A review by staceeyt
Darien by Conn Iggulden

3.0

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

“TWELVE FAMILIES. ONE THRONE.

WELCOME TO THE EMPIRE OF SALT.

The city of Darien stands at the weary end of a golden age. Twelve families keep order with soldiers and artefacts, spies and memories, clinging to a peace that shifts and crumbles. The people of the city endure what they cannot change. Here, amongst old feuds, a plot is hatched to kill a king.

It will summon strangers to the city – Elias Post, a hunter, Tellius, an old swordsman banished from his home, Arthur, a boy who cannot speak, Daw Threefold, a chancer and gambler, Vic Deeds, who feels no guilt – and Nancy, a girl whose talent might be the undoing of them all. Their arrival inside the walls as the sun sets will set off a series of explosive events. Before the sun returns, five destinies will have been made – and lost – in Darien.”

I was quite excited to receive this as I am a lover of fantasy, especially in the warmer months so I thought it would be great summer read. Something wasn’t quite right though, and I don’t know whether it was because I’m in a weird reading slump or because of the book.

This follows six different characters who all have some kind of unique skill. I honestly was only interested in two: Nancy and Arthur, who held skills that I had never read about before. I would have liked to have seen more description around these two, and what they their powers entailed, as the background and charm surrounding these characters was great. The other four I did not care for.

The plot was a bit bland and I felt that not much was happening, but this may have been because it is the first in a series and I understand that these books are usually set up books. I felt that there could have been more world building because the action was a bit lacking.

Saying this, it was a well written book. Seeing as this genre is not the norm from this author I think there is a lot of potential once they find their feet with it. I won’t be picking the rest up in the series because it was lacking the detail that I want from a book.

3/5* good effort.