Reviews with content warning for Child death - The Justice of Kings

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The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan

16 reviews

emilyacres's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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readundancies's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

And so ends my streak of ≥4 star reads, with a half hearted sigh and a splash of chagrin.

I’m sorry to say that I really struggled getting through this novel. It caught my eye a couple months before it’s release earlier this year in February because I love a good investigative tale. But it was really bogged down by the narrative style and voice, specifically of Helena, the clerk of the fabled Sir Konrad Vonvalt, who puts the Justice in the title, The Justice of Kings.

But let’s start with what did work for me.

I enjoyed the worldbuilding, along with the accompanying map that was included. The world is one where the Sovan religion of Nema has been imposed upon a region that is still trying to keep the old gods in favour; although it’s been some time since the initial invasion of the Sovans and the old ways are slowly but surely being completely eradicated by brute force and violence. Which is how the narrative starts, in the tiny village of Rill, where the old Draedist ways are still being practiced despite it’s illegality. And we slowly get to see how one small instance quickly snowballs into a far and wide reaching conspiracy that affects the entirety of the Sovan empire, all the way up to the Emperor himself. It’s a land that is on the precipice of change, of revolt, of turmoil because those of the Neman church want to reign supreme over all other aspects of politics and law. This is not a tale of religion trying to indoctrinate church with state, this is a tale where religion is attempting to consume the powers of the state as their own. It is not a meeting of two equals, but rather the devouring of one by the other, and I think that that overarching plot in the grand scope of things is worth exploring. If I were to consider continuing on with the series, this would be the reason I would do so.

But despite the intriguing political situation that looms at the edge of each page of the story, the focus is a bit more insular, instead focusing more so on the character development of Sir Konrad Vonvalt through the eyes of his clerk and protegee Helena Sedanka, who initially is torn about apprenticing under Sir Konrad as she’s a bit disillusioned about becoming a Justice and has no passion for it. And while the story focuses on Sir Konrad and his tale, it is framed a bit like a coming of age novel for Helena at the same time, watching her grow as a character but not to the degree your average coming of age story normally would.

Herein lies my first issue of the story. I think there was just a bit too much trying to be combined. There’s the investigation involving Bauer and Vogt and Graves, alongside the larger political implications of Patria Claver and Fischer and Westenholtz, and then the even larger scope of what’s happening in Sova with the Emperor and leader of the Order, Kadlec. But it’s all framed within Helena’s narrative, and Helena is contending with Sir Konrad himself and the patriarchal role he has in her life in addition to being his employee, her dissatisfaction in her role as a clerk and her weariness of it, the new romance she garners with Matas, and trying to come to terms with her upbringing in Muldau with the young woman she is now. I thought I was getting into a more investigative tale, with more of a courtroom drama feel, but that’s truly at a minimum in this story. It’s not really about the judicial aspects, which are definitely still present - I don’t think a lawyer can write a story of this nature without mentioning things like due process and tiresome research that law requires - but they’re never the focus, and that’s what I was leaning towards.

Perhaps I could’ve overcome all of this, bit the pacing was a bit off for me. It was slow to medium paced for the most part, but then some action scenes would occur that flew by entirely too quickly for me to appreciate them to any great degree. The story is also written as a metafiction, where the prose and narrator directly address the reader. In this case, Helena is telling the story as an old woman, and because of that there was a not infrequent amount of blatant foreshadowing. Actually we went beyond that. There was quite a lot of overt foreshadowing, at the end of more than half the chapters it seemed, and I personally don’t find that an effective use of the literary device anytime I’ve seen an author employ it. I find it way too heavy-handed, especially when used more than once and it’s kind of a peeve of mine to be honest.

Let’s get petty now and do a map check. The map overall was fine, except the feather in the top right hand side looked so out of place, I wish it hadn’t been included at all.

And then there was the romance. This instalove romance angle between Helena and Matas which was trying my patience vastly because hypocrisy, thy name is Helena. The more it appeared, the more upset I got about it. I didn’t like it, I didn’t need it, and while I know it was supposed to show Helena’s lack of maturity at this stage in her life and the impacts of her decisions, just, no. It was only included to tie Helena to Sir Konrad’s cause, especially with where it goes, and I thought it was a cheap addition to the story that just wasn’t necessary. I didn’t get anything of value out of it, I didn’t agree with it and truly, it made me dislike Helena more than I should’ve.

From a characterization perspective, I wasn’t wholly impressed. I wasn’t unimpressed either, I just didn’t really know what I wanted out of the characters and even upon finishing I still don’t, but I do know that I didn’t get what I wanted out of them. In Vonvalt we witness the corruption of man because Vonvalt, as brilliant and wise as he may be, is flawed with pride and arrogance at the forefront of his character, and he was moody as heck all which made him seem inconsistent at times. Likewise, Helena is a very emotionally turbulent character; she felt strongly and was not well versed in tempering said emotions which means she was prone to loud outbursts and sometimes rash decisions. Action and emotion were tied very tightly in her being, and everything was a personal affront to her which made her aggravating, especially because she came off a bit whiny to me as well. It really felt like Helena was written from a man’s perspective, because she was, and I had a hard time grappling with her as a character.

At the end of the day, I enjoyed the investigative aspects and how the magic and the necromancy were tied to it. The worldbuilding was definitely the strongest part of the novel for me. But characters weren’t doing enough for me, and I can’t see myself picking up the sequel without a significant amount of prodding from others.

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prynne31's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

It was well-written. Just not sure I'm the target audience.

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ideal_casie's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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azrah786's review against another edition

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4.0

[This review can also be found on my BLOG]

**I received a proof copy from Orbit Books UK in exchange for an honest review**

CW: violence, blood, injury, gore, murder, death, animal death, child death, war, torture, grief, confinement, sexual assault/rape, adult language
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A compelling introduction to a new fantasy trilogy that has the feel of medieval Sherlock Holmes with added magic and necromancy.

The Justice of Kings revolves around Sir Konrad Vonvalt, one of the Justices of the Emperor - the primary law enforcements of the Sovan Empire, and in the same fashion that Dr Watson recounts the adventures of the great detective, one of Justice Vonvalt’s companion’s – his apprentice and clerk Helena Sedanka – is the narrator here.

Vonvalt, along with his companions – Helena and his fellow veteran and taskman Dubine Bressinger – is traversing the Empire providing judgement and justice. Justices all have a power where they can use their voice to compel people into speaking the truth as well as other distinctive abilities. Upon their travels they are drawn into the murder case of a noblewoman in the village of Galen Vale, which leads them on a trail to a far larger conspiracy that not only undermines his authority but is a threat to the empire itself.

"Empire are built and maintained with words. Swords are a mere precedent to the quill."

I thought Helena as choice of narrator worked really well to begin fleshing out the world and history that Swan has created at the right pace, as well as keep you intrigued about what is to come. As a recount of her past and adolescence, the narrative has an air of naivety to it which made the exploration of morality and the development of the various characters through her all the more interesting too.

Vonvalt, whilst being downright frustrating at times with his very resolute, “stick to your guns” attitude had a very gripping character arc and his relationship with Helena was a solid representation of master and apprentice. Though I’ve got to say the dynamic between all of the trio at the heart of the book was really well written and what I loved the most.

"Few things in this life can be guaranteed with greater certainty than the incredible contrivances men will go to to generate money from nothing at all."

The magic and lore is fascinating but this first instalment seems to only touch on the surface of it all. We predominantly get an insight into the power of necromancy as it is Vonvalt’s particular specialisation and it was really interesting to see it used within the murder investigation. As you can be expected this did mean that the storyline was at times very dark.

All in all I think this was a great debut. The slowly unravelling mystery plot is effectively woven around the worldbuilding, the political scheming and journey of the key players but as the true conflicts come to head it becomes clear that this book is setting the stage for a much larger story. I look forward to seeing what happens next.
Final Rating – 4/5 Star

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grimdark_dad's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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