All You Need To Know About The Bridge Kingdom
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The Bridge Kingdom is a book that’s constantly recommended to me. Often compared to the likes of A Court of Thorns and Roses by Ms. Sarah J. Maas and Jennifer L. Armentrout’s From Blood and Ash, The Bridge Kingdom has a high standard to live up to. So after the hundredth time of getting this recommendation, and with The Bridge Kingdom currently being free on Audible and Kindle Unlimited at the moment, it was time to bite the bullet and take the plunge.
The Bridge Kingdom is a “romantasy” (fantasy romance) that follows Lara, a “warrior” princess trained in isolation. Two things are for certain: one King Aren of the Bridge Kingdom is her enemy. And two Lara will be the one to bring him to his knees. The Bridge Kingdom is the only route through a world that is ravaged by storms each season. Enriching its lands and depriving all others, including Lara’s homeland. So when Lara is sent to the Kingdom under the guise of building peace, no one is the wiser, least of all King Aren.
Yet as Lara infiltrates her new home and gains an understanding of its people and the land, she begins to question whether she’s the hero or the true villain. And with her feelings for Aren growing from distant and cold to warm and fierce; Lara has to choose the kingdom she was sworn to protect or the one she has grown to love.
Thoughts on The Bridge Kingdom
I would like to say that listening to The Bridge Kingdom on Audible had me hooked from the first chapter. The world-building was slow going. It was vivid, but mainly lacking. One moment really stood out, of the imagery of how stunning the bridge was at the first glance that Lara had when Aren revealed it to her. It was a moment that I saw in my mind’s eye and I couldn’t help but say WOW! Now, yes the bridge description was beautiful and we received a lot of information about Ithicana but I wish we knew more about the surrounding lands. Their cultures, how they were developed, and the kingdoms in general. Having these bits of information would have built a stronger foundation for the story leading into other books, as this is a series.
The Bridge Kingdom’s characters were compelling. Lara is spunky and quick-witted. She often is saying something smart assed to Aren. Causing him to smile or laugh and I couldn’t help but do it right alongside him. She is such a fun character. I loved her dynamic with Aren. Enemies to Lovers is one of my favorite tropes and this fits squarely into that box. The romance was a nice slow burn. And although at times it felt a little too slow, nope that’s it at times it felt like a little too slow. I wanted more romance from them you could see them wanting to get together and Lara is so stubborn and bullheaded that she often got in her own way. It reminded me of someone ?.
Summing Up The Bridge Kingdom
Contrastingly, on the surface, the story is not a story we have not heard before. She is trained her whole life to structure the downfall of a kingdom. Lara is betrothed because of a peace treaty, sent to marry the “evil king” of The Bridge Kingdom. As she proceeds with her plans she has to discover secrets important to the bridge’s structure and secrets to smuggle back to her handler.
As a story that isn’t “anything special,” I would have liked to see “something special” beyond just the bridge. Kingdoms have bridges, again that isn’t anything special. I wanted something to give it some oomph! And more than magic. I liked that this story didn’t have magic in it, that has been done 1,000x in fantasy stories (as that is a fantasy cornerstone) it’s a +1 that this didn’t rely on the magic crutch.
Something that also gave me pause was the fact that Lara wasn’t truthful with Aren. I won’t give spoilers but why didn’t she just frankly tell Aren what she tried to do? He already knew, it was obvious. Lara is also way too trusting of her father. Even with repeated proof she couldn’t see beyond the facade of him being her father. She knew what type of man he was or she wouldn’t have even been in the situation that she was in, to begin with. She was investigating everything else why couldn’t she investigate him?
Would I recommend it?
In the end, would I recommend it? Yes, I would. Ultimately, I did enjoy the storyline and ended up rating it 3 stars. You should definitely give The Bridge Kingdom a read if you love strong female main characters that won’t take any bs! If you like series like The Bargainer, A Court of Thorns and Roses (please don’t go into this thinking it will be exactly like ACOTAR it won’t, FAIR WARNING), and the From Blood and Ash series. Or if you want something different than the normal fae magic story. I will be continuing on with book two in the series The Traitor Queen via Audible as well.
Happy Reading!
What’s a non-fae story that you love? Let us know in the comments.
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