Gina Rae Mitchell

The Gilded King by Josie Jaffrey | Review | Sovereign Book 1

I received this book to read and review as part of the BBNYA 2020 competition and the BBNYA tours organized by @The_WriteReads tours team. This is my honest, unbiased opinion.

The Gilded King placed 4th in the 2020 BBNYA competition!

                     

BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors.

If you are an author and wish to learn more about the 2021 BBNYA competition, you can visit the official website here, or our Twitter account, @BBNYA_Official. If you would like to sign-up and enter your book, you can find the BBNYA 2021 author sign-up form here. Please make sure to carefully read our terms and conditions before entering.

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Now on to the fourth place winner!

The Gilded King by Josie Jaffrey
Series: Sovereign #1
Published by Silver Sun Books on 06/25/2018
Genres: Dark Fantasy, Dystopian, Fantasy, Fiction, LGBTQ, Paranormal, Post Apocalyptic, Science Fiction, Vampire, Young Adult
Format: eBook, Paperback
Pages: 303

In the Blue, the world’s last city, all is not well.

Julia is stuck within its walls. She serves the nobility from a distance until she meets Lucas, a boy who believes in fairytales that Julia’s world can’t accommodate. The Blue is her prison, not her castle, and she’d escape into the trees if she didn’t know that contamination and death awaited humanity outside.

But not everyone in the Blue is human, and not everyone can be contained.

Beyond the city’s boundaries, in the wild forests of the Red, Cameron has precious little humanity left to lose. As he searches for a lost queen, he finds an enemy rising that he thought long dead. An enemy that the humans have forgotten how to fight.

One way or another, the walls of the Blue are coming down. The only question is what side you’ll be on when they do.

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Source: Received from the author or publisher for review., The Write Reads Tours

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The Gilded King: Gripping n...Shop on Amazon Digital The Gilded King (Sovereign)Shop on Amazon Paperback

This book is also available on BookShop, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iTunes, Waterstones, and The Book Depository

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My thoughts on The Gilded King by Josie Jaffrey

In the opening chapters, I was confused and felt a bit lost. When I heard that this is the first in a new series but has some cross-over from a previous series, I decided maybe I should read the other series first.

Before I could put it down, I read one more chapter…and then another…and then I was too engrossed to stop. The plot began to make more sense once I set aside my thoughts of what I was missing in world-building and just enjoyed what I was reading.

In the Blue, the world’s last city, all is not well.
Julia is stuck within its walls. She serves the nobility from a distance until she meets Lucas, who believes in fairytales that her world can’t accommodate.

Beyond the city’s boundaries, in the wild forests of the Red, Cameron has precious little humanity left to lose. As he searches for a lost queen, he finds an enemy rising that he thought long dead. An enemy that the humans have forgotten how to fight.

The story is told from the perspectives of Julia and Cam. They provide much of the world-building, but I didn’t connect with them as much as I did many of the minor characters.

I would say at the heart of this story is the bond of friendship and loyalty. Flowing around that heart, the side stories are what gives the book its life-blood.

If you love dystopian worlds with vampires, drama, and mystery, you should give this book a try. Although, I would recommend reading the earlier series, Solis Invicti, first. Once I have a chance to read that, I will re-read The Gilded King to see if I enjoy it even more with the backstory filled in.
3.5 to 4 ( I’m as waffley as Julia)

 

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The Gilded King by Josie Jaffrey

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Buy the book online to support local book stores:

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The Wolf and the Water

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