I did not know this was going to end on a cliffhangers! Oh my goodness please give me more immediately!
Sunny and Ethan? They're couple goals!
I love the modern lore retelling with a fantasy twist.

Jayci Lee’s King Foretold, the second installment in the Realm of Four Kingdoms series, dives deeper into a richly imagined world rooted in Korean mythology—and it’s that cultural foundation that truly sets this fantasy apart.

Following the events of the first book, our heroes continue their quest to purge the realms of the lingering evil threatening their world. Sunny, the protagonist, really comes into her own here. Her personal growth—especially her rising confidence and agency—was one of the highlights of the story. Watching her step more fully into her power was both satisfying and well-earned.

The worldbuilding continues to impress, especially the unique mythological elements that draw from Korean folklore—something not often explored in mainstream fantasy, and a refreshing change. Lee’s writing is vivid and immersive, making it easy to get swept up in the setting and stakes.

That said, the romantic subplot didn’t quite land for me. It felt uneven and, at times, a little too manufactured—veering into love triangle territory without fully committing. While romance fans may still find moments to enjoy, it didn’t feel as organic or compelling as the rest of the plot.

Still, King Foretold is an engaging read with a lot to offer—especially for readers drawn to myth-based fantasy with strong female leads and intricate worldbuilding. It may not have hit every note perfectly, but it left me invested in the journey and curious to see where the series goes next.

I was not a big fan of the writing in this book. While advertised as an adult fantasy, the writing is sloppy and juvenile. The main character is unrelatable and insufferable.

This has got to be one of my favorite modernish paranormal romance series ever. I loved the first one and the second was a great closer for the duology. I actually thought this was going to be a trilogy!

Usually pacing feels off to me when it comes to duologies, but this didn't. The romance was slow and sexy and ultimately I had a really good time reading this. Would recommend to paranormal/fantasy romance fans out there.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy

King Foretold by Jayci Lee is a mixed first and third person multi-POV romantic fantasy continuation of Nine Tailed. Sunny has accepted her love for Ethan, but she hasn't accepted that she is destined to kill him. As she stays in the supernatural realm, she learns more about herself and the destiny before her and the part Ethan will play.

There is a brewing attraction between Sunny and Jihun, especially on Jihun’s side, but Sunny tries to let him know that nothing is going to happen. I appreciated this because just because we fall in love with someone, it doesn't mean that we stop being attracted to other people. Sometimes somebody comes along that could have turned our heads if we didn't have a partner already and that's just part of attraction. It doesn't mean we have to act on it or be ashamed of it.

Sunny and Ethan's relationship develops more on the physical side before the emotional one in this book as Sunny continues to push Ethan away and is convinced their love is doomed from the start. This leads to a lot of pining on Sunny’s end and Ethan being willing to take whatever Sunny will give him in the spicier moments. It's very focused on Sunny's feelings for the most part, but we do see some of how this is impacting Ethan because he is so very much in love with her.

A major aspect is folklore and various aspects of Korean mythology. I don't have more than very basic knowledge of concepts shared across East Asia and across a variety of cultures so I cannot comment on how accurate the folklore is to the original tales vs as a new interpretation. The Golden Axe and the Silver Axe, the celestial maiden who had her dress stolen, various figures such as Gumiho and mermaids all play a part. Between several chapters are brief interludes telling the myths of the world and the reader needs to draw their own conclusions as to whether or not they actually happened or are just a tall tale that humans twisted over time.

I would recommend this to readers of romantic fantasy who like a strong folklore element and fans of books involving celestial maidens and nine-tailed foxes

It's not easy to describe Korean mythological concepts in a modern context but Jayci Lee has done an amazing job at it. For those that love this genre, you will be pleased by this book.

Unfortunately for me, there wasn't enough intrigue and the pace was too slow to keep me hooked or engaged. It took me almost three weeks in between completing several other books to even get halfway through this one. Even the romance wasn't enough to keep me reading. Maybe it's because my pet peeve is when characters lie and hold back their feelings for the "greater good", hurting people around them in the process, yet everyone still loves them unconditionally... sorry, just not my thing.

Entertaining!

I liked the military training, sprinkled Korean folktales, Asian culture and atmosphere. If you like the soud of that, I can recommend this series. I'm giving it 3 stars.

For being over 100 years old, Sunny can behave annoyingly childishly and thoughtlessly every now and then.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the free review copy!

King Foretold by Jayci Lee (Book 2 of Realm of Four Kingdoms) continues from where Tale of the Night Tailed left off. This is a book for lovers of Korean mythology. It took a while to pick up after the great ending of the first book, but it eventually picked up well. The thriller element was engaging and the romance was great, including the typical Kdrama love triangle. A good ending and I look forward to the next book in the series
I got the ARC from Montlake via Netgalley. This is my honest review

King Foretold picks up right where book one left off, so definitely read these in order or you'll be lost! Nine-tailed fox spirit Sunny is back in the Realm of Four Kingdoms after a brutal battle, and she's NOT happy about it. She's grudgingly training as a suhoshin cadet by day, trying to master magic by night (spoiler: it's not going great), and desperately avoiding her feelings for Ethan because apparently that love can never be. Meanwhile, super-hot Jihun is right there, but she's turning him down too because girl has commitment issues. Of course, there's bigger problems than her messy love life—tyranny, deadly secrets, betrayal, and eternal darkness threatening both magical and mortal worlds.

This is a fast-paced, easy read that doesn't get bogged down in dense world building, which I totally appreciated. The balance of romance and fantasy hits just right, though Sunny does read a bit young and naive for someone who's 130-something years old. Like girl, get some confidence! The side characters continue to be absolutely entertaining—I laughed, I cried, I'm fully invested in this chaos. Can't wait to see what fresh hell awaits in the next book!

Entertaining read. I had not read the first book so I purchased it and read it before reading King Foretold. I liked the story a lot. There were quite a few things I had to overlook like a 100-year-old fox spirit with the maturity of a teen. There has to be some hard-earned wisdom in the 100 years you've lived right? Yet Ethan in his true 20-something years on earth, had more age-appropriate wisdom than Sunny had. She was less mature than he was. It was noticeable in some areas, but if you overlook it, the experience will be more enjoyable. Another thing is, what makes Sunny so desirable? When is there no context to her character/personality for Jijun to just fall for her pretty much right away? What an unnecessary triangle. Sunny has a strong physical attraction to Ethan, it makes me cringe at times. Especially since she knew him when he was a younger teen/adult. So weird. She didn't seem attracted to him in the flashbacks when he was younger, but still I didn't understand it. Spoiler but she was a virgin. For however many years she was. It seems a bit unrealistic.
I know that's a lot of negatives so let's get to what I liked. I liked the story. Ethan's story, Ben's story, Jihun's story. I liked the adventure and the folklore. It was entertaining. Will I read the second? Probably. I'm a sucker for folklore and mythology retellings.

THank you NetGalley and Montlake for this egalley I was under no olibligation to leave a review. All opions are my own.

The moment I finished Nine Tailed, I had to dive straight into King Foretold. There was no way I could wait to see what happened next in the battle against Daeseong.

Sunny, our fierce and fiery FMC, returns—shapeshifting gumiho powers and all. She’s bold, powerful, and totally bada$$. But just when she thinks she’s seen the last of the dark mudang, Daeseong, he’s back. This time, Sunny holds the legendary Yeoiju, a power that might be strong enough to end him for good. The catch? Ethan—the sweet, devoted love interest—has a prophecy of his own... and it says he must destroy the one who wields the Yeoiju.

I absolutely loved Sunny’s growth in this book. She learns to lean on others (even if she still likes doing things her way), finds a chosen family that truly sees her, and finally steps into her worth. Her emotional journey hit me just as hard as the action did—and let’s not even talk about that ending. I’m still recovering.

Thank you for the opportunity to read. I tracked down book one on Kindle Unlimited and can see the writing overall has improved between Nine Tailed and King Foretold. I love and appreciate that more Asian stories are being told and I think changing the setting to Las Vegas is a fresh take on common myths. This series reads much differently from others with similar content! I found Jaci Lee's writing to be too juvenile for me personally to enjoy.

I really enjoyed this book, even more than the first! The world building was done perfectly! It took a minute for it to get going but once it was I was fully invested in it! I usually read Jayci Lee’s romance books but I’ve really enjoyed her fantasy books as well!

King Foretold is the exhilarating sequel to Nine Tailed. This story takes traditional Korean mythology and mixes it with the world we know in a way that is fun and also somewhat terrifying. King Foretold spends much more time in the Kingdom of the Sky, which allows for more world-building on the mythology side as opposed to the real world with mythology in it that was focused on for the first book. This story is incredibly interesting and made me want to keep reading the entire time. I flew through this book just like I did the first one. This is a great story for anyone who wants Korean mythology in their fantasy. I can't wait to see where the story goes in the next book!

I love Korean mythology and the modern day aspect is always a fun treat. Not only does the modernization make this more accessible to some readers, but I think it’s a great way to expose more people to mythology.

I really felt like this was SLOW though. Maybe I’m just not meant for this particular story. And that’s okay. The actual romance was phenomenal to me but I feel this book just.. tried to do TOO much at once? And kept anything from really progressing at the speed it needed to.

While I would ultimately recommend this, especially if you loved book 1, I don’t know that I would recommend it if you were so so on book 1.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishing company for allowing me to read this in advance.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me access to the eARC of this book!

King Foretold by Jayci Lee is the second book in their Real of Four Kingdoms series. We follow our main characters as they try and rid the realms of the evil they encounter in the first book.
I really enjoyed the Korean mythology aspect of this book, because this is a mythology I don’t know much about. I really enjoyed the character building in this book; it really feels like Sunny is growing and becoming more confident. One thing I did not enjoy about this book was, surprisingly, the romance. It felt forced in places and love triangle-esque, but it just wasn’t for me.
All in all this book was a fun read, but it did come up a little short for me. Despite that, I am still excited to see how this series will progress and I loved the writing style.
a solid 3.5 stars overall.

So I went into this book not sure how many books would be in this series. After finishing it, it better not be a duology because I need more in this world!

I loved that KING FORETOLD added more to the found family vibes that NINE TAILED started. I also liked that this book focused on Sunny’s journey and other relationships. There is plenty of romance but there was so much mystery and so many questions about Sunny from the first book that I was happy to get to learn more about here in this installment.

I feel like the twist in the end was a little predictable but you could also say that it was foreshadowed well in the first book.

This was a great sequel with a really interesting premise. As I mentioned in my review of NINE TAILED, this series is perfect for fans of Elizabeth Lim and Sue Lynn Tan or those who enjoy mythology and folklore.

I would definitely continue this series.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

3 star read for me, did enjoy the book but did take a while to get into the book for me. Do enjoy Jayci Lee's books though

I absolutely love Jayci Lee's storytelling and world building. These books are so beautifully written I find myself fully immersed in the world and having the best reading experience.

Don't miss reading Nine Tailed before jumping into this title in order to really follow the plot

Was a fun sequel to nine tailed, I was lucky to get a physical of the first book for a readathon. I’ll definitely be buying myself the paperback of this too. The world building or continuation of it was fun, the story was fun and the magic.