Kevin King (Author of Song of the Adoël)

Kevin King is now friends with Peter Moore
Jul 25, 2026 07:19PM · like
Kevin King rated a book liked it The Blood Orchid (The Scarlet Alchemist, #2) by Kylie Lee Baker (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I enjoyed the story well enough, because I was invested in the characters and wanted to see how it resolved. I wasn't sure how it could resolve, since the goal was to find a magical mystic island of unknown properties other than being a source of pow ...more
Mar 23, 2026 08:54PM · like · see review
Kevin King rated a book really liked it The Scarlet Alchemist (The Scarlet Alchemist, #1) by Kylie Lee Baker (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Zilan struggles with her mixed heritage, worried that she doesn't belong and that the cousins she was raised with don't see her as a sister the way she sees them as her siblings. But the race / identity struggle is slightly less central to this story ...more
Mar 16, 2026 06:03PM · like · see review
Kevin King and 302 other people liked jessica yeung's review of The Scarlet Alchemist (The Scarlet Alchemist, #1): "KLB is becoming one of my go-to authors for all things historical asian fantasy. she has a real talent for highly immersive and vivid writing, letting the reader feel like they are on an adventure with the MCs. i also appreciate how her storytelling " Read more of this review »
Mar 16, 2026 05:57PM · see review
Kevin King rated a book it was amazing Isles of the Emberdark by Brandon Sanderson (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Another fun character study set to a grand adventure. We follow the epic quest of a stoic loner, who feels out of place, even useless, in a world where technology has left him behind. I knew he would succeed, of course, because Sanderson characters o ...more
Mar 09, 2026 06:56PM · like · see review
Kevin King rated a book really liked it The Hallowed Hunt (World of the Five Gods, #3) by Lois McMaster Bujold (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This book opens in a new part of the world, with new characters and new magic and basically no connection to the first two books at all. At the start of the story this left me confused, because I'm used to the third book in a trilogy being very close ...more
Mar 01, 2026 10:06PM · like · see review
Kevin King rated a book it was amazing Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This book does an incredible job of giving you just the right amount of information at just the right time, using flashbacks interspersed with the main storyline to fill in details as the character remembers them. The story opens with a classic white ...more
Mar 01, 2026 09:58PM · like · see review
Kevin King rated a book it was amazing Paladin of Souls (World of the Five Gods, #2) by Lois McMaster Bujold (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Ista was a minor side character in the previous book, with an interesting back story. This book picks up shortly after the previous one leaves off, and follows Ista as the main character. It has some similarities and some differences to Curse of Chali ...more
Feb 05, 2026 06:41PM · like · see review
Kevin King entered a giveaway Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 31, 2026 10:58AM · like · see giveaway
Kevin King rated a book it was amazing The Curse of Chalion (World of the Five Gods, #1) by Lois McMaster Bujold (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Cazaril's life has been a series of disasters - was it bad luck, or are the gods using him as a pawn? Either way, what can he do about it? He can only keep doing the task set before him, and hope it somehow turns out in the end. The prose felt elevate ...more
Jan 30, 2026 11:51AM · like · see review

Kevin King is now friends with Peter Moore

Kevin King rated a book liked it

The Blood Orchid (The Scarlet Alchemist, #2)
by Kylie Lee Baker (Goodreads Author)

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I enjoyed the story well enough, because I was invested in the characters and wanted to see how it resolved. I wasn't sure how it could resolve, since the goal was to find a magical mystic island of unknown properties other than being a source of pow I enjoyed the story well enough, because I was invested in the characters and wanted to see how it resolved. I wasn't sure how it could resolve, since the goal was to find a magical mystic island of unknown properties other than being a source of powerful alchemy, and that somehow would result in dead people whose bodies were destroyed being brought back to life. But there has never been any indication that such a thing is remotely possible. On the contrary, it has been established from the beginning that such a thing is not possible for multiple reasons.
So I was curious how that would be resolved.
First, we follow the characters on a series of side quests to collect macguffins. The first 75% of the book feels arbitrary and repetitive. What are we looking for? This thing/info that will help us. Where is it? Not sure, but maybe over here somewhere. Oh look, random minor antagonist who is defeated within a single encounter. Now we have the thing. What are we looking for? The next thing that will help us. Where is it? Not sure, but maybe over here somewhere. Oh look, random minor antagonist who is defeated in a single encounter... repeat two or three times.
Every impossible task has a convenient magical solution. The final confrontation had a clever solution that made sense, and then the final resolution had a magic solution that felt very deus ex machina.
I still felt like it was a moderately good read. The challenges followed the same patterns but had unique aspects - like a series of uniquely powered mini-bosses on your way to the final boss. It just didn't have the same level of clever maneuvering, secrets, and political intrigue that the first book had. It felt a lot more linear and basic. The empress pulled a couple of clever strategic moves, but those didn't take up much of the story, so the bit of substance that added felt stretched thin.
So, basically it was fine, and I'm glad I got a somewhat satisfying conclusion, and it won't be on my list of books that I ever want to re-read but I'm happy to have read it once. ...more

Kevin King rated a book really liked it

The Scarlet Alchemist by Kylie Lee Baker

The Scarlet Alchemist (The Scarlet Alchemist, #1)
by Kylie Lee Baker (Goodreads Author)

Rate this book

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1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Zilan struggles with her mixed heritage, worried that she doesn't belong and that the cousins she was raised with don't see her as a sister the way she sees them as her siblings.
But the race / identity struggle is slightly less central to this story ...more

Kevin King and 302 other people liked jessica yeung's review of The Scarlet Alchemist (The Scarlet Alchemist, #1):

"KLB is becoming one of my go-to authors for all things historical asian fantasy.

she has a real talent for highly immersive and vivid writing, letting the reader feel like they are on an adventure with the MCs. i also appreciate how her storytelling " Read more of this review »

Kevin King rated a book it was amazing

Isles of the Emberdark
by Brandon Sanderson (Goodreads Author)

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Another fun character study set to a grand adventure. We follow the epic quest of a stoic loner, who feels out of place, even useless, in a world where technology has left him behind. I knew he would succeed, of course, because Sanderson characters o ...more

Kevin King rated a book really liked it

The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Hallowed Hunt (World of the Five Gods, #3)
by Lois McMaster Bujold (Goodreads Author)

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1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

This book opens in a new part of the world, with new characters and new magic and basically no connection to the first two books at all. At the start of the story this left me confused, because I'm used to the third book in a trilogy being very close ...more

Kevin King rated a book it was amazing

Project Hail Mary
by Andy Weir (Goodreads Author)

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1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

This book does an incredible job of giving you just the right amount of information at just the right time, using flashbacks interspersed with the main storyline to fill in details as the character remembers them.
The story opens with a classic white ...more

Kevin King rated a book it was amazing

Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold

Paladin of Souls (World of the Five Gods, #2)
by Lois McMaster Bujold (Goodreads Author)

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Ista was a minor side character in the previous book, with an interesting back story. This book picks up shortly after the previous one leaves off, and follows Ista as the main character.
It has some similarities and some differences to Curse of Chali ...more

Kevin King entered a giveaway

Japanese Gothic
by Kylie Lee Baker (Goodreads Author)

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Kevin King rated a book it was amazing

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Curse of Chalion (World of the Five Gods, #1)
by Lois McMaster Bujold (Goodreads Author)

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Cazaril's life has been a series of disasters - was it bad luck, or are the gods using him as a pawn? Either way, what can he do about it? He can only keep doing the task set before him, and hope it somehow turns out in the end.
The prose felt elevate Cazaril's life has been a series of disasters - was it bad luck, or are the gods using him as a pawn? Either way, what can he do about it? He can only keep doing the task set before him, and hope it somehow turns out in the end.
The prose felt elevated without being pretentious, descriptive but not so much as to be distracting. The characters, the plot, the dialogue are fantastic.
I had a little trouble sorting out the pattern of titles - roya, royina, royse, royesse are basically king, queen, prince, princess - the story just throws the terms in and leaves it to the reader to figure out. So it was a bit of a learning curve, but I figured it out and like that method better than hand-holding exposition.
I normally don't care for the political aspects of a fiction story - in other books politics are often either shallow and only there as a plot device, or ugly and messy and so extreme as to feel forced. Characters portrayed as wise or clever make foolish decisions because the plot needs them to. Not so in The Curse of Chalion.
The politics are rich but believable, the characters make decisions consistent with their goals and abilities, and the characters show wit and intelligence that stays consistent at the level expected for that character.
I think a big part of my appreciation is that the main character is neither a powerful noble nor a poor commoner - he's a low to middle level lord who through a series of betrayals lost everything and is trying to regain his footing. But he has the wisdom of vast experience, and it shows through the advice he gives and his decisions that are consistently clever yet also hold to his personal moral code. Cazaril has a kind of charming humility that doesn't call attention to itself, but quietly goes about helping other people and awkwardly avoiding praise.
Add to that the mysterious workings of the gods, which is not revealed to the characters nor to the reader more than necessary - which serves to maintain tension, and sets up some clever plot twists.
All around great writing, and a fun read. ...more