Legacy of Kings by Eleanor Herman

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.

Reviewed by Ashley on

4 of 5 stars

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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*

Last modified on

Reading updates

  • 3 August, 2016: Started reading
  • 13 August, 2016: Finished reading
  • 14 August, 2016: Reviewed
  • 29 June, 2018: Started reading
  • 3 July, 2018: Finished reading
  • 14 August, 2016: Reviewed