The Imposter King

By: Eli Hinze

Narrated by: Martin Martinez

Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

To thwart a curse, a fake king enters a fake marriage—but his sacrificial death will be all too real.

As the king of Sippar, Ahsan is surrounded by unparalleled luxury, fawning attendants, and a gorgeous wife. It's the life he's always dreamed of, except for three small problems.

One, the palace oracle foretells of a threat that could leave the king dead and the city in ruins.

Two, his marriage to the sharp-tongued priestess Nirah is already in trouble—and they aren't even really married.

Three, Ahsan is not the real king, but a criminal condemned to die in his place. Selected for the role of imposter king, Ahsan must take the fates' wrath and assassins' knives upon himself, and while his crown may be fake, the danger he faces is all too real.

A self-proclaimed coward cursed with a monster living in his skin, Ahsan wants nothing more than to escape the deadly intrigue of Sippar's royal court. But if he doesn't stop the king's would-be killer, it won't just be one man dead: It will be everyone Ahsan knows and loves—including the pretended queen he might just be coming to care for.

An ancient fantasy novel, The Imposter King is first in a richly imagined five-book series spanning empires and eons, myths and monsters. Begin the saga today.

©2022 Eli Hinze (P)2022 Eli Hinze

Courtly intrigue

Overall I really enjoyed the world-building Eli Hinze has created. I was invested in Ahsan and how he would get out of his predicament. For a story of courtly intrigue, it was interesting. The prose and descriptions were beautiful, and the overall story moved quick enough that it kept me interested to know what would happen to the various characters we met.

Then there was the underlying monster-inside-me story that I honestly could have done without. It was introduced late, once we had known Ahsan for a while, and it really didn't come into play in a significant way. Everything that occurred could have been done without the monster or 'magic,' and I feel like I would have enjoyed the story more if Ahsan had just been a regular man. The ending felt rushed and more summarized than story as well, wrapped up in a neat little bow, which seems odd considering the whole monster and magic idea. The world and idea of the imposter king was interesting enough without the fantastical elements.

Martin Martinez is a new narrator to me. He has a nice tone and a good pace, and his voices and accents are well done. There were a few odd pronunciations and a few sentences where it sounded like he read a typo instead of the word that was meant to be there. But overall I enjoyed his performance and would listen to more narration by him.

There are some musical breaks and chapter intros that are a little jarring and repetitive, and a single use of voice modulation. I could have done without all of those, I don't think they added anything to the audiobook itself.

Overall, I was excited by the concept and enjoyed this audiobook. I would listen to the sequel, though it would not be at the top of my list.