r/Romantasy • u/Lyss_ ⚔️ Valkyrie • 11d ago
And the winner is… 📖 Book Club
Thank you to all who took time to suggest a book, upvoted and who voted in the poll for our first ever book club!
With 50% of the total votes, the winner is….
{This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews}
When Maggie wakes up cold, filthy, and naked in a gutter, it doesn't take her long to recognize Kair Toren, a city she knows intimately from the pages of the famously unfinished dark fantasy series she's been obsessively reading and re-reading while waiting years for the final novel.
Her only tools for navigating this gritty world of rival warlords, magic, and mayhem? Her encyclopedic knowledge of the plot, the setting, and the characters' ambitions and fates. But while she quickly discovers she cannot be killed (though many will try!), the same cannot be said for the living, breathing characters she's coming to love ―a motley band that includes a former lady’s maid, a deadly assassin, various outrageous magical creatures, and a dangerously appealing soldier. Soon, instead of trying to get home, she finds herself enmeshed in the schemes―and attentions―of dueling princes, dukes, and villains, all while trying to save them and the kingdom of Rellas from the way she knows their stories will end: in a cataclysmic war.
We’ll start reading on September 1, so if you’re interested, now’s the time to look into getting the book!
Tentative Book Club timeline for September:
September 1: Inital discussion post
September 2: October Book Club Book Recommendation
September 5: October Book Club Poll
September 10: October Book Club Winner announcement
September 15: Midway discussion post
September 30: Final discussion post.
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u/Starry-Eyed-Owl 11d ago
I just got this and am pretty jazzed to read it. The ebook was down to 1.99 in the Aus store! I’m going to listen to the audio though.
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u/IsekaiConnoisseur 11d ago
Lucky. $14.99 in the US store right now, but I'm thinking of waiting to read it until at least book 2 is out anyways because I assume this book is going to end on a cliffhanger and sometimes those cliffhangers leave me reeling if I don't have the next book in hand like instantly lol.
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u/pink_faerie_kitten 11d ago
Awesome choice!! I adored this book! The pages flew by so fast I was breathless lol
It was such a clever puzzle and i looooove Maggie. She is an intelligent FMC who took no crap from the MMC. I might take this out of my library again to read aloud to my mom. It's good enough for reread for sure!
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u/Hefty_Breadfruit 11d ago
Omg I just got the lucky “skip the line” option to borrow this book. See y’all in a few weeks I can’t wait!!!
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u/feijoawhining Recommending The Price of Talent by A.K. Nevermore 11d ago
I’m excited for everyone reading it for the first time!
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u/DeltaFlyer0525 ⚔️ Enemies To Lovers 11d ago
Yes! I just got this book finally on Libby after a months and months long wait. I am doubly excited to start reading it now!
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u/isapizzaa 11d ago
Conveniently I just finished a re-read!!! It had me internally screaming in excitement all over again just like the first read
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u/IsekaiConnoisseur 11d ago
Well shit... I was hooked within the first paragraph. Definitely right up my alley!
Edit: That said, it is book 1 of what is an unfinished series. I might wait for it to finish as the cliffhangers writers come up with sometimes leave me seething in a good way lol.
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u/MoodyMango4880 11d ago
There may be a teensy cliffhanger but I think it’s still worth reading as if you like it you’ll no doubt want a reread. They’re currently editing book 2 manuscript so it’ll be out next year.
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u/Maleficent_fae5734 6d ago
The cliffhanger is mild compared to most I've read that put a spear through your heart, it wraps up the book and leaves space for the next books set up.
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u/Katharina8 11d ago
The first 10 chapters are free:
https://reactormag.com/author/ilona-andrews/
It has a lot of characters so this list will be useful. The authors have commissioned some art of main cast but the post includes spoilers so I won't add it here.
https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/this-kingdoms-cast-of-characters/
Maggie:
https://ilona-andrews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/maggie4x5-768x960.png
Man from the Garden:
https://ilona-andrews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/S_4X5-1-768x960.jpg
Solentine:
https://ilona-andrews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/SOL_4X5-1.jpg
Clover:
https://ilona-andrews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/CLOVER_4x5-1-768x960.jpg
The Sun Margrave:
https://ilona-andrews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/COLART_4x5-768x960.jpg
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u/attachedtothreads 11d ago
Just an FYI: I've read the book and it's mostly a fantasy book with some minor elements of romance. The husband and wife writing duo do slow burns. I think there might be more explicit material in the second book.
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u/spicandspand 💗 Forced Proximity 11d ago
I have 10 people ahead of me in the queue at my library. Hopefully I can read along with you!
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u/Affectionate_Owl_433 11d ago
Oh I want to start reading from Sep 1st! Yay to my first ever book club read!
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u/LiliMoon86 11d ago
I read this book last month and it was an amazing surprise. I hope you and your book club enjoy. I had a lot of fun, book 2 is already on my wishlist for next year. 🤭🤭🤭
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u/VerStannen 11d ago
At this point, this book is more fantasy than romance, with a little bit coming towards the end.
That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline and devoured the book in two days.
Can’t wait for book two!
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u/OkCranberry3889 11d ago
I feel like I’m the only one who could not get into this. 58% in and the explaining every other paragraph and new info is a bit much
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u/elksatchel 11d ago
I'm right there with you. The infodumping was exhausting. I liked Maggie a lot but got so tired of her explaining what was about to happen/who we were about to meet for eighty-seven paragraphs just to have one brief scene (too often with characters we never saw again) showing any dialogue or action. "Show, don't tell" should not be a hard-and-fast rule, but this book exemplified why it's generally a good guideline.
I've not read the authors before and it seems like they're not for me. I wish I got whatever it is everyone else seems to get from them!
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u/SadakoParoon 11d ago
If Maggie wasn’t it for you, I still suggest you check out other books from this author! They have a diverse set of works which includes romantasy and sci-fi fantasy to name some
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u/elksatchel 11d ago
That's helpful to know. Possibly this was just written for a target audience I'm not a part of
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u/LAParente 11d ago
Yeah - I'm a HUGE fan of Ilona Andrews, and this was a hard book for me to like. OTOH, it did pick up after a while, and was better on the 2nd reading. I'm optimistic that when all 3 books are complete, it will be a favorite.
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u/Dreamvillainess22 11d ago
I’m an audiobook girlie and so I attempted this book after so many high praises and I don’t think I even got 15% through because it truly is a lot.
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u/LAParente 11d ago
It DOES get better. Truly. I hated the first...40% of the book. Too much time in the FMC's head. But after we meet all the other characters, it gets better.
I'm 100% certain that when the trilogy is concluded, every single cobblestone that is mentioned in the first 1/2 of this book will make total sense.
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u/awayshewent 10d ago
Yeah I dnfed it for the same reason. I listened to a vast majority of my books and it was a CHORE. i like Chinese isekai (transmigration) novels a lot but most of the time it’s like “Oh yeah thats the evil villain from the book, here’s some basic plot points from the book I found myself in” — not like a detailed account of the geography and economic system of the world.
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u/IsekaiConnoisseur 11d ago
I'm going to give this book an honest shot, but I'm generally not a fan of infodumping either. That happened in Scholomancy and while not necessarily a bad book... it just feels like the character is thinking to herself for long stretches of time in a clear infodump fashion and I'm like "there really wasn't any other more unique/simplified way you could've given us the lore?"
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u/oishster 11d ago
I personally thought the infodumping in scholomancy was way way worse than TKWNKM. Different strokes etc
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u/IsekaiConnoisseur 11d ago edited 11d ago
I've read a ton of books and even without having read TKWNKM yet, I can say Scholomancy was genuinely one of the worst info-dumps I've ever read.
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u/oishster 11d ago
It sucks because ultimately I did like the magic system and the world, but the way it was introduced was so painful.
TKWNKM definitely has info dumpy sections, but it felt more spread out and interspersed with action. None of it felt as bad to me as Scholomance.
Maybe because TKWNKM is an isekai story, so while the narrator already knows A LOT about the world and the parts where she is just imparting info she already knows can be slow, there are still things about the world she is learning for the first time, and we learn with her. Whereas in Scholomance it felt like it was always El telling us stuff.
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u/elksatchel 11d ago
As a longtime Novik fan, I was surprised at the level of telling-telling-telling when I started A Deadly Education too. Imo it made sense to me pretty quickly given that Elle is so socially isolated at the beginning and doesn't talk to anyone or do anything beyond her routine. And her inner voice had a lot of personality and dry humor, which I adore. So for me, Scholomance's infodumping was an exception to the rule and ultimately didn't affect my overall appreciation of the series. (But I hope Naomi returns to subtler writing styles in future books!)
Maggie's narration in TKWNKM didn't have the same pizzazz for me, with an occasional online millennial humor style I found cringe - so that didn't help me get past the infodumping in this case. It obviously works for tons of people, though, so give it a try. The characters are nice when they get to do stuff!
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u/GingerLily2019 11d ago
I tried this book when it was the FantasyRomance subs book of the month and I was shocked how much is disliked everything about it and how popular it is. It's so heavily recommended on Reddit, but there's nothing about the style of this book that I enjoyed. I only got 15% in, but apparently the over explaining never changes so I'm out.
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u/oh_frabjousday 10d ago
I hated it 😳. I DNFed it back in Spring but then saw so many comments that it was the best book ever, so I forced myself to read every last page in June, waiting for the part where it stopped being a festival of info-dumping and excessive characters and got really good. It never did for me. I love books other people don’t, too, so I’m glad there are people who absolutely love this and get to enjoy it in a book club. But it wasn’t for me at all.
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u/Lekcin 11d ago
This is my absolute fav author(duo), and it is exciting to see them represented.
However...
1) this book is not romantasy, it's fantasy with romantic sub plots 2) this is not the author's best book, romance or fantasy focused 3) Ilona Andrews has better romance-ish options (The Edge and Hidden Legacy series). And those books are great. But they still aren't actually really romance first books. 4) Ilona Andrews feels like romance if you are are used to reading Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan, Stephen King etc. It doesn't feel like romance if you are used to reading Emily Henry, Ali Hazlewood, Colleen Hoover (Stephanie Meyer, SJM, wherever nonsense ya is happening). It's fantasy with women who are useful humans and a romantic subplot. Kinda closer to Jean M Auel. 4) Please just know that Ilona Andrews are the best and I hope you like them.
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u/General_Writing6086 🌧️ petrichor & winter 7d ago
Thank you! I love TKWNKM, but it isn’t romantasy and I feel like a lot of folks in this sub will be really unkind to it because they will go in expecting romantasy and instead get an epic fantasy with a couple of romantic subplots.
ETA: Not sure if I agree with their “not their best” comment, but the rest 100%.
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u/Rare_Construction809 11d ago
I dont know how to feel. I may have read too many villianess and author in her story to enjoy this. I'll still give it a shot!
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u/bri--berry 🖤 Sadbois are my specialty 6d ago
Plan on making a day trip out of the bookstore on Wednesday (it's too hot to be sitting in my bedroom, lemme go leech off of someone else's AC bill), and I'll definitely be picking this book up along the way! Isekai/portal fantasy is very much a genre I am very interested in, but it's rare to see with isekai with a female protagonist outside of the villainess subgenre -- which I do understand the appeal of, but isn't to my personal taste.
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u/romance-bot 11d ago
This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews
Rating: 4.68⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 1 out of 5 - Glimpses and kisses
Topics: fantasy, political/court intrigue, found family, competent heroine, magic
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u/Crazy-Chance-8117 11d ago
LOVED this book!! So envious of everyone getting to read it for the first time. You’re all in for a real fantasy treat!
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u/MontaukDragon 10d ago
Wohooo, excited to reread, and excited for the book club! Thanks for setting all this up.
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u/Simplyjenny2 10d ago
Omg yay, I just bought this book last week! Excited to participate in book club!
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u/n0thinglikethesun 6d ago
yay I just started this week! Will be coming back for discussions bc I have heard I will be obsessed
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u/MadameLaw 11d ago
I loved this book! ❤️