The Swampling King

The Windwalker Legacy #1

by Ben S. Dobson

Ancient demons stir. War draws near. Salvation lies in an old prophecy—and an older curse.Hungry demons roam the vast, sunless Swamp. To protect their people, swampling mages rely on a cursed blood magic that drives men mad. And for the crime of using it, the Storm Knights of the Nine Peaks hunt them relentlessly from sunlit mountain duchies, seeking to avenge a betrayal long past.But something is stirring in the dark, and change is coming.A warrior born to death and darkness, Zerill is willing to use whatever power she must to lead the swamplings into the light.Reluctant heir to the throne of the Peaks, Prince Josen finds himself doubting the righteousness of an endless crusade.In a time of chaos and confusion, the ambitious Duke Lenoden sees a chance to seize the influence he has long coveted.Monstrous demons called Deeplings creep out of the mist at night, attacking in numbers unseen for centuries.And from the unexplored reaches of the Swamp comes a boy with the eyes of an eagle, foretold by ancient prophecy, who may bring salvation—or doom.The Swampling King is book one of The Windwalker Legacy, an epic fantasy of desperate times, dark magic, and terrifying monsters in the tradition of George R.R. Martin, Robert Jordan, and Brandon Sanderson. Reader reviews★★★★★ "An original twist on a fantasy setting."★★★★★ "The first time I've been so sucked in to a book since I discovered Brandon Sanderson."★★★★★ "Love this story. Beautifully written with an engaging plot, unconventional heroes, great female characters, magic, good vs evil, the whole works for a fantasy novel."★★★★★ "This is one of the best fantasy books I have read in years. An amazing world created by an emerging bestseller author."

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction

685 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 23, 2017

About the author

Ben S. Dobson is Canadian writer who has achieved nothing of consequence. Many people like him anyway. This is inexplicable.

When he isn't writing fantasy novels, he can be found enjoying many fine, geeky activities. These include playing Dungeons and Dragons, watching Studio Ghibli movies, and playing video games (as long as they have a good storyline and require little to no skill).

You can email him at bensdobson@bensdobson.com, or find him online at these places:
Website: http://bensdobson.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bensdobson

Reviews

[Ben Dobson]

I'm not giving this a star rating because I wrote it, and I am biased. But if anyone is following me because they liked Scriber, maybe you want to give this one a try!

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5*

This one starts slow and at first I didn’t like any of the characters—in fact I kept wanting to slap Josen for his cluelessness—but it revs up to be a complex realistic, very human story of competing needs and imperfect people trying to fill them. Even the bad guy isn’t completely wrong that he could do better on the throne—he’s just wrong about why he wants it, and that’s a crucial mistake. I liked where the story went in the end, though it’s much more comforting for me to have someone to like at its center, and I still don’t quite. Zerill comes closest to being the hero, I think, though we’ll see where the next books take her and the rest of them.

[Aliza Enker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved loved loved this.

The first time I've been so sucked in to a book since I discovered Brandon Sanderson. Complex plot and characters. They actually have depth!!! I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good fantasy epic with well thought out characters. I can't wait for the next book.

[Derek Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly in depth story, very similar to a Brandon Sanderson novel. Highly recommended for any fantasy fan. I really enjoyed the fleshing out of this world and the great intrigue and a bit of cloak and dagger it had. It would be nice to read more in this universe and with these characters - some real growth occurred in them and I can see many options for moving forward with it.

[Lila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deception, cowardice, betrayal, trust earned, trust lost, new beginnings, human failings, lust for power, forces of darkness, reluctant hero and the women behind him....

This book has it all and the story isn't over yet. I highly recommend this book.

[Kevin Bott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written

I was mildly surprised by how good this book was. It had a unique worldscape, well developed main characters, and a well thought out plot. The writing and editing was very good. Not sure why this hasn’t gotten more attention. Looking forward to next book.

[Eppie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Closer to 3.5 stars--it lacked the taut pacing of Scriber, but there was some Sanderson-level world building here.

[Barbarian Adkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn good fantasy

Man there is so much going on in this book. People in a treacherous swamp. People living in the sky. Eagles. Treachery. A really grumpy king, and two sons.

[Epper Marshall]

DNF. It had interesting parts but it kept switching views and often lingered with a view that was no longer interesting. I made it 50% of the way through before I gave up.

[Michael Long · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.This book kept my attention and was a good page turner, but it was really, really, really long. The main characters (Zerill and Josen) are well done and very deep, but I could have used a bit more back story on both. The world building was pretty imaginative, but there are a lot of missing holes (where did Zerill's people come from? Why are they so different in appearance to Josen's people?). There is some history about powerful Windwalker ancestors but it would have been nice to have more background on them too. The last Windwalker has arrived...and he is a bit anticlimatic too. He is a boy and he doesn't do too much impressive in the novel other than talk to birds. Hopefully he will develop some powers in a future book. At the end of the novel Josen is indeed on his way to become Swamping King but he spends a lot of the book not being much of a leader. Perhaps that was part of the point, but he does seem at times a bit undeserving of his destiny. The best leader in the book turns out to be the main villain of the story. Overall, the story is fairly good but I can't make much judgement on the overall series without reading more books to see where this going to go.

NOTE: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.This review was originally posted on MichaelSciFan