Review: King of Beasts (Twin Crowns #5)

King of Beasts, Book 5 of Twin Crowns by Catherine Doyle

Published By: Electric Monkey
Publication Date: January 29, 2026
Date Read: March 26, 2029
Genre: YA – Fantasy
Source: Bought
Format: Audiobook
Pages: 432

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King Alarik Felsing.

A lone wolf.

A frozen heart …

Deep in the mountains of a snow-swept kingdom, an ancient beast is stirring. When a beautiful young wrangler arrives to try and tame it, she is not expecting to tame the beast that lives inside the king too. But sometimes, all it takes is an unexpected spark to melt even the iciest of hearts …

A stunning new romantasy novel filled with magic, tantalizing romance and thrilling action.

There are really no words to convey just how excited I was to finally dive into King of Beasts. I fell head over heels in love with the Twin Crowns world a year or so ago, and as I’ve been working my way through the end of the series over the past month or two, I was most excited to get to King of Beasts. Not only was it wrote solely by Catherine Doyle, one of my all time favourite YA writers, but it also followed my favourite character from the main series. I couldn’t wait to see what she did with Alarik.

King of Beasts follows the story of Alarik, the cold king of Gevra as he is preparing for war. His beasts are not falling line since his wrangler went to Aena with Wren. So Alarik calls for one of Tor’s siblings to come and be his wrangler. Enter Greta, Tor’s little sister who has a talent for taming wild beasts. While she works with the wild beasts of Gevra, King Alarik starts to fall for her… despite his betrothal to another.

I loved every single moment of this book. It was just such a fun read, and I couldn’t put it down. I’d fallen head over heels for Alarik in the main Twin Crowns trilogy, and I was desperate for him to get his own story. Greta is the perfect match for him, and I absolutely loved her as a main character. I love how she brought not only knowledge of the beasts to the palace, but she also made him realise how much people outside of the capital were suffering. It really brought this whole idea of royals being ignorant to how their people actually live aspect to the story and I absolutely loved the character growth that happened because of it.

King of Beasts was truly a fantastic read! I enjoyed every moment of it, and loved how it all came together in the end. I guessed some of the twists, but it did not take away from my enjoyment at all. As an animal lover myself, I loved seeing all of the wild animals throughout the book, from snow leapords to magical beings like dragons. It was such a brilliant way to end this fantastic series. This series will definitely be on my re-read list. It’s just magical! I highly recommend this series to anyone who loves a romantic fantasy with just as strong of a plot! I loved it!