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A review by dc7
Twelve Kings in Sharakhai by Bradley P. Beaulieu
2.0
TWELVE KINGS kicks of with an extremely strong start, a Gladiator-style scene where our protagonist Ceda fights in an arena. It's an intense, gripping beginning and the reason why I need to make sure I read more than the first 5 pages from the free Amazon sample before I buy a book ...
Unfortunately TWELVE KINGS immediately drops off after its opening scene. We have just seen Ceda as a kick-as fighter, so of course, in the next scene this 19-year-old girl needs to sleep with a man twice her age. Because you cannot have a strong female character without either sexualising her or immediately follow up and show her weak. Thank goodness the sexualisation of her character is limited to this scene and the rest of the book does a very good job staying clear of suggestive descriptions of her body.
The pacing is the book's greatest weakness. The story drags and drags. I wish there had been more fight scenes and the plot had been tightened and edited down by 100-150 pages. The writing style is hard to digest in the beginning and I really struggled, though eventually got used to it. There's a ton of description but still some elements of the story were hard to visualise. That being said, the world building is excellent and I loved the desert setting and the inspiration drawn from Middle Eastern culture. There's a lot of interesting mythology and the fantasy elements are seamlessly woven into the setting.
Ceda makes for a good main character, she is not my favourite ever, but she is one of the better written female protagonists by a male author. One of the covers makes her look a lot like Xena, though Ceda doesn't live up to the comparison.
My overall issue here was that I was bored through most of the book, though the story does have its moments. If you love world building and don't mind a slower paced story, this could be the book for you.
Unfortunately TWELVE KINGS immediately drops off after its opening scene. We have just seen Ceda as a kick-as fighter, so of course, in the next scene this 19-year-old girl needs to sleep with a man twice her age. Because you cannot have a strong female character without either sexualising her or immediately follow up and show her weak. Thank goodness the sexualisation of her character is limited to this scene and the rest of the book does a very good job staying clear of suggestive descriptions of her body.
The pacing is the book's greatest weakness. The story drags and drags. I wish there had been more fight scenes and the plot had been tightened and edited down by 100-150 pages. The writing style is hard to digest in the beginning and I really struggled, though eventually got used to it. There's a ton of description but still some elements of the story were hard to visualise. That being said, the world building is excellent and I loved the desert setting and the inspiration drawn from Middle Eastern culture. There's a lot of interesting mythology and the fantasy elements are seamlessly woven into the setting.
Ceda makes for a good main character, she is not my favourite ever, but she is one of the better written female protagonists by a male author. One of the covers makes her look a lot like Xena, though Ceda doesn't live up to the comparison.
My overall issue here was that I was bored through most of the book, though the story does have its moments. If you love world building and don't mind a slower paced story, this could be the book for you.