The Risen King

by Ben Blake

The Brethren were the finest warriors of their time, and they never died. When fortune turned against them they were laid into an enchanted sleep in a hidden cave, to wake again when the land was in peril. Then they would go back to war, led by their captain Alar Redhand, his sword Hard Lightning in his hand.

But when they wake it is six hundred years later, and the war they fought in has long been lost. If they are to have any place in this new world, where even the name of the land has changed, it will be beside their former enemies, the Haesci. For the land is indeed in peril once more, invaded by the barbaric northern Einhiar, and the Haesci kingdoms are falling one by one.

Alar and his dwindling band must fight again, beside the enemies they once despised, if anything of the world they remember is to be saved.

254 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 7, 2012

About the author

I'm 49, and have written novels since I was a child. Mostly it was for fun, and it still is, but now I want to be published as well.

I'm married, with two daughters and not much time for anything else

Reviews

[C. Sheehan · Rating 4 out of 5]

First posted at Reviews in Word: http://reviewsinword.blogspot.com/

The Risen King by Ben Blake. First, let me tell you why I accepted this book for review: it seemed really, really realistic. I know, I know. Reading should be an escape from reality, but you know what? Unreal characters suck. Unreal characters suck so much that if I see too much lack of real, human emotion in characters, I put the book down just as quickly as if it was just plain offensive. Expecting me, as a reader, to believe and care about obviously fake people is offensive, and thus, the book gets trashed.

That hasn't been my reason so far for not finishing all of the previous books on my reviews shelf; there have been quite a few different reasons for me to do so. There was a day when I wondered, am I just going to never be able to finish a work? Will I have to keep criticizing and making the authors who submitted works to Reviews in Word feel like I'm here just to abuse them? Maybe I should just close the review blog and apologize to the authors whose submissions I've already accepted. Throw in the towel. Give it all up. You know, that kind of thing.

We should all thank Mr. Blake for writing this, because without it I might have been forced to do that and deny you all my endless fount of reader wisdom and wit. I am happy to say that I did, indeed finish The Risen King, and you know what? It wasn't bad. Indeed, it was rather good.

First, and most importantly, the characters. I like Mr. Blake's characters because they were so freakin' realistic. Warriors from the past age are woken by an ambitious and geeky prince who believed the legend of their enchanted sleep was true and he could find them. (Cool!) I liked his (fairly blind--sorry Kayl) enthusiasm, and was more open to it because none of the other characters just believed it was true. (Like normal people!) I like the wide-spread doubt on the subject among Kayl's carles, his friend Athel, everyone. I liked that the Brethren were woken up and immediately demanded to know what the hell was going on when an enemy prince was the one to wake them up out of their sleep. (Like warriors in the face of an enemy would!) I liked that they woke up not unaffected by a magic-induced slumber, and that some of them died during it, because you know what? It might be magic, but these are human bodies we're dealing with here. They shouldn't be unaffected by magic any more than the people we know aren't unaffected by being kept alive via machines. Because of all of this, I could actually build understanding for the individuals I was witnessing instead of passing them off as 'just a character in a book.' I liked that the magic and dealings with the gods were so subtly embedded, especially as there seemed to be no magic users in the story.

I liked the multiple points of view, something I find direly lacking in most fiction out today. You get such a broader sense of story and everyone involved. It was good. I do have one wish for this, though, which is that I would have really, really liked to see more point of view of Kayl's brother (even his father) during conflicts that happened directly with them, instead of hearing about it secondarily.

I liked... I liked Talac. And that is all I'll say here, to avoid spoilers.

Now for the next thing: the culture these individuals lived in. Mr. Blake has a great understanding of culture, it seems; how to weave it into the story, how characters understand themselves within it, how it is a function of society created by and lived in by people, not some large anthropological concept that gets applied to everyone instead of lived. I really liked that, and it's part of the reason why I'll probably read another one of Mr. Blake's books in the future. That's right, I said read another book by this author in the future. Ha! Bet you never expected that one, did you?

I only have a couple of criticisms here, neither of them which really deterred from the story: I felt there was a bit of repetition withe one running... amusement (not joke) and I wish there were a few more instances of showing us an event over hearing about it. But that's it! That's all! Isn't that amazing? I mean, I feel like my review is almost lacking something without a lot of snarky complaining!

[SPOILER ALERT. SKIP TO NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE IT] I really would like to see a sequel, and the fact is that I don't feel like this is the last thing the King or arwain will here from the leader of the invaders because the man just seemed too damn ambitious. I feel like this was a young king's optimism showing through, and as much as that's just like Kayl, that's not life, not with men like that bordering your kingdom. [/SPOILER]


Woohoo! Now go to amazon, pick up this book, and immerse yourself! Right now.

[Ben Blake · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm the author, so a bit biased here no doubt. But it's worth a read I think.