Showing posts with label richard swan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label richard swan. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 8, 2025

Can't-Wait Wednesday: The Garden by Nick Newman, Grave Empire by Richard Swan, Waiting for the Long Night Moon by Amanda Peters, & Boy by Nicole Galland

Can't-Wait is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released! 

February is absolutely packed with new releases, so today I'm sharing not two, not three, but four upcoming releases. Next week I'll return to my more usual amount of three. :)

The Garden by Nick Newman
Publication: February 18th, 2025

G.P. Putnam's Sons
Hardcover. 320 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:
"An eerie, hypnotic, darkly beautiful novel about two elderly sisters living alone at the edge of the world and how their lives unravel when their sanctum is breached, for fans of Piranesi and The Testaments.

In a place and time unknown, two elderly sisters live in a walled garden, secluded from the outside world. Evelyn and Lily have only ever known each other. What was before the garden, they have forgotten; what lies beyond it, they do not know. Each day is spent in languid service to their home: tending the bees, planting the crops, and dutifully following the instructions of the almanac written by their mother.

So when a nameless boy is found hiding in the boarded house at the center of their isolated grounds, their once-solitary lives are irrevocably disrupted. Who is he? Where did he come from? And most importantly, what does he want?

As suspicions gather and allegiances falter, Evelyn and Lily are forced to confront the dark truths about themselves, the garden, and the world as they’ve known it.
"

I was already sold by the Piranesi comp, but this sounds so intriguing and mysterious and I absolutely cannot wait to see what's going on with this one. I have an ARC that I'm hoping to get started on soon!

Grave Empire by Richard Swan
Publication: February 4th, 2025

Orbit
Paperback. 384 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:
"Blood once turned the wheels of empire. Now it is money.

A new age of exploration and innovation has dawned, and the Empire of the Wolf stands to take its place as the foremost power in the known world. Glory and riches await.

But dark days are coming. A mysterious plague has broken out in the pagan kingdoms to the north, while in the south, the Empire's proxy war in the lands of the wolfmen is weeks away from total collapse.

Worse still is the message brought to the Empress by two heretic monks, who claim to have lost contact with the spirits of the afterlife. The monks believe this is the start of an ancient prophecy heralding the end of days-the Great Silence.

It falls to Renata Rainer, a low-ranking ambassador to an enigmatic and vicious race of mermen, to seek answers from those who still practice the arcane arts. But with the road south beset by war and the Empire on the brink of supernatural catastrophe, soon there may not be a world left to save . . .
"

I really enjoyed Richard Swan's Empire of the Wolf trilogy and I have been anxiously awaiting his new release!

Waiting for the Long Night Moon: Stories by Amanda Peters
Publication: February 11th, 2025

Harper Perennial
Paperback. 256 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:
"In her debut collection of short fiction, Amanda Peters describes the Indigenous experience from an astonishingly wide spectrum in time and place—from contact with the first European settlers to the forced removal of Indigenous children, to the present-day fight for the right to clean water.

In this intimate collection, Peters melds traditional storytelling with beautiful, spare prose to describe the dignity of the traditional way of life, the humiliations of systemic racism, and the resilient power to endure. A young man returns from residential school only to realize he can no longer communicate with his parents. As a water protector, a young woman finds purpose and healing on the front lines. An old man remembers his life as he patiently waits for death. And a young girl nervously dances in her first Mawi'omi. The collection also includes the story “The Berry Pickers," which inspired Peters' critically acclaimed novel of the same name, as well as the Indigenous Voices Award–nominated story “Pejipug (Winter Arrives)."

At times sad, sometimes disturbing but always redemptive, the stories in Waiting for the Long Night Moon will remind you that where there is grief there is also joy, where there is trauma there is resilience and, most importantly, there is power.
"

This sounds like a really powerful and thoughtful collection of stories, I'm hoping to have a chance to check it  out soon. 

Boy by Nicole Galland
Publication: February 25th, 2025

William Morrow
Hardcover. 352 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:
"From critically acclaimed author Nicole Galland, a vibrant and thought-provoking historical tale of love, political intrigue, and gender-swapping set in the theatre world of Elizabethan London.

Alexander “Sander” Cooke is the most celebrated “boy player” in the Chamberlain’s Men, William Shakespeare’s theatre company. Indeed, Sander’s androgynous beauty and deft portrayal of female roles have made him the toast of London, and his companionship is sought by noblewomen and -men alike. And yet, now at the height of his fame, he teeters on the cusp of adulthood, his future uncertain. Often, he wishes he could stop time and remain a boy forever.

Joan Buckler, Sander’s best friend, also has a dream. Though unschooled, she is whip-smart and fascinated by the snippets of natural philosophy to which she’s been exposed. And while she senses that Sander’s admiration for her is more than mere friendship, Joan’s true passion is knowledge, something that is nearly impossible for her to attain. As a woman, she has no place in the intellectual salons and cultural community of the day; only in disguise can she learn to her heart’s content.

Joan’s covert intellectual endeavors, coupled with Sander’s theatrical triumphs, attract the attention of none other than Francis Bacon: natural philosopher and trusted adviser to Queen Elizabeth. It is through their connection with Bacon—one of the greatest minds of their time—that their lives will be changed forever as they become embroiled in an intricate game of political intrigue that threatens their very survival.

Brimming with heart, curiosity, and rich historical detail, Boy offers an intimate glimpse of the moral complexities of a singular artistic era, and the roles we all choose to play on the world’s stage.
"

I am so intrigued by this story, and I believe it's based on a real person from history, Alexander Cooke, so I'm really eager to check this one out.

Tuesday, May 2, 2023

Review: The Tyranny of Faith (Empire of the Wolf #2) by Richard Swan

  

The Tyranny of Faith (Empire of the Wolf #2) by Richard Swan
Orbit
Publication Date: February 14th, 2023
Hardcover. 560 pages.

About The Tyranny of Faith:

"A Justice’s work is never done.

The Battle of Galen’s Vale is over, but the war for the Empire’s future has just begun. Concerned by rumous that the Magistratum’s authority is waning, Sir Konrad Vonvalt returns to Sova to find the capital city gripped by intrigue and whispers of rebellion. In the Senate, patricians speak openly against the Emperor, while fanatics preach holy vengeance on the streets.

Yet facing down these threats to the throne will have to wait, for the Emperor’s grandson has been kidnapped - and Vonvalt is charged with rescuing the missing prince. His quest will lead him – and his allies Helena, Bressinger and Sir Radomir – to the southern frontier, where they will once again face the puritanical fury of Bartholomew Claver and his templar knights – and a dark power far more terrifying than they could have imagined."

The Tyranny of Faith is an absorbing sequel in a distinct and compulsive fantasy trilogy that is quickly becoming a favorite. This book was exactly what I needed to read at the time I read it, and I was entirely riveted the entire time. There is a extensive recap for the first book provided on Richard Swan's website (and I genuinely cannot thank him enough) and it was exactly what I needed to refresh my memory on important events and details from the first book. 

The Tyranny of Faith picks up pretty much right after the events of The Justice of Kings. The crew–Sir Konrad Vonvalt, Helena, Bressinger, and Sir Radomir–are on their way back to the capital city of Sova after the Battle of Galen's Vale, where they find that things are rather tenuous in the city and it is not the same at it was when Sir Konrad left it several years ago. Things only continue to heat up as Sir Konrad returns and resumes his position, only for him to be met with some rather shocking surprises and new duties. 

I loved reentering this world. Helena is the perfect narrator for this story, and her voice captures the atmosphere of this series perfectly. She remains just as sharp, witty, astute, and unfailingly real in her display of emotions and reactions to the many different situations she finds herself in, including some incredibly intense events that would surely shake anyone's foundation. Helena's journey from the first book through this sequel has been transfixing, and I've thoroughly enjoyed watching her transformation even over this course of time. She has gone from general protégé of Vonvalt to having to deal with things that are far more complex, difficult, and leagues darker than most justices even have to deal with. She goes through many ups and downs while trying to figure everything out, and I've liked following her along on this tumultuous journey immensely.

Vonvalt has a very rough time in this book and it was interesting to see him in different lights and circumstances, especially while watching him deal with things that could potentially take his life. Vonvalt hits some low points I never really expected to see him hit, and I think this really struck home just how serious some fo the things happening in this book were. Watching a strong leader such as Vonvalt struggle to the point that those supporting him have to take on roles they never should have had to made for an intense and riveting storyline that I couldn't look away from.

I was a little disappointed that Bressinger seemed be in such bad spirits and circumstances in this book because I feel like we missed out on seeing some other aspects of his personality that we saw in the first book that I loved, but I wouldn't really complain about this because his actions in this book were much more fitting with what was going on. Bressinger has a lot of struggles in the present, but also has undergone some tough times in the past and still has to deal with these past traumas that are only exacerbated by many things that have happened more recently. His characterization felt incredibly authentic and I think Swan captured him really well in these two books. 

The Justice of Kings was already a book with plenty of political intrigue, but the political intrigue stakes and scope have majorly upped the ante in The Tyranny of Faith. There is so much complexity to the politics of this world and all the different factions that exist and are allied or pitted against one another. There's a constant sense of not knowing who you can trust, and because of that nothing ever really feels safe or certain–we can only rely on the gut instincts of our main characters. In particular, I felt as though there was a lot of grey area at play with some of the politics and especially with a set of rather horrific tasks that Vonvalt undertakes in the first half of the book. Some of it even felt a bit difficult or shocking to reading, especially when, as a reader, you aren't sure if he's even doing the "right" thing. Swan captured all this complexity and uncertainty excellently through his thoughtful prose and ability to create a strong atmosphere and convey characters' actions and thoughts throughout.

If you enjoyed any of the magical elements in the first book, such as Vonvalt's use of the Voice, his necromancy, or really anything else, then you will be thrilled to find out that the magic becomes even more developed in this book. We explore much more in relation to necromancy and other 'worlds' associated with said necromancy (think 'dreamwalking' of sorts), and I found myself re-reading different parts with these elements over and over to try to make sure I fully understood it, as it's really a very clever and intricate system that requires many explanations and a simultaneous awareness of unknowns that exist. There's something incredibly unnerving and creepy about much of what happens to Helena and Vonvalt in this book as well, and I loved the near-constant sense of dread and despair that permeated the story. 

There's plenty of action, but at the same time it's not an overly action-heavy story, and I appreciated the steadier pace of having our characters go about to different places and do some investigating and discussing. Because of the slower paced nature of The Tyranny of Faith, I really appreciated how thoughtful the story is about themes and ideas and honestly I feel everything that comes up has good thought and nuance put into it. The characterizations are involved, complex, and I feel like all of these characters are truly fleshed out to the point that I can easily I find myself fully invested in all of them. I would also say that this is a rather dark book. Much of the time our characters feel almost nothing but dread and despair–as previously mentioned–and a severe lack of hope, but they do keep trying and have a great determination to figure out everything that's going on, which is something I found incredibly commendable and equally gripping to watch. It's that sort of gritted teeth gusto that keeps you going in times when you feel like you might fall apart if you don't keep going, and I found it very relatable and compelling.

Overall, I've given The Tyranny of Faith 4.75 stars! I will be very eagerly awaiting the final installment to this series because I have a feeling it's going to be amazing and intense. 

*I received a copy of Tyranny of Faith courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

Buy the book: Amazon | Bookshop.org

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Can't-Wait Wednesday: The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill, Revelle by Lyssa Mia Smith, & Tyranny of Faith by Richard Swan

  


 Can't-Wait is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released! This meme is based off of Jill @ Breaking the Spine's Waiting on Wednesday meme.

This week's upcoming book spotlights are: 

The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill
Publication: February 28th, 2023
Tordotcom
Hardcover. 128 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:
"'Mothers fly away like migrating birds. This is why farmers have daughters.'

A fifteen-year-old teenager is the backbone of her small Midwestern family, budgeting the household finances and raising her younger brother while her mom, a talented artist, weaves beautiful tapestries. For six years, it’s been just the three of them—her mom has brought home guests at times, but none have ever stayed.

Yet when her mom brings home a six-foot tall crane with a menacing air, the girl is powerless to prevent her mom letting the intruder into her heart, and her children’s lives. Utterly enchanted and numb to his sharp edges, her mom abandons the world around her to weave the masterpiece the crane demands.

In this stunning contemporary retelling of “The Crane Wife” by the Newbery Medal-winning author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon, one fiercely pragmatic teen forced to grow up faster than was fair will do whatever it takes to protect her family—and change the story.
"

This sounds so odd in all the best ways!


Revelle by Lyssa Mia Smith
Publication: February 14th, 2023
HarperCollins US
Hardcover. 464 pages.
Pre-orderAmazon | Bookshop.org


From Goodreads:
"
Inspired by Moulin Rouge! and set on an island in a magical version of Prohibition-era New York, Revelle is a breathtaking YA stand-alone fantasy full of dazzling magic, romance, and mystery from debut author Lyssa Mia Smith.

On the island of Charmant, magic flows like bootlegged champagne, and fantasies can be bought for the price of a gemstone.

Luxe Revelle, star of her family’s fantastical show, knows the splendor is just an illusion. With Prohibition threatening their livelihood, her family struggles to make a living, watering down champagne and patching holes in their sequined costumes. So when the son of Charmant’s wealthiest family makes her an offer—everything the Revelles need to stay in business, in exchange for posing as his girl and helping him become mayor—she can’t refuse.

The moment Jamison Port sets foot in Charmant, he can’t shake the feeling of familiarity. An orphan with as few memories as gemstones, he’s desperate to learn what happened to his parents. But as he delves into the island’s secrets, he risks angering the wrong person and discovering a truth that just might break his heart.

When Luxe and Jamison accidentally meet, the sparks that fly are more than her magical enchantments. But keeping secrets from powerful people is a dangerous game . . . one that could destroy them both.
"

This sounds wonderfully magical and I am probably most excited about this setting. Also, how fun is that cover?


The Tyranny of Faith (Empire of the Wolf #2) by Richard Swan
Publication: February 14th, 2023
Orbit
Hardcover. 560 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:
"A Justice’s work is never done.

The Battle of Galen’s Vale is over, but the war for the Empire’s future has just begun. Concerned by rumous that the Magistratum’s authority is waning, Sir Konrad Vonvalt returns to Sova to find the capital city gripped by intrigue and whispers of rebellion. In the Senate, patricians speak openly against the Emperor, while fanatics preach holy vengeance on the streets.

Yet facing down these threats to the throne will have to wait, for the Emperor’s grandson has been kidnapped - and Vonvalt is charged with rescuing the missing prince. His quest will lead him – and his allies Helena, Bressinger and Sir Radomir – to the southern frontier, where they will once again face the puritanical fury of Bartholomew Claver and his templar knights – and a dark power far more terrifying than they could have imagined.
"

I was a big fan of the first book in this series, The Justice of Kings, and I've been really excited to find out where Swan will take the direction of this story. 

Monday, February 21, 2022

Interview with Richard Swan, author of The Justice of Kings (out 2/22)!

 

Today I am excited to share with you all the first of two upcoming interviews featuring Richard Swan, author of the fantasy novel The Justice of Kings, out tomorrow 2/22! The Justice of Kings is Swan's fantasy debut and is sure to make a big mark in the fantasy world with it's gripping narrative, complex characters, and a world system that just begs to be explored. (You can read more of my thoughts about the book in my review.)

I am incredibly appreciative and grateful to both Angela Man of Orbit for setting up this interview and Richard Swan himself for taking time out of his schedule to answer some questions for me! I had a lot of fun coming up with questions and even more fun reading Swan's answers–I hope you all enjoy learning a bit more about Richard Swan and The Justice of Kings with this interview. Now, let's dive in!


You’ve been writing SFF for a number of years now. What changes (if any) have you noticed in your writing over the years?

RS: I think the biggest change I’ve noticed in my writing, certainly as I’ve got older, is that I’ve found I’ve had more to say. I’ve started to allegorise more—and not be afraid to allegorise—and I’ve found that that exploration very motivating and in some ways cathartic. When I was younger I was just interested in writing actiony explosive sci-fi and collapsing fantasy empires; now I find I’m much more interested (both as a consumer and producer of fiction) in exploring the human condition against a backdrop of actiony explosive sci-fi and collapsing fantasy empires.

The Justice of Kings really stood out to me as a unique story with the narrative style and the law focus. This may be a more common question, but I always love to know: is there anything in particular that inspired The Justice of Kings?

RS: Absolutely! The story frame (i.e. having the story be about Sir Konrad but not told by him) was inspired by Robert Harris’s Cicero Trilogy, in which the storied life of Cicero is told not by Cicero himself, but by his slave, Tiro, whilst the Slavic/Teutonic feel of the world was inspired by both the Witcher 3 videogame, and more broadly the late Antiquity Roman Empire/Holy Roman Empire non-fiction I was reading around the same time. More generally my day job as a litigator was a big part of it, and the idea of “fantasy lawyers” has been bubbling away in the back of my mind for a few years now. The magickal powers—necromancy and the Emperor’s Voice—really just came from me thinking about what the most useful powers for an investigator to have would be (being able to use animals as witnesses, asking homicide victims directly who murdered them, and forcefully extracting confessions from people). 

More general sources of inspiration include CJ Sansom’s Shardlake series, Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose, and Dan Abnett’s Eisenhorn / Ravenor inquisitor trilogies as well, and I don’t think any of those will come as a surprise to readers.

How has the story evolved since you first began writing it? Did you plan for it to be a longer form series or did it grow from something smaller?

RS: The Justice of Kings started life as a short story called the “Witch of Rill”, which I wrote during a long, cold and rainy February weekend in Exmoor. I tried to sell it to a few publications without success, but I liked the premise so I expanded it into a full novel. It was quite short for a fantasy novel, only a hundred thousand words. I had originally planned for it to be a series of indeterminate length, in which Vonvalt, Helena and Bressinger would solve a new crime each book, but actually I think the narrative strength of the novel—that of Helena’s voice and how she bears witness to both Vonvalt’s changing character and the fall of the Sovan Empire—could not be effectively sustained over more than a trilogy, so I began to focus on a tighter arc. By the time it passed through my agent and then my editor at Orbit like some kind of literary Human Centipede, the book was about 30,000 words longer and with a few crucial changes that I can’t talk about without spoiling it!

I was surprised to find the story narrated by Helena rather than Vonvalt when I first started reading and ending up loving that narrative choice. How did you decide to tell the story of Vonvalt through Helena’s perspective–and as a recounting of the past, as well?

RS: I think the narrative choice has caught a lot of people off guard. I chose Helena to narrate for a number of reasons. The first is that I think it preserves a great deal of the mystique around Vonvalt, as well as giving us a more rounded view of him as a person. Viewing him through Helena’s lens means that we can analyse his character and try to deduce his motivations, but we can never know. It means the narrative is more unpredictable—and, hopefully, more interesting. I think it would be unsatisfactory for a reader to hear Vonvalt’s inner thoughts and monologues. Justices, after all, are supposed to be semi-mythological figures, these slightly outmoded judicial demigods, and seeing the world from inside his head as he deconstructs every judgment could only be disappointing. 

I also think (hope!) Helena is a fascinating character in herself. She is someone who has been plucked from poverty and obscurity and who should be grateful for the life of wealth and privilege she has ahead of her, but who instead feels listless; she is uncomfortable with her new status and is still finding her way in the world. Helena has had a traumatic upbringing and Vonvalt is the first true constant in her life, and I think it’s interesting to see the effect it has on Helena when Vonvalt begins to lose control of events. Her temperament becomes much more defensive and mercurial as the world begins to descend into chaos, and that was another rich seam of characterisation to explore. 

As for having Helena narrate as an old woman, this again throws up a host if storytelling devices which I personally love—lots of dramatic irony and foreshadowing! We know from the first paragraph of the book that we are witnessing the decline and fall of the Sovan Empire; what we don’t know is how it happens, who (beside Helena) survives that experience, and also what the form of the world is now. It also enables Helena to turn a critical eye to her own past actions and reflect, which allows me to inject a bit of unreliability into her narration, and some melancholy, regret and foreboding.

I was personally captivated by the character Bressinger–he was so multifaceted to where he seemed like a jokester at times, but also was very no-nonsense and serious as well with a darker undertone. How do you go about developing your characters' personalities/backgrounds and getting into their individual mindsets?

RS: The Justice of Kings was the first book where I really drilled into my characters’ histories as a way of developing their ‘present day’ personalities. I really took the time to think about the things they had endured in their early lives and how this would have affected them as older people. All of them, for example, had early experiences of warfare, and I wanted to demonstrate how a huge, empire-spanning war could traumatise an entire generation of people (in the way that WWI did, for example). 

For Vonvalt, his adolescence spent campaigning with the Legions tells me that he is a quiet, serious adult, and a man who uses the law and moral absolutism as a way of avoiding having to truly grapple with the implications of what he did as a soldier for the Empire. 

For Bressinger, who suffered a life-altering personal tragedy, he has essentially unresolved post-traumatic stress disorder. He drinks excessively, he suffers huge mood swings, and like Helena he is wholly dependent on Vonvalt for stability in his life. For other, book 2 spoilery reasons, he is doggedly loyal to Vonvalt—to a fault, so that makes him prickly whenever Helena is being rude to their shared master. 

For Helena, she was too young to fight in the Reichskrieg, but her home city Muldau was sacked and suffered a number of uprisings over the years which eventually led to the death of her parents and her becoming a ward of the state. So while she spent years developing a pugnacious, survivalist comportment of hard iron, she is still young and desperate for stability and a parental figure. But whilst Helena is grateful to Vonvalt for providing all of those things, she also has to contend with the (what she perceives to be) drudgery of Vonvalt’s practice as a Justice, which makes her feel trapped and therefore surly, listless and temperamental as well.

The themes of the law, justice, and morality are obviously very prominent in this book. What excited you about exploring these ideas?

RS: My interest in these themes really began when I studied jurisprudence at university. I was fascinated by the philosophy of law, by moral absolutism versus moral relativism, consequentialist versus deontological ethics, and the intersection between law, the state, and the people—the ‘social contract’. All of these things together really get into the nuts and bolts of how civilised societies work and how they function on a daily basis, and how “the law” achieves that equilibrium. 

If you think about it for a moment, there is practically nothing physically stopping you from grabbing a knife and killing your neighbour. But our society isn’t one constant cycle of bloodshed—in fact, contrary to what you’d think, we’re actually living in one of the safest and most peaceful periods in human history. If I asked you why you haven’t killed your neighbour, you’d likely say “for obvious reasons!”—and you’d be right. But to really drill down into it, to get into the guts of it and really ask why killing is wrong, you actually get an answer which is vast and multi-faceted that covers a huge mass of intersecting biological, historical, sociological, legal, moral and ethical issues. 

In the Justice of Kings I wanted to take this broad canvas ask the question: what happens when an ultimately ethical, secular legal system produces the ‘wrong’ outcome? What ultimately is the right thing to do, and what means are permitted to achieve that outcome? And also to demonstrate, as we have seen recently, that it doesn’t take much more than a few lunatics acting in bad faith to upset the world order.

The Justice of Kings was the type of book that forced me to slow down and really drink in every word because of the thoughtful prose narrative, the many discussions regarding law and the state of this fantasy world, and of course the world of the Sovan Empire itself. How did you grow about creating the world of the Sovan Empire–did you start with the world itself, the characters, etc.?

RS: My planning process is quite a random process but it hasn’t changed since I was in my late teens. Normally when I am designing a fictional society I’ll find and save a picture of the Cultural Iceberg and flesh out lots of different bits of it in no particular order. So there are things that I “know” about the Sovan Empire which don’t make it into the book because they are not relevant, but which helped me create it and its feel. Fleshing out these details—for example, the Emperor’s family tree (the “Haugenates”)—also creates backstory consistency and lets me drop in random details into the main narrative to give the characters’ conversations an air of verisimilitude. 

As for a geographical/political analogue, it will shock no-one to learn that I used the Holy Roman Empire as my base, with some flavours of Late Antiquity Rome, the Achaemenid Persian Empire, and Medieval England to taste. That involved a few days of reading about those different cultures, looking at maps, looking at German toponymy, etc. To add in a feeling of multiple similar but different cultures coexisting within one landmass, I used a variety of Baltic / Slavic names as well, often with minor modifications. 

The characters of Vonvalt and Helena came very early in this process, but this time I really took the time to flesh them out. Bressinger came later, and most of the other secondary characters actually just sort of popped up as I was writing the book.

And I always have to ask because I love hearing the answer from authors: do you have a favorite character from The Justice of Kings, and is this character also your favorite to write? If not, who was/is your favorite to write?

RS: I did really enjoy writing Sir Radomir, even though he doesn’t appear much in the novel. It’s difficult to talk about him without spoiling parts of book 2, but I like him because he has that kind of straight-talking, gritty, urban wisdom and is a foil to Vonvalt’s erudite, liberal sensibilities. He also has a very world-weary courage; the kind of man who will fight in spite of just about any odds because it’s the right thing to do. His and Vonvalt’s relationship shifts and changes over the course of the book, and I enjoyed exploring that.

Anything you can tell us about upcoming works, or anything in general that you’d like readers to know? I am very eager (as I’m sure many other readers are) to see more of the Sovan Empire in any form! Huge congratulations on your release of The Justice of Kings!

RS: Thank you so much! At the time of writing my answers to these questions I about 30,000 words into the first draft of book 3 of the Empire of the Wolf, and I anticipate getting Orbit’s edits back on book 2 in the next couple of weeks. So those two books will really monopolise my writing time for a large chunk of 2022. So much of what follows will depend on the success (or failure!) of these books; I would love to do a trilogy of trilogies and follow the Sovan Empire (or rather, the landmass that it inhabits) through centuries of upheaval and conflict. Reading Fonda Lee’s Jade war has made me want to bring it all the way up to modern day (a quadrilogy of trilogies?) - basically to make it my own MCU. But these are all the crazy daydreams of a lunatic, company-starved writer.



About The Justice of Kings:

As an Emperor's Justice, Sir Konrad Vonvalt always has the last word. His duty is to uphold the law of the empire using whatever tools he has at his disposal: whether it's his blade, the arcane secrets passed down from Justice to Justice, or his wealth of knowledge of the laws of the empire. But usually his reputation as one of the most revered—and hated—Justices is enough to get most any job done. 

When Vonvalt investigates the murder of a noblewoman, he finds his authority being challenged like never before. As the simple case becomes more complex and convoluted, he begins to pull at the threads that unravel a conspiracy that could see an end to all Justices, and a beginning to lawless chaos across the empire.

Hardcover. 432 pages. Orbit. 

Monday, February 7, 2022

Review: The Justice of Kings (Empire of the Wolf #1) by Richard Swan

 

The Justice of Kings (Empire of the Wolf #1) by Richard Swan
Orbit
Publication Date: February 22nd, 2022
Hardcover. 432 pages.

About The Justice of Kings:

"As an Emperor's Justice, Sir Konrad Vonvalt always has the last word. His duty is to uphold the law of the empire using whatever tools he has at his disposal: whether it's his blade, the arcane secrets passed down from Justice to Justice, or his wealth of knowledge of the laws of the empire. But usually his reputation as one of the most revered—and hated—Justices is enough to get most any job done. 

When Vonvalt investigates the murder of a noblewoman, he finds his authority being challenged like never before. As the simple case becomes more complex and convoluted, he begins to pull at the threads that unravel a conspiracy that could see an end to all Justices, and a beginning to lawless chaos across the empire."

The Justice of Kings was an unexpected fantasy treat that felt both classic and completely new, and I loved every minute of it. If you like your fantasy to explore things like morality, justice, and the law, as well as feature an intelligent, well-spoken narrator, then I think The Justice of Kings is going to need to be on your radar if it isn't already. 

The story centers around the Emperor’s Justice, Sir Konrad Vonvalt, as he travels around and executes the emperor’s law throughout the law, where his say is final as the voice of the emperor in any ruling. This is a world filled with knights, horses, religion, fortresses, and a wide variety of colorful characters that can vary quite vastly in their trustworthiness and duplicity. Our story begins when Vonvalt is requested to investigate the murder of a noblewoman and, upon beginning his inquest, finds that there are far more things going on in the background than he realized–things that could vastly impact his own life and career. I liked this setup of a the main plot point in the forefront: the in your face-the murder in Gale Haven, but the slow realization that there’s some much, much bigger going on that will slowly spill over into all corners of the rest of the story. 

The Justice of Kings follows three characters, including Helena, our narrator and clerk to Vonvalt; Vonvalt himself, the Emperor's Justice who is really the one running the show; and Bressinger, Konrad's taskman and who acts as his essential right hand man. Although Helena is our narrator, it is Konrad who is really the star of this book and whose journey we seem to be following most closely. I found this to be a particularly interesting and compelling narrative choice and I think it added a lot to the story in positive ways. I appreciated Helena's consistent manner of conveying her story and events, as I think it fit the story well and also matched what I would expect from someone acting as a clerk for a lawman. I'm not sure if it was just me, but I did notice that as the story went on, her narrative voice seemed to lose a small bit of her formality and became ever so much more emotional as things continued to become more and more unpredictable. Her writing was never poorly written or not clear and concise, but I felt as though we got to see just a bit more emotion and intrigue from Helena than before, and I appreciated how well this matched the story as things slowly began to unravel in unexpected ways. 

Sir Konrad himself has all the makings of a great classic fantasy figure. He's charismatic in a very specific way–not that he's the most friendly person who can just befriend anyone, but in a way that is imposing and almost demands respect while also showcasing his own respect for others. He is, by all rights, a very just and honest man who is not taken by bribes or other distractions. He's very serious and no-nonsense, and he's also inexplicably likable and captivating. Bressinger is similar to Konrad in the sense that he also has a rather imposing presence that demands respect, but he's a bit more complex and emotional than Konrad seems to be. At first, Bressinger appeared to be a bit of a jokester character (my favorites), but as the novel progressed I began to see more sides of him and noticed that his jokes seemed almost more of a front for his rather serious nature that oftentimes leans toward the darker side. He is also fiercely loyal to Konrad and is not afraid to put anyone–even Helena–in their place for showing the slightest hint of disrespect or negative talk about him or his choices. 

I loved how unhurried the narrative felt, where I felt compelled to keep reading and was actively interested in the story, but also didn’t feel as though anything was being rushed or hurried through. The writing is very mature and has a more classic or traditional tone to it that let me really sit back and sink into this story and world. This is a story that is hard to put down, but also demands you slow down a bit and carefully follow the events, and I think the rather concise writing helped with that. The world-building is also carefully set up in this book, and although I don’t think it was quite as expansive as it could be, I have a strong feeling that the sequel will delve even more into this world and any desires for more world-building will occur.

Overall, I've given The Justice of Kings five stars!

*I received a copy of The Justice of Kings courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

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