King Hall (Forever Evermore #1) by Scarlett Dawn Summary: fresh, meaty, sink-your-teeth-in-and-hold-on-tight new adult fantasy series kicks off with King Hall…King Hall — where the Mysticals go to learn their craft, get their degrees, and transition into adulthood. And where four new Rulers will rise and meet their destinies.
Lily Ruckler is adept at one thing: survival. Born a Mystical hybrid, her mere existence is forbidden, but her nightmare is only about to start. Fluke, happenstance, and a deep personal loss finds Lily deeply entrenched with those who would destroy her simply for existing — The Mystical Kings. Being named future Queen of the Shifters shoves Lily into the spotlight, making her one of the most visible Mysticals in the world. But with risk comes a certain solace — her burgeoning friendships with the other three Prodigies: a wicked Vampire, a wild-child Mage, and a playboy Elemental. Backed by their faith and trust, Lily begins to relax into her new life.
Then chaos erupts as the fragile peace between Commoners and Mysticals is broken, and suddenly Lily realises the greatest threat was never from within, and her fear takes on a new name: the revolution.
Source: I received a digital copy from NetGalley
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Review:
It seemed to take me a long while to finally pick up this book. I didn’t expect that it would be all that good, as most New Adult fantasy series fall short for me. NA contemporaries have improved since the label first came out and I’m finally seeing some great character building (and not necessarily any steam). But the NA fantasies seemed to be tons of steam with not enough world or character building and fantasy worlds really need to be built up well to make sense. I guess I should have read King Hall sooner, because it was definitely a well built world with a lot to offer as far as the plot went.
King Hall was surprisingly addicting, entertaining, full of great great characters, and extremely unique. I loved the premise, but I also appreciated the author building up all of the main characters. I started to care for the characters a lot. Each of them had distinct personalities and their friendship grew as they got closer.. closer than they should have been. The unspoken rule was that Shifters, Vampires, Mages, and Elementals did not mix. They didn’t touch, get physical, or get all that close as friends. But Lily, Ezra, Pearl, and Jack changed things up being being so close and sharing what they couldn’t necessarily relate to others of their own kind, like the expectation of being a ruler and the separateness all of that responsibility comes with. Lily had her own secrets, too. The Mys world came with all sorts of rules, as did being a ruler in that world. Her place in the spotlight was dangerous because of what she was, but she had no choice. I waited to see if the others would find out and what would happen to her if they did.
While the characters certainly got physical with other people, I was surprised by how clean of a novel it was. Not that steam of any kind bothers me, but when I read a paranormal or fantasy novel, I need a lot more building and a lot less distraction and I felt like King Hall delivered a great story first and foremost. I will definitely pick up the next book in the series, especially because what I really wanted to happen still hasn’t happened and I have high hopes that it eventually will. I recommend this novel, especially to any paranormal fans who are skeptical that the NA age category can really deliver great stories in the genre.
