The Ruin of Kings
A Chorus of Dragons, Book 1
Jenn Lyons
Tor
Fiction, Fantasy
Themes: Demons, Diversity, Dragons, Epics, Fantasy Races, Ghosts, Girl Power, Magic Workers, Religious Themes, Shapeshifters, Thieves
***+
Description
Imprisoned, beyond hope, with only a taunting mimic as jailer and companion, the young man known as Kihrin relates the story of how he went from being a slum-raised thief to the Lord Heir of a royal house in the Capitol, from a soul-ensnared slave to the fulfiller of an ancient prophecy, from an inconsequential musician's apprentice to a slayer of demons and savior – or destroyer – of empires. But he does not have the whole story… and, where he lapses, the mimic adds in missing pieces with stolen memories.
Review
I have just finished reading this book, and I'm still trying to puzzle out what I thought of it. Hopefully, writing this review will help. (To be
honest, I write reviews to think a little more about what I've read, to work out I feel and why; this is basically my way of talking to myself. I just
share these in the off chance anyone else finds that process interesting or remotely helpful… but, I digress.)
On the positive side, this is a different epic fantasy, set in a world less bound to the old Tolkien-flavored (and pseudo-medieval European) tropes than
several entries in the subgenre. Lyons presents many interesting cultures and ideas, with manifested gods and goddesses, reincarnation as a matter of
course (goddess of death willing, of course), soul-bound slaves, the odd dragon now and again (who are well and truly Dragons in this world, immense and
ancient forces of utter destruction and chaos, and not just casual window dressing), and more. The tone tends toward bouts of humor and wit, sometimes
self-aware and poking at the brooding nature of epic fantasy in general, while also venturing into dark and downright gory territory. It also has an
interesting presentation, told in two layers of flashbacks: one starting with Kihrin as a fifteen-year-old boy thief, the other a few years later as he
begins the enslaved life that will lead him, quite unexpectedly, to both freedom and burdens beyond his comprehension.
This brings me to the negative side, and the problems that, while starting small, accumulated like a mountain of sand to weigh down my reaction.
Unlike many epics, Lyons limits the narrators to a small handful of characters, focused mostly on Kihrin (though one could argue that the boy Kihrin, the
enslaved Kihrin, and the imprisoned Kihrin actually telling part of the tale are all three different people insofar as what they see and know… and the
whole is being written down by another party, who adds his own footnotes.) This starts out nice, but becomes a problem when the cast of involved
characters and races and nations sprawls deep into the double digits – further complicated by almost all of them having multiple names depending on when
and where and how one knows them. The relationships I, as a reader, am expected to track rise from complex to complicated to impenetrably tangled, as the
plot juggles a vast array of incidents and scandals and wars and interactions martial and marital and familial and otherwise… not helped by some of the
names looking similar enough on the page to create momentary confusion when presented after long absences or in unfamiliar contexts. (And some of these
names are reincarnated versions of previous names, to add to the pile-on.) I'm used to epics, so I'm used to name juggling, but usually those names show
up as tangible characters as the narrative moves around the world; with relatively limited viewpoints to work with, many here are just mentioned by other
people for most of the book. By the end, I had pretty much given up sorting out the whole sordid mess save for the core players… and even then, I know I
was missing some subtleties for not being able to immediately recall some previous interaction someone had had with so-and-so over such-and-such a matter
(though maybe not really… some characters have misinformation or are outright lying, which did not help.) There's a very thick glossary, including family
trees, at the end, but by then it's frankly too late to help.
So, while many exciting things happened, and epic confrontations unfolded, and emotions got ground and twisted, and some great mental eye candy played
out on the pages, I couldn't help feel their impact was somewhat muted by a sense that I wasn't keeping up like the author had intended, that I should
probably have started a spreadsheet or flow chart if I really wanted to understand everything going on. This leaves me in an odd position… and it exacts
a penalty in my rating, unfortunately. While there was much to enjoy here, and some needed fresh air in a genre that still, decades after Tolkien, can
feel a bit stale at times, I just plain could not lose myself in it like I longed to… even if part of me is tempted to try the next book, to see if maybe
it finally clicks.