Of Sword & Silver

A Conqueror's Kingdom, Book 1

By: January Bell

Narrated by: Mason Lloyd, Victoria Connolly

We’re supposed to hate each other, but I need him if I want to live. I stole from the wrong mark— a disciple of the death god. Instead of a priceless treasure, I’m left with a killer curse. The only one who can stop it? A dark warrior known as The Sword, the most feared of all the death god’s worshippers. Wonderful.

To make things worse, he’s currently rotting in a cell for murdering the followers of my goddess. But I’ve never let a little thing like the law stop me, and I certainly won’t now, not when the most important thing to me is on the line: my life. I manage to break The Sword out of his prison, and he swears to help me find a cure for the blood curse in return for his freedom. We have to learn to rely on one another… and manage to build a grudging respect that might just be turning into something more. No matter what he says, though, The Sword seems to have his own agenda on my quest for the cure. If I want to live, I have to figure out his plan before it’s too late.

Trust’s never come easy to me, but betrayal’s never hurt so much.

©2024 January Bell (P)2024 January Bell

ahhhh gives witcher vibes

if you like the witcher....this book is for you. I've read it and listened to the audiobook now. audiobook is fantastic. can't wait for book 2.

listen to this!

this story was soon good. I rarely leave reviews but had to on this book.

WOW!!

Great story! Talk about a cliffhanger! I’m so looking forward to Book 2!! Hope it’s soon!

Duet narration

A story of adventure and learning to trust those around you. 5 stars and can’t wait for the next book.

Argh … that cliffhanger!

This was a departure from the author’s normal bubblegum romantasy fare, with a more serious fantasy story about gods, fae, curses and bargains. It mostly worked for me. I loved the world building, the found family of supporting characters, thief Kyrie’s scrappiness in the face of her rough life, and the mystery of The Sword and his connection to Kyrie.

On the other hand, there were still some aspects that harkened back to the author’s usual writing style and it sometimes clashed with the tone. The romance aspect, for instance, while more than just alien-beefcake smutiliciousness, was still heavy on Kyrie drooling over The Sword’s bod. It was a slow burn, allowing the fantasy to take center stage, until the detailed sex which didn’t quite do it for me. Also, as much as I love his narration, Mr. Lloyd’s duet-style voicing for The Sword seemed to be out of sync with Ms. Connolly’s narration for Kyrie. Further, Mr. Lloyd is phenomenal at voicing lovable lunk monsters and aliens, but it made it difficult to view The Sword as the scary brooding prisoner forming the grumpy/sunshine alliance with Kyrie.

Overall, I was captivated by the unique romantasy … and then aghast at the cliff hanger. Particularly with the second book being only 6 hours (and switching both narrators), it rubs me wrong to shell out a credit for what feels like part two of a single book.