Audiobook Review: The King Will Kill You (Kingdom of Sand and Sky #3)

Author: Sarah Henning

Narrator: Katharine Lee McEwan

Audiobook Length: 14 hours 48 minutes

The Princess Bride meets Game of Thrones in this commercial YA trilogy from acclaimed fantasy author Sarah Henning.

The epic tale concludes with The King Will Kill You, as the newly-crowned Queen Amarande and Luca, her one true love, seek peace among the Kingdoms of Sand and Sky. Wartorn and regicidal, all five kingdoms must confront the power-mad king determined to seize control of the continent–and kill Amarande and Luca in the process.

Fans of Sarah J. Maas, Kristin Cashore, and Adrienne Young will love this kickass heroine and fast-paced fantasy adventure inspired by The Princess Bride.

The King Will Kill You is the final novel in the Kingdom of Sand and Sky trilogy. The series began with Princess Amarande of Ardenia on a mission to rescue her love interest, stable boy Luca, and has expanded to a fast-paced series filled with twists and turns. As this novel builds on the ending from the previous novel, which built itself on the first, the series is highly recommended to be read in order to avoid spoilers. Since it has been over a year since I finished the previous novel, I liked that this story began with a reminder of the cliffhanger ending. This was a nice touch as it helped me re-immerse myself in the story before the newer portion began.

Amarande/Ama and Luca face new challenges in this story with some challenges from the previous novels resurfacing along with new ones.  There is a larger emphasis on politics compared to the previous two, where they were present, but not always at the forefront. While I enjoy the intrigue in stories, there were moments where I wanted a little less to focus more on the other elements. Along with some secondary romance storylines, which were a great conclusion, it was nice to have Ama and Luca spend more time together to build their relationship. Their sweet moments together were well-written, and it was also great to see Luca grow as a character.

Henning’s worldbuilding continues to shine as everything was well described and it was easy to picture the kingdoms and characters. This novel begins a little slower as the politics build followed by the main catalyst to drive the story forward. The ending itself was satisfying, although it was a little rushed. I believe back in 2020, this was initially a duology that was expanded to a trilogy, but there were moments where I think all three novels together could have been better suited as a duology. It was still a very interesting story, and I enjoyed this novel a lot. I loved how each novel, for me, became better and better, so I liked that stuck with it and finished the series!