Once upon a time, a wondrous Kingdom flourished under the reign of its proud Fae king and his family. Though all was not as it seemed when poisonous schemes and utter betrayal lead to the downfall of an empire.

Sixteen years have since passed, the lands now lay in ruin and crime prevails despite the will of The Council. Their mission becomes clear … produce an heir and unite the Kingdom to restore its former glory.

And so becomes Heir Academy, the ultimate trial of strength and perseverance to forge the Kingdom’s savior. The strongest of all species converging on one place to claim a crown. My crown.

I don’t care what I have to do or who I have to take down. The rightful heir walks among them, and I will do everything in my power to sit on my throne.

Today has been so grey and gloomy. Honestly, it doesn’t feel like a Friday at all. The week was going so well for me, and then I had a massive FND episode on Thursday. Got sent home from work an hour after I got there. Had my insides come outside…Slept for 8 hours. Forced some food down my throat. Fell asleep again, and hello Friday.

I’ve been chasing my tail all day with emails from idiotic people who seem to be unable to understand that you can get from A to B with a straight line. My head is pounding, I’ve had to turn the big light on as it’s so bloody dark, and my mood is just not on point.

I actually started reading a different book, a book I’d been waiting for the release of. I made it halfway through before I lost interest completely. I was going to read some fanfiction, but the website was down, so I randomly picked a Kindle read instead.

I unintentionally had another series by KC Kean in my Kindle library without realising it.  I cannot stress enough how all of the above has affected my brain, and I really needed to read something I could get lost in. I can get lost in these books in a way that I can’t when reading crime thrillers.

This book primarily follows the point of view of Addi. Addi is fae. She is the lowest of the low. The Floodborn Kingdom used to be ruled by fae but the King fell victim to the love of a bad woman and the Kingdom crumbled. All the blame was put onto the shoulders of the exiled King and the factions – the origins – vampire, wolf, shifter and human all claw for their space in the sun. The fae fell to the bottom of the pile.

The Council, created in the vacuum of the collapsed Kingdom, has decided to form ‘Heir Academy’, a place to find the next heir to the Kingdom. Addi is a fae with a secret, with many secrets and she knows that her place at the academy is not going to be smooth sailing and she expects that she will have to claw her way up but she isn’t prepared for the mess she finds herself in.

The mess comes in the form of four men. Brody the mage. Raiden the vampire. Cassian the wolf and Kyrll the shifter. Each comes with their own set of needs and issues and each has a stake in the game and a chance to end things for Addi.

Brody the mage is the first to be enraptured by Addi. Coercing her into a date on a Friday night, which ends in bloodshed. He is all charm and jokes. He has no boundaries and acts first, thinks later. He is the youngest of the four men.

Raiden the vampire is the first to get into Addi’s face, urging her to leave the academy before she regrets it. He is always perfectly poised and groomed. Vampires have gained the upper hand in the Kingdom. They are the biggest faction and reap the most rewards. He sees Addi as a distraction to his friends. He sees himself as the heir and his friends as his confidents.

Cassian is a wolf in exile; his acceptance into the academy equalled his exile from his wolf clan. He doesn’t seem particularly bothered by it. He has many chances to stand up and be a man, but he stands idly – it backfires on him, spectacularly.

Finally, Kryll is a shifter and a mysterious one. I know the least about him but he seems to always find humour in Addi’s interactions with the group and tosses her over his shoulder more than once. I am eager to find out more.

I am sure you can guess what Addi is hiding and how it will cause chaos, vengeance, anger, and a whole buttload of heavy emotions. I’m not sure I’m ready for it. I have a love-hate relationship with the angst of emotions in these settings and the bullying aspect versus crossing the line. Not, that the four men have bullied Addi in any way so far.

The Professors in this academy are a question mark in my head. Some seem genuine and some seem convinced in the views they already have.

I agree with the outset given by Raiden, Brody, Cassian, and Kryll, the Kingdom will not move forward unless it can be united. I also agree with Addi, working together needs to start asap or nothing will change for the better. It makes for a compelling arguement and from a narration standpoint it is interesting to have all main characters on the same page from the get go.

There is an undercurrent of mysterious narrative surrounding Addi’s ears, or lack of point. I am curious about this and where it will lead to.

I had assumed that Cassian’s father was angry at his son, angry that his heir would choose to disobey him and join the academy when he was heir to the Kenner pack. But it goes far beyond that. His father is heavily involved with the climax of this book, but there is so much to this character that I couldn’t just figure it out with the scant pages of information I got from him. He’s definitely playing the long game, I just don’t know whose game that is!