The Demon King
by Cinda Williams Chima
Series: Seven Realms #1
Published on September 7th 2010
by Disney Hyperion
Genres: Young Adult
Format: Paperback
Amazon | B&N | BookDepository | Goodreads
Also by this author: The Demon King, The Exiled Queen, The Gray Wolf Throne, The Crimson Crown
One day Han Alister catches three young wizard setting fire to the sacred mountain of Hanalea. Han takes an amulet away from Micah Bayar, son of the High Wizard, to ensure the boy won't use it against him. The amulet once belonged to the Demon King, who nearly destroyed the world a millennium ago. With a magical piece so powerful at stake, Han knows that the Bayars will stop at nothing to get it back.
Meanwhile, Princess Raisa ana'Marianna has her own battle to fight. She's just returned to court after three years of riding and hunting with her father's family. Raia aspires to be like Hanalea, the legendary warrior queen who killed the Demon King and saved the world. But it seems that her mother has other plans for her-plans that include a suitor who goes against everything the Queendom stands for.
The Seven Realms will tremble when the lives of Han and Raisa collide in this stunning page-turner from best-selling author Cinda Williams Chima.
Boy, my “should’ve read ages ago”-list is ever growing these days, isn’t it? The Demon King is yet another one I can add to it. And yes, I did love it, though maybe not as much as others did.
The Demon King is the first book in the Seven Realms series and takes place in the queendom of Fells. It’s about Han Alister and Princess Raisa. Han is a reformed thief, doing anything he can to take care of his mother and sister. Han has always had thick silver cuffs engraved with runes on his wrist but he’s always been unable to get them off. His life gets even harder when he takes a powerful amulet from Micah Bayar, son of the High Wizard. This amulet once belonged to the Demon King, the wizard who nearly destroyed the world ages ago. Meanwhile, Raisa has her own battles to fight. She’ll be eligible for marriage soon, but isn’t looking forward to it. She’d rather be like Hanalea, the legendary warrior queen who killed the Demon King and saved the world. But her mother has different plans for her. Plans that include a suitor who goes against everything their queendom stands for.
Yes, this is a really good book and a great series starter. It’s not without its flaws though. Not for me at least. So let’s get those out of the way first. First, I must say it, I didn’t like Raisa that much most of the time. It took me a while for me to actually care about her, which I didn’t until she finally got a clue in the second half of the book. I can’t get into this more because of spoilers, so I’ll leave it at that. She’ll grow on me in the next few books, I’m sure. Second, for me this was a bit predictable. I knew how some things would turn out right at the start. Which made some plot twists not as shocking. And lastly, it started out so slow! Once I got through the first half, things got better for me, but I did struggle to get through those first chapters.
Now for the good! A queendom! Yes, that’s awesome! I loved that and this world. I can’t wait to discover this world more. I also loved the rest of the characters. Dancer, Lucius and Amon were awesome. I liked Willo, Bird, Elena and the other smaller characters, but I do hope I get to know them better in the next books. The bad guys were also great, but yeah, I hated them, which I’m supposed to do, right? The main reason for me to keep reading though, was Han. He’s a great main character and I adore him. I felt for him and I rooted for him all the way through. Though yes, I did kind of predict what the cuffs were for. I liked the reveal though and I can’t wait to see Han grow stronger. Though I also hope that there’ll still be after effects from something that happened to him near the end.
The Demon King is a great first book in what will undoubtedly be an awesome series. It has a great main character, a fantastic new world with a queendom and magic! I love magic. Will there be dragons, though? There better be.
About Cinda Williams Chima
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Cinda Williams Chima grew up with talking animals and kick-butt Barbies. She began writing poetry and stories in third grade and novels in junior high school. These days she writes fantasy fiction for teens of all ages.
Chima’s books have received starred reviews in Kirkus and VOYA, among others. They have been named Booksense and Indie Next picks, an International Reading Association Young Adult Choice, a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age, to the Kirkus Best YA list, and the VOYA Editors’ Choice, Best Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror, and Perfect Tens lists. Her books also appear on numerous state awards lists and won the Buckeye Teen Book Award in 2011. Chima was a recipient of the 2008 Lit Award for Fiction from the Cleveland Lit and was named a Cleveland Magazine Interesting Person 2009. She lives in Ohio with her family, and is always working on her next novel.
- {Bee Mini-Reviews} THE BOY WHO STEALS HOUSES by C.G. Drews - April 8, 2019
- FairyLoot February UnBoxing – All The BATB Things - March 22, 2019
- The Return of Bee (part 2) ~ What I’ve Been Reading - March 15, 2019
[…] The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima. Thanks Liza & […]
Twitter: Liza
It took a while for me to get warmed up to Raisa too, but I adore Han for sure! I hope you end up loving the series Bee and thanks for the review 🙂
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
I hope so too & you’re very welcome! 😀