ALC Review: Anji Kills a King by Evan Leikam, narrated by Moira Quirk
- Story Eater
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
Release date: 13 May 2025
Rating 4/5
Narrator: Moira Quirk
Narration Rating: 5/5
Book box(es)/SE’s: The Broken Binding SE
Synopsis: An unlikely assassin struggles to escape a legendary bounty hunter in this breakneck fantasy debut that will grab you by the throat―perfect for fans of Joe Abercrombie, R.F. Kuang, and Christopher Buehlman.
She killed for a cause. Will she die for it too?
Anji works as a castle servant, cleaning laundry for a king she hates. So when a rare opportunity presents itself, she seizes the chance to cut his throat. Then she runs for her life. In her wake, the kingdom is thrown into disarray, while a bounty bigger than anyone could imagine lands on her head.
On her heels are the fabled mercenaries of the Menagerie, whose animal-shaped masks are magical relics rumored to give them superhuman powers. It’s the Hawk who finds Anji first: a surly, aging swordswoman who has her own reasons for keeping Anji alive and out of the hands of her fellow bounty hunters, if only long enough to collect the reward herself.
With the rest of the Menagerie on their trail, so begins an alliance as tenuous as it is temporary―and a race against death that will decide Anji’s fate, and may change the course of a kingdom.
Review
I started Anji Kills a King because of the cover. I didn’t read the synopsis (I did read the tagline because it was on the cover), and I didn’t read any of the reviews. I just went into this one blind right from the cover art. I kept listening, despite the myriad of content issues (see warnings at the end of the review), because the presentation—including the narration—was absolutely fantastic.
First and foremost, Anji delivers epic fantasy under 400 pages. It is also, blessedly, not a romantasy. For a story that really just follows characters as they travel, this should not have been as interesting to me as it was. Travel narratives bore me, even if the travel happens for only a segment. Leikam keeps the pacing tight, and it, as Margaret Atwood says, “hold[s] my attention.”
The biggest strength in this book lies in the world building and characters. The world feels like any other typical medieval kind of world, but the addition of The Menagerie and interesting ways in which magic works gives a bit of a subtle feel that prevents the plot crutch some fantasies lean on when there’s an imbalance. Many books with fantastic world development lack a proper plot, and many books with a decent plot lack adequate world building. I didn’t feel that here.
Or main character, Anji, steals the show. Anji’s situation is terrible, but she just can’t help her tendency toward agitating everyone around her. The Menagerie reminds readers to never get to know your heroes. Some things just don’t make all the sense or add up until the end when the last piece falls in place. Then, some of the character development happens all at once as the big, twisty realization hits. The ending really, for lack of a better term and though I hate the phrase because it’s overused in the book influencer world, left me reeling.
Overall, 4/5 for the story and 5/5 for the narration. At its core, it is a great story told fantastically. I definitely have some reservations about the content, but I haven’t read a plot like this where the characters just travel and fight stuff that didn’t bore me to tears in forever. I also checked all of Quirk’s narrated titles, and I plan to listen to some just for the narration alone.
So far, I know of only one bookseller offering this title in any kind of non-standard format. The Broken Binding currently has special edition copy in stock. If you’re mildly interested and can swing it, get their copy while it’s there (oh, and it’s actually signed). But also, listen to it when it comes out. The audiobook only makes the story better.
Note: In the UK, Anji is published by Titan, an independent publisher. I'm not sure about the audiobook over there (I didn't see a page for it on Audible UK). I listened to the US copy, which is published by Macmillan Audio.
My thanks to Macmillan Audio for the ALC, for which I willing give my own, honest opinion.
Content warnings, though these may not bother all readers, I know they bother some, so I mention them at lenght but not necessarily exhaustively: descriptive and on-page animal deaths (not from abuse), explicit language and violence, brief but descriptive sexual content (not from a first-person POV), drug use, and child death.
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