The Black Throne

by Silas Johnson

"Joseph Knightridge is the beginning, the first pawn to move in a game far too big for him to handle.

After her grandmother's death, Ida Ravish fulfilled her dreams by becoming a royal guard. But how much further will that dream get her?

King of Alucard's Region, Magnus Castine knows that to protect is to sacrifice and the cost is hefty.

Malice Reap, presumed dead two years ago, returns to Vinyamar. Even now, the bodies trailing behind him increase."


Alucard's Region is not the only realm in danger. People are disappearing without a trace. Shadows grow stronger the brighter the sun is. In corners, underneath a tree, beyond the alley, they won't stop until the lands are desolate. But the plans of one suddenly overturned the continent's priorities. Watch as decisions are made and the prices are paid, as the many override the few, and how the light embraces the darkness.

566 pages, Paperback

Published July 11, 2024

Reviews

[Mew Clawfur · Rating 4 out of 5]

2025 Re-Read
So I reread this and some of my opinions have changed but here's the cliffnotes version. I'm only mentioning my different thoughts, if I don't contradict my old review then that means I still agree with it
- Pacing is definitely slow, but for the most part this works out, getting to the ending after returning from the voident stuff probably could've had some trimming though
- still love Joseph and Mary Jane though I've been pondering their purpose in the story. Maryjane is mostly to propel Joseph's story, and Joseph I feel like kinda links Malice, Charles, and Lucas together, as well as showing Malice's cruelty. Whether that's enough, dunno!
- I have more feelings about Unit One, only one I'm attached to is Pich and Gareth (who is such a hater what an icon i stan also i support him having a one night stand, in fact thats the last we see of him going off to hook up with a pretty fairy), Lycn I hated because he's a dick, Barbus I felt bad for because Lycn was a dick but otherwise I didn't feel much else. Lucas while he had an interesting background there was nothing that made me care for them. Lycn and Pich's relationship was kinda cute but I wanted more Unit One interactions in particular! Silas' strong suit is giving a small batch of characters and making you care for them and I want the same treatment for them!
- Also I swear Unit One had six people within in, Pich, Lycn, Barbus, Lucas and Gareth. Assuming I'm not mixing shit up who the fuck is the sixth???? Malice was with them for the voidents but I don't think he counts
- Probably missed something but what the fuck was Cas and Malice doing, working together???
- For most of the book I felt kinda neutral about Malice and Magnus rather than hate, but the ending where it seems Malice is gonna betray literally everyone to see Vinyamar go makes me not want to root for them. They did have nice moments and the aesthetic of a Devil and Angel together is cool. Was kinda questionable Magnus kinda ignored Malice killing a child, like it is kinda address but I don't recall Malice actually giving an answer to Magnus when he questions him on it. Still have some questions i want answered that will be in the next book so maybe I can see if Malice weren't to betray everyone if it could've worked out or not.
- I wanted more magic worldbuilding :(
- didn't notice any grammar mistakes this time, so either I made them up last time or I wasn't paying attention as well, not sure which so take this with a grain of salt. I am also not the greatest either with grammar either way lol
- The character index seems to have some spoilers, to be fair i might be the weirdo that actually sits through and reads through the thing you might be intended to not look at it unless a refresher is necessary lol

That being said, I think I'll be bumping this up to 4/5, i think my enjoyment was much higher this time around and I'm excited for book two, as well as book three i need answers for that ending Malice my guy what are you doing!!!

ORIGINAL 2024 ENDING:
Pacing
So pace wise I felt like the beginning and end went at a nice pace, not too fast but not too slow, but the middle it kind of felt like little to nothing important was happening. This is ties heavily into the plot thing so we’re immediately moving into the plot section.

Plot
I feel like the plot was what suffered the most, like the main plot to me was dealing with the voidents, which are creatures of darkness, but that felt like it wasn’t focused on as much as it could’ve personally.

Characters
This will be the longest section, bare with me.
So the back mentions Joseph Knightridge, Ida Ravish, Magnus Castine and Malice Reap, so I will assume they’re main characters.
Joseph was a really nice main character, he had goals, loved his family, felt regret, and all that while he’s still a kid, I don’t remember what age he is if it was ever stated, but he seems to be a teenager I guess? My only complaint is that I wish it was properly wrapped up, like when he dies I kind of wanted to know how Elena felt about it, by the way Cadmus was his like trainer/tutor person and Elena is his mom.
This character is very minor but man I also loved his sister Maryjane, she was cute and sweet and her death was absolutely devastating despite her not being in the story for much at all.
Ida, if she really is meant to be a main character, she really didn’t feel like one at all. She didn’t get many chapters, and I didn’t really feel much for her or about her life. I really thought she was going to be filling in for the empty spot on Unit One but apparently Malice wants her to be queen of Hordes? I think after her training with Malice, she does have the fighting stuff for it but I don’t really see what else she has that would make her a good ruler. I don’t think she’s even a bad person, in fact she’s a good person I just don’t see her as a queen at all.
Magnus is alright, he didn’t stand out to me though and I have zero emotional attachment to him.
Malice however, I love him. He’s not a good person, like I’m pretty sure he wants to destroy the continent but I’m not sure what that’s about, I feel like I missed something to be honest. He is fun to read, I am kinda feeling like he’s a bit overpowered though, even though he is a devil, not a demon, which seems to be two separate species in this world.
There’s a group of characters called Unit One, consisting of Lyn, Pich, Barbus, and Lucas. I also wasn’t emotionally attached to them, so when they all died I was more like, “oh, that sucks,” when really I wanted to feel “no! I loved him!”
Gareth, who is the right-hand of Magnus, I actually liked in the end which I didn’t expect, I thought he was simply a right-hand. He’s sensible, suspicious of Malice and questioning of Malice and Magnus’ relationship.

Relationships
There’s only one main relationship, which is the aforementioned Malice and Magnus, but, surprise, I don’t care for it. They have cute moments, and they seem to care for each other up until the ending, which again I think Malice wants to destroy the continent so it might not even be a real relationship.

Grammar
So as far as I know Silas didn’t get any editors or anything, which I understand that shit’s expensive when you’re an indie or not well-known author. However, there was enough grammar mistakes that made me feel like it could've gotten another look at before publishing.

Worldbuilding.
Worldbuilding was fine, I feel like I didn’t learn that much when there could’ve been more to learn but it was cool. This might be just because I read the sequel before the first book but still. One character was promoted from like… a B or A guard rank to E, it’s a very irrelevant detail in the grand scheme of things but I thought it was like F, D, C, B, A to S, but I guess E is after A??? I don’t know, I don’t get it.

Overall
So overall while I do think there are a lot of problems that could be fixed, I do think this was very enjoyable! I had a good time reading, as good a time you can have when reading about the devastation that is The Black Throne at least, and I think that’s as good as a story being good on a technical level. That’s why I’ll be giving this a ⅗, but I encourage everyone to read this book, give it a shot, and give it a review. Support indie authors!

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a fantasy enthusiast and lover of medieval themes, I have to say that getting into the book was amazing. The world is perfectly thought out, the characters are so complex and full of life, and the story really keeps you guessing what comes next, there wasn’t a moment throughout my read that I could’ve known what might happen and I absolutely love surprises and plot twist, which there’s many! It has some dark themes throughout, but I feel they were treated with the proper care and never felt forced or only there for the shock factor. At some points the story did feel a little quick or slow, but not to a point where it could break you away from the immersion. So, I have to truly say that I would recommend this book to anyone that’s just tired of the same old stories when it comes to fantasy, cause this one will leave you shocked!

[Rory · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a digital arc copy for free in exchange for an honest review. This review is just my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt!

Things I enjoyed:

-The magic system is very creative and interesting. I’m constantly impressed with the imagination of fantasy authors and the dedication to think up elaborate concepts, and The Black Throne is another great example of that. It’s clear that a lot of time and love went into building the magic and the world. On that same note, the author has a strength in painting vivid scenes, which at times, really helped bring the story to life.

-I love books with characters who are morally grey, and this book has plenty. I enjoyed Malice from the very start. I found him to be quite funny, actually, which balanced out the bad-assery he also has. He had a lot of moments where I was rooting for him, and I laughed out loud when bro was like ‘I killed your brother’ while eating an apple like Magnus come get your man please !!

-Speaking of Magnus, something I love about this story is the representation of different sexualities and gender identities. There's a ton of attention brought to LGBTQ identities and relationships and that's very refreshing to see! Being LGBTQ myself, it made me that much more excited to keep reading and see what sort of queer characters I'd run into. Especially in today's world, it is so great to see authors who aren't afraid to highlight queerness.

And not only do we get an on-screen romance between two men, but I really liked their relationship as a whole. Mind you, I’m a sucker for this dynamic in general, but I thought it was well done. I thought the sex scene was also really well written. I'm usually pickiest with those kinds of scenes, but I found it to be very sweet! It didn’t feel awkward or unrealistic to me at all and I was excited to see their relationship explored in that way.

I literally out loud said “Oh man, are they gonna bang?” Then, like three sentences later, went “THEYRE GONNA BANGGGG!” I also thought the timing of this scene right before Malice starts being devious again was an excellent choice. In my opinion, this is something a lot of novels have a hard time with, and I thought it was executed well.

-I also found the fight/action scenes to be quite dynamic and interesting to read! They were intense and immersive and captured the energy well. I could really picture the movement and feel the tension.


What could be improved:

I’ll try to keep this as short as I can and just focus on the first three big critiques I had:

-Editing is my biggest issue with this novel. There are so many unnecessary scenes, descriptors, dialogue tags, sensory details, etc. Especially in a book of this length, tightening the manuscript is so important for reader retention. While it’s clear the author has a love for description, and some of the descriptive passages are beautifully written, they're not all necessary. I was already fatigued with the constant description of the sky and the grass and the surrounding areas by chapter 5. I found myself skimming paragraphs, sometimes entire pages of descriptions of characters moving through their day (eating, doing chores, outfit changes, sleeping, waking up) just to get to the next actual plot point. There is also a ton of dialogue tags that could have been edited out for either being unnecessary or just confusing, one example being: "I’ve been traveling for a week to get here and you’re telling me I can’t participate? he breathed."
Entirely not needed—people are always breathing + they don't breathe words. I think the intention was to imply that he's surprised or frustrated, but that could easily be inferred with the dialogue by itself. With some sentences, I had to pause and read them again because of the word choice, or because the sentence structure didn’t make sense. There are also several grammatical and punctuation errors throughout the novel, which did take me out of the story. Here’s just one example: “Lucas sounded small and defeated, looked that way as well.”
Comma splice. Would need a coordinating conjunction, a semicolon, or would need to be separated into two sentences. Maybe most readers wouldn’t care about little details like this, but for me personally, the grammar was an issue.

-I liked the start of the story, and though I did find it to be unnecessarily descriptive, I was interested in Joseph and Maryjane. After reading the book as a whole, though, I think it’s starting in the wrong place. Narratively, it doesn’t make sense to spend six chapters introducing the readers to a character whose impact on the story could be summed up in a few sentences and explained by other characters. One chapter for the inciting incident would be fine, but nearly 100 pages of characters daily lives/thoughts/conversations is not the strongest start. In my opinion, the entire start of the book could be cut, and we could pick up right with Lucas without having missed anything. I really struggle to see why the novel started where it did. (Which just ties into my first point that cutting out scenes/chapters would make this story much stronger).

-This novel is trying to accomplish so much, and in doing so, I’m afraid it compromises the story and the characters. So many events are happening that the plot line gets muddled, and the overwhelming number of characters and information left me not feeling very attached to anybody, if I’m being honest. Which is disappointing, since I’m a very character-driven reader. I understand wanting to be intentionally ambiguous and highlighting different perspectives so the reader may not know who to root for, but when that starts to impede the relationship between the characters and the readers, it doesn't work for me. The scene structure is also all over the place. In the middle of chapters, the story will randomly shift into a scene that happened seemingly years beforehand with little or no indication that it’s a flashback and then return to the present scene. Characters recall memories of events that are written and described as full scenes with dialogue and everything, which was confusing, especially with the dozens of characters and POVs to keep track of. I found myself having to reread scenes because I was so confused about where we were, who was alive or dead, or what the purpose of the flashback was in the first place. Paired with the constant POV shifting, it was very jarring.

Again, just my subjective take on it. I’m pretty sure this is a debut novel and I know a lot of love + work went into this, so I tried to rate it with that in mind. While my honest opinion is that this novel would seriously benefit from several rounds of editing, I’m sure there are fantasy enjoyers who would appreciate the rich description/magic/world building/LGBTQ representation regardless. (:

[R.M. Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Black Throne is an indie debut from Silas Johnson, and I was provided with a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review. My actual rating is 3.5 stars.

King Magnus’ people are disappearing, and he has dispatched his best royal knights to investigate.

When the mysterious and powerful King of a neighbouring region, and Magnus’ long-lost childhood friend re-enters Magnus’ life with news of voidents - a race of shadow creatures whose only aim is to kill and cause pain - and a looming war, Magnus and his knights must ally with Malice to discover who is leading the voidents and stop them before it is too late.

But Malice has his own reasons for getting involved, and keeping the peace requires sacrifice…

This is a book that takes its time exploring its characters and world. It has a huge cast of characters to keep track of (thankfully, there is a list at the front of the book). Aspects of some characters' plotlines felt a bit like a detour from what I would call the 'main' plot and so slowed the pacing a little in parts. Some readers will love the flavour and exploration this provides - my personal opinion was that, while the worldbuilding was interesting, certain chapters/arcs could have been tightened or even removed. Overall, though, the plot still had good momentum and carried both the story (and me as a reader) forward.

The setting, and magic are richly described - the author has obviously spent a lot of time developing this world and its lore. I enjoyed the magic system (elemental magic) and how creatively it was used in combat, as well as the exploration of healing magic and regeneration abilities, too. One of The Black Throne’s greatest strengths is its diverse representation of gender and sexuality amongst the characters/fantasy races throughout.

This book has 10+ POVs, and most of them are morally grey, or at moral odds with the ‘main’ characters, which makes for an interesting read, and is a point of difference for this story compared with a lot of other fantasy stories out there at the moment. At times, that does make it hard to get attached to certain characters, or to know who to root for... but I also get the feeling that is 100% the author’s intention.

The Black Throne is the first book in what I understand will be a trilogy, and definitely ends in a way that sets up a sequel. This is not a book that shies away from hurting its characters, be that physically or emotionally, (or both!) so definitely check the content warnings. With that in mind, I would recommend this book to readers who like multi-POV books, set in complex, diverse fantasy worlds, with powerful, morally grey characters.

[Silas Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've seen quite a few authors do this and thought, why not leave a comment, too.

The Black Throne is my debut novel and the first in a trilogy! It is also:
-Meant for mature audiences
-An adult fantasy, edging on dark fantasy with LGBTQ+ rep, political intrigue, explicit gore, and spice
-Magical, literally. Elemental, to be exact.
-Revenge fueled
-Heavy with topics and themes you might find uncomfortable but rich in emotional turmoil
-Please check the content warning at the beginning of the book. It's there for a reason. It's there for you.

My deepest gratitude goes to all who have read and want to read my book!

[Andrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
This book deal with Politics, romance and an adult fantasy book. Not the beginning making me gasp and going back to read the blurb.

I am curious about a lot of things though that i hope would be explained in book 2 like what about Malice's backstory. Where did he disappear to all this time?

Was joseph just cannon fodder to push the narrative? What was the reason for my heartache? Will i see Joseph's mother again?
So many questions.

[Breann A · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I am what you tried so hard to get rid of...I am the devil."

The Black Throne begins with a prologue introducing who would be the main character, Malice Reap. Even in a short introduction, you begin to understand his character. Then the story unfolds from the perspective of a human boy named Joseph.

I got quite attached to Joseph, while his quest for vengeance seemed like a lost cause, his heart was in it. I figured we would see his path and he would run into Malice, but just as you get comfortable with Jospeh's character arch, you suddenly shift to Malice.

Malice is a demon and a ruler of another country than the one Joseph is from. He's on his own quest in search of information on creatures called Voidents, and in certain ways, stirring up the other countries to war. He gathers all the wrong attention to do so. Further enforcing his character and status. The rest of the book takes off from there.

I will start by saying this book was not for me. While I throughly enjoyed the world created, the story itself wasn't super appealing. I'm not a big fan of spice so I had to skip some part entirely, but I do think the author is onto something. I believe the world being created and story being told is unlike anything I have read before.

If you like unique fantasy with morally gray characters, queer romance, and dark themes and violence- then this book would probably be right up your alley.