Publishing Information: Paperback; 448 pages
Publisher: Solaris; 31 June 2010
ISBN 10: 1907519017
ISBN 13: 978-1907519017
Series: book 1 of King Rolen's Kin Trilogy
Tyson's copy out of pocket/ Yagiz copy provided by publisher
Reviewers: Tyson and Yagiz
Back of the Book: "Cloaked in silent winter snow the Kingdom of Rolencia sleeps as rumours spread of new Affinity Seeps, places where untamed power wells up. Meanwhile, King Rolen plans his jubilee unaware of the growing threat to those he loves.
By royal decree, all those afflicted with Affinity must serve the Abbey or face death. Sent to the Abbey because of his innate Affinity, the King’s youngest son, Fyn, trains to become a warrior monk. Unfortunately, he’s a gentle dreamer and the other acolytes bully him. The only way he can escape them is to serve the Abbey Mystic, but his Affinity is weak.
Fiercely loyal, thirteen year-old Piro is horrified to discover she is also cursed with unwanted Affinity. It broke their mother’s heart to send Fyn away, so she hides her affliction. But, when Fyn confesses his troubles, Piro risks exposure to help him.
Even though Byren Kingson is only seven minutes younger than his twin, Lence, who is the king's heir, Byren has never hungered for the Rolencian throne. When a Seer predicts that he will kill Lence, he laughs. But Lence Kingsheir sees Byren’s growing popularity and resents it. Enduring loyalty could be Byren’s greatest failing."
Tyson
The title alone tells you that you are dealing with something familiar and yet something very different. In Daniells' The King's Bastard we find ourselves with a tight-knit royal family that upon closer inspection is anything close. Political intrigue is found in every corner and no one is safe from the plans of a few cunning individuals.
King Roland and his family start out as cookie cutter characters and then in the blink of an eye everything is turned upside down. We follow the exploits of three of his children, Bryson, Fyn and Piro. Bryson is our main character and Roland's second son, I found myself really liking him from the beginning. He is honorable and trustworthy and will do whatever is necessary to get the job done while protecting those weaker and less fortunate than himself. Piro is Roland's only daughter and reminds me of Arya from George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. She is headstrong, always getting into trouble and loyal to a fault. Finally, we have Fyn the third son of King Roland and forced to become a warrior monk. Fyn is an interesting character simply for the fact that he has sacrificed a great deal for his family and while he does not enjoy his time at the monastery he does what he must for his family. There is a lot of mystery surrounding Fyn and his order. I think that in the books to come we will be surprised with what happens to him.
The plots in The King's Bastard are fast and furious as we have two political intrigues going on. One is with the royal family and another is located at the monastery where Fyn is training to become accepted into the order and make a life for himself. There is also the plot of invaders entering the kingdom and making life hard for the kingdom's subjects. Daniells does a superb job of keeping them all separated and yet having them intertwine to keep you on your toes and yet not getting you confused as you move from point of view to point of view. There are also a few other plots that I will not spoil for you.
The world building in The King's Bastard is strong in parts and weak in others. The strength in world building lies in its history. The King's Bastard seems to have a well developed history. The timeline of events seem to be well constructed. My issue with the world building is in the map that is found in the front of the novel. The world seems very small. The locations that Rowena talks about seem light years away but, according to the map, are no more than a few hundred miles away (some even less than that). I get the feeling that the world is much, much larger than the map depicts and yet the map makes me feel as though I am completely wrong. It might just be a prospective issue but I took pause on occasion to attempt to get my bearings. It is a small complaint but I thought I would mention the one minor flaw I had with the book.
By the end of The King's Bastard I was ready for more. Even though Solaris has plans to release the trilogy in consecutive months, it is a long time to wait for what just might be one of my favorite books of the year. It is definitely one of the strongest debuts of the year.
Plot 9
Characters 9
Style 8
Overall 8.5/10
Yagiz
I know we shouldn't judge books by their covers but good covers are good first impressions. And I have to admit that I had been curious about The King's Bastard since I first saw its cover. Thankfully, I wasn't disappointed with what I discovered. A few minor complaints aside, the book was very entertaining and I greatly enjoyed it.
The author's style was one of the reasons why this book was glued to my hands. Daniells has a smooth and welcoming style. From the first page the reader gets a feeling of familiarity, and not in a bad way. Each section is written from the point of view of a Protagonist. Even though there was a few situations that I could qualify as sudden point-of-view shifting or leaking, it was well executed. Needless to say, this type of story-telling appeals to me very much.
More than a few times, the story contains man-against-the-beast moments where a magical beast threatens the life of a protagonist. This is probably fine for most readers but I enjoy stories where men doesn't have to dominate the nature by becoming the main predator. The book contains too much animal hunting to my taste. I enjoy stories more when men face men, the first source of wickedness in the known universe. Animals as villains are not very exciting. Having said that the story has enough ups and downs with court intrigues, well guarded secrets, jealousies, hidden agendas and traitors so that the reader keeps turning the pages hungrily.
The author constructed her story on multiple well-balanced story threads. The story is captivating and the reader feels engaged from the first pages. In more than one occasion, The King's Bastard reminded of G. R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire but the tone of the story was not as mature as I'd like a perfect story to have. At first, I thought it was because most of the main characters were young however as I continued through the book, I noticed that it doesn't feel very mature because of the characters in general and not because of their ages. The characters are not very complex, which makes their actions somehow predictable. I couldn't help by feeling nostalgic when Pino reminded me of G. R. R. Martin's Arya and her brother Fyn reminded me of Robin Hobb's Wintrow from the Liveship Traders Trilogy.
Daniells' use of outlawed magic is not an original idea however her execution is very satisfactory. This magic that needs to be contained and controlled is not only part of the nature but can also be part of men, in which case, upon discovery, the magic bearer's life can change completely. Throughout the book, the reader learns more about this soul-tainting magic however it is obvious that there is more to be discovered in the future installments of the series.
One of the surprising touches of this book was the discovery of one of the protagonists' homosexuality. The book doesn't contain anything remotely graphic in nature however I thought that it was a surprising and a good way of becoming out-of-ordinary.
And a last quick word about the book's map. I much prefer to have maps in fantasy books. And I like them when they are well drawn. The King's Bastard does contain a map but it gives the impression that it is not so important.
The King's Bastard, the first installment of The Chronicles of King Rolen’s Kin trilogy, is a greatly enjoyable book. A constant sense of danger, a forbidden magic, court intrigue, hidden agendas, love, friendship and jealousy make this book a surprisingly good read. As of this writing, The Uncrowned King is the next book in my list and I'm looking forward to its secrets.
Plot 9
Characters 7
Style 8
Overall 8.5/10
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