Amazing book loved the characters and plot. I couldn't stop reading I stayed up all night. I loved the book so much thank you for the arc.

I received a free copy from Saga Press via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. Publish date November 4th, 2025.

Ashing-Giwa's Splinter in the Sky was one of my standout reads a few years back, so I was excited to read her latest. In The King Must Die, Fenyyang has been a hostage for her rebel parents' good behavior since the age of six. When her parents are executed and she intercepts an order for her own death, Fen flees to the rebel army and takes a pivotal role in their plot against the emperor.

The King Must Die is set in a space fantasy setting that leans heavily towards fantasy. It takes place on a terraformed planet millenia in the future--but the enigmatic aliens who transported humans there restrict lethal projectile weapons under the pain of death, and therefore most people use swords to kill. Likewise, the extreme poverty of most ordinary people means we rarely glimpse the skimmers and elaborate tech of the rich. Instead, the future is mostly tracking chips and insect noodles, with not much in the way of gleaming chrome.

This is a book that pays a heavy debt to classic fantasy, and not always in a good way. Most of the plot is consumed by Fen and her companions on hiking trips cross-country, which does not make for the most scintillating reading. And even though they're a staple, I dislike rebelling against the tyrant king plots. It reduces what should be a question of politicking and scheming and negotiating down to a purely physical challenge: how do we kill these people? And I'm bored by fight scenes. Even the interminable skirmishes lack a sense of immediacy: Fen actually has very little personal stake against the empire, other than loss of the parents she never really knew, and she tends to freeze up during fights.

Unfortunately, a bit of a disappointment overall. I was especially sad that the mysterious aliens didn't play a larger role than as an occasional deus ex machina. This was apparently the first book Ashing-Giwa drafted, and it shows in a plot that doesn't have the striking concepts of her earlier two books. Still, even if I found this book a slog, I'm interested in seeing what she writes next.

I was hooked from the first page and getting into this universe and the scifi adventure concept. I was engaged with the world and how the and enjoyed the way Fen was written. It was so well written and I enjoyed the overall concept of the world and how it uses the scifi elements in this. Kemi Ashing-Giwa has a strong writing style and thought the overall feel worked in this universe. I'm so glad I was able to read this and can't wait for more from Kemi Ashing-Giwa.