No time… No options… No plan… No one said saving the world would be easy.
Morgan McRobbie and Lady Marissa duBerry swing back into swashbuckling action, facing old enemies, new threats, and a diabolical conspiracy—not to mention a more personal battle, one with hearts and pride at stake.
As the pair escorts Prince Robert to the dwarf king’s court, a scheme intended to hurl men and dwarves into a devastating war is unfolding. Morgan ends up sidetracked by a kidnapped dwarf and a centuries-old feud, while a mysterious wizard’s revelations shake Marissa to her core, throwing into question everything she thought she knew about her past and future. And the advent of a rival for Marissa’s affections threatens any hope of a happy ending—if they survive.
Once again, the desperate knight and indomitable damsel must hazard everything on a single throw of the dice, gambling on untested allies and unimagined weapons to save their world.
The odds have never been worse.
We asked for more dragon…and we got more dragon! (It’s not all about the dragon, honestly. But he is rather awesome.)
Desperate Knight is a swashbuckling, drama, and punch- (or slap-) filled romp; it’s a tangled web of politics, motives and emotions, all held together with a wonderful dose of heroics, romance, fun and general chaos – and a dragon. Of course.
This is the sequel to Traitor Knight, which introduced McRobbie and Marissa (and the dragon) to a plot against the kingdom, requiring McRobbie to act as a decoy traitor…and survive the subsequent politics and problems that came his way. And in this next book in the Knights of Kilbourne series, there’s more problems – because if trouble follows anyone around, it’s Morgan McRobbie. And trouble isn’t the only thing interested in him…
The plot’s a little more complex in this story, but it works; the world fills out, and we get to see more of the other peoples occupying the same political arena. The dragon, obviously, features – but so do dwarves, and there’s some interesting hints about the other lands around. There’s some wonderful characters – the Bishop is possibly my favourite, closely followed by the ghost-turned-matchmaker – but the story really does hang off McRobbie and Marissa, and they’re a fun pair to read! There’s some great plot twists, and the ending nicely ties everything together while not being predictable. I think my only niggle was that the twists and turns of the politics is sometimes hard to follow, but it all gets sorted out by the end – and if it means I have to re-read to get the finer details straight, where’s the problem with that?
If you haven’t read Traitor Knight and you enjoy swashbuckling, heroic fantasy with a light-hearted touch and a modern feel, go and read that – and then read Desperate Knight. Thoroughly enjoyable, and now with even more dragon!
© Kate Coe, August 2017
Desperate Knight by Keith W. Willis
Published August 7th 2017 by Champagne Book Group
https://sites.google.com/site/keithwwillisauthorsite/
Review copy courtesy of the author
262 pages
