I’ve now read two books back-to-back that I could not wait to read every night. First was Under Story, and now This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews.
The book begins with the protagonist, Maggie, waking up in a the mud of a medieval city. This is odd because Maggie is from our time and place–I think this is why the book is described as “portal fantasy”.
The book doesn’t dwell too much on Maggie’s mysterious transportation; it’s simply something that happened and now she’s in a completely different world. However, here’s the delicious hook: Maggie is a huge fan of a fictional trilogy (only parts 1 and 2 of which were published), and her new home is the primary setting of that trilogy at a very specific time in that trilogy.
This means that Maggie knows secrets about specific people in this world (a skill she frequently uses to her advantage, also supplying juicy details to the reader), though she’s never seen them before, so she often has to pair context clues and descriptions with the people she encounters. Also, she knows landmarks and locations mentioned in the book, but there are plenty of places still to discover that weren’t relevant to the novel’s plot.
This means that Maggie knows the future of this world, and there are certain devastating events that she seeks to change. Brilliantly, Maggie realizes that every time she changes something, the future changes, so her unique knowledge is increasingly at risk. So she is very careful about what she does or doesn’t change.
I think fans of Dungeon Crawler Carl will really enjoy this novel. I’ll admit that I like it even more. DCC always felt to me like a world where anything could happen at the whim of the author. The layers of TKWNKM keeps the author accountable to the readers: Sure, they can make up anything in the fictional trilogy, but Maggie’s stakes in relation to it are very real.
I truly loved this book. I both dreaded and delighted in reaching the end, which provides a very satisfying conclusion while still opening a big door for a second book (which is coming in late 2027). I highly, highly recommend it, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.