Book seven of one series and book one of another: that is what this audiobook's own record claims. The two claims are printed within inches of each other. The series field reads The Broken Kingdoms, number 7. The copy calls the title "the first book in the Southern Kingdom." A reviewer settles it in passing, noting ties to the other books "so do read in order!" Anyone hoping to enter LJ Andrews's world here should know that the listing is selling two different answers to the only question a new listener actually has.
Our Take on Den of Blades and Briars
Saga loses a war and gets sentenced for it, a sharper opening move than most enemies-to-lovers setups manage in their first chapter. The sentence is service: "bound to serve her enemy for a hundred years," specifically Ari, "the man she despises." When Ari is blamed for an assassination the two of them go on the run together, and the arrangement stops being a punishment and starts being proximity. The blurb tracks the change in a single line that does the work of a chapter: "Soon hate feels more like passion, and disgust more like desire."
Ari is the reason this installment exists, judging by the column underneath it. Gabby opens with "I absolutely ADORE Ari and am so happy his story is being told," having followed the series since its second release. LP reports that Ari "has steadily been my fave character in the series" and is already lined up for number eight. Ashley describes "an entertaining sharp witted character who was possessive and charming" and singles out the banter with Saga. Three separate readers, all arriving at the same person. That is the audience this book was written for, and it landed.
Retelling is the frame the publisher chose, and it deserves a footnote. The copy names The Swan Princess as the source, then loads the setting with fae, Vikings and what it calls spicy romance. The curse machinery is real and load-bearing: the four-star from ANNA S. lays out Bracken's curse binding Saga into service, the hostility of a court that reads her as a traitor, and a murder plot built to frame Ari. Even so, the plot's engine is the secret the copy dangles, promising that if Ari gives his heart away it will unlock something capable of ending Saga's life.
Why Listen to Den of Blades and Briars
Thirteen hours and thirty-seven minutes is a comfortable length for this kind of book, long enough for the slow reversal from loathing to want and short enough to finish inside a week. Tim Campbell holds the entire credit. For a story that every reviewer describes as belonging jointly to Ari and Saga, one voice covering both leads is a real production choice, and the listing gives no indication of a second reader anywhere. Whether that suits you depends on how much you want vocal separation between the two people doing the arguing.
Gabby's review is the best inventory of what the book delivers, because it drops the adjectives and lists tropes instead: "witty banter, enemies to lovers, touch her you die, and adventure that leaves you needing to keep reading until the early hours." Add the laughing-and-crying claim and the throwing-things claim from the same paragraph, and you have a reasonably precise forecast of the emotional weather. Gabby also refers to the book twice by the initials DOBAB, shorthand that only forms inside a readership that has been waiting for a particular character, and that habit tells you as much about the series following as any star rating does.
Podium Audio put this out in May 2023, and the description carries a line worth noticing: "This book has mature content that may not be suitable for all listeners." Listeners, not readers. Somebody wrote that warning with an audio edition in mind, which is more attention than most fantasy romance listings pay to the format they are actually selling. The heat is real, it is signposted, and nobody buying this can claim to have been ambushed. It also shows that somebody revised this listing at least once for the audio edition, far more than the series fields at the top of the page managed.
What to Watch For in Den of Blades and Briars
Reading order is the practical hazard. Ashley's instruction to read in order, LP's note about having number eight ready, and Gabby's history going back to the second release all point one way, while the marketing points the other. Not one line of copy recaps what happened across the six previous books. ANNA S. opens by locating the story as "Ari and Saga's story in Book 7 of Broken Kingdoms," which is how the people who actually read it think of the thing.
Ciera's is the dissenting entry, and it is specific enough to be useful. The complaint is flatness: no emotional connection to the characters, an arc that "should have been exciting" landing as lackluster, and a verdict of still good but not as good as its predecessors. The review then closes with three chili pepper emoji, the only heat rating anybody has attached to this title anywhere. Take it for what it is worth, and note that it comes from a reader disappointed by everything except the spice. It is one of two four-star entries here, and both of them are longer and more granular than the raves, a pattern usually worth trusting.
Mature content aside, proper nouns are the hazard audio makes worse. Ashley reports "different kinds of fae and magicks" out in the Southern Lands. ANNA S. introduces Bracken's curse without explaining who Bracken is, because six previous books already did. The love interest's surname carries a diacritic the ear has no way to register. A print reader flips back thirty pages; a listener at hour nine holds the whole nomenclature from memory, and this listing supplies neither glossary nor recap.
Who Should Listen to Den of Blades and Briars
Romance listeners already six books deep in the Broken Kingdoms will not need convincing, and the enthusiasm here is concentrated among exactly those people. Newcomers who want fae courts, Norse texture and a servitude curse driving an enemies-to-lovers arc can start here with the caveat that every reviewer who loves it came in through the earlier books. The heat level is explicit and flagged by the publisher, so treat the warning as accurate. Stay away when what you want is a closed standalone, when possessive love interests grate, or when a lackluster middle-series entry would sour a whole run for you. Anyone who needs the audio to carry two leads in constant collision should sample before committing.
Before You Press Play
- Voice: Tim Campbell is alone on the credit, which puts both sides of a two-lead argument into one voice for the full thirteen hours.
- Big ideas: enemies to lovers, servitude curse, fae courts and Viking texture, a Swan Princess retelling
- Atmosphere: Combative, hot, series-dependent
- Worth it?: Series regulars will be well fed here; newcomers should start six books earlier.
Questions Listeners Ask
Should I listen to the earlier Broken Kingdoms audiobooks before this one?
The reviewers say yes, and one instructs it outright: read in order. The publisher description disagrees, calling this the first book in the Southern Kingdom. Nothing in the copy recaps the six preceding installments, and the curse driving the plot is established elsewhere. Follow the reviewers, not the marketing.
Is this a full enemies-to-lovers arc or a slow burn?
Both, structurally. Saga begins bound to serve a man she despises, and the reversal happens under forced proximity once the two go on the run. One reviewer lists enemies to lovers alongside witty banter and a protective streak. The jacket copy marks the turn in one line about hate becoming passion.
Which edition are the reviews on this audiobook page describing?
At least one of them names the ebook outright. ANNA S. opens with that purchase, and the others write in the vocabulary of reading: series drops, having book eight lined up, staying awake into the early hours. Excellent testimony about plot and heat, then, and none about the recording.
