Narrated by Michael Ferraiuolo

Betrothed to the Emperor is the first book in the new Emperor’s Assassin series by not-quite-new-to-me author, Kai Butler (I have a couple of their other books in audio but haven’t got around to listening to them yet!) I liked the sound of it; a fantasy romance between an assassin and his target with lots of secrets and intrigue, and with Michael Ferrauiolo in the narrator’s chair, I knew the performance would be a good one.

Prince Airón of the Northern Kingdom has accompanied his twin sister, Eonaî, to the Court of the Southern Imperium where it is expected that she will wed the new Emperor, Tallu – and that he will assassinate the Emperor soon after the ceremony. Airón knows his life will be forfeit, but he has been trained his whole life for this mission and is not about to fail his mother or his kingdom, which will be assimilated into the Imperium if Tallu is not stopped. So it throws something of a spanner in the works when Tallu declares his intention to marry him, Airón, and not his sister, and tells everyone in their retinue – inclding Eonaî – to return home immediately.

Airón now has to assume the dual role of betrothed and assassin, the latter of which would be a lot easier if Tallu wasn’t so damned attractive or so different to how Airón had expected him to be. He’s clever, imperious, and wily, and is feared by all around him – yet he shows Airón a different, softer side of himself he shows to no-one else. Airón realises the danger he faces is much more than that of simply being killed in retribution for the assassination. He could so easily fall for the Tallu he is coming to know – and that isn’t part of the plan. But the more he learns about Tallu and the knife-edge he’s walking between the various court factions, the more Airón finds himself charmed by Tallu’s obvious affection and questioning his mission. There’s a lot more going on here than he’d realised and pretty soon, he’s going to have to decide which of his two options – killing Tallu or keeping him alive – is the better one.

I started listening to this one a few weeks ago when I had a lot of crappy stuff going on in my life, but I just couldn’t get into it so I shelved it. When I came back to it, I realised that the book is actually pretty slow to start, so it wasn’t just my crappy timing making it tough to get into. As the first book in a new series, Bethrothed to the Emperor has a lot of set up, and while the worldbuilding is good, the story does take a while to get going.

A large part of it revolves around politics and intrigue and is filled with secrets, especially about what happened to Tallu’s family and his reasons for the purges he instigated when he took the throne. The author takes their time with the worldbuilding, which is organic rather than doled out in info-dumps, and has set up an interesting dynamic between the two leads – two men from opposing kingdoms and different cultures who are warily circling each other while trying to ignore the pull of the attraction growing between them. I enjoyed their interactions – they’re flirty with an undercurrent of danger, and when Airón and Tallu are together on the page, their chemistry sizzles and the story races along. The problem is that they spend a fair amount of this story apart, and as we’re in Airón’s PoV the whole time, I found my attention wandering while I waited for their next scene together.

I liked them both, especially Tallu, who is brooding and enigmatic with a surprising kind of innocence about him that only Airón gets to see. But I had to ask myself how Airón, who was basically brought up kill an Emperor, somehow didn’t think it was necessary to pay attention to the lessons his sister was given about the court rules and politics or anything besides learning how to do the actual killing. Granted, he’d expected to have less to do with the court and be able to fade into the background since he hadn’t anticipated having to marry the Emperor himself, but he thinks ‘if only I’d listened in that lesson about…’ far too often for someone who is supposed to have been planning this mission for years.

Michael Ferraiuolo is a talented narrator and one I listen to regularly. His voice is smooth and easy on the ear, and the narration is well-paced and features a good variety of distinct character voices – his female voices are expecially good. His portrayal of the two leads is excellent – he gives Tallu a smoky, seductive tone that really fits the character’s enigmatic nature, while Airón sounds more upbeat and straightforward. The star turn, however, has to be Mr. Ferraiuolo’s interpretation of Terror, the Raven, who provides Airón with valuable information (in exchange for fish) and isn’t afraid to pull him up when he’s being an idiot.

Betrothed to the Emperor is the first book I’ve listened to by Kai Butler, so perhaps this kind of series opener is their usual MO, and maybe it’s on me that I expected and hoped for more romance. I do like this kind of story – fantasy with lots of politicking and intrigue – so maybe I just listened to it at the wrong time. Although this opening salvo in the series didn’t really wow me, the strong final quarter and the revelation at the end have intrigued me sufficiently to make me want to continue with the series.

Breakdown of Grade: Narration – B+ Story – B-

Running time: 8 hours 39 minutes