Legacy of Kings (Blood of Gods and Royals, #1)

by Eleanor Herman

Weaving the fantasy appeal of Game of Thrones with the shocking details of real history, New York Times bestselling author of Sex with Kings Eleanor Herman reimagines the greatest emperor the world has ever known, Alexander the Great, in book one of the Blood of Gods and Royals series.

Imagine a time when the gods turn a blind eye to the agony of men, when the last of the hellions roam the plains and evil stirs beyond the edges of the map. A time when cities burn and, in their ashes, empires rise.

Alexander, Macedon's sixteen-year-old heir, is on the brink of discovering his fated role in conquering the known world, but finds himself drawn to a newcomer…

Katerina must navigate the dark secrets of court life while keeping her own mission hidden: kill the queen. But she doesn't account for her first love…

Jacob will go to unthinkable lengths to win Katerina, even if it means competing with Hephaestion, a murderer sheltered by the prince. And far across the sea, Zofia, a Persian princess and Alexander's unmet fiancée, wants to alter her destiny by seeking the famed and deadly Spirit Eaters.

• ISBN10: 1760376523
• ISBN13: 9781760376529
• Publish Date: 1 September 2015 (first published 18 August 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: AU
• Imprint: HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 432
• Language: English

Reviews

[Ashley]

Maybe push it to 4.5 stars. :)

This was a tough book to get into because of all the differing opinions. I was really nervous. I wanted to love this book, but it seems like people either love it or hate it. Luckily I was on the "love it" side!

Things to know:

- There are looots of points of views. Like six. Maybe more.

- This is one of those books that tracks different people and different motivations over a long period of time. So it will require patience.

- There's a big focus on secrets, lies, betrayals, and things like that. Again, all unravelling slowly.

- But that being said, I think it will be really cool to see everything come together at the end of the series.

Legacy of Kings has a lot of cool ideas that really interested me. History (with liberties taken, of course, lol), magic, kingdoms... I really loved all those different pieces coming together.

The book could be overwhelming at times. I think it came down to the many different complex names/kingdoms/places, which was made even more complicated by the fact that there were 6+ points of view (some of which spanning different kingdoms). It was a lot to keep straight. So while I did struggle at times, I think I came out at least roughly understanding everything lol. But I honestly might have missed some details just because it was hard to keep track of it.

I think mostly I liked the character development for pretty much everyone. My opinion changed often. I went from loving a character to hating him/her and vice versa. Overall I just really love how all the characters ended up—even the bad ones that are still out there.

I really like where the story is going and I've already purchased the second book! I really wish book 3 was out so I could binge read this whole series in one go. *sigh*

[jesstheaudiobookworm]

4.5 ★ Audiobook⎮ Man, oh man. I don't know where Eleanor Herman has been for the last few years (probably somewhere with her elegant cat), but I sure have missed her! I read her juicy tales of royal scandals several years ago (Sex with Kings & Sex with the Queen) and enjoy them so much that I didn't even mind the odd stares I got while reading them in public. Herman kind of dropped off my radar after that until I noticed her name start popping up online again attached to Legacy of Kings. As soon I connected the dots and realized that she was the same author whose work I so enjoyed reading nearly 7 years ago, I knew I had to get my hands on Legacy of Kings. You may not know, because I don't think I have ever mentioned it here, but I ❤ reading about royalty. Like, ❤❤❤. So much. From reading this synopsis, I could tell that this story would be very different from my previous experiences with Herman. For one thing, this is fiction. For another, it focuses on a time in royal history which I am not accustomed to reading. But I shelved it anyway and decided to save it for a time when I was feeling rather adventurous. I figured I had a pretty high chance of enjoying it because a) I've enjoyed Eleanor Herman's previous work, b) I love reading about royalty, and c) I'm also really interested in greek history/mythology and ancient civilizations. With that kind of combination, this really would've had to have been a stinker to disappoint me.
Because I haven't read anything exactly like this before, it took me about a third of the way through the book to get my bearings. Most of what made that so difficult in the beginning were the multiple POVs. If I recall correctly there were six different POV characters. After the first 30% or so, I was finally able to keep the POV characters straight. Having multiple narrators helped with that tremendously! By the halfway point, I had already formed pretty good opinions about which characters I preferred. In particular, I was really pleased with how Katerina was written. I found her to be the type of quick, clever female character that I tend to gravitate towards and I much preferred her to Zofia, who seemed more like your typical YA lovesick female trope (but thankfully, there wasn't much of her). I thought the plot was very well-developed and set the stage nicely for future installments, while maintaining an exciting pace and keeping my interest in this installment. I adored the historical background and found that it has renewed my interest in Greek mythology and history in a way that no book has been able to do so since Josephine Angelini's Starcrossed series. My complaints are few and mostly have to do with minor historical inaccuracies/modernizations (the use of words such as "acne" and "farting", for example). I did not find this is overly juvenile at all and would definitely question a YA label (maybe? I'm not sure. The lines are very blurred.), but I guess I felt the writing had been "watered down" some to reach a broader audience (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) and lost a little bit its historical feel. I shouldn't complain about that though, because it made the story incredibly easy to follow, even during the daytime while multitasking. I have a feeling that this is one of those stories that will slowly eat away at me a little more each day until the second installment is released. Eleanor Herman offered an advanced copy of Empire of Dust (the sequel) to her twitter followers today and I was so tempted to apply for it. If it had been the audiobook format she was offering, I probably would have sold my soul to get it early. Imagine that. Me, the Audiobookworm, almost offering to voluntarily read a physical book. The horror! The desperation! I'm just saying, I wouldn't consider doing that for just any book, you know?
Narration review: As I said above, the dual narration provided by Jennifer Grace and Graham Halstead enhanced my listening experience tremendously. The narrators were never put in a position where they had to narrate a primary character of another sex, so each narrator was able to showcase his or her best voicing skills. I don't recall ever having trouble distinguishing between character voices. Both the narrators' voices had pleasant tones and neither one overshadowed the written material, but brought it to life very nicely. ♣︎

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

I read Legacy of Kings several weeks ago, but as I sit down to write my review, I realize I remember very little about it. This haze characterizes my reading of the novel. On a technical level, it was impressive, balancing several POVs and plot lines, yet in the end little about it was striking enough to leave me with an impression–either positive or negative.

The book jacket compares Legacy of Kings to A Game of Thrones, and I’m beginning to think that’s publishing code for “This contains an enormous number of characters, most of whom are unlikable. You will read about many people, yet be invested in few.” That was my experience with with this novel, at any rate. Admittedly, Alexander isn’t a bad guy, but he’s not a great guy. I wasn’t really getting the “great hero and conqueror vibe” from him quite yet. I wasn’t getting an epic feel.

Plot-wise, I found much of the book predictable. The ending was just as I expected. I would have liked to experience a bit more excitement and suspense, particularly from a book of this length. I would also have liked to see more forward momentum into the next book, but as things are, I’m going to stop reading the series.

As a work of literature, Legacy of Kings does have a lot of things going for it: great premise, fantastic historical research, a diverse group of characters. Unfortunately, none of it really drew me in. I like books with a little more heart, that can get me invested in the characters in the stories, rather than ones that put all their energy into background and world-building.

[cornerfolds]

Fun fact about me: I actually really enjoy historical fiction... sometimes. I have to be in the right mood for it, which is why it kind of took me awhile to get around to this one even though I was immediately drawn in by the description! My focus in college was Roman history, so I didn't get to learn a whole lot about Alexander the Great, but I was definitely excited to read his story (with a dash of magic, of course)!

Legacy of Kings is a book that tries really, really hard to do a whole heck of a lot. This isn't just one story. It's several stories told in seven points of view. Yes, you read that right. Seven. Which is kind of a lot so I'll try really hard to make some sense of it all here, but I'm warning you. This was a hard review to write.

Arguably the leading lady in this sprawling tale is Katerina. Her story (along with Jacob's) begins rather abruptly and I was immediately a little confused about these characters and why I should care about them. Kat and Jacob are essentially childhood sweethearts and Jacob's main mission in life is to prove that he's worthy of her. Eventually more is revealed about their backstories, but be warned! This book literally throws you head first into the action. From the get go, we find out that Jacob has been entered into a tournament where he has a very good chance of dying. Katerina tags along for her own reasons, which really don't make much sense to begin with either.

Prince Alexander (the Great) and Hephaestion are besties living in the palace who have a secret mission of their own. Unfortunately, Alex's sister, Cyn, is trying to make their lives difficult to fulfill her secret mission. Meanwhile, Alex's mother is working on her own (creepy) secret mission. In a land far, far away, Zofia is on her own secret mission (shockingly) to ensure she gets to stay with her one true love instead of being forced to marry Alexander.

As you can see, this story was quite a lot to take in. The characters were all pretty enjoyable, honestly. The problem that I had was not having adequate time to really get to know any of them. Zofia's story was definitely the one out of the seven that really didn't seem to have a place. I found myself confused for a moment each time her story came back to the spotlight. I actually forgot who she was once or twice! That isn't to say her story wasn't interesting, because it was. There just wasn't room in this book for everything it tried to accomplish.

I most enjoyed Hephaestion's story. He was a complex character who had an interesting backstory and felt the most genuine out of all of them. I think that out of the seven characters, Heph was the one who felt the most emotion (I'm interested in why his anger management issues seemed so important) and seemed the most real. Despite the fact that Kat was supposed to be a peasant girl, she was hard to identify with, being pretty darned good at everything she set out to do. Speaking of Kat, there is a definite love triangle (almost a love square at times) in this book, so if you're not into that you may want to avoid it. The triangle is subtle, but it's definitely brewing.

But maybe you're wondering about the magical aspects of Legacy of Kings! After all, that's what should set this apart from any other historical romance, right? Well, it's certainly interesting. There are a few different types of magic in this book and they're all really intriguing, although I wish they had been better explained. I'm definitely expecting the details of the magic to be explained in more detail in the next book in the series.

While Legacy of Kings was an interesting read, I definitely feel like it had too much going on. I was intrigued by each of the seven stories, but never felt truly invested in any of them. In fact, the only books I've read with this many storylines have been at least double the size of this one! I'm hopeful that each one will be delved into deeper, but I do wish this book had been just a little less broad. I would recommend Legacy of Kings to fans of historical fiction and stories told multiple points of view.

//I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review//

[Joséphine]

Audiobook rating: 4 stars
Book rating: 3.5 stars

Initial thoughts: My favourite part is the setting of Ancient Greece. Set in Macedon and to some extent Persia, Legacy of Kings brought a whole lot of grandeur. Mixing magic with the Greek gods and royalty of ancient time could only lead to most epic work of fantasy. In many aspects, it lived up to the name of the genre, epic fantasy.

However, there were too many main characters, a couple of whom didn't carry much significance. This was especially true for Zophia. Her travails were certainly gripping but they didn't add to the main plot in any way at all. There were faint shadows of how these characters will all come to together at some point or other but perhaps Zophia should've been introduced at that point. Adding her in book #1 for the purposes of book #2 caused Legacy of Kings to have a much weaker focus. Jacob started off as a strong character but then faded into the background. It would've made more sense for him to be a secondary character right from the start.

[Amber]

This review was originally posted on Books of Amber

If you have known me for a while then you'll have no trouble recalling that I am a total nerd when it comes to Ancient History. It started when I was five years old with Xena, which I used to watch with my grandparents at all hours of the night, and then the fascination progressed when we studied Egypt, Rome, and Greece in school. And then it became a full blown obsession when I watched Spartacus back in 2011, which then eventually led me to study Classical Civilisations as a hobby in my free time and gain a qualification in it. The point of this story? Well, Alexander the Great was one of my modules, and ever since I started reading more about him I decided that he's one of the most interesting people of Ancient Greece and I needed to know everything. So when Legacy of Kings popped up on my radar, I had to get it.

I'm sure you can all see where this is going. I didn't like the book. This is partly because I'm an Alexander stan (it's a thing) and partly because I just didn't like the book itself, historical inaccuracies and injustices aside. I'll talk about the book stuff first without all of the other stuff because I feel like it'll be best to get the bits that I'm least passionate about out of the way first.

My biggest two issues with this book were the multitude of points of view and the writing style. Firstly, there were... seven? I think? points of view in this book and it was too much for a 380 page book. If you're going to have that many points of view, then your book needs to be longer. You need to do a George R. R. Martin. And your writing had better flow and it had better not be boring as hell. Herman really didn't accomplish any of those things with Legacy of Kings. I was bored through most of it, and the constant changes of viewpoints were jarring at best. Not only that, but I signed up for a book about Alexander, not about a million other side characters who will probably be more relevant later on in the series but as of right now I don't give a shit about any of them. At all.

And now I've got that off my chest, let me tell you about how Legacy of Kings completely ignores all historians and facts and proof that Alexander the Great was anything other than straight. And yes, this is a young adult book, and so perhaps Alexander just hasn't realised how not-straight he is just yet, but there should have been at least some HINTS. That's all I ask. You see, it's pretty much universally accepted by everyone that Alexander was either bisexual/pansexual/gay. Unless you talk to people who are in complete and utter DENIAL, who try to say that Alexander's kiss with a eunuch dancer was nothing and his relationship with Hephaestion was PLATONIC, even though Alexander compared them to friggin' ACHILLES AND PATROCLUS, THE TWO GAYEST MEN IN CLASSIC FICTION. Ehem.

I could go into an essay about how, as the classical world started to crumble, our modern world started to veer towards homophobia and thus suppressed all mentions of homosexuality and tried to erase it from history, but I don't think this is the time or the place for that right now.

Onwards.

So there was no Alexander/Hephaestion and I was distraught. There were also "games" (think a mild version of the Hunger Games) in an "arena", which weren't really a thing in Ancient Greece because those guys thought they were too good for bloody fights and such caveman ways (the Romans should probably have taken note...), and there was also a Macedonian character called Jacob. Yes, I get that it's just a name and I suppose people were called all sorts of things, but that form of the name "Jacob" is Hebrew. Why not go with the Greek form? It was odd. Also, how were all of these female characters not married already? Herman makes it seem like women in Ancient Greece had a choice and were able to stay single until they were twenty. Ha.

I skimmed the ending because I really wasn't enjoying this book in the slightest. As you can see, I had a lot of issues with it that I just couldn't look past, and I didn't even go into the romantic tropes and pairings that were so dull and lacking in chemistry that I was hoping someone would get stabbed with a sword to make those scenes more interesting.

The only way I would carry on with this series would be if Herman decided to do a 180 and actually do Alexander the Great and the LGBTQ+ community some justice and have the character come to realise that he's not 1000000% straight. Because I would read a boring book for a better depiction of Alexander. But I don't see that happening.

[violetpeanut]

This review was originally posted on


Legacy of Kings is a take on ancient Greek history that mixes historical fiction and fantasy. I hadn’t read anything with this setting or time period and have always been fascinated by Greek mythology so I jumped at the chance to read this. I generally enjoyed it but found a number of issues that were problematic for me.

My biggest problem was with the POV. The book is written in third person multiple. That means that there are multiple POV’s – at least 5 here – but the book is written from the point of view of an outsider looking in on these characters. I found it very hard to connect with the characters and though there was some character development, they all felt somewhat flat. It’s hard to feel emotion about a character or their situation when you’re being told what’s happening to them instead of really experiencing it with them. The third-person POV left me feeling very detached from the characters. I’m not against multiple POV but I generally prefer it being first-person. I find that it’s easier to “get in the head” of a character when it’s written from their perspective and that it’s easier to differentiate between characters.

Many books with multiple character POV’s show different sides to the same story. It’s one story with one goal told from multiple perspectives. Here, rather, I felt like each character had their own story and they ran parallel to each other rather than all of the stories leading to the same goal. I never really understood where this book was going. I never felt like it was building to any real climax. For example, in Game of Thrones we want to know who will win the Iron Throne. In The Hunger Games we want to know if Katniss will survive. In a romance, you want to see the happily ever after. In Legacy of Kings, I didn’t know what we were building towards. Obviously, historically Alexander was a conqueror. But, that wasn’t really a huge focus in this book. It was like a mish-mosh of characters each with their own problems. To be honest, I would have preferred the book to be focused just on Alex and Kat. All the other POV’s seemed unnecessary to me and only served to slow things down.

So, what did I like? I loved the mix of historical and fantasy. I must tell you that I know very little about this period in history so I cannot speak to historical accuracy. I can say that it felt very authentic to me. It was obvious that the author knew a lot about this time period and it showed in the details. The descriptions of the architecture, the clothing, tools, weapons, etc., were all spot on. There was never a moment when I was jolted out of the story by dialogue or descriptions that did not fit the time period. I love how the superstitions and religious beliefs of the time were woven into the story. The subtle use of magic, the mention of mythological creatures like the Pegasus, the scrolls with spells on them – these were all intertwined seamlessly to the story and the plot and they felt very realistic despite being fantasy elements.

Overall, despite my dislike of the multiple POV’s and third-person narration, I generally enjoyed the story. I wish there had been a more defined goal to this book but I realize that it’s the first in the series and is setting up for future events. Though it was slow in parts, then end of the book picks up and there’s a great battle scene at the end. I loved the historical detail and the mix of fantasy and mythology that was woven in seamlessly. I would recommend this to fans of Greek mythology and fans of the fantasy genre looking for something a little different.

[Beth C.]

Alexander the Great. He's a figure of power, a lesson from the past. But what was he *before* he was all that? What was his life like as a 16-year-old, before he became "the Great" conqueror? This is the question that the 'Blood of Gods and Royals' series hopes to answer. In 'Legacy of Kings', Eleanor Herman makes a good beginning.

Speaking of the beginning - it's a bit on the slow side. Have patience and bear with it. There is a lot of history here, and five different people who need their own backgrounds, motivations, and lives. It took me roughly half the book before I really started to get into the story itself. This is to be expected, as this is just the first novel in what promises to be AT LEAST a trilogy.

The characters are written as teenagers, but remember - teenagers in Alexander's time would have been far more...mature...at earlier ages than those we are familiar with now. They married young, had children early, and often died young. Frankly, even though this is a Harlequin Teen book, it felt like it could have been young adults as characters. Each character is written well, and all of them pulled the element of surprise at least once during the novel. In other words - they are not written as predictable wooden things, but as young people whose motivations still are developing and whose lives are in constant upheaval. Herman did a great job with this (speaking as someone who has a teen at home).

While this is historical, it is also a work of fiction. The history is definitely interwoven throughout, but so is the fantastical - amazing creatures known as myths, Gods who may or may not still exist, and magic that is both feared and revered. Again, Herman did an excellent job weaving together the factual and the fictional.

Overall, it's a very well done look (so far) at what might have been when Alexander was young and magic may still have existed. I look forward to recommending it to my friends and to reading the next book when it comes out next fall.

[jeannamichel]

Before Alexander was great, he was just Alexander. His best friend, a former street rat, Hephaestion, competes in a tournament in order to win the gold reward and journey with Alex to the Fountain of Youth. Instead, Jacob ventures from his small town with his love, Katrina (who refuses him) to compete as well. Katrina has her own agenda and decides to follow her past, rather than fall into the arms of the man she loves. Zofia, betrothed to Alex, seeks to change her fate and does everything in her power to alter the path. Legacy of Kings depicts the time where the gods have turned away and let all the cards fall as they may.

A lot of people have described this as Game of Thrones for a younger crowd. I have not yet read the Games of Thrones series and cannot contest to that—I will read it soon, I promise you. If you enjoy fantasy, read this book. If you enjoy historical fiction, read this book. If you enjoy reading, read this book. This book is fantastic, clever, and gorgeously written.

At first, the names were confusing. I still don’t know how to pronounce Hephaestion—not even in my head. Eleanor Herman created a plot where every chapter transitioned to another character. I would have loved to see a map of where each chapter led. Like with the names, the transitions were overwhelming at first but I quickly caught on when I got more into the story.

I don’t read the fantasy genre often because I love them too much. As soon as I finish, I don’t want to read anything else and I want to reread the book over and over again. The same goes for Legacy of Kings. Since I left for vacation right after finishing, I couldn’t reread it but I probably would, given the chance. Legacy of Kings by Eleanor Herman deserves a reread and another and another, at least until the sequel comes out (this series is meant to be a quartet).

Eleanor Herman is a genius. Also, she is a historian so besides the fantasy aspect of her plot, most of what you are reading may even be historically accurate which is incredible.

Each character has their own story but they all connect, making it tremendously difficult to choose a favorite. The only qualm I have about the characters is that I wish Herman would have given her readers more of the relationship with Alex and Katrina (which I totally figured out faster than any of the characters had). I would have loved to see what sort of conversations they had when there were no prying eyes or nothing immediate was at hand.

Legacy of Kings is a page-turner like no other. It will have you glued to the page in a matter of seconds, on the edge of your seat, itching for more.