The Five Crowns of Okrith by A.K.Mulford is a series that have spoken about very enthusiastically here before. I’ve been reading this authors books since they were a debut indie author, just beginning to build their social platform.
Since then they have been picked up as by a trad publisher and the first two books in the series were re-released as trad copies… I have both the original indie copies, the hard-backs and now the paper backs because the publisher chose to stop publishing the hardbacks in the UK.
A.k.Mulford has since gone on to publish more fantasy books with The Golden Court series, for which you can read my review of book 1 here. They have also published a series of romance books under the pen name Ali K Mulford: The Prickle Island Zoo series, which I absolutely loved.
Anyway, I thought it was about time I compiled all the reviews together in one place now this is a complete series, obviously the further you go, the greater your risk of spoilers. These are copied and pasted exactly as I wrote them at the time (going back to 2022!).
If I ever do a re-read, I’ll post it here too, I read these over a span of years as they came out so it would be interesting to see how I feel about them altogether!
The Five Kingdoms of Okrith series review
Set in a world where there were five kingdoms until one was lost in a war that drove most witches into hiding or servitude. This series follows a different set of couples and court through each book, as the courts try to recover from this war, fight a tyrant threatening the rest of them and uncover another threat lurking in all the courts. This series has fantastic LGBTQIA+ rep, neurodivergent representation and is really just a love letter to the romantasy genre.
- The Five Kingdoms of Okrith series review
- High Mountain Court
- The Witches Blade
- The Rogue Crown
- The Evergreen Heir
- The Amethyst Kingdom
High Mountain Court
Summary
The story opens with Remy in hiding with her makeshift family who’ve taken care of her since she was a child and kept her safe. Remy is one of the last of the red witches, who are banned and hunted to intinction across all the kingdoms after the fall of the High Mountain Court. When high born fae enter the inn she’s been working in, alongside her family, Remy knows that this particular safe house is now in jeopardy. Prince Hale cannot resist the opportunity to get a powerful red witch on his side in his mission to rescue the lost relics and save the Eastern Court from falling prey to the Northern Court, as the High Mountain Court had when Remy was a child. Begrudgingly, she agrees to help him, allured by this deep connection she feels with him in spite of herself. In this journey she discovers the chance to right the wrongs of her past, find the scattered remains of her family and help save her people from further terror at the hands of the Northern Court.
Review
Ummmmm, not since I picked up Six or Crows back in 2019 have I been so instantly sucked into the world of a story. There is not one character that isn’t well fleshed out, they are real breathing beings with depth. The world building was so subtle, unlike most books that are high fantasy, I didn’t find myself spending the first few chapters at a loss for what a lot of things meant; you are taught about it without it being overt, it’s simple incorporated into the way Remy sees things in her narration. This is also, by far, one of the best books I’ve read for diversity and LGBTQIA+ representation this year, especially in fantasy.
You can tell in every word that this book was written by someone with a deep love of the genre, it incorporates so many tropes we know and love but without the toxic twist you commonly find. The love story in this book? Let me tell you, it had me muttering aloud every time something interrupted them, or stopped them from getting closer. This book is written so well for what’s being popularly referred to as the ‘female gaze’: representing what an actual real women would find attractive, in the most non-toxic way possible. It’s the kind of display of relationships that I think would have been a lot healthier for me to read about in my teens. As a side note, it does also have some great ‘spicy’ scenes, so it’s definitely not for a younger teen reader but it’s one of those books where the entire plot doesn’t revolve around the spice scenes, they are just a natural part of the plot.
In short, if you love this genre, I guarantee you will love these books.
A.K. Mulford is one of those indie authors who became big on tiktok but she genuinely deserves every inch of praise. I have signed up for the newsletter so I can get the exclusive novellas, I will be pre-ordering the next book come payday and because she’s an indie published author, I know she’s going to be getting a lot more of my money than an author usually gets, which I like a lot.
The Witches Blade
Summary
This book picks up the story right where we left off in the aftermath of the events in the first book, The High Mountain Court. This time the narrative follows Ruadora, the youngest child of the Dammacus family and Remy’s (book 1’s protagonist) last remaining living relative. At the end of the first book, Ruadora claims one of her family’s birthrights, The Immortal Blade. A sword so powerful that the one it’s bound to cannot be pierced by arrows and other weapons, and the wielder of the sword cannot miss, taking down even those out of reach with just a point of the blade. As Remy heads off (BOOK ONE SPOILER) to reclaim her family’s throne, Ruadora heads North with supposed ‘Witchslayer’ Renwick, who is the new King of the bloody and notorious Northern Court.
The Blue witches, who have been permuted by the Northern court during his father’s reign are divided between Renwick’s court and the enslaved army his Uncle still keeps. The blue witches in Renwick’s camp follow him reluctantly because of his families history and everyone is looking to Rue to bridge the gap between the Witches and the Fae, which she has no idea how to do when she feels like she belongs to neither. Together, Renwick and Rua set out to undo the curse his Uncle has forced his blue witches to cast on their fellow witches, turning them savage and insane. All the while these two damaged individuals fight their growing feels for the other, believing themselves to be unworthy in turn.
Review
Ummmm LOVED IT. I enjoyed it as much as the first one, I stayed up just as late to read because I was loving it so much. The world building in these books is fantastic but the way they also handle things like fated love, sex and relationships, is literally the healthiest representation I’ve ever read in YA fantasy. It plays with those fun, ‘too damaged to be loved’ tropes without being toxic and nothing significant happens romantically until the characters have undergone a certain amount of healing. Also, we meet characters in this books that we also met in the last from Remy’s POV but because Rua’s experience with them has been completely different, they are written completely different when seen from her POV. There were characters I really liked who I hated because of how they are written in this book, as well as characters like Renwick who I disliked before that you get to see in a different light.
In short, the writing is excellent, the characters are amazing and the story is SO GOOD.
The Rogue Crown
Summary
Bri has travelled to the Western Court to help their, still grieving, new queen Abalina. The court gives her an extremely frosty reception, thanks to an old prophecy that says she will take the Western court crown but Bri still intends to fight in the competition for the Eastern court crown, she’s just here to help Lina. It soon becomes clear the troubles plaguing the kingdom have infiltrated the Eastern Court. Bri fast becomes the only person Lina can trust but Bri is determined to repeat past mistakes, not to let her walls down and not to fulfill the prophecy or her scheming mother’s wishes.
Review
I love Bri as a character but her story didn’t grip me nearly as much as the first two books did. That’s why there’s no original review for this book because I didn’t feel right to post anything less positive. I liked how her and Lina’s relationship evolved, I liked that this is a saphic love story in a fantasy book and that we got Bri’s back story after she was such a pivotal relationship to the first two book’s MC’s.
I think this book is important for progressing the world of these books and the mystery unfolding, it’s still definitely worth reading and maybe I need to do a re-read to see if was just in a funky head-space when I read it originally.
The Evergreen Heir
Summary
This book picks up the story right where we left off in the aftermath of the events in the first book, The High Mountain Court. This time the narrative follows Ruadora, the youngest child of the Dammacus family and Remy’s (book 1’s protagonist) last remaining living relative. At the end of the first book, Ruadora claims one of her family’s birthrights, The Immortal Blade. A sword so powerful that the one it’s bound to cannot be pierced by arrows and other weapons, and the wielder of the sword cannot miss, taking down even those out of reach with just a point of the blade. As Remy heads off (BOOK ONE SPOILER) to reclaim her family’s throne, Ruadora heads North with supposed ‘Witchslayer’ Renwick, who is the new King of the bloody and notorious Northern Court.
The Blue witches, who have been permuted by the Northern court during his father’s reign are divided between Renwick’s court and the enslaved army his Uncle still keeps. The blue witches in Renwick’s camp follow him reluctantly because of his families history and everyone is looking to Rue to bridge the gap between the Witches and the Fae, which she has no idea how to do when she feels like she belongs to neither. Together, Renwick and Rua set out to undo the curse his Uncle has forced his blue witches to cast on their fellow witches, turning them savage and insane. All the while these two damaged individuals fight their growing feels for the other, believing themselves to be unworthy in turn.
Review
Ummmm LOVED IT. I enjoyed it as much as the first one, I stayed up just as late to read because I was loving it so much. The world building in these books is fantastic but the way they also handle things like fated love, sex and relationships, is literally the healthiest representation I’ve ever read in YA fantasy. It plays with those fun, ‘too damaged to be loved’ tropes without being toxic and nothing significant happens romantically until the characters have undergone a certain amount of healing. Also, we meet characters in this books that we also met in the last from Remy’s POV but because Rua’s experience with them has been completely different, they are written completely different when seen from her POV. There were characters I really liked who I hated because of how they are written in this book, as well as characters like Renwick who I disliked before that you get to see in a different light.
In short, the writing is excellent, the characters are amazing and the story is SO GOOD.
The Amethyst Kingdom
Summary
The competition for the Eastern Court throne is finally here, but Carys seems more resigned to her place in the competition than excited. All of her friends have settled down in separate courts with their fated but her fated still remains her enemy and her biggest source of pain. As the competition progresses so does their enemy’s plans, all the while Carys finds that dark place inside her yawning open again. With her past haunting her and the enemy who has been working behind the scenes over the last four books seemingly more and more untouchable by the day, can Carys keep the broken pieces of herself together long enough to help save Okrith and then maybe herself.
Review
So, because Cary’s has kept herself distant in the previous books as an inherent part of her character and the pain inside her, it did make me not as invested in her story as others… plus, A.K.Mulford writes her depression so well, it was honestly just a really sad read to begin with. However, once the story got rolling I really enjoyed it and I thought it was such a good conclusion to the series, I feel like everyone has been tied up in a neat little bow and I definitely had a little cry reading on and off throughout reading this!
Have I convinced you to read the series? Buy it for yourself on Amazon*
*this is an affiliate link, it won’t cost you any extra but I might get a small commission that’ll help towards my dream of being a paid writer!
Antonia Bernardin 
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