Yesterday's Kings

by Angus Wells

From Angus Wells comes a stirring tale of magic, adventure, and passion as only he could imagine it — the saga of two ancient peoples, long divided by a bloody past, and the courageous young man who must save them both or die with the woman he loves....

Long ago the Kandarians seized the border forests, driving the native Durrym into a land of powerful magic that protects the Durrym from further invasion. But Kandarian priests have now mastered their own form of magic — a magic that can overcome the Durrym's protective spells and open their land to conquest.

For Cullyn, a young and innocent Kandarian woodsman, it means the end to a life of idyllic solitude, as Kandarian troops, Durrym spies, a noble lady, and a cruel priest all force him to choose sides in the impending conflagration. Cullyn soon comes to realize that through fate's design, he alone can stop the war. But it will mean betraying his own people, earning the trust of his Durrym enemies, and winning the heart of the woman he loves — before the coming clash of magic and mayhem destroys them all.

Genres: Fantasy

336 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 3, 2001

About the author

aka William S. Brady (with John Harvey), J.B. Dancer (with John Harvey), Ian Evans, Charles C Garrett (with Laurence James), Matthew Kirk, Richard Kirk (with Robert Holdstock), James A Muir, Charles R Pike (with Kenneth Bulmer and Terry Harknett), Andrew Quiller (with Kenneth Bulmer and Laurence James), J.D. Sandon (with John Harvey)

Angus Wells (1943 - 2006) was a British writer of genre fiction, including fantasy and westerns.

Reviews

[Erica]

Generic characters are generic. Antagonists fall into cackling Bond villain stupidity. The author literally handwaves the reason the protagonist gets caught up in the conflict by saying "well, magic or fate or something, IDKLOL." Also, nearly everything interesting happens near the end: bad pacing. Summed up in one word? Meh.

Also, the author uses the word "save" like a Tourette's tic.

[Tori]

Another excellent book by my original favorite fantasy author. The ending felt a little rushed and there was quite a lot of insta-love, but I suppose the latter is to be expected in this genre. An easy to read story that was still complicated enough to keep my interest. Full of very honorable, and very evil characters.

[Stacy Galvez]

A fun story but very clunkily written.

[Chad]

Not much story development or plot. If you are a fast reader this could be a nice weekend read.

[Cait]

I think that the ideas were there, and the plot had a lot going for it. I liked all the different characters, and they had motivations and lives of their own. They felt real. But I didn't like some of the dialog (particularly any romatince), and the main character was so thick headed that it annoyed me. But overall, fun read.

[H]

I read this book when I was in high school and remembered liking it, but when I started re-reading it I didn't like it at all. It goes into way too much detail about some things and the language is archaic, which isn't a bad thing if the author can pull it off, which I don't think Wells did. Anyway, I only read about 30ish pages before setting it aside, deciding it wasn't worth my time. I'm kind of disappointed with myself that I liked it when I was younger, actually.