brought the characters to life!

Overall this is a fast paced, action packed travel story that will satisfy plot driven fantasy readers, and I'm already looking forward to reading more in the series!

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was quite the journey to go on. Anji was a relatable character and I enjoyed seeing her develop on the page. At times I felt the mask descriptions were a little off putting in the audio because they would just call them Hawk for example. And after a while you were like okay I get it. I think I would have liked the world and journey a little more if they mentioned the detail but associated the mask and ability with a persons name. Instead titles were used all the way to the end. It is like reading a book and then only calling them the king and we never say his name. After a bit we get he is the king. We don’t need to hear it anymore. I however get this made her concept and story unique but I felt to this extent it was unnecessary and less would have been more in this instance.

An excellent debut by booktok's Evan Leikam. Full of action and great character development moments. An interesting look at the difference age and experience make with young Anji's thoughts and actions juxtaposed with older and more experienced Hawk. The ending left me looking forward to the next installment and to see what happens to Anji next.

First and foremost, thank you to the publishers for providing an e-ARC of the book. This story was truly wonderful in its inventiveness. I was first introduced to this author through Instagram, and I was so excited to see he was writing a book!

I experienced this story through the audiobook, which was an absolute delight. The narration brought the characters and the world to life in such a vivid way. I especially enjoyed the character development throughout the book—it was so fun to watch the bonds between characters grow and to see how they worked together to solve challenges. The narrator did a wonderful job bringing the author's characters to life.

Four stars!

A propulsive fantasy novel that does not let up, Anji Kills a King is about the titular Anji, who does indeed kill the king, and her journey across her country to be turned in for her bounty by a heartless bounty hunter known as the Hawk. The Hawk is part of the menagerie, an animal-masked troupe of the best bounty hunters in the world. It's a Tolkien-esque journey told in the pace of an early Sanderson novel where our protagonists quickly go from episode to episode on their way south. Wonderfully written and great characters despite its brisk pace. An excellent standalone fantasy novel that also happens to be the first in a series.

In this debut fantasy, we're following Anji after she kills a king. This happens in the first chapter, and the adventure definitely doesn't just stop there. Along the way, she encounters different famous mercenaries who all want to claim the reward on her head.

One of the things that I enjoyed most about this book is the relationship between Anji and Hawk. Seeing the way that they evolve throughout the story kept me interested and strangely hopeful. The tropes that were used in these books were very familiar, yet Evan made them seem fresh and new instead of tiresome. Also, the ending of this book is everything that I wanted. There was a bit of a cliffhanger, but this book could still be read as a standalone in my opinion. I'm really looking forward to learning more about the world and the magic in the next book since the world building was on the more minimal side.

This book only comes in at about 344 pages, which is pretty short for a fantasy book, but I thought it was the perfect length. The language used was fairly simplistic so it was an easy read. The narrator also did a fantastic job with the material.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it!

Probably 3.5 stars. This book was good. I think what was missing for me was that I didn't feel emotionally attached to any of these characters. I liked Anji well enough but never really cared what happened to her. Also I found the story a bit repetitive. The writing is strong and the dialogue even stronger.

[3.5 stars rounded down]

Anji Kills a King is a story about Anji, a young woman working as a servant in the king’s castle, who shoves a letter opener through the king’s neck, gets pretty far away, and then is captured by a grizzled old bounty hunter who is dead-set on taking Anji back to the castle to collect the bounty. This is a decently strong debut and a good first book in the series. However, there were some pacing and character issues that bothered me throughout and stopped me from really enjoying the story.

Opening with Anji covering the king’s mouth and the letter opener already in his throat, we meet Anji at a strange moment in her life. Having lived in the castle as a laundress for the last six years, she is forced to grab her very meager belongings and slip out of the castle in an attempt to get anywhere away from there. The Menagerie, a team of five ageing bounty hunters who are just starting to become past their prime are sent after her, not to mention her poster on every open wall in the country. Warnings about the new governing power held by a fanatic religious organization, the new drug on the market and the monsters related to it, and the whispers of growing rebellion are developed over the course of this novel, all seen through Anji’s eyes as she’s chartered on a roundabout route to the castle by The Hawk - a member of The Menagerie.

Chapters in this book are short and plentiful. With nearly 50 chapters in a just over 350 page book, you are constantly moving with the two main characters (mind that this is mostly a travel story). Pacing of individual chapters is done very well. There are tight in-chapter arcs that never feel as though they meander too far from the overarching storyline. However, there are many moments where I wished we spent more time on a scene. Sometimes, I felt as though we barely met someone or were introduced to a place before we were rushed out of there alongside Anji and The Hawk.

Action sequences are also written very well. I listened to the audiobook and every fight scene was a standout. Descriptions are clear enough to keep track of where everyone is while also developing the movement and grit within them. Violent scenes are written out gruesomely without stepping into splatterpunk territory and are the perfect amount of them where they neither feel out of nowhere nor overused. Scenes that are just as high tensioned, though not necessarily action scenes, are also utilized well and, except for a few moments with Anji talking too much, hold the perfect amount of tension. These scenes of high caliber action and tension are the best in the novel and I hope that he leans into this with his future works even more.

The most common complaint I see in other reviews is of Anji herself. I, personally, did not find her nearly as unbearable as some others seem to have. She is a chatty protagonist, yes. She is purposefully causing issues and provoking The Hawk, yes. It’s understandable, though. She thinks to herself early on that she is trying to provoke The Hawk into letting something slip that Anji can use against her or to escape. She’s knowingly doing this, both as a character trait and as a plan. I really don’t read books with this chatty of a protagonist, nor one with so much focus on back and forth spats between the two main characters, so for me this was a pretty fun change of pace. There were two main moments, though, where Anji became unbearable to me. Like, it felt unnecessarily drawn out that she did not shut up after the first time The Hawk told her to and it felt forced. Her thought process has some errors as well where, at times, Anji would flip back and forth between opinions with no reasoning for her choice changing. There were a few moments like this from either main character scattered, though not a constant or overbearing issue.

The Hawk is an enjoyable character. I have a lot less to say about her than Anji - maybe a bad thing as she left a lot less of any impact on me - but she was enjoyable enough most of the time. I’m glad that she was allowed to be an older woman who spit and lied a lot. We spend most of the time with her either interacting solely with Anji or an occasional guard or religious order member, so it was refreshing to see how she changed when meeting with an old friend at a later point.

The author is also very good at showing, not telling things. Instead of relying on a character just telling us that people have been struggling under the king’s governance and poverty is horrible right now, we get a scene between Anji and an orphaned kid in a town. We hear about the local lamplighter going missing at the same time one of the new monsters has been spotted near town. We see our main characters interact with members of the religious order. Though there are times where the audience lacks information because of this (we learn next to nothing about the magic system or how it works, though mind that this is both the first novel in the series and the magic is not a major part of the plot), it reads as really skilled writing from the author. It’s not the most in-depth worldbuilding you will find in a fantasy/second world novel, but what we get is done very well and works with the plot and characters.

Moving onto more strictly criticisms, I think that the overall pacing was an issue. I said earlier that the individual chapter pacing was done well, but as a whole there were many moments that felt like we were going nowhere. The beginning arc of this novel is the biggest issue. It is very formulaic with “The Hawk has Anji captured, Anji thinks that she wants to escape. The Hawk seemingly lets her guard down slightly. Anji tries to escape but fails miserably. The Hawk admonishes her. They eat or interact with their horse or sleep.” Rinse and repeat. I don’t think the amount of scenes or page numbers is the issue. If Anji did not repeatedly try to escape, I would have been frustrated with her and thought it to be out of character. Her stubbornness and arrogance at times is key to her character, and her repeated escape attempts capture that well. If this was 20% of a longer novel, it would work just fine. However, this takes up around 40% of this novel. After this point, the plot takes off, but I don’t feel that the pacing ever quite recovers from this initial stagnation.

The novel peaks in the middle and stumbles greatly at the end. The middle, where we meet several different great characters in a few nice changes of setting and pace works well. The terror in the first of these two parts are palpable, the comfort and lingering dread of the next is fresh. It’s also refreshing to see Anji interact with characters other than The Hawk after all this time, and the same goes for The Hawk towards others as well. I think the ending stumbled greatly, though. The leadup to the ending leads to a strange detour, an under-explained fight sequence, and an overly convenient solution to all their problems. The ending itself was surprising, yes, but I don’t feel like it was fully earned. I felt like the author wrote the ending before drafting the lead up to the ending, but was so determined to keep the novel this short that he had to cram in the lead up. Both pacing and characters falter, and several reveals are not earned and feel unsatisfactory. No plot holes or anything abysmal like that, just not the best writing. Even another fifty pages could have really helped.

Overall, a decently strong debut and first novel in a promising fantasy series. As long as you like a chatty protagonist and ribs back and forth between the two main characters, you’ll enjoy this one. I am really looking forward to more of this world in the future books of the series!

This was a wild ride and so were my opinions about it. At first I was totally on board. Then there was a part in the middle where I started to wonder whether the author had a plan…but then the character development suddenly kicked into high gear and led to a satisfying (and somewhat surprising) ending!

Anji is a very realistic feeling protagonist…in the sense that she is sometimes kind of stupid. The book is overall very gritty, in the sense that it is gross. The author loves to describe bodily fluids, particularly snot, urine, etc. Probably realistic given the number of fight scenes in cold weather, living in campsites, etc. But maybe a bit excessive at times, for my personal liking. Very grim in that anyone can die (again, sometimes maybe verging on gratuitous, and sometimes tragic).

The slow, satisfying character growth, in both of the two main characters, pays off well in the end. I wish that character development had started earlier but it did work (she gets less stupid, for one thing). Similarly, the world-building: we are thrown right into the middle of the action, and it takes a long time for information to be revealed. Maybe slightly too long, and maybe not quite enough information, but enough for the plot to make sense and to keep me interested.

With all of that said, I would recommend this book. It was engaging and gritty, and very consciously plays around with a lot of fantasy tropes; also, the audiobook narrator, Moira Quirk, is great.