This Kingdome Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews
Maggie the Undying #1
Fantasy
March 31, 2026 by Tor Books
ARC

Review by Angela

I’m not going to say this is the best thing Ilona Andrews has ever written, because I feel like I say that with every book, but I honestly think this may be way, way up there in the list of best things that they’ve written. As soon as this hit my Kindle I set aside everything else on my plate and dove in– and didn’t come up for air until I finished. And now I’m positively wrecked.

This is a portal fantasy, with the heroine, Maggie, suddenly waking up in a world she knows intimately, as it’s her favorite fantasy book series. A series with only two books, that was never finished, but that she’s reread thousands of times. She is naked, alone, and has no money. But she has knowledge of this world and how it works. She knows who has magic, what kind, where to seek safety and where to avoid. Maggie knows the main plot arc of story and all those little plot points and backstories that end up intertwining to a powerful conclusion. So, she decides to use this knowledge to her advantage. She also realizes she has one other thing going for her–she can’t die.

I don’t even know how to write this review without giving away half the story because it’s so very intricate and complicated. The book starts off with Maggie trudging through the streets trying to figure out what to do, her brain is working overtime remembering events from the books. She acquires money by robbing someone (don’t worry, he’s a bad guy) and then makes her way through to the only place she knows that will offer her safety. She is offered a kindness by way of a bath, hot meal, and a safe place for the night. In return she tells the proprietor what her future brings, which is pain and death.

This leads Maggie into using her knowledge to right the wrongs of this world and hopefully to save the kingdom from the future written in the books. Along the way she teams up with a retired knight, saves a bunch of children, and basically infiltrates the world she knows so well, using just her knowledge and her courage. But she knows the more people she saves, and the more wrongs she rights, the future she knows will change and she may not be able to anticipate what will happen next.

I say this a lot, but Ilona Andrews must put some kind of addictive substance in their books because once I start reading, I just cannot stop, I also can’t stop thinking about it once I finally do finish. Everything from their worldbuilding to dialogue to plotting to fleshing out their characters to writing actions scenes is just top-notch. They are true masters of their craft. This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me is longer than their usual novel, at 480 pages, but it has all the usual ingredients that make their novels shine. A smart, capable female main protagonist, a loyal group of friends and found family, magic users, complicated world politics, powerful men and women, and hints at a love interest that is strong and gifted and will probably end up tearing the world down for Maggie. There are surprises, identities that are hidden at first and then shocking when they are revealed. The climax is edge of your seat exciting and the epilogue torturous because that cliffhanger means I must wait a year to see what happens next.

Just as an FYI, I’m writing this review in July 2025 and can’t wait until all the wonderful rave reviews start pouring in and readers fall in love with yet another Ilona Andrews series. I’m sure I will have reread it a number of times before release date and that it will be yet another comfort read for me when I’m going through a book slump.

Final Grade- A