For the Killing of
Kings, by Howard Andrew Jones (St. Martin’s)
The best thing about
this book is the world-building, which the author has clearly put a great deal
of care and thought into, at least for the central realm and its main
characters. Especially in the beginning, it reminded me of Sherwood Smith’s
wonderful Inda books with the sense
of long-established institutions, complex relationships, and history. The opening sequence, with the discovery that
a legendary sword is missing and a well-constructed forgery substituted in its
place of honor, engaged me right away.
Gradually I became
less enchanted with the story. Too many characters, especially the antagonists,
did and said things that were ill-thought-out or downright incompetent. Denevan,
who has risen to a position of power and authority as chief of the ultra-elite
Alternen, has the emotional maturity of an adolescent, still nursing old petty
jealousies. I much prefer villains on a more majestic scale, capable of
greatness. Neither Denevan nor Mazakan, king of the invading Naor, fits the
bill.
My favorite
character was the brilliant, if somewhat distracted mage, Varama, who’s always
a step ahead of everyone else but gets lost as other, less intelligent
characters end up bashing their way through the violent climax. For me this was
a major disappointment. Varama was akin to this world’s Sherlock Holmes, putting
together otherwise-overlooked details to perceive patterns. I’m sure she would
have come up with an elegant solution to Denevan’s power play and the invasion of
the Naor. Speaking of the Naor, their only purpose in life seems to be to
invade, pillage, and so forth, in order to make the central characters look
noble. I never discerned any reason
for their belligerence. In fact, it
seemed at the opening that a mutually beneficial peace might lead to some
interesting politics, jockeying for trade advantages and so forth. The only
explanation seems to be because evil invaders (hint: “piles of skulls” =
seriously nasty folks) are required for a big battle or three.
I wish the author
had put as much thought into the causes of war and its creative resolution, and
valuing science/intelligence over military prowess, as he did into the rest of
the world-building. Such a rich world and array of characters might have served
up a truly memorable story, but this one is only pretty good.
