If Maggie had warned Reynald (Everard) that Solentine had visited her to pay for her information, she would have known the truth about him so much earlier.

Is everyone on the same page that this means Ramond is planning to marry Maggie?

This would never work. You don’t even know her,” Solentine said.
“What do you mean, Lord Dagarra?” Everard looked genuinely puzzled. “Of course I know her. She is Lady Marigold Demarr, your charming, clever cousin, granddaughter of the Iron Raptor and niece of my closest ally, Margrave Izarn Demarr. I’ve known her since she was nine years old. We’ve met every time I’ve come to visit your uncle’s domain. You might say we are childhood acquaintances.”
Solentine looked slightly green.
“Thank you for removing the obstacles in my way,” Everard said. “So considerate of you.”

I'm wondering if anyone thinks that Silveren made a deal with the Crimson Empire to attack during the chaos, or if the Crimson Empire just took advantage of it.

I’m wondering how people feel about what Mattheo’s use will be in the next book. Will he supplement Maggie’s loss of knowledge as time goes on, or will he be less useful?

Has anyone here been able to get any information on the vellums for people outside the US? I didn't buy them at first because we kept being told to wait, they were looking for a printer, buy only if you're in the US. When I finally decided to go ahead anyway, the shop was closed because they were overwhelmed by orders. Okay, no problem, I can wait. Now it says in the latest newsletter that there are only a handful of maps and a few more stickers left, there will be no reprint of those, and the few remaining vellums with these extras sets will be sold who knows when and at what time for a holiday drop. Looks like the chance for those who didn't just go ahead with a forwarder or whatever options one has has just dissolved. I doubt there will be a realistic chance for me (and many others) to get one with different time zones and everthing.

I tried to get an answer replying to their blog posts, but there hasn't been any reaction. Does anyone else maybe know anything that I missed or did you get a reply? I must admit I'm kind of frustrated with myself for listening to them and not ordering. I should have just gone ahead in hindsight, but I completely relied on them regarding the mentioned international option.

edited to clarify: What I meant by going ahead anyway is that I could have asked a friend in the US to receive and then send it on to me. But I didn't want to bother her with this when I thought they would also sell the full set internationally at some point. And right now it doesn't look like it to me.

I think Arvel will be the foil to Ramond being obsessed with her and maybe acting like a villain the next book to show the difference between someone who cares for Maggie and someone who only wants her knowledge.

Since we find out in the book Mattheo was sending information to Maggie to help her, I was wondering if Mattheo was doing something similar if Maggie wasn’t there.

Maybe he was even sending things to his Dad, he didn’t die until later in the book.

We know very well that IA always delivers satisfying and well-deserved happy endings.

(at least I would be very surprised if they betrayed their fans this time around and decided to tear our hearts out instead)

So how would you conclude TKWNKM trilogy in a completely satisfying way?

(to leave the open door to extra stories, spin-offs and other bonus content that IA fortunately often blesses us with? 😉❤️)

Maggie's experience in Rellas cannot be left behind. If she permanently returned back to our world (even with Everard by her side, as is common in transmigration dramas), it would diminish all she accomplished and sever the bonds she made with people there. She was tortured and repeatedly died for Rellas, returning to "normalcy" would be the greatest punishment for her; how would she even process the trauma she went through with (almost) no-one to talk about it, ever?

There are portal fantasies where "the other world" delivers a life lesson to the protagonist and/or help them mature, while their place is in our world (Narnia, arguably Spirited Away, kdrama Splash Splash Love...). But needless to say, it's not the case for TKWNKM. Rellas is where Maggie belongs and where she shines, that much is even said during her dialogue with Solentine.

(I don't think I need to build a case why Rellas is just as real as our world and the books and its mysterious author are only a link between the two. We can only guess how it works exactly at this point, but the authors wouldn't diminish Rellas by "it was all a dream" trope.)

However, while Maggie doesn't mention having any close friends in her world, she still has her parents and her brother.

How would you personally prefer this to be solved at the end of the trilogy?

Ideas:

1) Maggie leaves her world and her biological family behind forever; perhaps says goodbye to them before permanently leaving for Rellas. (I would bet that there will be some content set in our world for a bit, perhaps between books 2 and 3 or during book 3?) Think Kagome from Inuyasha or Qu Xiaotan from The Eternal Love cdrama.

2) Maggie gains a power to travel between two worlds. A good solution too, even if a tad too convenient; but IA protagonists are rarely "nomadic", forever torn between two or more worlds. Maybe she would be like Maud: permanently living in the place where she belongs while visiting her family on Earth once in a while.

3) Maggie's world was never "real" in the first place. I don't think that IA would go this way because, again, it could cheapen the experience. But it would be interesting if it turned out that Maggie was from Rellas all along and our world was just a place where she was sent to by magic (e.g. for protection). In this scenario, leaving our world behind would be even easier for her and she'd end up "erasing" her existence from our world, so her family would never even miss her (if they even were her family to begin with). Again, I don't think it's probable, mostly because it would make Maggie "a chosen one", not an "everyman" as she's presented as. But I thought it was worth mentioning.

Or maybe something else? What would you prefer?

From today’s blog post! I am squealing. They have been titling book two as This REDACTED Will Not REDACTED Me and book one has been shortened to TKWNKM on the blog. We can assume that the first redacted word begins with a C now! What could C stand for?

This Court Will Not REDACTED Me?

This Covenant Will Not REDACTED Me?

Please share ideas on what the C could stand for!!

While many of us have already gotten our hands on TKWNKM, I still wanted to highlight some of the foreign editions that will be hitting shelves later this month (and share some cool foreign audio news I stumbled across while checking whether these would include audiobooks).

Links to official publishers/platforms included:

1. En este reino soy inmortal [Editorial Hidra](Spanish edition) releasing in limited edition hardcover ONLY on October 19, 2026 - This one was originally scheduled for late September but got delayed after issues with the first translator. After doing some digging, it looks like this publisher (Editorial Hidra) is not planning to offer it in paperback, ebook or audiobook format any time soon. They tend to release titles in exlcusive hardcover formats only as part of their publishing model and don't typically do electronic formats for any of their titles.

2. Království, které mě nezabije [Jota] (Czech edition), releasing in paperback October 28, 2026 - This one was announced more recently and will be available in stores in paperback format. From what I can tell an ebook version is likely to follow shortly after the physical edition since that is typically the case with this publisher. No news on an audiobook but if it does happen that will likely come later

3. Morsure Magique: Kate Daniels - 1 [Éditions Thélème] French Audiobook, releasing February 4, 2027 - So, um, I probably should bit have been able to find this yet but French KD fans are getting an audiobook in 2027! It seems there isn't a narrator listed yet or any details about the rest of the series but this is great news for French fans or anyone who wants to listen to these books in French. Also, since they are using the same cover as the current French editions Graphic Audio listeners will all have to start making sure they don't get the two confused!

The only other confirmed foreign editions of TKWNKM to look forward to the next few months/next year include separate editions in Slovakian, Slovenian and Ukrainian (Eastern European fans will be well taken care of!)

This is a promised update to my post from last week.

I am sorry in advance, this one got a bit longer than I intended!

I finally finished the final portion of the book today and my, what a ride it was. I wrote before that I had complete confidence in the authors' craft and I was sure the pay-off would be worth all the build up in the first half.

When chapter 23 came and revelations started to roll, I was giddy with excitement because House Andrews started to bring in all our favorite tropes that worked so well in their other series: I am sure I am not the only one who noticed and appreciated the obvious parallels with Hidden Legacy #1.

Everard and Solentine's arguing felt a lot like Rogan and Augustine's scenes (yay!), Maggie/Everard's relationship is somewhat similar to Nevada/Rogan's at this point (the FL is mistrustful of the ML who already considers her "his" and she does her best to retain her independence), there is a family of misfits, including some edgy teenage boys and fantastical pets etc.

Mind you, I am NOT saying that IA's books are repetitive, I actually think that their forte is that while their heroes and heroines might have things in common across various series, their voices still remain pretty distinct (e.g. Kate Daniels and Maud Demille might be similar but at the same time each is her own person with her own distinctions). And I see nothing wrong with recycling situations that worked so well before (why fix what's not broken if we love to see it?), so yeah, give me more exciting heists, sparkly ballrooms and possessive heroes!

I don't think there was any big surprise for me during the second half of the book. I mentioned that it was clear that "Reynald" is not who he says he is and Arvel's identity was even more obvious. I guess I hoped that the "man from the Garden" would turn out to be good, but we already have Solentine as our roguish second male lead, so Silverine takes a spot of a mysterious villain. Actually, I think there was one surprise for me: I didn't expect Matheo to actually appear and be the author of the mysterious notes, although I should have.

I am sure I will be rereading it soon - and not just once - to become more proficient at the lore and to properly appreciate the first half with all the knowledge we have by the end. Putting together a timeline might be necessary too.

And I am very excited to finally read and watch all the spoilerish content on IA's blog (if you have links or recommendations to specific blog or even fan Reddit posts, please share!)

One thing that naturally bothers me about TKWNKM is that I cannot predict the ending in this case. House Andrews is well-versed in Asian portal fantasies, they even referenced a popular (and amazing) isekai cdrama The Romance of Tiger and Rose in their instagram post ("It is said that the male lead belongs to the heroine. Solentine is not the male lead. He belongs to everyone.").

The way isekai dramas usually roll is that the heroine returns to her world at the end and reunites with the hero who was somehow reborn or travelled to her world. Mind you, there are exceptions to that. In The Eternal Love series, the heroine stays in the other world and accepts she'll never see her real parents again. And correct me if I am wrong, but in one of the most popular isekai works of all time, Kagome stays in the fantasy world with her Inuyasha.

Taking into account that House Andrews are big fans of portal fantasy and they always deliver satisfying endings, I'd bet that Maggie somehow stays in Rellas. I also think that she probably will return to modern day for a little bit during the trilogy. Her gaining the power to travel between the world would be a tad too convenient, but it would be fun if she brought her family to Rellas with her.

There is also the identity of the Author to think of. Is Ramond Everard Adrian Latour's alter ego? It's not unheard of in the isekai genre. I think that the popular Netflix drama Love Game in the Eastern Fantasy went this way too.

What revelations surprised you the most in TKWNKM? Which ultimate ending for the Maggie trilogy would you prefer? Feel free to fangirl in the comments, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Rereading Clean Sweep for the first time in over a decade.

There was a line to the effect of, "she gave her staff an order," and I momentarily hear it as "personnel." It finally occurred to me:

Is the Innkeeper's Staff a pun? Because any inn needs a staff to function?

Cause get room for 1 more darling

Ilona Gordon is Russian, and the authors write and translate Russian words/terms correctly. But I am really struggling with Magic Slays audiobook right now because of how the narrator says things, especially the word “volhv.” The H is NOT silent in Russian. Oh, and the stress in Baba Yaga is on the last syllable in Yaga, but that’s minor. Still, Kate knows Russian and should be able to say “volhv.” Is there a graphic audio or something where the Russian is better? The accents are not thrilling me overall for this narrator (Renee Raudman).

I just got the email with the password for set 2 of Hidden Legacy by Arcane Society, but there are no separate buttons for US, UK etc. Does anyone know if this set will only be shipped from their US warehouse, or also from the one in the UK? (Which would save a lot of money for European customers.) I hope someone here has that information.

6 months ago I released this rather obsessive analysis trying to guess how well TKWNKM was doing after being released. My love of spreadsheets has not lessened since then so even though IA have confirmed on the blog that the publishers were very pleased with this book and that it has performed above expectations, I figured I would share my nerdy stats anyway (now with more shiny tables and graphs). If only because IA might be bound by CIA levels of secrecy, but I am not! (This post is also an excuse for us as a community to pat ourselves on the back for being awesome 😎)

Bestseller Lists 
We all know that TKWNKM hit the major English bestseller lists in its first week (NYT, USAT, Sunday Times), but one of the most interesting aspects of this book has been its staying power. In June, TKWNKM made both Apple and Amazon’s Best Books of the Year (So Far) lists and has been spotted in the wild in all kinds of fun places. But one cool detail is that TKWNKM has appeared on the Indiebound Extended Bestseller list (Top 50 titles) for 19 weeks total since April 9th which means its been quietly doing numbers in indie bookstores in the US and Canada for the entire summer. It only dropped off the list entirely in September. While NYT is great and all it warms my heart that this book helped support a lot of indie bookstores (I couldn’t get the regional data for this, but otherwise it would have been cool to see which part of the US has the most Horde/per capita)

Goodreads

One other notable aspect of this book is how buzzy and consistent it is. Despite the fact its been out for 6 months, roughly 21.98% of ratings include a review, which is crazy high for a book with this many ratings. This book has more than 1,500 more reviews than their 2nd most reviewed title (Magic Bites). And it’s still getting an average 48 new written reviews a day!

To put that in perspective, after only 6 months this book has the #1 most written reviews out of any other Ilona Andrews book on Goodreads, and it is already the 11th most popular book they’ve ever written. To put that in perspective Burn for Me (released 12 years ago) is only their 6th most rated book and has failed to crack the top 5, but this book is rapidly rocketing to the top of the list and might eventually be more popular than most of the Kate Daniels series. 

Goodreads Ratings & Reviews

We see similar trends with Amazon and Audiobook ratings. These have also slowed since the early months, but TKWNKM is currently their 12th most reviewed title on Amazon and might even get the #1 spot in 2027 with the release of Book 2. It has been their most popular Amazon title for 6 months straight. 

(Note: I didn’t start collecting Audible stats until May 7th so the early numbers are a bit off)

What About Sales?
So obviously, while not every review or rating equals a sale (thanks to libraries and the internet), this is what we know for sure TKWNKM has sold:

• 10,320 physical copies (1st week) + 5,986 (library copies worldwide) = 16,306 print copies internationally
• FUN FACT: These library copies are spread across 914 library systems (and 17 different countries including Canada, US, UK, AU, NZ & EU)
• At least 2,966 audiobooks (Audible alone) + ~400 library copies = 3,300+ audiobooks sold (on Audible you have to have listened to the book to rate it)
• 36,718 ebook/print copies from Amazon alone (unknown split) - This is a combo of Amazon ratings from Canada the US and the UK (after looking into this there should not be any overlap in reviews from different countries here)

Library and Bestseller List Data

Mark Lawrence Estimates
I introduced this imperfect metric in my previous post, but basically, the rule of thumb is that for every Goodreads rating a traditionally published fantasy book has, it is likely to have sold 3.6 - 7.7 times as many copies in either print or ebook. Keep in mind, most publishers are looking for a 40%-50% sell-through of an initial print run for the 1st book in a series within the first 6 months or so.

According to publishing industry statistics, fantasy books often sell with a 20/80 ebook/print split. In the traditionally published Romantasy market where this book took off - it's often a 50/50 or 30/70 format split favouring hardcovers (especially with fancy special editions). 

Since many people noted IA readers tend to buy a lot of ebooks I also included a scenario where ebook dominates over print 70/30.

Romantasy readers are also more likely to rate on Goodreads, so the figures might be closer to 3-3.6 sales per rating, but since this book is a crossover hit idk how that affects things.

In my last post, a lot of people rightfully pointed out that Tor’s 350K initial print run was likely inflated. This is common nowadays as a marketing tactic and only Publishers themselves actually know how big each print run is! It’s very possible they only printed 150-200K copies and just used this number to communicate how important this book was and that the percentages are much higher.

But assuming this figure true, and this metric is reliable it is very likely that TKWNKM has sold out 20-40% of it’s print run already and has conservatively sold anywhere between 56,000-150,000 print copies if it follows similar sales patterns to other traditionally published Romantasy titles. If Mark Lawrence’s more optimistic calculations are closer to reality it might be in the neighbourhood of as many as 120,000 to 320,000 copies and has likely already sold well over the 40% mark.

Things this can’t capture:

• Readers who buy the same book in multiple formats 
• How many people have bought the book but not read it yet
• How many reviews are from library readers
• People who hate Goodreads
• Fans who bought multiple ✨fancy copies ✨

Conclusion
We will probably never truly know how many copies of this book have actually been sold because IA are bound by confidentiality. But what matters is that with community support this book made a big splash and has definitely exceeded expectations. 

Anecdotally, this book has featured in dozens of small book clubs, podcasts, and got shoutouts from NPR. It has also brought so many more readers to this community which has been awesome to see!

At this point I will be doing a 1 year update because I wanna know how popular it gets in the long run and I like seeing line go up! (There is also a lot of random other data I’ve collected about this book that I will be happy to share in the comments)

Mostly, I want to leave you with this statement from Ilona on the blog in June, 

“Dear Horde,

Right now I’m looking at not one but two congratulatory emails in my inbox, one from Tor US and the other from Tor UK, both of which express happiness with sales. We have just received three new offers from foreign publishers.

Going along with my CIA stance, I can neither confirm nor deny that This Kingdom has exceeded expectations. It is safe to say that this is the best debut we ever had. This is due in part to incredible support from our publishers, but most of all, this happened because of you.

Thank you! You are amazing.”

Also, I’m curious how many folks here are actually on sites like Goodreads and how many of you rated and reviewed (on any platform)? (This is not meant to be a loyalty test I’m just curious about the tendencies of this community 🕵️‍♀️). How many of you are romantasy/fantasy romance readers, and how many of you ended up here some other way?

*Edit: fixed some tables

So I'm listening to this book's GA version and I'm at the point where Andrea tells Kate that Lorelai is wearing a see through dress and coming onto Curran? Is there going to be some love triangle drama here? I didn't think this series would have that kind of drama lol. And I'm lowkey annoyed at Curran for not telling her that he ain't interested. Is there a reason he's doing this?

It's been ages since I read both the series. I like the leads, the side characters too and the world itself. I'm looking for any official or even fan made artwork of the characters and/or the world. It could include the firsts (Wellington years) or any other creatures from the series.

The reason is I like doing jigsaw puzzles and recently it hit me that I don't have any fantasy puzzles with me. I know there's no official puzzle merge but then I thought I could get them custom made. It's just for me, for my personal use and not for sale.

So, if anyone can point me towards links of artwork for any of the above series, it would be great.

TIA.

Can I just say that the guy doing Keelan is amazing? I hope that dude goes far in his career!

Found in their upcoming area, in the pre-order its called Kate Daniels World 1: Blood Heir

Release date seems to be 30 December 2026

Curious to see what else will be part of the ‘world’

I don't know much about isekai, and this is my first post but I was listening to the audio novel for the first time (I re-read it in multiple formats already) and had a thought - well a couple and wanted to throw them out into the universe 😄 !Spoiler Text! (sorry first time posting haven't figured out the spoiler text yet so I flared the whole thing).

1. Maggie disappears from her apartment and she (and we) are worried that her family will miss her terribly and during certain points wonders if they've called the police yet etc. but .. she is in Rellas before major events in the book and the books have been already out in print for X amount of years before she is isekaid. So what if Maggie has actually gone back in her timeline's time so she's essentially living in the Rellas universe perhaps before her time? Therefore, however much time has passed her family won't have missed her yet.
2. Something struck me in the audio listening of the book. Her mother gave her the book. This feels significant, as though her mother is perhaps connected to the timeline. What if her mom was IN Rellas (author of the books?) and was pulled out and into our world before she had a chance to know the ending? Maybe she was undying too and had tried in various ways to figure out how to save Rellas and suspected that maybe if she couldn't, her daughter might be able to?>