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A review by verymom
The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima
5.0
I first read this series in 2013. I wish I remembered how I came across it, but alas. I absolutely loved it and read the whole series as a read-aloud to my kids in 2015. They were riveted and my second oldest went on to read the series himself several times over.
I feel like a broken record, since the three of you who read my reviews already know, but since my husband died in November, my concentration hasn't been what it used to be. Audiobooks are my escape, but even with those, I was having a hard time following new stories and plot lines. I decided to revisit some old favorites and realized that while I own a box set of this series + all the Kindle versions, I had never listened to the audiobooks.
I don't like writing anything critical when it comes to audiobooks (producing them is SO much work), but it did take me a while to get used to Carol Monda's narration. She reads the books in an American accent and uses some approximation of British accents for some of the characters with a slightly more "posh" accent for the royals. (A few extraneous characters sound a little Irish?) It grated at first, and I wished they'd just gone with an actual British English speaker, but it grew on me... at least to the point where it didn't bother me anymore. Mostly, I got lost in the story again.
And my word, is it a good story. I am always in awe of Chima's world building whenever I dive back into this world. I read somewhere on the author's blog or social media that she plotted out this series as an adult fantasy, altering it later to be more teen/YA. The work she put into plotting and world building is pretty amazing. There is so much and the map is so rich: The upland Fells, the clan people + water walkers (both native types that don't feel like she dishonored or misappropriated real-life indigenous people), all the political machinations of both the upland and lowland realms, the wars going on in Arden & Tamron (more about that in the second book), the entire academy with its different schools for warriors, temple students, and wizards, plus the mysterious northern lands she uses in the continuation of this series.... it's all pretty spectacular.
I also like that she doesn't shy away from allowing Princess Raisa to be tough AND like boys & kissing. She handles love triangles and love squares without feeling like she's skipping into syrupy teen/YA territory. I learned the subtle art of representation from Chima; soldiers, generals, commanders, political leaders, and high-ranking professors are women. There isn't any fanfare about it, they just ARE. I never even noticed how many authors default to "he" or "his" when it came to traditionally male gendered roles. Chima combats that in a beautifully subtle way that perfectly compliments the Queendom of the Fells and a matriarchal monarchy. It's fun to see male characters balk at the male heir system in Tamron. Han Alister asks something along the lines of, "How would they prove their offspring were really their blooded heirs?" Meaning, with a matriarchal line, it's easy to prove the blooded heir is the queen's since it would have issued from her loins. It's such a practical, feminist view, it's fun and refreshing!
She also represents lesbian characters without making it a big deal. They aren't leading characters so it could feel like tokenism, but because she's weaving it into a bigger story where representation matters, it didn't feel that way to me.
It's epic fantasy for young adults that has, in my opinion, high crossover for adults. Strong characters, a deft handling of multiple view points, and exciting plot points that carry the story forward at an exciting pace. Highly, highly recommend.
I feel like a broken record, since the three of you who read my reviews already know, but since my husband died in November, my concentration hasn't been what it used to be. Audiobooks are my escape, but even with those, I was having a hard time following new stories and plot lines. I decided to revisit some old favorites and realized that while I own a box set of this series + all the Kindle versions, I had never listened to the audiobooks.
I don't like writing anything critical when it comes to audiobooks (producing them is SO much work), but it did take me a while to get used to Carol Monda's narration. She reads the books in an American accent and uses some approximation of British accents for some of the characters with a slightly more "posh" accent for the royals. (A few extraneous characters sound a little Irish?) It grated at first, and I wished they'd just gone with an actual British English speaker, but it grew on me... at least to the point where it didn't bother me anymore. Mostly, I got lost in the story again.
And my word, is it a good story. I am always in awe of Chima's world building whenever I dive back into this world. I read somewhere on the author's blog or social media that she plotted out this series as an adult fantasy, altering it later to be more teen/YA. The work she put into plotting and world building is pretty amazing. There is so much and the map is so rich: The upland Fells, the clan people + water walkers (both native types that don't feel like she dishonored or misappropriated real-life indigenous people), all the political machinations of both the upland and lowland realms, the wars going on in Arden & Tamron (more about that in the second book), the entire academy with its different schools for warriors, temple students, and wizards, plus the mysterious northern lands she uses in the continuation of this series.... it's all pretty spectacular.
I also like that she doesn't shy away from allowing Princess Raisa to be tough AND like boys & kissing. She handles love triangles and love squares without feeling like she's skipping into syrupy teen/YA territory. I learned the subtle art of representation from Chima; soldiers, generals, commanders, political leaders, and high-ranking professors are women. There isn't any fanfare about it, they just ARE. I never even noticed how many authors default to "he" or "his" when it came to traditionally male gendered roles. Chima combats that in a beautifully subtle way that perfectly compliments the Queendom of the Fells and a matriarchal monarchy. It's fun to see male characters balk at the male heir system in Tamron. Han Alister asks something along the lines of, "How would they prove their offspring were really their blooded heirs?" Meaning, with a matriarchal line, it's easy to prove the blooded heir is the queen's since it would have issued from her loins. It's such a practical, feminist view, it's fun and refreshing!
She also represents lesbian characters without making it a big deal. They aren't leading characters so it could feel like tokenism, but because she's weaving it into a bigger story where representation matters, it didn't feel that way to me.
It's epic fantasy for young adults that has, in my opinion, high crossover for adults. Strong characters, a deft handling of multiple view points, and exciting plot points that carry the story forward at an exciting pace. Highly, highly recommend.