This review originally posted at More Than Just Magic 
 I love the amount of fantasy titles that are on my radar this year. The Gypsy King is my second and it's still January! I sat down with high expectations for this novel and I was overall really pleased with the fun, adventure filled story I got lost in. 
 I particularly liked Persephone as a heroine. Having grown up a slave, she was a little rough around the edges and developed a thick skin. But despite her unfortunate circumstances she still had a lighter, pleasant side. She's quick with a laugh or a sarcastic comment. She also talks to and names all the animals she encounters. As an animal lover myself, I am instantly drawn to those who love them too. 
 I thought Persephone was at her best when she was interacting with Azriel. I loved the back and forth between them. There is a romance present but there's so many other things going on, their relationship is placed on the back burner. I think this is a positive because it gave them more time to get to know one another and to grow alongside each other. They're incredibly cute and they absolutely make me laugh. The one drawback was that I didn't appreciate her all too frequent lies to him. This made their relationship seem a little one sided and at times I wanted her to get over herself. 
 But while I really enjoyed the protagonists of this story, I have mixed feeling about the villain - the Regent Mordecai. He was creeptastic. Don't get me wrong. He was truly a horrible human being and his presence could give you goosebumps. But at times he felt a little two dimensional. He reminded me a lot of Jafar, from Aladdin. We know he's bad, we know he wants power and control but we don't know how and why he became so ruthless. I love complex villains and the Regent just didn't do it for me. 
 I also found that some things felt a little too...convenient. I don't mind the odd coincidence but when they start cropping up on a regular basis it takes me out of the story. In The Gypsy King animals are always showing up exactly at the moment when needed. Or a character happened to be a perfect pool of water right beside where she fell in the mud etc. 
 Like many first books, The Gypsy King, left me with a lot of questions. I want to know more about the kingdom, the Gypsy lifestyle, the circumstances that left to the genocide of their people. I don't think the answers were missing from this book. It's already 400 pages, there would have been no way to smoothly include all that surplus information. But these type of questions have made me really, really excited to read book two and get absorbed within this world again. 
 Recommendation: A fun fantasy adventure, with an excellent pair of protagonists but a few notable flaws. Recommended for those looking for a light hearted read that is still packed with adventure.