The Gilded King – Josie Jaffrey

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The Gilded King – Josie Jaffrey

Hello everyone! How was your Monday, I hope it wasn’t typical…and that you did not consume too much tea or coffee. Is that even a thing? It must be like books, no such thing as too much. I do not have much to say about my day…I did the typical things, play with my two boys. They are the best.

So…let me move on to the book. Shall we?

The Gilded King (Sovereign, #1)

 

The Gilded King  The Gilded King (Sovereign, #1)

Author: Josie Jaffrey

Published: June 25th, 2018

Publisher: CreateSpace

Book Length: 303 Pages

Genre: Fantasy

Rating:  ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Buy the book: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository (Use my referral ID: TheBibliophagist), Kobo

 

**Disclaimer: I received this novel for free in exchange for my honest review.**

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.

I really enjoy this cover, the colors mesh so well and are symbolic to the different areas described in this novel. The red bleeding into the blue hints at some events that take place. I like how the silver ring looks like the eye of the nobles described in the story as well.

Where do I begin…? This book was by far one of my favorite reads this year. It is a vampire novel, but one not like any other. If you are on the fence about reading a vampire book because, like me, you fear picking up something such as Twilight…do not hesitate to grab this. It is vastly different, a more mature tale. The writing style used makes the story seem less juvenile than most. It is written as a dual POV, switching when something dramatic happened. This left the reader sitting on their seat, waiting to get back to that POV and see what happened next.

The characters were well thought out. I love the hierarchy between nobles and others such as attendants, and servants. You have the Nobles (Vampires), candidates (humans training to be turned), attendants (human assigned to a noble, designated solely to that noble to feed from), and servents (typical human servants). The interactions between people of the different classes are complex and so accurate to how nobles and servants would interact. Not only is there this complex class system, but Josie has created an intricate history behind the nobles and their kind. Romance…yes it is here but it in no way deters you from the primary storyline. There is an aspect of the nobles that coincides with love that I adore, but will not mention here…I hate giving away spoilers, even if small. But it is so unique and I love it soooo much!! I will hint that it has to do with their eyes. So, go read the book yourself and find out what it is!

My favorite part of this novel, apart from there being vampires that do not sparkle (sorry Twilight fans), is the characters themselves. Lucas has to be my favorite and I really love seeing the relationship between him and his attendant Julia develop. Julia and Cameron are the two characters we see POVs from as we progress through this tale. I actually loved both and felt they balanced very well. I was never confused, wondering which POV I was reading from. Julia was a strong, sceptical female human that I instantly felt connected with. But when Lucas entered the picture…move over bookish boyfriends we have a new resident here in Cassandra’s bookish dream world! The best part about Lucas is that he is not ancient, he is actually merely 20 and just learning what it means to be immortal…a vampire. There is another species in this novel, the Weepers. The Weepers, from what I gathered, are something along the lines of zombies.

The Weepers fill what is called the Red where the living uninfected humans live in the Blue with the nobles. I really loved the world building here. The dual POV helps us see both the Red and Blue. Julia lives within the Blue while Cameron searches the Red for a long lost noble. The places were described so vividly that I could visualize everything that happened.

Josie’s writing style really grabs you from the beginning. The Gilded King is an exciting, unique, more mature fantasy novel that is a great beginning to a new series. The most exciting part is that you really lose yourself in this new realm she has painted for the readers. I lied…the most exciting part of all is that this is a series! I do not have to leave this realm just yet but I do have to wait for the second book (The Silver Queen) to be published..psst it will be released October 17th, so not too long now! This series is based in the same world as Josie’s Solis Invicti series, which sadly I have not read yet. But now…I am on the hunt for it! Do not miss your chance to read this amazing book. When I was done it took so long for me to gather my thoughts because I loved this book so much and had to write more than just “I loved this book, go buy it now!” If I did not wait I would have simply gushed over Lucas and the story itself.

Would you read this novel? Buy it or borrow it? If you have read it, what did you think? Do enjoy vampire novels? How about Zombie novels? Have you read the Solis Invicti series?  What book has been on your nightstand lately?

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