Book Review of The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan

 

Name of Book: The Justice of Kings

Author: Richard Swan

ISBN: 978-0-316-36148-4

Publisher: Orbit

Part of a Series: Empire of the Wolf 

Type of book: lawyers, law, changes, travel, lives, relationships, behaviors, psychology, trading, manipulation, law vs faith, secrets 

Year it was published: 2022

Summary:

The Justice of Kings, the first in a new epic fantasy trilogy, follows the tale of Sir Konrad Vonvalt, an Emperor’s Justice – a detective, judge and executioner all in one. As he unravels a web of secrets and lies, Vonvalt discovers a plot that might destroy his order once and for all – and bring down the entire Empire. 

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. 

Characters:

Main characters include Helena Sedanka,. a young adult apprentice to Justice Konrad Vonvalt. Helena is an orphan and comes from Tolburg where a huge battle was fought and no one remembers the place all too fondly. Helena is independent minded, intelligent, resourceful and questioning and wants to experience different lives instead of one that was forced upon her. Although Vonvalt is her guardian/employer, they are not romantically involved and Vonvalt refuses to cross that border. Justice Sir Konrad Vonvalt is definitely powerful, highly intelligent but at the same time beyond law he cannot grasp the danger nor how little stays the same. He is very good to Helena and is a mentor to her and doesn't pressure her to make choices that will please him. Dubine Bressinger is Vonvalt's guard of sorts who has his own mysterious secrets. Yes the secondary characters and even antagonists are highly done. 

Theme:

Small incidents can lead to toppling nations

Plot:

The story is told in first person narrative from Helena's point of view. I think I was a bit worried about whether or not Helena would be written realistically as a woman, and yes she was. I also loved the whole dynamic relationship between Helena and Vonvalt. I think something else I feared was finding out that Vonvalt would be taking advantage of Helena's age and position, yet he doesn't and instead highly encourages her to be her own person and tries his best to meet her needs. In some ways he kind of reminds me of Sherlock Holmes, but it feels that unlike Sherlock Holmes who seems best described as a static character, Vonvalt is a real human and dynamic character. I did feel at times that foreshadowing was used a little bit too much, but at the same it isn't until much later that we learn what happens. (The trilogy, I would guess is Helena's long memoir.) 

Author Information:
(From goodreads)

Richard Swan is a Sunday Times bestselling author of fantasy and science fiction.

He was born in North Yorkshire, and, thanks to a childhood spent on RAF bases in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, now has an unhealthy interest in fighter jets.

In 2010 he moved to London, where he spent the better part of ten years litigating multi-million pound commercial disputes. He now lives in Sydney with his wonderful wife, Sophie, their two very loud sons, and a very large container of sunscreen.

For updates follow him at stonetemplelibrary.com.

Opinion:

Literally speaking, I was counting down the months and weeks until I could get a chance to read it and boy was it worth the wait! In terms of atmosphere, it was quite a bit like other gritty fantasies I encountered, namely Anthony Ryan's The Covenant of Steel's series, or even Leo Carew's Under the Northern Sky series. However, while those two series had a lot of fighting and maneuvering, THE JUSTICE OF KINGS solely focused on discovering the mystery of what and why happened. Once I started to read the novel, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough to see what would happen next. I also loved that I wasn't lost in the story and the author definitely utilized the plot as a series of stepping stones, making it easy to ascend to the top. For example, the vital information was given out throughout the novel instead of doing info dump somewhere. I am definitely on the lookout for more books by this author. 

This was given for review

5 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)