A Viper Among Kings

by Sydney Olivia, Venus DeMilo Thomas (Narrator)

An exhilarating epic fantasy featuring chaotic sentient magic, court intrigue and schemes, and found family, for fans of V.E. Schwab and Antonia Hodgson.

In the twisted city of Amaris, magic spawns from chaos. Prone to driving humans mad, it can only be wielded safely by the Wraiths—seven immortal beings magically bound to obey the king.

Esme is the most notorious Wraith. She has spent the last century forced to kill on behalf of the nation that stole her from her homeworld while building a secret life for herself and her wife away from violence.

That is, until the current king turns up murdered, and a magical will demands his successor be chosen through three trials. Esme cannot break the magical shackles that bind her, but she will suffer no more tyrants. She rigs the king’s succession trials in favour of her chosen the righteous General Balthazar, who she can’t help but fall for.

As Esme weaves together the threads of the court on Balthazar’s behalf amid a strange tide of sentient magic in the city and a growing war on the horizon, she will come face to face with Balthazar’s bloody past, troubled present, and countless betrayals.

He isn’t the man Esme thought he was—but she was born to make and break kings.

Genres: Fantasy, LGBT, Adult, Romance, Romantasy, Queer, Polyamory

Audible Audio

First published August 25, 2026

Reviews

[Greekchoir]

Bold, brash, thrilling: A Viper Among Kings worked for me exactly because it was so chaotic, even if that came at the cost of total coherency.

Esme is a Wraith: a woman ripped from her world, made immortal, and forced to obey the royal family along with her Wraith siblings. After the king is assassinated and a secret will is unearthed, two generals must compete for the opportunity to continue the royal line. Esme will stop at nothing to make sure that her preferred contender emerges victorious.

I loved how bonkers this was. Sydney Olivia injects her characters with an infectious vibrancy, with excellent action sequences (there is a fight here between Bal and Esme that I'm not going to forget anytime soon) and sleek integration of casual, quippy language into a fantastical setting. Esme is going to be controversial character for how layered and prickly she is-I loved her.

A Viper Among Kings asks questions about responsibility: how much accountability can you take for something you were forced to do? Who can we excuse? Could you be absolved afterwards? And how would you face the full, equivalent consequences of your actions?

That being said: we are lost in the sauce. There's so many throwaway moments here, bits of worldbuilding or character work, that range from overemphasized to nonsensical. There's relationships we're constantly told are important that we never get to see. If I hadn't read that the author used US history as an inspiration for the worldbuilding-and intended for this to be the fulcrum of the story-I wouldn't have seen it but for the last 30 pages. A tighter version of A Viper Among Kings would shave off some tertiary details and allow us to focus on what matters. It's a good book. Often a very fun book! But I don't see myself recommending it to everybody.

A Viper Among Kings reminded me a grittier Raven Scholar: part fantasy tournament, part grimdark epic, with an extra brush of science fiction. So much is happening here that nothing truly feels out of place. It's a shame that this won't be getting a US tradpub release; it certainly deserves one.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

[NiftyReader]

DNF at 20%.

Not for me sadly.

The prologue was very intriguing, but what I read after failed to hook me.

The main character Esme is one of the seven Wraiths, powerful beings from another world magically enslaved to the bloodline of an evil despotic king (that king is now dead, but we hear a lot about him and how awful he was). Most of what I read was exposition to catch the reader up to the long history the main character has with her fellow Wraiths and the world she's trapped in. Theres a lot of understandable railing against their (obviously objectively terrible) situation, and also their various romantic relationships. It's just a lot of telling us how much they hate their lives and love each other, and none of it made me attached to the characters or interested in the story.

For someone over a hundred years old, Esme acts too much like a horny teenager for me to take seriously. The same went for her closest friend Urias, another Wraith. There's a lot of talking about who they want to fuck/have fucked, both in spoken dialogue and Esme's internal thoughts. There's also a lot of "sassy" "banter" which just made me roll my eyes. Again these are characters who are over a hundred years old.

I did like that there was a good amount of humour in the narration, and I think whenever the plot really gets going it could be good, so if you are not put off by the things that bothered me then give it a try.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

[Jess]

This is a book with real appetite. It wants court intrigue, sentient magic, queer and polyamorous relationships, war, class violence, bodily autonomy, grief, monstrous desire, colonial brutality, and at least three emotionally catastrophic decisions before breakfast. In fairness to it, that is also more or less what it delivers.

What kept me reading was the strength of the central setup. A murdered king, a magically enforced succession, seven immortal Wraiths bound to the throne, and a heroine who has spent a century serving the empire that stole her from her homeworld is an excellent hook, and the novel knows it. Esme is easily the standout for me. She is furious, damaged, self-protective, clever, and at her best when the story allows her to feel genuinely dangerous without pretending she is always right. I liked that the book does not try to make her neat or easy. She is often selfish, often contradictory, and often making the sort of decision that makes perfect emotional sense in the moment and dreadful strategic sense five minutes later, which is, frankly, very human of her.

I also thought the book was strongest when it allowed its moral centre to stay muddy. The pitch gestures towards Balthazar as the “righteous” candidate, but one of the more interesting things the novel does is steadily complicate that idea. Janos is not simply monstrous, Balthazar is not simply noble, and Esme herself is never standing on entirely stable moral ground either. The story is much more compelling when it leans into that mess. Some of the fallout scenes later on really hit for me, particularly once the cost of the trials stops being abstract and starts becoming personal.

There is also a lot here that I can see fantasy readers having a great time with. The sentient magic is one of the novel’s best ideas: manipulative, hungry, occasionally playful, and never quite under anyone’s control. The succession plot gives the story real momentum. The Wraith dynamics add texture beyond the romance. And Simon’s thread, in particular, brought in a different kind of emotional register that I thought worked very well. This is not a book short on ideas, and when one of them lands, it really lands.

At the same time, I do think the book is weaker in execution than in concept. It has so much it wants to do, and sometimes that ambition tips over into excess. Scenes often run longer than they need to. Emotional beats are occasionally repeated. Moments that would have hit harder with a lighter touch are pushed to such a pitch that they start to blur. The book is never dull, but it did feel long to me, and not because nothing happens. Quite the opposite. It is simply a novel that rarely resists the urge to add one more layer.

I was also a little mixed on some of the story logic as it went on. The magical rules around the will and the Bond are fascinating, but there were points where the manoeuvring felt less convincing than the novel clearly intended. In particular, there were moments where supposedly intelligent characters kept making versions of the same mistake, and after a while that did make some of the political games feel less sharp than they might have. A few of the emotional and political allegiances also worked better for me in idea than in full execution, even though I could see what the book was aiming for.

Then there is the prose, which I found uneven in an interesting way. There are flashes here of something striking: bold imagery, sharp lines, and the occasional sentence that really bites. But the writing can also become overinsistent, overextended, and a little too aware of its own intensity. The swearing stood out for me too. I do not mind profanity in fantasy at all, but there is so much of it here that it occasionally stops adding bite and starts flattening the voice instead. This is, among other things, a novel with tremendous faith in the word “fuck”.

That said, I want to give the book credit for its ambition. It has momentum, personality, and absolutely no interest in playing small. I am always glad to pick up epic fantasy by a Black woman, and this one is certainly not lacking in appetite. Even where I noticed the rougher edges, I was still engaged by the story. I would much rather read something this lively, messy, and full-blooded than something tidier that leaves no impression at all.

Overall, I found this compelling, inventive, chaotic, and fun, even if I also thought it could have benefited from more restraint and a firmer editorial hand. I liked it, and I can absolutely see why other readers will love it.

[misfantasyfiction ☆ﾟ.*･]

°❀⋆ A Viper Among Kings.ೃ࿔*:･

★ ★ ★

“If he were dying from a poison only my piss could save him from, I would sooner die of kidney failure than urinate on him.”

In a corrupt kingdom where the king has been killed and magic runs unchecked through the city, it is up to his Wraiths to command order. Seven immortal beings, snatched from the void and made to obey the monarch’s every wish.

Among them is Esme, the most ruthless of that lot and when a competition is announced for the throne, Esme will stop at nothing to make sure her chosen competitor wins the kingdom.

This was an incredibly ambitious debut, so much so that at times there was a bit too much going on for me to wrap my head around. The world Olivia has created is so vibrant and brash, and so I had a tendency to forgive any moments that felt nonsensical or underdeveloped. It’s chaotic and it’s meant to be (which definitely won’t work for everyone! Even I found myself at times thinking ‘what am I reading here’, but then some super cool action sequence would happen and I’d be like, okay cool).

A lot of the characters morality remains murky (even Esme makes a lot of questionable decisions) and I enjoyed how the author didn’t seem compelled to make any of the cast conform to our expectations. It also had a lot to say about power and its misuse and I thought it did so in a very nuanced way.

I also loved the magic system in this (or the lack thereof, because magic is this chaotic, almost malevolent force ripping through the kingdom and thriving off disorder). As you can probably tell from the quote I included at the beginning of this review, it also had a signature humour that I don't think will work for everyone but did occasionally make me chuckle. It had a similar feel to Jay Kristoff's darkly cynical humour, so if you enjoyed Nevernight and Empire of the Vampire, I think you'd enjoy this too.

Overall, super unique and unlike a lot of the fantasy I’ve read, though definitely not a perfect novel. The most similar comparison is probably The Raven Scholar, with both Neema and Esme machinating to control the successor to the throne.

Have you read A Viper Among Kings? I will definitely be reading the sequel and would be interested in whatever this author releases next! Thanks to Daphne Press for the advanced copy!

[⋆˚࿔ evie! ˚⋆]

ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ✦ . 　⁺ 　 　 DNF at 6% . 　⁺ 　 . ✦
ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ˋ°•*⁀➷ㅤmight contain spoilers ❗

Oh, gosh. Where to begin...

In my defence, I must say that I usually try to read at least 20–25% of a book before deciding whether it's for me in order to form a reasonably well-informed opinion about the story, the characters, and the writing. Unfortunately, I just couldn't connect with A Viper Among Kings, largely because of its narrative voice.

Although it's marketed as an adult epic fantasy, it reads as surprisingly juvenile and casual, to the point where I struggled to take it seriously. The prose felt overly simplistic, with little subtlety or depth, relying heavily on explaining everything outright instead of allowing the story to unfold naturally. On top of that, it leaned so heavily on sarcasm, snark, and constant attempts at humour that I found it too grating to get past. Overall, it read more like weak YA than adult epic fantasy.

The narration was by far the biggest immersion breaker. Nearly every conversation and internal monologue sounded as though it belonged in a contemporary setting rather than a fantasy world. The characters constantly used modern slang, internet-style sarcasm, and casual expressions that felt completely out of place. Take this example (quoted from an eARC, so it may differ in the final publication):

Just as Princess Pemia was beginning to believe Marcus, her bodyguard and her father's assassin and her sister's betrothed, could really be The One, a whiskey-warped voice tore her from her swoon.

Did The One really need to be capitalised? It reads like less like epic fantasy and more like a tweet.

As many other reviewers have already pointed out, the protagonist often seemed to be speaking directly to the reader or prioritising witty one-liners over maintaining the tone of the scene. That approach simply didn't work for me. For example:

She always feared that one day she'd glamour her tits so flat they may never return.

He didn't laugh. Boo.

The humour throughout was similarly snarky, frivolous, glib, and immature, relying on crude jokes and frequent profanity that didn't add much to the story. "Poor bastard" seemed to be one of the author's favourite insults, appearing multiple times in the two chapters I read alone. This tone permeated both the dialogue and the protagonist's internal monologue, so much that even moments that should have carried weight were undercut by attempts at humour. For example:

"Truth is easier than deceit, Nathan. You'll be good to remember that.
He nodded.
"Now, truthfully, I'm going to kill you."

She did take offense to her meticulously maintained skin being compared to scale, but she imagined people were picturing a very well-moisturized snake when screaming at her.

Esme is supposedly a centuries-old being, yet she behaves and speaks like a sarcastic, exasperating teenager. I absolutely despise this kind of humour, and even more so the characters who think it's clever. It reminds me of that awkward phase some teenagers go through when they believe they're the smartest person in the room and everyone else exists to be mocked, mistaking smugness for wit.

Before murdering two people, she even turns the moment into a guessing game with her victims:

"Put me down!" he hollered.
Esme walked a wide circle around them, settling just behind their backs. "I might if you guess who I am."
"An abominable spirit!"
"A tax collector!"
Neither of them were very good guessers.

This is an adult epic fantasy, mind you.

If I were to nit-pick, I'd also argue that, for a secondary-world fantasy, the worldbuilding often felt surprisingly lazy. Rather than creating expressions that felt native to its setting, the book frequently borrowed modern ones and simply swapped out the proper nouns (e.g. "God bless" becoming "Iskha bless"), which only made the dialogue feel even more contemporary.

I was also disappointed by the sentient magic. I'd expected something closer to an eldritch, eerie unknowable presence, but it turned out to be little more than a mischievous (and, truth be told, pesky) goblin-like thing. That may well be on me for having different expectations, but it wasn't what I had hoped for.

That said, I think I've already been critical enough. Ultimately, the writing style made the book feel like a chore to read, and I could tell very early on that it simply wasn't for me. If the aspects I've criticised don't bother you (or perhaps even appeal to you), then then maybe give it a try. You may well have a very different experience.

[Hannah Deverall]

This book hasn't even come out yet and I am desperate for the rest of the books in the series. The world building is immersive, the plot is suspenseful, and the characters are well developed and interesting. Over a hundred years ago, Esme was stolen from her homeland and bound to a power-hungry king, forced to obey his every command. Along with seven others in her position, unable to return home, and forced to respond to names that are not their own, she has been forced to serve the crown in whatever way is demanded of her. When the current king is murdered, a Esme is forced to carry out his will and chose who will be the next man to hold her leash.

I found A Viper Among Kings to be a delight to read. The characters were well rounded and delightfully flawed, and the plot.... THE PLOT!!! The reader is given just enough that you feel like you are beginning to understand what is going on, but not enough to give you any sense of satisfaction, forcing further reading. Some of the plot points were not touched on as much as I would like, but I have faith that they will be thoroughly explored in the next books in this series.

This book would be great for fans of queer fantasy, and gave me kind-of Throne of Glass (the first book, not the series) vibes, which I really enjoyed. Overall 5/5 stars. Thank you to Daphne Press for providing A Viper Among Kings for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[tai ⋆☀︎.]

Sadly this title was a DNF after 23%.

I felt a little overwhelmed with all info-dumping and all these characters we got introduced to in short span of time. I could tell author put a lot of thoughts into story as initial idea was more than attention catching, but sometimes less means more.

I would love to try reading it again in future once again, perhaps I wasn't in right mood currently.

Thank you to Daphne Press and Netgalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.

[Joleen Turns Pages]

DNF at 65% the audiobook narration is driving me insane. I am not sure if it’s intentional or not but I don’t like it.

Esme is too immature for my tastes

[Simone]

DNF @ 100 pages in.

This is just trying to do way too much and failing at all of it. Sooo many characters, side plots, and info dumps with really cringe humor and no cohesion.

[Klaudia]

First of all this is complex characters galore!! You never really know (even now having competed it) who’s side your on and if you even really know the full extent of a characters story. Some you like at the beginning but later see yourself questioning them 👀 this was such an interesting dynamic to read the story with!!

The way this is written scratched my brain in the best way, I swear like a sailor so the amount felt like it was written just for me and I felt like at home 🥰 the poly aspect was also so so good!! I hate when there’s jealousy or ‘forbidden’ attraction but you only have the main couple to stick to like no! If you wanna get freaky with someone go and do it! Monogamy baffles me so I love when there isn’t a drop of jealousy in a book between any of the characters and they all get along swimmingly 😮‍💨💃

Now did this book edge me for the whole 500 pages? Yup 🧍‍♀️ with the amount of mention of sex and debauchery this has on page it didn’t back it up 👀 I’m not saying smut is needed and I live for slow burns but when you already have an established married couple and the story calls for more love interests there should be atleast a speck of intimacy shown between the ‘original’ established couple, especially when most of what’s on page is basically people trying to get into each others clothes 😗

This book is very character driven, which I’m a fan of! I love these stories the most!! But I almost wanted the plot to move along as there is a lot plot points working at the same time in the story and I wish some of them were resolved in this first book

Nonetheless, I enjoyed this one immensely and will be at the edge of my seat for the sequel to come out 👀 and hopefully all those plots will be wrapped up nicely cause I’m so invested in my babies life’s!! Like this is the best cast of diverse characters I’ve ever read and I’m rooting for each one of them!!🤩

Thank you to Daphne Press for this proof copy, all thoughts are my own 🫶

[louise ʚଓ]

| rating: 2.75 ★

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

✎ᝰ.ᐟ review

In the Micrean royal city of Amaris, the ugliness of human nature cultivates and breeds a sentient force that they call Magic. Esmeralda is a Wraith, one of the seven otherworldly creatures under the thrall of the King. Stolen from her world beyond the Void, Esmeralda is equal parts assassin, general, and diplomat. When the current king is murdered, a new king must be chosen between two heirs named in the will.

A Viper Among Kings is a queer-normative and magical universe. There’s demons, gods, inter-dimensional traveling and a cast of colorful characters. However, for all the thrill of the competition and the relationships between Esme and her polycule, I found that A Viper Among Kings lacked cohesion and depth. This book felt like a second book to the series rather than a first book. All the characters are at a point in their life where they should have already undergone important internal developments. We learn that the Wraiths are over a century old, that they’ve been under the control of the royal family since before the creation of Amaris and yet it felt like they were going through the story like they were young adults rather than the experienced people that they were.

Additionally, because everything was already pre-established, we don’t really see the Wraiths’ familial bond develop. We are told that they have suffered under the rule of Omniel, but we never really see that. We are introduced to Esme and Mina and we are just supposed to take their love for each other at face value. We are told all of these things, but we are not shown them. As such, the character-reader connection felt superficial and our understanding of them to be shallow. The gigantic cast could also be a contributing factor of that. We have seven Wraiths and their partner(s), two heirs to the throne and their retinue, the sentient manifestation of Magic and then an entirely new set of antagonists at the end of the book. Suffice to say there were a lot of characters to keep up with and we were told they were important, but we never really spent enough time with them.

The plot and world building was also all over the place. We kept jumping from one conflict to another without really dwelling on them. We don’t get enough time to sit with the severity of a situation without the plot shifting gears (usually to focus on Esme’s developing polycule). Also, for a book that’s supposedly centered around a depraved city full of debauchery and chaos, there was no explicit smut? Far be it for me to complain about having no smut, but it was just wild considering that everyone is perpetually horny but no one was actually fucking.

I still did think it was a solid debut. I absolutely loved the Wraiths’ bond and I wished we got to see them all together more. I also appreciated how this book touches upon difficult topics such as racism/colorism, slavery, and colonization. The characters’ moral ambiguity and how it affects their relationships and their perception of the world was also explored in an interesting way.

Overall, I am definitely still willing to read the rest of the series. I think it has a lot of potential!


Thank you to NetGalley and Daphne Press for the e-ARC.

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

Start Date: June 19, 2026
Finish Date: June 25, 2026

[Kate Victoria RescueandReading]

I was sucked into this story from the get go. The chaos and weird magic, interesting characters, and dark fantasy core made this book sound so intriguing.

After a strong start, things began to fall apart for me as a reader.
It all got a little too hectic after a while. I felt some plot points were never explained or tied up or even lead anywhere. The Wraiths initially seemed like epic characters, but then became too wrapped up in their lusting and complex multiple relationships.

I just felt like narrative and characters got lost. Maybe “A Viper Among Kings” would’ve been better split into two books, with more background and detail, less static characters, more time for the tale to unwind in a comprehensive manner, etc

Thank you anyways to the author, NetGalley, and Titan Books/ Daphne Press for a copy!

[Cher Van Der Woude]

ARC Review – A Viper Among Kings by Sydney Olivia
Rating: 3.75 stars⭐

A Viper Among Kings is a dark, atmospheric fantasy that intrigued me in with its worldbuilding and its bold choice to treat Magic as a sentient force rather than just a system. Esme, an immortal Wraith bound to a tyrant king, finally sees a chance at freedom when the throne becomes vacant, and from there the story unfolds with tension, lore, and a constant sense of something ancient moving beneath the surface.

The strongest part of the book for me was the world itself. The Wraiths carry centuries of history, resentment, and complicated loyalty, and that weight is felt in every interaction. The concept of the Voids and the mysterious nature of Magic were genuinely intriguing; the book gives you just enough to keep you hooked while holding back the bigger answers for later in the series. It’s clever, and it works. Another strong part of the story
belonged to the nameless man searching for his wife. His chapters were emotional, warm, and quietly devastating in the best way. He felt the most grounded and human, and I found myself looking forward to every scene he appeared in. I’m absolutely hoping he plays an even bigger role in the sequel.

Where the book wavered a bit for me was in the romance. Some of the romantic beats felt rushed, especially compared to the emotional weight they were meant to carry. Esme’s relationship with Mina is repeatedly framed as her top priority, yet they spend very little time together on the page, which made their bond feel more told than shown. Meanwhile, the dynamic with General Balthazar took up a lot of space, but I never fully felt the connection there. Based on the ending, though, I suspect the next book may recontextualize some of this.

Overall, A Viper Among Kings is a promising start to a series with huge potential. The lore is rich, the atmosphere is immersive, and the characters, especially the Wraiths, have so much depth left to explore. I’d love to see future installments include more POV variety and spend more time on the friendships and tangled histories within the Wraiths.

A strong beginning with a world I’m eager to return to.

Thank you to NetGalley and Daphne Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Nina van der Kooij]

4.25 stars

I really enjoyed this epic fantasy. I think it's main weakness is that it was trying to do a bit too much, which weakened the pacing here and there, but to be it was a minor issue and one that hopefully will be resolved later on as it's first in a trilogy. The book ends on a very strong note, and I'm curious to see what happens next.

A Viper among Kings follows Esme, and is largely written from her POV with the occasional chapters with a different POV.

Esme is a wraith, one of seven immortals who are bound to obey the king of Micrea. When the king is suddenly murdered, they discover a will that decrees two men must complete a series of trials to determine which one of them will be the next king. Esme is charged with informing one of these two men of this, and gets the sense he's largely a decent guy. Considering she and her fellow wraiths are going to be bound to one of them, she decides to attempt to rig the trials so her favored champion wins.

Unfortunately, the queen very much favors the other guy, and is also trying to rig the trials, and soon the whole thing turns more into a competition between Esme and the queen than the two men.

The main character is quite snarky, and I think that's not for everything, but it didn't feel over the top to me, and the darker scenes were given the appropriate weight. I've also seen others say the characters feel too immature for immortals, and I'm not sure I agree. I think since immortals don't exist, so we have no way of knowing what it would truly do for a person, especially in a world where immortality is not the norm. The immortal characters here tend to be snarky and not take everything seriously because they've been around for so long, and to me that made sense, and Esme never felt like an unrealistic immortal to me. I found her quite an entertaining main character, and her motivation was very compelling.

Plot wise, the main focus is on the trials and Esme trying her best to rig them, but there's more going on. There's sentient magic whose motivation I still don't wholly grasp. There's the racism in this country and a hinted at past of colonialism. There's a mysterious character whose POV we see in chapter one who comes to Amaris to look for his wife and also gets involved in the plot later on. Some things I would have liked to see a little more resolved or explained in book 1, but I am very excited to read more about it in book 2.

There's a polyamorous relationship where Esme has a wife at the start of the story and also has a developing romance with Bal (the guy she wants to be king) across the book. I felt it wasn't entirely balanced, as the focus was a bit more on developing the relationship with Bal in this book, but Mina also had plenty of appearances here, and I think there's a bit less development with her because their relationship is already established before the book starts, and they already agreed to an open relationship, where Mina is fine with Esme also pursuing Bal. I liked to see Mina and Bal grow friendly with each other, and I'm curious to see more of them both. I think also perhaps Mina will have a more active role in book 2 based on how book 1 ends, and I liked the conflict of Esme wanting to protect Mina from all the mess of her life while Mina wants to help and be useful.

I also really liked the relationship Esme has with the other wraiths, especially with Urias, her ex who she is still close with, but who falls in love with the other candidate for the throne. I liked the complexity of this relationship, and how we are even shown a sympathetic side of this other guy while making it very clear he should not be on the throne. It made this story filled with morally gray characters more nuanced. I also liked that with Bal, who I'd say is also morally grey, we actually see his more sympathetic side first and are later introduced to his crueler side. I prefer this over the more typical presentation where a male love interest first sucks and then gets a more sympathetic side, because this allowed me to root for Bal early on.

There's a lot of political parallels between this world and the real world, and I think Esme being a Black woman is very important to the story. The country she lives in is one that seems predominantly white, and this was very intentional. Some of her fellow wraiths are the only other non-white people, alongside Bal who is described as biracial with one foreign parent. The country is also very hostile to immigrants, which is shown in particular with one side character, though it is not the most central aspect of the book. I'm very curious what the author is going to take this series next.

Would recommend for fans of dark political fantasy with snarky morally grey main characters

[Nancy Weiler]

This is how you do a political intrigue and the various court dynamics were so interesting. I loved Esme and the characters and could retain as much information about them as possible.

FMC Esme is a wraith and love this aspect, she’s such a fun yet dangerous character. All the wraiths are bound to the king/ Queen and cannot go against their word. There is a murder and there are 3 trials to decide who will be the replacement. The trials very much felt the backstory and the forefront is the court politics.

I also love that this plot wasn’t just one depth, we have magic which is a curse spreading throughout the towns and is getting out of hand, the next is another character breaking out from the dead to start a war.

This book was filled with betrayals and vicious tactics between paranormal beings and humans. Trying to get the power play between each other. I do have to say this is an epic fantasy and although there are seductive scenes playing out in polyamorous relationships it’s absolutely not at the forefront - which I enjoyed as it fit in perfectly with the story.

The only negative matters I would say is that it’s jump start in places - I felt it was going off in a tangent in some instances which wasn’t needed and I kept forgetting who was who.

Thank you Daphne Press for the gifted ARC, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Krysta ꕤ]

dnf @32%

i cant get into this writing style, im assuming its going for humorous but it just feels out of place compared to the other elements of the book. the characters are extremely immature too, it just feels all over the place.

—— thanks to NetGalley, the author and Daphne Press for the arc, all opinions are my own.

[The Rose Lectory]

This is my favourite read so far this month!
I went into this expecting an epic fantasy with political intrigue, dangerous magic and complicated relationships… and somehow Esme managed to make me laugh, stress, swoon and question my own moral compass all at once.

Esme is a menace, and I absolutely adored her for it. Her wit, humour and sheer troublesome nature made her such a joy to follow. She is sharp-tongued, chaotic and more than willing to manipulate a situation to get the outcome she wants. Underneath all of that, is a surprising softness that made me love her even more. She’s the kind of FMC who will absolutely cause problems and then somehow make you root for her while she does it.

I loved the commentary on colonialism and the systems that allow power to justify exploitation. The Wraiths have been stolen from their worlds and forced into servitude by the royal dynasty. Their experiences become part of a much wider exploration of colonisation, assimilation, racism, classism and the consequences of building a society through domination and exploitation.
I loved that these themes were woven into the characters, their histories and the world they've been forced to navigate.

I also really loved how morally grey everyone is. There are no neat heroes and villains here, and almost every character has their own agenda, their own secrets and their own reasons for making questionable choices. And then there’s the poly deliciousness. I loved that love and attraction aren't treated as something that has to fit neatly into one box. The relationships are messy, complicated and some are FULL of history, and I was completely invested in all of it.

For a book filled with murder, political scheming, oppression, betrayal and sentient magic, I was not expecting to laugh as much as I did.

So…immortal Wraiths, chaotic sentient magic, court intrigue, succession trials, found family and a kingdom full of people who absolutely should not be trusted, and you have an epic fantasy book I didn’t want to end. I could’ve read it in one sitting but I dragged it out for 8 days!

I cannot wait for book two! 🐍

[Mac (bookwyrm_mac)]

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Daphne Press for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!

A Viper Among Kings was such a breath of fresh air! This dark, gruesome, intricate world was just what I needed to get me out of a recent reading slump. I loved all of the lore, the multiple dimensions, the imaginative and complex characters, as well as the fast pace. I took my time with this one, because I didn’t want to miss anything! It always felt like something new was happening and I was learning a new secret around every corner.

As a FMC I adored Esme. She’s witty, driven, and savage! Her deep rooted relationships with the other Wraiths and with Mina were so touching. I did feel like Mina was too absent in the last quarter or so of the book. It felt like she was too distracted by Bal and Simon. I’m so intrigued by Simon, and the jury is out on Bal. I really enjoyed how, like Esme, I never knew who to trust.

This was a huge hit for me, and I cannot wait for more!

[Stephanie Sherman]

DNF at 15%. The writing felt amateur and I couldn’t get invested in the characters at all.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

[Adaire | daring.fantasy.reads]

A Viper Among Kings is the first instalment in a new political fantasy trilogy. It follows Esme, one of seven notorious Wraiths, kind of magical henchmen that are in service to the king via magical bonds. After the King's death, they are bound to enact his final wish to find his replacement.

The world and set up were really interesting. You have sentient magic that is itself a force, and this group of seven immortals who have been taken from their home world and all bound in service to the throne. While parts of the world building were confusing, I did appreciate the complexity and uniqueness of the world(s). They have a found family feel, with the added complexity of previous relationships and romantic entanglements. This background was kind of the highlight of the whole book for me, and I'm not sure how to feel about the rest.

The plot itself seems simple enough, but it just didn't flow naturally to me while reading. It felt too inconsistent in the pace, dialogue-heavy and like everything was explained in a round-about way. It was confusing and I was unable to be immersed or just vibe along so I ended up not enjoying it.

Esme was a really intriguing character, even if I didn't exactly end up liking her. She was tortured and complex, and made some really questionable decisions which stood out to me. She had a few complex relationships, but none of them felt very convincing. I am interested in her backstory and history with the King, and I hope this is explored a bit more in future books. The wraiths were all interesting, and I was hoping to find out more about the nameless man, but I felt his appearances were overshadowed by other components of the plot.

This is a series I probably won't be continuing, but thank you to Netgalley and Daphne Press for the opportunity to read this e-arc.

Narration: third person POV

Tropes:
- Sentient Magic
- Magical bonds
- Political fantasy
- Deadly trials
- Polyamory
- Queer normative
- Found family
- Morally grey characters

Similar Titles:
- The Order of Masks
- Blood Bound

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[Lauren]

As should be expected in a fantasy book where Magic is chaos and anarchy (and largely unwanted in the world because it eats worlds and then moves on to the next), there is A LOT happening in here. Amaris reminds me a lot of Terry Pratchett's Ankh-Morpork if you made it dark instead of funny.

Omniel Asterou was a past king who dragged seven beings, including Esme (not her real name, but he wanted one that "fit"), into his world and kingdom and then enslaved them with a magical bond that requires them to follow the orders of the royals in all instances. Omniel used this bond to make his "Wraiths" feared throughout the nation, creating mythology around their evilness, and used that to be a conquering/colonizing douche. When he died, his son Turiel took the throne....and he used the Wraiths for things like collecting jewelry, but still funded all of the horrible things his father did. He just didn't like to get his hands dirty.

Well, Turiel gets murdered. And, turns out, OMNIEL is the one who wrote Turiel's will. It sets up a trial, pitting two selected potential heirs to the throne against each other in trials to be designed by Turiel's wife, the queen. And, when it is read out loud in court, it forces EVERYONE present to be branded with the text around their neck requiring them to either make the will happen....or die an excruciating death.

I liked Esme, but I was a little on the fence about the book until meeting the heir candidates. Specifically, the moment that General Balthazar Joh'el is about to attack Esme for endangering the children of his village. I know his appearance was described, but I don't even care what he looked like because the way he is about protecting all of these refugee and orphaned children was super swoony. Later on, when he and Esme beat the heck out of each other in the fighting pits? Yeah, I've read smut less steamy than that fight. Amazing.

Esme is supporting Bal during the trials. Her good friend/ex/maybe one of the loves of her life (couldn't quite get where her and Urias stood) is supporting the other candidate. The conflict with this, along with the intensity of the trials and the knowledge that no matter who wins they will ultimately have complete power and control over the Wraiths who put them there made for a very interesting dynamic among the cast of characters.

Although it took me a while to get into it, I really enjoyed this read and I cannot wait to see book 2. The tension left at the end makes me expect it will be even more action packed and intense.

Thank you to NetGalley, Daphne Press | Titan Books, and Sydney Olivia for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Shyames]

Honestly, I'm a bit conflicted on this one. It reads well, then it doesn't, and then it does again. The story and the world are very intriguing, but it's a lot of chaos wrapped in even more chaos.

It starts in a very interesting way—we meet the nameless man who is searching for his wife and struck a deal with Magic to aid him in his search. We find him in Amaris, on a night he will do something that changes the fate of the country forever. At the same time, Esme, our female protagonist, is tasked with retrieving a necklace stolen from the queen.

Esme is one of the country's Wraiths: formidable figures, often glamoured to avoid showing their true forms to humans. The Wraiths are forcefully loyal to the throne and resent it, hating it with just as much force in return. As we follow Esme, we learn more about how they came to be, how they're treated, and what they've been forced to do over the last century. Everything changes, though, as news travels that the king has been murdered. His father's will sets in motion a cascade of events, pitting the queen and Wraiths against each other in order to secure the kingdom's power and gain freedom.

Overall, the setup is very intriguing, from the mythology and history to the politics and the state of the world. It feels like it's all so fragmented, though. The characters are complex, I'll give it credit for that, especially as we delve more into Janos and Balthazar (maybe they're not so different after all?). But as soon as we go deeper into one thread, we jump ship and take a step back. Esme infuriated me a lot, behaving more like a teenager than a century-old priestess with shadow magic.

Assuming this is the start of a series, since we end right on the brink of a major event, I hope the world gets a little bit more order in future installments and it isn't just a festival of introducing as many threads as possible only to resolve two.

Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy.

[Cherie • bookshelvesandtealeaves]

3.5 stars

Thank you to Daphne Press and Netgalley for the eARC. All thoughts are my own.

This was such a fascinating book full of interesting, layered characters and a great plot that kept me hooked.

I loved the concept of Magic as a being. I definitely need to know more about Magic and Voids in the future of this series. This book tells you enough to intrigue you but nowhere near enough to have any answers and it’s very cleverly done.

Esme and her wraith siblings were all really interesting characters and I loved getting to know them, especially Esme and Urias. And I thought Bal, Janos, Mina and Simon were intriguing as well. The relationships between them all were great and I loved the way Esme loved each of them differently. But to be honest, I didn’t end up connecting with them on an emotional level which left some scenes that should have had me tearing up at the very least feeling a little hollow.

That being said, I think the writing here is fantastic and I will definitely be picking up book 2.

[Katie May]

I made it to 15% before deciding to DNF but I really thought about it after reading the prologue. The writing style was really not for me at all; it was confusing who was speaking and what was going on and was so over written it was essentially unreadable. It seemed like it was trying to be snarky or clever but really I wasn’t spending any more time weeding through extra words to tell what was going on. Really intrigued by the premise, it’s a shame I had literally no idea what was supposed to be happening.

Thank you to Netgalley and Daphne Press for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Gio]

4.25 stars

[L. Garrison]

Even after having finished this book, I’m still not sure what to make of it. I did enjoy it, I know that much. Even from the first couple of pages, I knew I was going to like the darker, black comedy angle of the main character and the way she approaches violence and death.

And for the most part, it was a great read. Esme is an engaging protagonist because of her complexity. At first glance, she reads like a typical immortal badass with a devil-may-care attitude, who is very blasé towards murder and gore. However, there are frequent moments of calm, where her guard is let down, where we see her as more than an immortal and monstrous Wraith. She’s known to the populace of Micrea as some kind of eldritch beast born from the death-orgy of a bunch of vipers (and all her other Wraith companions have similarly grotesque origin stories attributed to them), and though she wears a near-permanent glamour to appear human, she’s not half a monstrous as her mythos paints her as being.

Like the other Wraiths who also serve the horrible King Turiel, Esme was stolen from her home world and forced through a magic binding into serving the king. Although not human, and though now well over a hundred years old, she’s a victim, taken captive, forced against her will to do anything Turiel and his nasty Queen Isobel demands.

Her life is thrown into disorder when it comes time to crown a new king, with only two candidates put forth: Balthazar, a seemingly righteous general; and Janos, guilty of the wanton murder of thousands of innocents. Of course, Esme backs Balthazar (who she grants the pet name Bal), and through her political manoeuvrings to try to ensure his success in the three trials that stand between him and kingship, Esme begins to care for him.

It’s through her relationships with others that Esme’s veneer as a cold-hearted monster begins to crack. There’s her flirting with Bal, of course, and her own acknowledgement that she’s starting to develop feelings for him and her hopes that he truly is the good man he seems. Then there’s also her very real attachment to her wife, Mina, who she keeps secret so the woman can’t be used against her. There’s Mina’s daughter, Gia, who Esme is an adopted mother to. Then there’s her circle of fellow Wraith friends, chief among these being Urias, who was once her lover but is now a very close friend.

I loved all of Esme’s interactions with other characters because she’s so varied. Whether it’s her easy chemistry with Mina, her cheeky flirting with Bal, her shoulder-nudging bond with Urias, or her seething hatred of Isobel, Esme is an incredibly well-rounded character.

Balthazar, though only a secondary character, also struck me as being way more complex than I was anticipating. At first framed as a simple “good guy”, we see small moments of him perhaps not being the paragon of greatness Esme wants him to be, as her chosen candidate as King of Micrea. Rather than a brave and dashing warrior, he backs away in fear from certain confrontations (true, some of those confrontations are between him and giant magically-enhanced monsters), and takes great joy in certain acts of violence committed by him and his army. He lusts after Esme to a degree where its obvious to everyone around them, but he is also really sweet and thoughtful towards her, to the point where he learns what food she prefers so he can bring her a platter when she’s injured. He endeavours to protect the children who managed to escape Janos’s army’s violence, but he engages in subterfuge and fraud to steal the money needed to maintain his camp (can’t really blame him for this one, to be fair).

Based on the blurb of this book, I expected there to be a significant romantic subplot between Esme and Bal, but I’m so glad it was more nuanced than that. This isn’t a romantasy, it should be noted, but love, romance, and lust are certainly still present on the page.

My main hesitation with this book stems from the fact that it never felt as if it was fully committing to the many different things it was trying to pull off. We get a little bit of political manoeuvring from Esme, but it’s sudden and over with quickly (mainly a chapter where she makes a deal with the twin owners of a brothel, characters we only meet for the first time in this chapter, and who weren’t mentioned before). We get hints of romance and diversity within romance through being told that Esme and Mina have an open marriage, that Esme was once in a throuple with two of her fellow Wraiths, that Mina is happy for Esme to pursue Bal. But it never really comes to fruition and is kept as a few lingering scenes of flirtation. We get a very brief war against Magic (capitalised here because Magic is actually sentient, and therefore a character with dialogue), and a few scenes where Magic itself converses with characters. But again, I didn’t feel like this was taken as far as it could be, because a sentient magic system is so bloody cool and should be more prominent in the plot than this. We also get an outside threat hinted at in the form of a warrior from another nation, but she only acts against Micrea towards the end of the book, and it felt more like setting up for the sequel’s plot than it did furnishing this book’s plot.

There are also two characters who are framed as being pretty damn evil, but slight efforts are made to give them redeeming qualities. However, it fell a bit flat for me, and the hints of motivations they were provided were not, in my opinion, strong enough to be entertained. Isobel being a selfish, domineering, awful woman who abuses her power over the Wraiths and causes the deaths of many innocents because of her manipulation of the trials, is supposed ot be worthy of a bit of sympathy because she’s protecting her daughter. And Janos, who oversees the murder, capture, burning, and sometimes implied rape of civilians (including, it is stated, children), is only doing all of this because his adopted father told him to.

Those reasons aren’t strong enough, but I feel like giving them stronger motivations, or making their actions a little less awful, would’ve made them both truly compelling and morally complex.

Overall, I really did enjoy this book, and I think the bulk of my issues with it are down to the fact it’s the first in a series (I’m assuming), and that it’s doing a lot of legwork to build up the foundation. Honestly, that foundation is there. The characters are compelling, the world feels rich and lived-in, certain plot beats hit really well, and character dynamics carry a lot of emotional weight.

I’ll definitely be sticking around for further books in this world.

Thank you to the publisher for my proof copy.

[Phoe]

An enchanting new voice, with a character set that will delight, written with plenty of humour. Lots of novels don’t find the balance between the unrelentingly grim, to the facetious, or the romance. Sydney strikes a tone somewhere in between. Her heroine is both vivacious and in love with life, and yet scarred by past and current dark deeds; there are menacing, gory moments of real threat contrasting with charming and funny scenes. Love is also very present in the story: existing married relationships; the thrill of new paramours; toxic couples; lost loves; polyamory; old friends and family relationships.

There’s a lot going on but the thread is not hard to follow. Esme and her fellow Wraiths are bound to follow a magical binding which compels them to enact the will of the previous dead king: setting two heirs against each other to win the throne. But with many players attempting to influence the game, and the sentient power of Chaos Magic running wild in the city, Esme is dangerously near to losing everyone she loves - or getting everything she wants.

[Heather Pacella]

3.75 stars

The city of Amaris is on the knife’s edge of anarchy: its violent and chaotic way of life makes it the perfect target for Magic, desperate to wreak havoc and drive humanity mad in the process. Amaris is pushed over this edge when their king is suddenly murdered in his sleep, and a magical will written by a long-deceased ruler forces their successor to be one of two (seemingly random) heirs that must compete in a series of three trials to be crowned the victor.

The seven Wraiths of the now-deceased king have been magically bound to his family for generations, forced to pillage and kill on the orders of the man that stole them from their homelands. Though Esme, one of the strongest wraiths, has been forced to do unspeakable things, she has also managed to carve out a secret life for herself with her wife, Mina, and her young daughter. Now, with the king’s death, she and her fellow Wraiths see an opportunity to seek happiness and free themselves of their shackles forever. Though Esme tries to tip the trial scales in favor of the heroic General Balthazar, others (including Esme’s closest friends) are doing the same for the alternative competitor, Janos Rivel. As alliances shift and secrets are uncovered, Amaris tip-toes closer and closer to the edge of no return - and the Wraiths quickly realize that perhaps it is Magic that has been in control this whole time.

A Viper Among Kings is the first in an epic fantasy trilogy. My thoughts on various aspects of the story are given below.

*World-building/Plot: The world-building (or, more appropriately, worlds-building) by Sydney Olivia was incredible. She crafted a sprawling universe filled with many different people (or magical beings), political systems, and cultures, and skillfully wove them into the story in an entirely organic way, without forcing the reader to go through pages and pages of burdensome info-dumping. There is a developed history fleshed out between these nations, and it all serves to drive the main plot of choosing the king’s successor (and ups the stakes in unexpected ways). The sentient magic system was also fascinating, and I cannot wait to see more of it in the next book of the series.

*Character Development: Though there was an extensive fantasy world in A Viper Among Kings, there was also a ton of emotional depth, which I loved. The Wraiths were easily the most compelling characters, and you really felt for them and their struggles to free themselves of their Bond. Though most of the story was from Esme’s POV, there were chapters throughout from other character’s viewpoints that really helped to advance the story along and provide additional details into their inner workings. In my opinion, this was the highlight of the book - this structure did a fantastic job of showing that “there are no bad people, only bad choices”.

Though I greatly enjoyed the poly rep, I do wish Esme’s dealings with some of the characters were handled a bit differently. Though we are told (repeatedly) that her relationship with her wife, Mina, is her absolute top priority, they spend very little time together, which was a bit unsatisfying. This was especially unsatisfying when so much of her on-page romance was devoted to General Balthazar (with Mina on the sidelines) - I really didn’t feel their connection and was getting frustrated with Esme’s constant mooning over him (though, based on the ending of the book, I might be proven wrong in the next book). I’d really love it if the next installment included more POV chapters from different characters, and spent more time on the friendships and histories between the various Wraiths.

*Pacing/Writing Style: The pacing was definitely on the slower side, and there weren’t a ton of twists and turns to keep the reader on the edge of their seat. It was stylistically more of a “breadcrumbs” situation, where a tiny nugget of information would get mentioned and then it would become important 100 pages later - which I appreciate, but that style might not be for everyone. Because of this, there were probably some parts that could be cut in further edits, as things were slow enough that I was almost starting to forget some vital pieces of world-building (because it was so long between those details becoming relevant). However, I absolutely adored Sydney Olivia’s writing style - it was the perfect blend of dry, irreverent humor mixed with deeply emotional moments and high-stakes drama. It reminded me of Joe Abercrombie’s The Devils, which is another epic fantasy book I really enjoyed.

A Viper Among Kings was an incredibly strong debut by Sydney Olivia. Though it seems like the book is mostly being marked by these short, social media-friendly descriptions (poly rep! girlboss!), it’s so, so much more than that. The extensive world-building and strong cast of characters make this a perfect read for anyone looking to dive into a refreshingly unique, high-stakes fantasy universe. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Daphne Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

[Tessa]

Thank you so much to Daphne Press, Sydney Olivia and NetGalley for sending me an eARC of A Viper Among Kings!

A Viper Among Kings follows Esme, one of the seven Wraiths that protects the king of Amaris and carries out his bidding. She is the Viper, a shadow-wielding assassin that was stolen from her homeworld many years ago and forced into servitude to the Asterou kings. Over the decades, she has carved out a life for herself, her wife and their child despite all the forces opposing them. However, when the current king is assassinated and leaves behind no clear successor, the will of the king who stole Esme from her homeworld lays out a plan; a trial between two heirs, Balthazar and Janos to decide which one is worthy to lead. Esme decides to do everything in her power to assure the succession of her chosen heir, even when it becomes clear he isn't the man she thought he was, and despite her falling for him.

I really enjoyed this one as I hoped I would. I love complex epic fantasies and this one was exactly what I wanted. The subtle worldbuilding of there being at least two worlds and Voids that can carry people between them was so intruiging to me, and I really enjoyed the moments where Esme was thinking about her past in her homeworld and reminiscing about her family, those parts really gripped me. The city of Amaris felt like such a believable city of sin and debauchery, and I could really imagine it as I followed Esme through the streets. I do wish there was more explanation about Magic and what it is, but I imagime that'll be left for later books in the series; the glimpses of Magic that we got were very intruiging though. I think I wanted it to be more eldritch and terrifying, but it came across more like a petulant child at times which wasn't quite what I had in mind when thinking of a powerful force like Magic. However this didn't affect my enjoyment at all. The writing style is also really fun; I can see why some people didn't enjoy it but I really did. It's fun and engaging but doesn't slip into too much colloquial language, which is something I tend to dislike in epic fantasy books. It was the right amount of informal which I really enjoyed.

I adored our main character Esme. She's smart, forceful and incredibly protective over those she loves. She loves hard and can be quite impulsive when it comes to protecting her people, but underneath her Viper and Esme persona she's a lost immortal who was stolen from her home and misses her family with a passion. There was a scene later in the book where she realises she's forgetting what her family used to look like; it was so heartbreaking that I almost started crying. Sydney Olivia has such a way with writing Esme that I adored; she's a badass shadow-wielding warrior woman, but she's also terrified of losing her new family, the other Wraiths, her wife Mina and their daughter Gia. It made her feel so real and three-dimensional, and I loved reading from her POV. Our side characters were also really interesting; I loved the other Wraiths, especially Urias. I wish we'd seen more from his budding relationship with Janos to really understand why he grew to care for him, but as this was mainly from Esme's POV I can see why we didn't. Daphna was such a great character too, I loved the representation of their gender fluidity and how they were so connected to Esme. Balthazar was an interesting one; I never fully trusted him but there were some moments that had me swooning for him a little bit. I imagine in the coming books we'll learn more about him and see more of his true nature.

I also really enjoyed the representation in this book; we got a load of BIPOC characters and LGBTQIA+ characters. Polyamourous relationships are quite rare in fantasy so to have one be at the forefront of this book was amazing. Usually I get weird when people are flirting with people that aren't their spouse but here Esme and Mina's understanding was so clear that there were no icky feelings when Esme was flirting with others. You can tell that Esme and Mina love each other so deeply that dalliances with others will never truly affect that, which I really liked seeing. We also got gender fluidity and a few asexual/aromantic characters which is always great to see in books.

Overall I really loved this one and I'm so happy about it! I can't wait to continue the series to see what happens to Esme and the others, especially after the epilogue sets up the trajectory for the second book. If you love darker epic fantasies with shadow-wielding badasses and personafied magic, I'd definitely recommend A Viper Among Kings!

[Chelsea Bedford]

2.5 ⭐️

So I was initially drawn to A Viper Among Kings because it promised many of the things I enjoy most in fantasy and/or wanted to see more of - political intrigue, epic fantasy over romantasy, complex relationships, LGBTQIA+, POC and polyamorous representation, and what sounded like the potential for some truly satisfying female-rage revenge (always a big fan…)

The opening prologue immediately had me invested and, ultimately, became my favourite part of the novel!
The introduction to Mose (later known as Simon) painted such a vivid picture of a fiercely devoted husband with a surprisingly humorous voice (honestly, I cackled), while the city's darker atmosphere, with its decadence, violence, and moral decay, made for an incredibly compelling opening. It set very high expectations for the story that followed, and I found myself eager to explore more of both the world and its characters.

While the story ultimately wasn't the right fit for me, there were several aspects I genuinely enjoyed. The world itself contains a number of interesting ideas, particularly the inclusion of gods and goddesses, which added another layer of intrigue to the wider lore. I also loved seeing wraiths featured as fantasy creatures! They're not something I encounter often in fantasy, and every mention of them left me wanting to know more.
Sydney Olivia's humour was another standout! Truly highlighted many lines that made me laugh even when they weren’t supposed to think… The dry, matter-of-fact style of comedy landed consistently for me and provided some of my favourite moments in the book. Combined with the unique worldbuilding and mythology, there were plenty of elements that kept me appreciating the creativity behind the story, even when I wasn't fully invested in the narrative itself.

Where I struggled most was with the character relationships. One of my biggest disappointments was Esme's relationship with her wife, Mina. Mina is repeatedly described as the love of Esme's life and as someone whose bond with her is unbreakable, yet after the opening chapters she largely disappears from the narrative, only reappearing when the plot requires it. Because so little time is actually spent exploring that relationship, I struggled to feel the emotional weight the story seemed to want those moments to carry. In contrast, Esme spends considerably more time thinking about several male characters than she does about Mina, which made their relationship feel surprisingly underdeveloped. Justice for Mina

Similarly, while I appreciated seeing LGBTQIA+, POC and polyamorous representation included, I found myself wishing those dynamics had been explored in greater depth. The representation is certainly there, but many of the relationships felt more implied than developed, and I would have loved to spend more time with those interactions on the page.

I also found myself struggling with Esme's characterisation. I don't mind protagonists making poor decisions, in fact, flawed characters are often some of the most compelling to read about for me!
What frustrated me here was the disconnect between how intelligent Esme was described to be and the choices she made throughout the story. She frequently recognised obvious warning signs, acknowledged red flags herself, and yet repeatedly chose not to question them or seek out perspectives that might challenge her assumptions. Rather than feeling like intentional flaws that deepened her character, these moments made it difficult for me to reconcile her actions with the capable, perceptive person the narrative presented her as.

The pacing also meant it took me quite a while to become invested in the central conflict, and by the time the story broadened further towards the end, I unfortunately hadn't formed a strong enough connection with most of the cast to feel excited about continuing into the next instalment.

Overall, A Viper Among Kings wasn't the right fit for me, but I can absolutely appreciate the ambition behind it. Between its imaginative worldbuilding, fascinating mythology, diverse cast of characters, memorable humour, and intriguing fantasy concepts, there is plenty here that I think other fantasy readers may connect with.
Unfortunately, I never became emotionally invested enough in the characters or their relationships for the story to fully land with me.