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A review by thebakersbooks
For the Killing of Kings by Howard Andrew Jones
3.0
3.5/5 stars — disappointingly forgettable
This novel averaged out to "perfectly fine but not spectacular." The plot was above-average; the prose and editing, below. The worldbuilding was captivating; the characters were frustrating. To be perfectly honest, I never would have chosen this book based on either cover or synopsis—I read it because I picked up an advance copy of the sequel without realizing it was the second in a series and figured I'd do my due diligence. For the Killing of Kings sounds like no-frills mid-range fantasy, and that's what it is.
Some positives: a tightly plotted mystery that retained suspense despite the reader knowing the perpetrators, soldiers wielding magic and/or magical weapons, an elaborate political and military history and fantasy races beyond the normal elves/dwarves mold. I enjoyed the magic system, particularly how it was built around the Hearthstonesand the implication that the Hearthstones may be intended to be assembled into a unit for a larger and more sinister purpose . I also liked how the growing divide between soldiers and mages was written, including the elements of espionage in one character's plotline. Maintaining tension and pace were two things this book did very well.
Some negatives: a sex-obsessed male POV character who at times felt like a wishful self-insert, a female POV character who wasn't as perfectly written as some (male) reviewers seem to think, token representation that didn't really work, and an annoying number of basic errors (think missing periods at the end of sentences) that should have been caught during final edits if not before.
Rylin, the male character in question, is one of the newer Altenerai; I got the impression he's in his late twenties or so, and he constantly evaluates female characters based on their appearance and manner of dress. He does it far more than other characters, but enough others also describe people they meet this way that it's clearly part of the author's writing style, not just a character quirk. Rylin's internal voice frustrated me on many occasions, most notably when he met a female superior officer and immediately checked out her physical attributes and later when he considered sleeping with a girl he judged to be either "sixteen or nineteen," which is frankly gross. Although Rylin seemed to be gaining depth of character by the end of the book, I was still annoyed by how easily everything seemed to work out for him. The female POV character, Elenai, was less alienating to read, but still not the brilliant characterization some readers have claimed.
That brings us to representation. There are two gay characters, one of whom we never meet and the other of whom dies in the first quarter of the book. The only other reference to the protagonists' stances on LGBTQ people is a passage during one of the final battles where an enemy says, "You rump-loving fairy boys always cheat." Rylin shoots this down, thankfully, but it's still a clumsy way of showing that the "good guys" and the author aren't homophobic. Further, reading that bit of dialogue as a queer person? Pretty damaging. As far as POC rep goes, there are characters of color in the society to which both main characters belong, most notably the secondary character Kyrkenall. His rep is fine but not outstanding; the other character of color who stood out to me was a female Altenerai turned regional governor who was renowned for her skill in battle, yet died just in time for Rylin to show up and save the day with no evident edge that she'd lacked.
Basically, my impression was that For the Killing of Kings did the bare minimum to be a readable book. I can't honestly recommend it when I found the storytelling mediocre at best; there are so many more imaginative fantasy novels out there that this felt almost like a waste of time. I still intend to read the sequel for the reasons I mentioned above, and I really hope it's more polished than this one.
This novel averaged out to "perfectly fine but not spectacular." The plot was above-average; the prose and editing, below. The worldbuilding was captivating; the characters were frustrating. To be perfectly honest, I never would have chosen this book based on either cover or synopsis—I read it because I picked up an advance copy of the sequel without realizing it was the second in a series and figured I'd do my due diligence. For the Killing of Kings sounds like no-frills mid-range fantasy, and that's what it is.
Some positives: a tightly plotted mystery that retained suspense despite the reader knowing the perpetrators, soldiers wielding magic and/or magical weapons, an elaborate political and military history and fantasy races beyond the normal elves/dwarves mold. I enjoyed the magic system, particularly how it was built around the Hearthstones
Some negatives: a sex-obsessed male POV character who at times felt like a wishful self-insert, a female POV character who wasn't as perfectly written as some (male) reviewers seem to think, token representation that didn't really work, and an annoying number of basic errors (think missing periods at the end of sentences) that should have been caught during final edits if not before.
Rylin, the male character in question, is one of the newer Altenerai; I got the impression he's in his late twenties or so, and he constantly evaluates female characters based on their appearance and manner of dress. He does it far more than other characters, but enough others also describe people they meet this way that it's clearly part of the author's writing style, not just a character quirk. Rylin's internal voice frustrated me on many occasions, most notably when he met a female superior officer and immediately checked out her physical attributes and later when he considered sleeping with a girl he judged to be either "sixteen or nineteen," which is frankly gross. Although Rylin seemed to be gaining depth of character by the end of the book, I was still annoyed by how easily everything seemed to work out for him. The female POV character, Elenai, was less alienating to read, but still not the brilliant characterization some readers have claimed.
That brings us to representation. There are two gay characters, one of whom we never meet and the other of whom dies in the first quarter of the book. The only other reference to the protagonists' stances on LGBTQ people is a passage during one of the final battles where an enemy says, "You rump-loving fairy boys always cheat." Rylin shoots this down, thankfully, but it's still a clumsy way of showing that the "good guys" and the author aren't homophobic. Further, reading that bit of dialogue as a queer person? Pretty damaging. As far as POC rep goes, there are characters of color in the society to which both main characters belong, most notably the secondary character Kyrkenall. His rep is fine but not outstanding; the other character of color who stood out to me was a female Altenerai turned regional governor who was renowned for her skill in battle, yet died just in time for Rylin to show up and save the day with no evident edge that she'd lacked.
Basically, my impression was that For the Killing of Kings did the bare minimum to be a readable book. I can't honestly recommend it when I found the storytelling mediocre at best; there are so many more imaginative fantasy novels out there that this felt almost like a waste of time. I still intend to read the sequel for the reasons I mentioned above, and I really hope it's more polished than this one.