Court of Ice and Ash picks up after Elise broke a curse on the man she loved and learned, too late, that he was a lost fae prince bent on avenging his slaughtered family. This audiobook, the second book in LJ Andrews's Broken Kingdoms series, runs nine hours and seventeen minutes with Stina Nielsen narrating, and it opens with Elise having already joined an uprising against her own sister rather than waiting around for Valen to come back into her life.
A Closer Look at Court of Ice and Ash
Elise wants to forget the prince who holds her heart, but fate has other plans. Reunited with Valen during the rescue of a mutual friend, the two are forced to decide where they stand as a battle for the crown builds around them, their passion reigniting even as new threats close in from every direction.
Those threats stack up fast in the synopsis: a strange magical blight infecting the land, betrayal from inside their own circle, and a secret dark enough that not even a fae prince saw it coming. The publisher's own pitch places this alongside The Cruel Prince and The Shadows Between Us for readers who want a rebellious princess paired with a seductive prince, so the comparison here is the marketing copy's own framing rather than mine.
The central question the synopsis poses outright is who will actually save Elise and Valen from a dark magic capable of destroying their love for good, and it stays deliberately vague about the answer. That framing puts the romance and the political war for the crown on equal footing rather than treating one as background for the other, which is part of why the series keeps getting pitched to both fantasy and romance readers at once, rather than sitting comfortably in just one genre shelf.
Nita Bita's review promises real plot movement rather than filler, calling out the best twist in the series so far and noting more spice arrives than in the first book, though that review frames the heat as secondary to how addictive the story line is on its own. Aside from a running joke about everyone getting kidnapped too many times, the overall impression is of a book finished in a single sitting rather than one that had to be pushed through, with the reviewer immediately eager to keep going into the next installment.
ROlander adds that the world-building keeps expanding, from icy courts to hidden corners where secrets fester, and credits the author with not softening the political intrigue or the shifting alliances just because this is the second book rather than the first. That review calls it another gripping installment, packed with tension and a world that feels more dangerous than before.
Rita Marie's review describes someone who usually only loves the first book in any given series and takes long breaks before continuing, so finishing this one relatively quickly gets treated as a real signal of quality rather than routine praise. That review singles out the magic system specifically as special and different, calls out an insane amount of history behind it, and adds that the fantasy world itself never starts to feel bloated even as the cast of characters keeps growing.
Things to Know Before Starting Court of Ice and Ash
One review on this record does not match the synopsis at all. ANNA S. describes Elisa dealing with a character named Legion, a struggle to survive alongside someone named Siv, and a faction called the Agitators, none of which appear anywhere in the publisher's synopsis for Elise and Valen. It reads like a review written about a different book in the series, or possibly a different book entirely, and I'd rather flag the mismatch directly than pretend the names line up as if nothing were off about the record.
@razzle.reads, reviewing after finishing the first book, warns that the opening installment plays fairly predictably and that the payoff in personality and depth builds gradually across the series rather than arriving all at once. That's useful context if you're trying to decide whether to start here or go back to book one first.
That same nineteen-vote count produces the 4.4 shown on this page, with the five reviews below it split evenly between four and five stars. Given the mismatched review flagged above, read this set of write-ups as a mixed bag rather than a single unified account of one book, guidance rather than a guarantee of exactly what happens on the page.
Who LJ Andrews Is Writing For
Fantasy romance listeners already following the Broken Kingdoms series, and readers drawn to court intrigue with a fae prince and princess at the center, will feel right at home. Starting the series with this book rather than the first one isn't a great plan, and that mismatched review is reason enough to want more clarity on the actual cast before committing to a listen.
Readers who enjoyed the balance of romance and fantasy elements that @razzle.reads describes in the first book should find that balance continuing here, with the political stakes and the relationship stakes given roughly equal weight rather than one crowding out the other. At just over nine hours, it's also a reasonable single-weekend listen for anyone catching up on the series before a third book arrives to raise the stakes even further.
At a Glance
- Voice: Stina Nielsen narrates this fae court sequel.
- Big ideas: Fae court politics, second-chance romance, betrayal
- Atmosphere: Tense, romantic, intrigue-heavy
- Worth it?: Solid for series regulars, though one review's mismatched character names are worth a second look before buying.
Before You Listen
Is Court of Ice and Ash audiobook a direct sequel, and do I need to start with book one?
Yes, it is the second book in LJ Andrews's Broken Kingdoms series, and a reviewer who finished book one first notes that character depth and world-building build gradually across the series, so starting here would mean missing that groundwork.
Who narrates the Court of Ice and Ash audiobook?
Stina Nielsen narrates this Podium Audio production. That specific performance goes unmentioned across all five reviews attached to this listing, which center almost entirely on plot, world-building, and character rather than on the actual reading itself, specifically its pacing.
How long is the Court of Ice and Ash audiobook?
It runs 9 hours and 17 minutes, covering Elise and Valen's reunion, a fae court battle for the crown, a magical blight threatening the entire land, and a betrayal brewing from within their own circle of previously trusted, close allies.
