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The King of Faerie

Stariel, Book 4

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The King of Faerie

By: AJ Lancaster
Narrated by: Fiona Hardingham
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About this listen

The fae are real, and Hetta Valstar is trying her best to marry one.

If Hetta and Wyn ever manage to marry, it will be the first union between Faerie and Mortal since the Iron Law was revoked. The mortal Queen has given them her blessing - sort of. Now, Wyn needs permission from the fae High King.

There’s an intensely personal reason why they need to tie the knot as soon as possible, and time is not on their side. The clock is ticking. Except in Wyn’s home court, which is trapped under magical stasis. To break the spell will mean venturing into the deepest realms of Faerie, where even fae princes - and definitely human lords - fear to tread.

Unfortunately, the fae problems aren’t limited to Faerie. Public tension is rising, and the reveal of Wyn’s true identity makes him and Hetta the centre of the storm. On top of this, Stariel’s magic is going haywire, and Hetta is struggling with her intensifying powers - and she might not be the only one affected.

The High King might be the only one who can help, since he’s responsible for the fae returning to the Mortal Realm in the first place.

If only they knew where he was.

©2022 AJ Lancaster (P)2022 Podium Audio Fantasy Romance Royalty Fiction King

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All stars
Most relevant  
A fresh plot, and expressive narration rather spoilt by what I assumed were mis-pronounciations, cachet not cache, iron fillings not iron filings, etc etc, these sometimes became so regular that they distracted me completely from the plot.

Enjoyable lighthearted escapism

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A satisfying conclusion to the series. Daft to change narrator for the final one but really, when you put that to one side, she does a good job. Gets more confident as she goes through. If she’d done the whole series no one would be really complaining.

Give the narrator a break!

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Shame that the story couldn’t be finished by the same narrator as I spent half the book re-learning the characters- however the story was gripping and continued in an unexpected and exciting way!

Ooh unexpected twists!

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I still loved the story and it was an enjoyable listen but I definitely preferred the narrator of the first three books. Many of the characters sounded too stilted compared to before and there were a lot of mispronunciations of common words as well as inconsistencies with how she was saying names and other story specific words. Maybe this was just my teacher brain being picky. I still enjoyed the listen and would recommend the story.

Shame about the new narrator

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I’ve very much enjoyed this series which is lighthearted and entertaining - just what’s needed when the world is so grim. The author’s style is good and easy to listen to.

There are pacing issues at times when an incident can go on interminably followed by key periods that flash by in a blink. It’s also frustrating when a major plot point is about to be revealed but the key character involved gets tired or develops a headache and goes to bed, or randomly decides ‘now isn’t the time’ leaving the reader hanging. In my case, I then guess the plot point (generally not hard) which undermines any tension the author is trying to cling to.

Having said that, I’ve very much enjoyed the world, the characters and the language. The author establishes an Edwardian/early 20’s feel world very well, she’s made a real effort with the language and culture. I’m quite happy for the romance to support the plot rather than the other way around and I like the two protagonists. The fact that the ‘baddies’ are more complex than black is something I also very much enjoy in a book. I can definitely recommend this series as a well written, light, fun, fantasy read.

The first 3 books in the series were read by the excellent Finty Williams who raises a good book series to an excellent audio listen. Unfortunately the same can’t be said of the current narrator who is far too concerned with enunciation and pronunciation to have the bandwidth for character or even, sometimes, for sense or meaning. Luckily I had the Kindle book and a long train journey so I bypassed the narrator for most of this instalment.

I understand there is going to be a fifth book in this world. I enjoyed Marius’ storyline so I’ll definitely check it out, however if this narrator is doing the audio I’ll stick with the e-book on its own.

Good yarn, shame about the narrator

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Amazing story but really terrible narration. It’s read like a news report rather than a novel. I only persevered because I loved the other 3 installments

Great story; terrible narration

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What a shame Finty Williams has not narrated this book as she did the first three. It has been sadly let down by a stilted and simpering narrator.

Disappointing narration

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I am so disappointed because this narrator is nasal when doing a male, they all sound the same so no nuance between the male characters at all. Sorry but it totally ruined it for me, just so jarring especially compared to Flinty 😞

Noooo hate the narrator change

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Well, this was a first for me. This was the first series I have ever bought extra credit for as I loved AJ Lancaster's series and I binge listened through them all. This is also the first book I have ever returned.
Finty Williams read them perfectly, not so Fiona Hardingham.
I seriously wondered if Fiona had ever met any men such was her staccato voice. None of the male characters could be identified from each other and they all barked their way through the book without any of the subtleties of inflection normal male speech represents.
When changing from one narrator to another it can often take time to behind accustomed to the new voice so I did try and persevere but the awful narration was made worse by spurious pronunciation of common words that in the end, I gave up. The narration spoiled the book so much I can't even give the story top marks, perhaps with another narrator I would have been able to.

First book I've ever returned

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I nearly gave up on it… three books with beautiful defined audible characters and then a new reader!!! However, book 5 intrigued me so I persevered with book 4. It became less abrasive as time went on. I can’t say it was ever good but it was manageable and I am looking forward to the next book with a different reader.

Great fourth book, challenging change of reader !

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