Every year in the SFF publishing world, one book, one author seems to stand out as the debut of the year. Of course, much of this is from the pre-publication hype effort the publisher disseminates. The book so far in 2019 to be this buzz book is Jenn Lyons’s The Ruin of Kings, which launches her A Chorus of Dragons series. I’ve been seeing things about this book late last year and was very, very pleased when a review copy arrived in late January. My full review after the dust jacket copy.
When destiny calls, there’s no fighting back.
Kihrin grew up in the slums of Quur, a thief and a minstrel’s son raised on tales of long-lost princes and magnificent quests. When he is claimed against his will as the missing son of a treasonous prince, Kihrin finds himself at the mercy of his new family’s ruthless power plays and political ambitions.
Practically a prisoner, Kihrin discovers that being a long-lost prince is nothing like what the storybooks promised. The storybooks have lied about a lot of other things, too: dragons, demons, gods, prophecies, and how the hero always wins.
Then again, maybe he isn’t the hero after all. For Kihrin is not destined to save the world.
He’s destined to destroy it.
Lyons begins this novel as a dialogue between two characters – an imprisoned thief and his captor. It is clear early on these two know each other beyond those simple roles. They take turns recounting the events that lead the thief – Kihrin, once named Rook – to his current situation. Kihrin’s take on the story goes back to his early days from when he encountered a demon. His captor – Talon – focuses on a time when Khirin is more mature, or at least older. There’s a third element to this parallel narrative. We know this story because they are both speaking to a magical recording rock. Throughout both of their stories, footnotes appear in a thirdly distinctive voice. The picture painted by both Kihrin and his captor Talon are of a young street urchin who is taken in by a well-to-do family, but not a particularly kind and loving family. Talon’s side of the story focuses on Kihrin’s years as the lost son of an abusive, despicable father, while Kihrin’s takes place a few years later after he had the chance to escape the family and connect with his more supernatural and magical heritage.
Lyons is also showing some impressive world-building skill in Ruin of Kings. The world is one with age, deep history, and a great deal of monstrous and supernatural creatures. These are all key elements of a fantasy world and Lyons is able to make the world feel original.
Lyons’ tale is immersive, deliberate, and suitably epic. One part bildungsroman, one part world-building, the story is very strong in both paths/timelines for Kihrin’s life. Lyons makes it fairly easy to root for Kihrin, but balances his likeability with some exasperating characteristics, too. Since this book is largely a character study, much of the weight of the novel relies on Lyons’ ability to craft a character we as the reader care about. She methodically constructs this character by balancing the details the mystery. We don’t have a clear idea of where he came from before we meet him in the story, but his actions make him compelling. Those unshown elements of who he is make the read that much more compelling.
The strength of the novel is also an element that proves frustrating at times – that dueling narrative. The strength is that it makes for a compelling read, pushing you to the end of each chapter only to want to continue. The frustration, for me at least, was settling into the nuances of each voice. I found myself having do double check which character was telling the story. The footnotes were a bit of a distraction, initially. But as the story progressed, the tone and importance of those footnotes began to take shape, and I found myself drawn to them.
So, what is this book like? Of course comparisons to Patrick Rothfuss’s Name of the Wind are being made. Both take an interesting narrative approach to the life story of an infamous character. If you like that, chances are you’ll enjoy Ruin of Kings. With four books to go in A Chorus of Dragons, one can’t accurately rank how this sits against its peers in the genre. What I can personally say is that The Ruin of Kings is an impressive debut, a fine start to a multi-volume fantasy epic and a book that will likely be a standout for me in 2019.
The book should really appeal to readers who enjoy their fantasies big and weighty with a strong narrative pull.
Recommended
© 2019 Rob H. Bedford
January 2019 | Hardcover | 560 pages
https://jennlyons.com/
Excerpt: https://www.tor.com/2018/12/26/read-the-first-11-chapters-of-jenn-lyons-the-ruin-of-kings/
Review copy courtesy of the publisher, Tor
