Review: The Kingdom of Flames by Audrey Everstar

Title: The Kingdom of Flames
Author: Audrey Everstar
Series: Courted by the Seasons #1
Publication: July 16, 2024 by Grimbright Press LLC
Genre: Dark Fantasy, Fantasy Romance
Find it on: Amazon
Rating: 4/5★

In the Painted Realm, snow caresses the morning only to be devoured by the fierce blaze of summer by afternoon. Each year, the twelve banners of the realm surrender a flesh tithe to a mysterious caravan that fuels the four seasons. Their fate is unknown, save that they vanish into the clutches of the demigods in Calendar.

Yet, the seasons now wage war with growing savagery. Crops wither, food is scarce, and women are kept hidden away. The world teeters on the edge of chaos, and only the resolution of the seasons’ feud can restore harmony.

Celestine, the sole daughter of a bannerless realm, is offered as the final bride in a desperate plea to the demigods of Calendar. Her mission: to implore the seasons to restore balance and prove that the world sustaining them must be placated.

Among twelve demigods, each an embodiment of the seasons, Celestine must make her choice. They will vie for her first touch, and she will court three lords of each season. Whisked away to their immortal realms, Celestine will encounter the war, elegance, and freedom of Summer. She must choose—if she survives.

But not all demigods honor the rules. Beneath their divine allure, darker desires simmer…

The Kingdom of Flames is a tale of dark fantasy, demigods, and the endurance to withstand.

The story takes place in the Painted Realm where the demigods of seasons are at war causing the weather to be very unpredicting and chaotic which makes survival for the people of the realm very difficult. The crops wither and die so there’s barely any food, there’s war, women are in danger of being taken and locked away. There seems no end to it all. Every year the twelve banners of the realm send twelve women to the realm of the demigods where these lords takes them as brides. Nobody knows what happens to them there but some return unable to speak, changed forever.

This year, though, the only daughter of the bannerless realm, named Celestine, decides she’s going as the sole bride in the hopes of pleading with the demigods of Calendar to restore the balance of the seasons so her people may survive. Once she arrived in Calendar, the lords decide she must make a choice between the twelve of them and to court three lords every season to eventually make a final decision of who may take her as bride.

I very much enjoyed the plot of this book. It kinda had reverse harem vibes yet different (in a good way!) from other books that I have read with this trope. I really liked that. I also thought how the Painted Realm and the realm of Calendar excisted and how demigods of seasons ruled was a unique concept. I don’t think I have quite read a book that was set up in this way exactly. It was also a very well-written fantasy, in my opinion. My only slightly minor point would be that the start had a little bit of info-dumping but I can also see this was kind of necessary to figure out how this fantasy world worked.

The first lords that Celestine had to court were the lords of Summer: Encarmine, Solis and Azure. She courted them each seperately for a month in that order. The time spend with them was for all three months very different so it never really got boring for me to read about the courtship between them. I do want to say that this book is a very dark fantasy with a lot of dark romance elements so be aware of all the trigger warnings especially where Solis was concerned. Azure was probably my favorite out of all three. I really liked how he was so very patient with her and helped her heal after some events that broke her.

And then there were the sex scenes which were spicy as hell. Very steamy, very erotic and very well-written. Any of these scenes with any of these three lords were scorching hot and I just know my fellow romantasy girlies would devour this story as well. I do have some small theories about who Celestine might end up choosing. I’m really curious to see if I’m right in the end. I’m also already dying to read the next installment of the series.

Overall, The Kingdom of Flames by Audrey Everstar was definitely my kinda read. I was hooked right from the beginning and flew through the story in no time. I finished it in four days and for a book with 350 pages that was pretty for me. It was a steamy page-turner from beginning to end.