Book Review: The Ruin of Kings
It is time, finally, for me to review the Chorus of Dragons books. When The Ruin of Kings first came out, I was strangely resistant to purchasing it. I don’t know why, because it sounded right up my alley, but I was. I finally got over whatever weird hangup I had last year, bought the book, and then had an immensely enjoyable romp through it in two days or so. With The Memory of Souls releasing this year, I took the time to re-read because trust me. You’ll need a re-read to make sure you haven’t missed anything big.
Street thief Kihrin makes a shocking discovery one day - that he is, in fact, the scion of a noble house. But he quickly realizes that being a long-lost prince is not the fairytale it sounds like, as he contends with an abusive father and the deepening mystery of a conspiracy. And as matters escalate, Kihrin makes an even more shocking discovery about his dark destiny. Can he thwart the plans of an undead wizard, his father, and his brother from another life?
Listen, as you may have gathered from my very poor synopsis, this book in particular and this series in general are complex as hell, but I’m going to try to lay out why I enjoy it so dang much.
Firstly, the story structure is pretty unique. The majority of The Ruin of Kings is told back and forth by Kihrin and his jailor Talon while Kihrin is imprisoned for some unspecified reason. Kihrin’s chapters are told in first person, as he relates what happened to him (his story picks up around the middle, chronologically); Talon’s chapters are told in third person from various perspectives, as she follows Kihrin and various non-Kihrin characters, and they cover the beginning to the middle of the story, where Kihrin’s tale picks up. And then, the last section of the book / the climax is in third person and told in real time, as it happens. (Oh and if this isn’t enough mindfuckery for you, the WHOLE BOOK is an accounting of events put together by one of the secondary characters for another secondary character, based on Kihrin and Talon’s recordings, with the "author’s” footnotes on events).
These chapters are fairly short, and the pacing is spectacular overall. The Ruin of Kings is one of those books where you keep reading “one more chapter” and then suddenly you’ve read the whole book. It snaps from key event to key event, with the danger never letting up; even when Kihrin thinks he’s safe, he never truly is. Plus there’s so much to uncover here, so much to learn, that you’ll be hungrily craving answers to whatever the heck is happening.
Speaking of which, oh my goodness, the world. I read fantasy for a reason — I’m looking for engaging settings, with lived-in levels of detail. (That’ll keep me turning pages sometimes even if I don’t like the characters.) Lyons has created something wonderfully complex, nuanced, and detailed here, with attention to all the major things you’d expect from a fantasy author (names, history, religion, magic) and then some you just don’t always get (arts, economics, cultural practices, heck even gender in later books). Even more, she’s found a way to make it deeply relevant to the plot, and uncovering bits and pieces of the world’s history and magic is an integral part of figuring out whatever the heck is happening. And did I mention the body-swapping? Holy shit, the body-swapping will melt your brain.
There is some fantasy generic-ness here (Lyons has papered over “elves” by calling them vané but c’mon, we see what you did there), but it’s generally overcome by the sheer depth of information and the significance everything carries. Almost every major trope in play is subverted: Kihrin is destined to destroy the world, not save it; the prophecies are incredibly unreliable and shouldn’t be trusted at all; the gods are super fallible and honestly not to be trusted, etc.
Also, fair warning — there is some dark shit here. CW for a whole heck of a lot of stuff, like rape, domestic violence, and slavery (including enslaving people by cutting off part of their soul, yikes). It makes sense in context, but if you can’t stomach that sort of thing, this is not a book for you.
Moving on, let’s chat about the characters. Kihrin is our main character, of course, and rightly so; he shares a lot of his DNA with other famous fantasy teenagers (Kvothe of Patrick Rothfuss’s books, most notably, though there are other famous protagonists in there, like Locke Lamora). Kihrin is in waaaaaaay over his head pretty much the entire time, and we learn with him as he figures out key mysteries of the world and his role in it. He is forced to grow by circumstances, shedding his naivete and rashness for something more calculated and canny.
Kihrin is supported by a positively humongous cast of supporting characters, far too many to call out individually, but I’d like to cover a few of the stand-outs.
Teraeth is a scene-stealer: pansexual son of an exiled vané king and the literal goddess of death, flirty, too clever by half, and hiding oh so much interesting information.
I would like Tyentso / Raverí to be my best friend. What a badass. Defying everyone to be a female mage in a society where it’s outlawed, working for revenge against those her hurt her, and then atoning for her shitty past by literally becoming a ghost to help Kihrin fix his block about magic. Never count her out — I’m so thrilled with where this novel leaves her.
Doc is the perfect fantasy mentor, with a terrible past behind him, powerful magic at his disposal, and connections to just about anyone who’s anyone.
Darzin D’mon, Kihrin’s newfound father, is a horrible human being that you will love to hate. Spend the entire book rooting for him to get some goddamn comeuppance! (No spoilers on if he does).
Relos Var is the quintessential terrifying dark lord / mysterious bad guy, but he’s played off so well that I don’t even care if he’s a trope. Dude is playing nine-dimensional chess when even the gods are only playing 3D, and he can chew so much scenery.
Sharanakal is a fucking dragon who traps musicians in stone pillars on his island to play for him for eternity. Need I say more?
At the end of the day, I absolutely devoured The Ruin of Kings, and I want more. Heck, I’m speaking from the vantage of being three books into the series, and I’ve been carrying that feeling around for a solid month. If you’re a big fan of the fantasy genre, this one ought to be on your list.
Grade: 5/5 stars
Memorable Quote:
“The little girl walked over and looked up at me with wide violet-colored eyes. “I picked you because of sentimentality, because of nostalgia, but not because you are indispensible. I could choose another. Walk away, if you want. Surdyeh’s stories would say that I’m giving you a gift. You say it’s a curse. I’ll tell you something not one in a thousand would-be-heroes ever realize: it’s both, and always will be. Good luck and bad luck. Joy and pain. They will always be there. It won’t be better if you follow me. A hero who has never had a bad thing happen to him isn’t a hero—he’s just spoiled.”
”So this is what? A character-building exercise?”
”What do you think life is?””
