Legacy

Deity Rising #1

by Kilian Grey

A fractured hierarchy.

A buried past.

The wind tells all, to those who listen.

Tension is high among the kingdoms of Alimphis and information about the past is prohibited. The Kingsley royal line has lived under restrictive rules from the deities, Emoris and Lathil, but the royal family also holds a great secret.

Prince Faust has kept his affinity for magic hidden by the order of his brother, King Konrad. His life is thrown into chaos when Emoris discovers he can wield all four magic stones and tries to kill him. King Konrad sends Faust away under the guise of a prestigious court merchant. Outrunning the deities isn’t easy, and Faust is exposed to the corruption and lies that have settled in the kingdoms.

With the help of a rather amorous mercenary and King Konrad’s allies, Faust embarks on a path to restore order to Alimphis’s kingdoms. Emoris and Lathil will stop at nothing to ensure he fails, even pitting him against his own family. Faust isn’t alone in his fight as those with power gather to assist him. But is he ready to shoulder the weight of war?

Legacy is a full-length fantasy novel (115,000 words).

This book (series) contains dark themes, M/M scenes with moderate heat, swearing, and is intended for mature audiences.

Genres: Fantasy, Magic, M M Romance, High Fantasy, Royalty, LGBT

394 pages, Paperback

First published September 4, 2018

About the author

Kilian Grey writes fantasy, urban fantasy, and science fiction and uses her adventurous imagination to create vast worlds filled with large casts of characters, copious amounts of action, and a side of romance. When Kilian is not writing in California, she reads, draws, or plays video games.

(Socially awkward, but I try!)
More Info: [FAQ]

Reviews

[Micah]

Did not finish. I wanted to like this book so hard. I really did. Especially because this book has diversity in its characters. BUT I really couldn’t get past the writing style. While reading I felt like it was constantly going from A to C, skipping B & not explaining how we ended up where we’re at. Or we’re in a scene with 3+ men. The author would refer to a character as “he” ok, which he are we talking about? I had to keep rereading because I thought I was following 1 character & it end up being another. Or I had to keep rereading just because I didn’t know what was going on. There is magic, spells, etc being used but I thought that the explanation of how it’s used was just hard to follow. I really enjoyed each character though and the plot line is actually interesting which is why I may come back & finish this at some point. For now, I’m done

[M]

DNF 23%

This seemed like it had all the elements to be a great fantasy adventure but ended up falling flat for me. The writing style itself was also pretty annoying with its constant switches in point of view from one character to another within the same paragraph.

[Pandora Phoenix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book. Cliffhanger ending leaves me impatient for 2019!

[Lie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was chugging down the story like water. Glug, bch! Very exciting and fast paced plot, wanted to know more and more and more. Lots of magic and swords, with a touch of steampunk!!
Rly liked the change of pace when Faust ended up back in Limorous. Terrance was my fave character and Lathil seemed like the more interesting villain, maybe bcz his real goals are still shrouded in mystery, or are they just so simple really?
Curious what's this black and gold!!! Gimme, gimme more, gimme more, gimme more lore.

Combat and magic was a bit hard to understand at first, couldn't fully compute how it manifests, but then later I read the author's bio and saw they like anime and it suddenly just made so much sense; and once I started imagining the battles in a more anime style than quasi-realistic cgi style it was easy to follow what's going on.

Would love a tiny bit more atmosphere setting descriptions of surroundings.
Some romance bits were silly.
Some plot holes. All good to leave issues and stuff for future books, but felt some things coulda been explained better.
Some smaller sections felt kinda.. forced. It seemed that author wanted a certain trope or situation to occur but couldn't find a way to make it happen naturally (the duel and finding of the first chest //aris sharing heat) On a related note, people just didn't share information. It made no sense at all. A part of the plot was uncovering important history and yet, someone in the party was always like, I trust you with my life, I know you want to change the world but I won't tell you, even tho I know this information right now!!

Faust pursed his lips. Faust pursed his lips. He pursed his lips. Faust pursed his lips again. He pursed his lips all the time. Lathil pursed his lips *pause* once. And then Faust pursed his lips again and again. Kilian pls i beg u make him stop

[Janeylou · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Eli Breakstop-Kings · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay

Cool world building and interesting characters all about. The writing started really well and I was hooked almost immediately. I liked the overall idea of the story and definitely want to see this author grow and do more. I was also really into the name choices. Most were pretty memorable, and the handful that were very similar did a good job of pushing those secondary characters to the back of my mind.
Unfortunately, that writing skill suddenly dropped off after the first few chapters.
The magic was inconsistent, people arrived in places with little warning or logical sense, there were floods of unnecessary exposition plus convenient, never-before-mentioned info that popped up constantly to propel the story forward or save characters.
Characters flipped from powerful emotion to powerful emotion at the drop of a hat, even completely opposing emotions. Characters overall reactions to things are also a tad bizarre, such as the obsession over nice clothes when their lives were in immediate danger.
There was no clear goal to the novel until about 80% through the book (though you can guess it earlier). Major, life shattering events occur and no one seems to care. On the other end, characters we hardly know are placed into emotional-evocative scenes, which causes them to fall flat. There are also major plot holes, especially around how power differentials only seem relevant when it’s convenient for the author and become completely negligible other times. I found myself asking “Why doesn’t the villain just do this or that?” or “If the solution is right there, why is no one using it?” or “Why are the heroes not sharing info/If sharing info is so dangerous why does everyone else have it?”
I think this story had/has a lot of potential. I probably wrote way more than was necessary, but it seemed that the author doesn’t have a source for reliable, honest feedback.

[Paige T · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really difficult book to rate....
For me personally, it took a little while for me to really get into the book and start gaining an understanding of the world and characters. Then I began to enjoy it more, though there are still some things that don't quite make sense to me yet, which i'm hoping will get explained.
I did question a few things and have some frustrations, such as some of Faust's actions particularly when he's held prisoner with Lathil. I understand wanting to save Nik, but when it comes at the cost of potentially Konrad's life, not to mention many innocent lives, it didn't seem like the best decision logically or emotionally, especially after Nik is sent away and perhaps then safer...
Not sure how I feel about the romance in this one.. I did like Ignas, though of course many unanswered questions there. Not sure about Aris and how innocent he is.
Many questions around the deities and the hierarchy how those only blessed with some of their deity's powers can stand up against an actual deity.... Hopefully find out more in the next book on that one..
I was also frustrated with the amount of critical information that is kept from those who need it, such as Faust.
Am I still a little confused about some things? Yes.
Do I still have questions? Yes.
Do I think it could be improved? Yes.
Did I enjoy the book in the end and want to read more? Also yes.
Hoping next book is more enjoyable as can jump straight in and hopefully answers some of the outstanding questions I have.

[Kristy Johnston · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story although I had several issues with it. I agree with the reviewer that requested a glossary. There were a lot of characters thrown into this world and I had a hard time keeping them all straight. I also had some issues understanding which character was doing or saying what when the writing referred to “he”, “deity”, “king”, “Blessed”, “servant of power”, etc. because there were a lot of characters that fit that reference, sometimes in the same room or same scene.

I also had a similar problem in the action sequences. Sometimes what was going on wasn’t quite clear and suddenly a character would be injured or dying, and I couldn’t figure out what happened even when I went back and reread the section. In addition, I enjoyed the build-up of the relationship between Faust and Ignas, but I was rather disappointed with the insta-connection with Aris. I actually had an ick factor issue with him for some reason that I haven’t been able to figure out.

If I remember what was going on by the time the next book comes out I might read it but I’m not sure I will if I have to reread this story.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book threw a lot at me at one time, and at times it felt confusing. By the end of the book I was finally starting to get comfortable with the world although there were things that still confused me. I felt like the author wasn't sure whether the Deities were actually all powerful or just people with special powers. I also wasn't a fan of Faust being taken and held on the threat of something happening to Nik. Then suddenly he is miraculously free and the problem was solved in a blink of an eye. As for relationships I wasn't into Faust and Ignas but they slowly grew on me. Then Aris shows up in the ninth inning of the book and Ignas is out the door. A threeway might show up later but I was rather put out by the change at the very end of the book and the insta love feel to it.

[C. · Rating 2 out of 5]

How many times can you have a character use 'gorgeous' in place of another character's name before they start to sound sleazy? The answer is probably somewhere between zero and one, but the author clearly isn't aware of that.

This is just more of the usual M/M fantasy garbage that authors pump out and receive misleadingly high reviews for because 'oH mY gOsH rEpReSeNtAtIoN,' despite the work being akin to bad fan fiction.

But hey, unlike most other M/M fantasy, the author's writing is actually easy to read, even if the story telling, plot, and characters are all terrible.

[Amy Carranza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Read!!!

I loved this book. It took a little while to figure out what was going on, but then I was hooked. I read this book based off the one review that it had and I am glad I did. It's suspenseful with a little bit of sexiness. If you like some fantasy m/m this a book for you. Can't wait for the next one to come out so I can find out what happens!!! Its going to be a long night!!!!!!

[Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to the sequel. While I loved the story and characters, it did feel at times like I was a little lost, and the writing style had me rereading entire pages to find my footing with what was happening. I also think a glossary and character index would've helped more than once.

Those things aside, I really did like this book and would recommend it for those who enjoy the genre. Pretty solid!

[Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of Action

This book had a lot of action. One thing I think this book really needs is a glossary. A lot of terms were introduced in the book with very little explanation. Also, there were so many characters to keep track of. I'm still a little lost to be honest. So, in the next book, please include a glossary.

[Joscelyn Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely Brilliant

This was some amazing sword and sorcery fantasy. It had an amazing cast of characters, an engaging storyline, and top notch world building. I cannot wait to read the next book in Faust's adventure.

[Erick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kept me awake until 4:00 am that should tell you something!

[Kristy Maitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even if It's a complex story plot, I sill think thst something is missing. Maybe an explanation for the world we are reading about. So it is a good read but still nothing special.

[Sathepine Marco · Rating 3 out of 5]

A somewhat confusing but enjoyable adventure

(This is a revised review as felt I needed to streamline my previous review and also be a bit less negative as I did have fun reading this book and even got myself a copy of the sequel.)

I can see the anime and video game influences in this story, even from the way the characters react and behave... or it could be just my imagination. The world-building and magic-wielding are quite amazing here, however, I can’t seem to fully grasp the ranking system in terms of the deities, kings, *and* a high king, not to mention volants, servants of power, blessed, etc. - which, I believe, are over-powered high-ranking soldiers with fancy titles. The concept of having several kings when there are leaving breathing deities who can physically stand next to them, are more powerful than them, and rule over them makes me wonder: why bother having kings at all? I’d say anime is to blame for this. Also, the way “the wind” is always referred to is almost like it’s own character, which is half intriguing but half distracting. But regardless of all of the above, Faust is definitely a character I enjoyed following and I especially like his power set. Ignas is not bad either as the overprotective merc, despite my dislike with him constantly referring to Faust as “gorgeous”. Aris arrives a bit later but is just as intriguing and I find myself shipping him with Faust more than Ignas. The book is also full of action, which is something I quite enjoyed. It’s animated in my head. The steamy m/m sexiness definitely adds some spice, if you’re into that. Overall, this was a fun albeit confusing read and hope the sequel will be just as fun as well.

[Lily · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was filled with magic, swords, guns and a devilishly handsome mercenary. That being said the plot was rather boring. Halfway through the book things got especially stale. For me this book fails as both adventure and romance. There is never any tension, sexual or otherwise. I also felt a bit confused by this whole 'deity' aspect. At times they spoke of them as powerful and immortal gods other times just as regular men who could be defeated and die. I do not plan to continue this series. The first 30% was the best bit.

[J1B]

I believe this is MM romance featuring bisexual characters #364 that I've seen this year. It's such a shame because I was really enjoying this book until the bisexual main character's heterosexuality was shoved in my face. Sadly, I just can't abide the ever-present heterosexuality in a genre that, at least pretends to be about homosexuality. At this point I view heterosexuality in my MM romance like I view the active practicing of caucasians in blackface. Grossly offensive.

[NeRdyWYRM]

meh. dnf for now.