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pvbobrien's review against another edition
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Religious bigotry, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Minor: Sexual violence, Child death, Grief, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Death, and Sexual content
misterwisp's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
(edit: For the completionists out there this trilogy is now fully published and finished, so if you've been waiting to start now is the time!) I think it actually lives up to the hype, which I was not expecting. It's everything. The characters feel like people, the world is subtly well established without info dumps, the plot pulls you in and feels like it matters, and the whole framing of one of the characters writing the story of her mentor in his strengths, failures, and changes he goes through due to story events they experience is surprisingly compelling. It was hard to put down and I'm left excited to read the next one. It's quite good and worth the time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Violence, Confinement, and Murder
Moderate: Religious bigotry and Medical content
Minor: Alcohol, Child death, Physical abuse, and Sexual content
bookishwondergoth's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Every now and then a book will come along that I feel was written specifically for me to enjoy. ‘The Justice of Kings’ is one such book. Essentially a murder mystery framed by enormous political upheaval, the story follows the Emperor’s Justice, Sir Konrad Vonvalt. Accompanied by his taskman Dubine Bressinger and his clerk (and our narrator) Helena Sedanka, Vonvalt makes his way from town to town across the Sovan Empire, exacting the law as judge, jury and executioner.
I don’t think—outside of Skulduggery Pleasant—I’ve ever read a fantasy crime book before, but that’s basically what this book is. There’s so much weighing of the law vs justice vs morality amongst these pages, that it’s easy to see where comparisons to Andrzej Sapkowski’s ‘The Witcher’ come from. The rumination on these different factors made for such thought-provoking reading, and I was totally invested in the outcome of each case.
Richard Swan is a wonderful storyteller with a keen grasp of character. Subtext is key, and it’s what’s unsaid as much as it is what’s said. Helena is a highly fallible narrator, writing as an older woman looking back on her young petulant self. I found her fraught, jealous, hormonally-charged father/daughter relationship with Vonvalt relatable and endearing, and Richard Swan falls into none of the traps male fantasy authors are prone to falling into when writing about hormonal young women. I thought he did a really good job. Vonvalt also is a compelling and charismatic protagonist (for truly, it is his story Helena is telling), and I definitely grew attached to this dysfunctional little family in ways that will no doubt hurt me in future books to come.
The framing narrative of the crumbling Sovan Empire was, in my opinion, far less interesting than the legal nuances of the murder mystery at its core, which is why my rating drops down to 4 stars for me. I would honestly love to read an entire book that solely consists of Vonvalt, Bressinger and Helena travelling around and episodically exacting the law. I just find it so so interesting. AND it got proper brutal in places, my God! Just… all the things I love. Like it was written specially for me, like I said.
Loved it. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Can’t wait for ‘The Tyranny of Faith’.
I don’t think—outside of Skulduggery Pleasant—I’ve ever read a fantasy crime book before, but that’s basically what this book is. There’s so much weighing of the law vs justice vs morality amongst these pages, that it’s easy to see where comparisons to Andrzej Sapkowski’s ‘The Witcher’ come from. The rumination on these different factors made for such thought-provoking reading, and I was totally invested in the outcome of each case.
Richard Swan is a wonderful storyteller with a keen grasp of character. Subtext is key, and it’s what’s unsaid as much as it is what’s said. Helena is a highly fallible narrator, writing as an older woman looking back on her young petulant self. I found her fraught, jealous, hormonally-charged father/daughter relationship with Vonvalt relatable and endearing, and Richard Swan falls into none of the traps male fantasy authors are prone to falling into when writing about hormonal young women. I thought he did a really good job. Vonvalt also is a compelling and charismatic protagonist (for truly, it is his story Helena is telling), and I definitely grew attached to this dysfunctional little family in ways that will no doubt hurt me in future books to come.
The framing narrative of the crumbling Sovan Empire was, in my opinion, far less interesting than the legal nuances of the murder mystery at its core, which is why my rating drops down to 4 stars for me. I would honestly love to read an entire book that solely consists of Vonvalt, Bressinger and Helena travelling around and episodically exacting the law. I just find it so so interesting. AND it got proper brutal in places, my God! Just… all the things I love. Like it was written specially for me, like I said.
Loved it. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Can’t wait for ‘The Tyranny of Faith’.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Religious bigotry and Murder
Minor: Xenophobia, Cursing, Sexual violence, Rape, and Sexual content
prynne31's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Murder, Death, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Vomit, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Torture, Colonisation, Confinement, Classism, Child death, Animal death, Medical trauma, Grief, Excrement, and Death of parent
Necromancy
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