King of Ravens (Upon a Broken Throne #1) by Clare Sager Published by Forever on January 27, 2026
Genres: Romantasy
Pages: 478 •Format: E-Book •Source: Borrowed
Goodreads
He’ll do anything to keep her. She’d do anything to escape.
Rhiannon is dying—of what, she doesn’t know. Kept protected by her family in their remote seaside cottage, she spends her days searching for a cure. Her world is torn apart, however, when a fae King of the Dead invades her home.
Cold and cruel, Drystan offers her a choice: descend to the underworld as his bride or watch her family die. Trapped in a twisted bargain, Rhiannon is thrust into a world of withered gods, scheming courtiers, and ancient magic, but she refuses to be a pawn in a game she never agreed to play. She attempts over and over to run away, until Drystan offers her a new bargain: escape his deadly labyrinth, and he will set her free. Fail, and become his bride.
But in a court where every promise has teeth, Annon must make an impossible choice: return to the home she's always loved or claim her place in a world where she might finally belong.
I am clearly overly optimistic in this era of Romantasy oversaturation, but I still do get SO excited when I hear about an interesting new Romantasy title. Sure, Fae books are a dime a dozen these days, but then I hear phrases like “King of the Dead” and I’m reeled right in.
King of Ravens follows Rhiannon, a chronically ill 30-something year old who’s home bound due to her illness and has had to make peace with her limited life. However, a series of events leads to her being taken to the Underworld by the Fae King of the Dead to fulfill a bargain made by her father decades ago. Honestly I was initially hooked by this premise, interested to see how she fared with her chronic illness in the Fae court (and not being the typical badass warrior FMC) and to see how the death magic worked, the court system, etc.
Unfortunately, once they hit the Underworld my excitement started to ebb. Perhaps it will be explained in future installments (this book left off on what’s clearly a cliffhanger) but I felt like I didn’t quite get a grasp on what the rules of the Underworld were, what Drystan’s (the MMC) role was exactly, how things aligned with his goddess mother and fellow royal brothers, etc. It didn’t really feel any different than any other Fae romantasy court I’ve read about, which was a disappointment as I thought the “King of the Dead” angle sounded unique.
THEN there’s the whole labyrinth aspect. Look, I’m so sick of trials books. There’s just too damn many, and this one was half-hearted if that. The FMC is trying to run this maze in her spare time for the chance for freedom…it just felt wholly unnecessary. I think the end goal could have been achieved through other means and made a more interesting story (truly the labyrinth parts were so boring to me). This time could have been spent on the court/world-building, character development, etc.
It wasn’t all bleak, however. There were a few tropes/elements of romantasy that I love in this one: marriage of convenience, court machinations, descriptions of stunning dresses, a ghost cat and nods to mythology (Hades/Persephone, the Morrigan, etc). Despite all of this though, I still felt overall mid about it and didn’t think it stood out among the sea of choices we have (especially disappointing given it was one of my most anticipated reads for the first half of 2026).
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