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A review by mels_reading_rook
The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan
Did not finish book. Stopped at 69%.
There was a murder mystery in The Justice of Kings that I found myself very interested in. However, the intrigue was undercut by a number of issues I had with the book.
The first issue I'll discuss is more of a personal preference, and it has to do with the story's narration style. It's a first person POV, and the narrating character is telling the story of the true main character, Justice Konrad Vonvalt. I enjoyed that different take in storytelling. However, that first person narration is told from a future perspective, so there were frequent interjections of "If I had only known then what I know now..." or "Now, dear Reader..." and it would take me out of the story.
I also had a few issues with the narrator herself. One example was her tendency to ramble on in paragraph(s) long info dumps that I found to be very dry. As the story went on, I found myself tuning out the info dumps and skimming for essential information. Also, I found her to be more annoying and insufferable as a character as the story went on. For someone who was once a hardened street urchin and now is a well-educated apprentice to an important figure in the government, Helena comes across as very selfish and childish, and she makes decisions that counter her intelligence. By the time I DNF'd the book, I found her to be completely insufferable.
The most frustrating thing for me when I DNF'd the story was that, with 100 pages left in the book, the main mystery was wrapped up off-screen with Helena in a state of catatonic grief.
This review can also be found on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5208301465
The first issue I'll discuss is more of a personal preference, and it has to do with the story's narration style. It's a first person POV, and the narrating character is telling the story of the true main character, Justice Konrad Vonvalt. I enjoyed that different take in storytelling. However, that first person narration is told from a future perspective, so there were frequent interjections of "If I had only known then what I know now..." or "Now, dear Reader..." and it would take me out of the story.
I also had a few issues with the narrator herself. One example was her tendency to ramble on in paragraph(s) long info dumps that I found to be very dry. As the story went on, I found myself tuning out the info dumps and skimming for essential information. Also, I found her to be more annoying and insufferable as a character as the story went on. For someone who was once a hardened street urchin and now is a well-educated apprentice to an important figure in the government, Helena comes across as very selfish and childish, and she makes decisions that counter her intelligence. By the time I DNF'd the book, I found her to be completely insufferable.
The most frustrating thing for me when I DNF'd the story was that, with 100 pages left in the book, the main mystery was wrapped up off-screen with Helena in a state of catatonic grief.
This review can also be found on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5208301465