It’s always fun discovering new authors, so when I saw the sign up for the tour of The King’s 100 I knew I needed to read this book. Today is my spot on the book tour hosted by TBR and Beyond Tours. Keep on reading if you want to know more about this book and what I thought after reading it.

A big thanks to the author for providing an e-ARC for me to read and review.

The King’s 100 by Karin Biggs
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Publishing Date: July 26, 2020

Sixteen-year-old princess, Piper Parish, is a disappointment to the citizens of Capalon, a STEM-structured kingdom where innovation is valued above all. Her older sister, the queen, views Piper’s tears during their parents’ funeral as a weakness, not to mention her strange affinity for singing. When Piper receives an anonymous note stating her mother is still alive and living in the enemy kingdom of Mondaria, Piper chooses to risk death and flees Capalon to prove once and for all that she’s not just the queen’s defective little sister.

Posing as a Mondarian citizen named Paris Marigold, Piper bumps into a cute black-haired boy named Ari who encourages her to audition for the King’s 100, an esteemed performance court of singers, magicians, and drummers. Piper lands a spot as a singer and dives head-first into a world of glittering dresses, girl-code, sugar, blackmail, and physical contact-all while taking direction from an evil maestro.Under Mondarian law, Piper will be killed if her identity is revealed. But living a life without the freedom to love might actually be the most dangerous risk of all.

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Review

“You always come back for the people you love.”

A lot of fantasy books tend to blend together, but Karin Biggs definitely surprised me with The King’s 100. Our main character, Piper, is the princess of Capalon. In this kingdom logic is really important and there isn’t any room for emotions. Piper seems to stand out in this and is frowned upon, because she does show emotions and loves to sing. When she finds a note stating her mother may still be alive, she knows she needs to try and find out if this is true!

I have to say for someone only used to logic, Piper didn’t have a hard time showing her emotions. It was interesting to see her journey out of her own kingdom when she knew how dangerous it was. I loved reading about her getting to Mondaria for the first time. Nothing is the same and even things as jeans and hot cocoa are foreign to her. She made me laugh when trying to cover up not being from this world and it was actually sweet that she didn’t know certain things.

To try and find her mother, Piper auditions for the King’s 100. This group performs for the King and his guests. Again, this was an interesting aspect. This group was very interesting and I enjoyed the side characters. They weren’t always what they seemed and I think they definitely proved you don’t always have to judge a book by its cover. Even though I really enjoyed getting to know these characters and reading about them performing and rehearsing, I feel that the whole search for her mother kind of disappeared to the background and only was spoken about a few times. The urgency Piper feels to find her mother seems so important in the beginning, it just felt a bit odd that it didn’t play a bigger part of the story.

Besides Piper’s search for her mother and learning the ropes as one of the King’s 100, there is a slow-burn romance. Ari is a fun character and I really enjoyed seeing Piper and Ari get to know each other. Their friendship and feelings adds to some drama in the story, but it definitely fits in the dynamics going on in this mansion. At times the romance took over a bit of the plot, but Ari was definitely one of my favorite characters.

Last, but not least I want to talk about the world building. I really love the idea of a kingdom of logic. I just wished we had seen and learned a bit more about Capalon and how it came to be enemies with Mondaria. I feel a lot of things would’ve made more sense if we had more background information. I think this is why I felt that the ending felt a bit rushed. There are some things revealed that kind of came out of nowhere. And I mean, I love little plot twists, but I think they would’ve come out better if we had known more.

The King’s 100 was a fun and interesting read and I really hope there will be a sequel to explain some of the things I missed from this book. The characters were a lot of fun, but I hope to find out more!

 

Tour Schedule

There are a lot of amazing blogs and bookstagrammers participating on this tour. Click here for the full schedule, so you can check them out!

Giveaway

US readers have a chance at winning a finished copy of The King’s 100. This giveaway ends on October 6th. Click here to enter!

About the Author

Karin earned her bachelor’s degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management from Purdue University and served as an event planner for two Big 10 universities and various non-profits for over eight years before becoming a stay-at-home-mom. She enjoys chocolate-covered peanuts, uninterrupted sleep and singing with other people. Karin lives in Ohio with her husband, daughter, cat and dog.

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The way The King’s 100 ended, I’m really hoping there will be a sequel. I need to figure out all the secrets there are still to discover! I enjoyed this book and am interested to see what this author will give us next!