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"Rich, cruel, gorgeous, brilliant, enthralling and deeply, deeply satisfying. I loved it."—Lev Grossman, author of The Magicians
Jenn Lyons begins the Chorus of Dragons series with The Ruin of Kings, an epic fantasy novel about a man who discovers his fate is tied to the future of an empire.
Kihrin is a bastard orphan who grew up on storybook tales of long-lost princes and grand quests. When he is claimed against his will as the long-lost son of a treasonous prince, Kihrin finds that being a long-lost prince isn't what the storybooks promised.
Far from living the dream, Kihrin finds himself practically a prisoner, at the mercy of his new family's power plays and ambitions. He also discovers that the storybooks have lied about a lot of other things too: dragons, demons, gods, prophecies, true love, and how the hero always wins.
Then again, maybe he’s not the hero, for Kihrin is not destined to save the empire.
He’s destined to destroy it.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
80 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 27, 2018
About the author
Jenn Lyons
17 books1,695 followersJenn Lyons lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband, three cats, and a lot of opinions on anything from the Sumerian creation myths to the correct way to make a martini. At various points in her life, she has wanted to be an archaeologist, anthropologist, architect, diamond cutter, fashion illustrator, graphic designer, or Batman. Turning from such obvious trades, she is now a video game producer by day, and spends her evenings writing science fiction and fantasy. When not writing, she can be founding debating the Oxford comma and Joss Whedon’s oeuvre at various local coffee shops.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 6, 2019
The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons
The Ruin of Kings is a debut fantasy novel by Jenn Lyons. It is the first in, what I understand is to be, a 5 books series titled A Chorus of Dragons. To date, I have only read the preview, so this review is based on that alone.
Since I have not read the book in it’s entirely, here is what the publisher has to say:
Kihrin is a bastard orphan who grew up on storybook tales of long-lost princes and grand quests. When he is claimed against his will as the long-lost son of a treasonous prince, Kihrin finds that being a long-lost prince isn't what the storybooks promised.
Far from living the dream, Kihrin finds himself practically a prisoner, at the mercy of his new family's power plays and ambitions. He also discovers that the storybooks have lied about a lot of other things things, too: dragons, demons, gods, prophecies, true love, and how the hero always wins.
Then again, maybe he’s not the hero, for Kihrin isn’t destined to save the empire.
He’s destined to destroy it . . .
What I liked most about the book is that I was drawn into the world immediately and became invested in the character right away. I felt sorry for Kihrin because he was in jail, even though I thought he brought some of his situation on himself, I wanted to know the whole story behind how he ended up in this situation.
The plot moved along nicely. Even though I only read the preview, I was able to get a sense of the world that allowed me to follow the story without any problems. I would think as the book progressed you would have more world building and character development. It worked for me and I actually prefer that authors don’t do a data dumb at the beginning.
The way the author told the story from the present looking back reminded me of The Name of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. However, unlike Rothfuss, the author had two characters tell the story and the book jumped between three time lines, the present, and two pasts told from different POVs. This I found a little confusing and a couple of times had to reread a few pages to stay on track with each timeline. I thought this could have been handled better and took away a little from the book.
Overall, despite the one negative, I liked the story and want to read the book in its entirety. I would recommend this book to anyone you like epic fantasy.
I received my preview of The Ruin of Kings, via NetGalley, from the publisher. For more of my reviews, and author reviews, see my blog at www.thespineview.com.
The Ruin of Kings is a debut fantasy novel by Jenn Lyons. It is the first in, what I understand is to be, a 5 books series titled A Chorus of Dragons. To date, I have only read the preview, so this review is based on that alone.
Since I have not read the book in it’s entirely, here is what the publisher has to say:
Kihrin is a bastard orphan who grew up on storybook tales of long-lost princes and grand quests. When he is claimed against his will as the long-lost son of a treasonous prince, Kihrin finds that being a long-lost prince isn't what the storybooks promised.
Far from living the dream, Kihrin finds himself practically a prisoner, at the mercy of his new family's power plays and ambitions. He also discovers that the storybooks have lied about a lot of other things things, too: dragons, demons, gods, prophecies, true love, and how the hero always wins.
Then again, maybe he’s not the hero, for Kihrin isn’t destined to save the empire.
He’s destined to destroy it . . .
What I liked most about the book is that I was drawn into the world immediately and became invested in the character right away. I felt sorry for Kihrin because he was in jail, even though I thought he brought some of his situation on himself, I wanted to know the whole story behind how he ended up in this situation.
The plot moved along nicely. Even though I only read the preview, I was able to get a sense of the world that allowed me to follow the story without any problems. I would think as the book progressed you would have more world building and character development. It worked for me and I actually prefer that authors don’t do a data dumb at the beginning.
The way the author told the story from the present looking back reminded me of The Name of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. However, unlike Rothfuss, the author had two characters tell the story and the book jumped between three time lines, the present, and two pasts told from different POVs. This I found a little confusing and a couple of times had to reread a few pages to stay on track with each timeline. I thought this could have been handled better and took away a little from the book.
Overall, despite the one negative, I liked the story and want to read the book in its entirety. I would recommend this book to anyone you like epic fantasy.
I received my preview of The Ruin of Kings, via NetGalley, from the publisher. For more of my reviews, and author reviews, see my blog at www.thespineview.com.
December 21, 2018
Blurb: Whets your appetite for Ruin
In all honesty, I was drawn to this book due to the following blurb:
"Uniting the world-building of a Brandon Sanderson with the storytelling verve of a Patrick Rothfuss."
With an endorsement such as that, one could hardly be blamed for being excited, intrigued and anxious as to what this new book held within its pages. Plus, there's a Dragon on the front-cover. Always helpful to have Dragons on the front-cover.
The whimsy of my motivations for picking up this book aside, I was ecstatic to find that the above-mentioned blurb about this book which features two of my favorite Fantasy-Authors is completely accurate. Jenn Lyons brings her abilities as a Graphic-Designer and Video-Game producer to bear in narrating the story of Kihrin from multiple perspectives. One of the challenges of reading this story is keeping the various perspectives in line, because by my count there are three perspectives at work simultaneously. And, while keeping all three of them in line can be a challenge, it's also fun. Much like a boss-battle in a hack n slash game where you need to keep an eye on everything at the same time in order to succeed.
A full-review of the story is obviously not possible with just 80 pages, and my opinion on the book may certainly change once I read the story in full, but, if this was a taste of things to come then I'm as hungry as a demon for more because it has everything a reader would want to see in a fantasy-story. The attention to detail given not only to the world-building, but also the language and the dynamics of various characters and their organizations foreshadows a tale of epic-proportions, and I look forward to reading the complete story with great anticipation (and a dash of impatience).
In all honesty, I was drawn to this book due to the following blurb:
"Uniting the world-building of a Brandon Sanderson with the storytelling verve of a Patrick Rothfuss."
With an endorsement such as that, one could hardly be blamed for being excited, intrigued and anxious as to what this new book held within its pages. Plus, there's a Dragon on the front-cover. Always helpful to have Dragons on the front-cover.
The whimsy of my motivations for picking up this book aside, I was ecstatic to find that the above-mentioned blurb about this book which features two of my favorite Fantasy-Authors is completely accurate. Jenn Lyons brings her abilities as a Graphic-Designer and Video-Game producer to bear in narrating the story of Kihrin from multiple perspectives. One of the challenges of reading this story is keeping the various perspectives in line, because by my count there are three perspectives at work simultaneously. And, while keeping all three of them in line can be a challenge, it's also fun. Much like a boss-battle in a hack n slash game where you need to keep an eye on everything at the same time in order to succeed.
A full-review of the story is obviously not possible with just 80 pages, and my opinion on the book may certainly change once I read the story in full, but, if this was a taste of things to come then I'm as hungry as a demon for more because it has everything a reader would want to see in a fantasy-story. The attention to detail given not only to the world-building, but also the language and the dynamics of various characters and their organizations foreshadows a tale of epic-proportions, and I look forward to reading the complete story with great anticipation (and a dash of impatience).
January 29, 2019
My thanks to Pan Macmillan for providing via NetGalley the opening 24 chapters of Jenni Lyon’s ‘The Ruin of Kings’, the first in a highly anticipated epic fantasy series.
It’s a little difficult to say much about a novel based on only a part, though I was able to gain a sense of Lyons’ style and world building.
To be honest the format was not the easiest to cope with. The narrative moves between three timelines; all involving Kihrin, the main protagonist. This temporal flip-flopping was a bit confusing.
We open and occasionally return to Kihrin in a prison cell watched over by Talon, a shapeshifter. Kihrin’s past is recounted in the other two timelines.
The later timeline, after Kihrin is enslaved, is told in the first person; while the earlier period of his life is related in the third-person.
Even though I enjoyed what I read the constant shifting between locations and groups of supporting characters wasn’t easy and at times broke the tension.There are footnotes throughout clarifying points and providing background. Some are quite useful and others a bit random.
When I come to read the entire book I probably will need to take notes on who’s who and the like as it’s a complicated world with a large cast of characters.
The above answers the question of whether after reading this extended preview will I buy the entire book? Yes as I connected with Kihrin and want to see how things turn out for him. The pre-order is in.
It’s a little difficult to say much about a novel based on only a part, though I was able to gain a sense of Lyons’ style and world building.
To be honest the format was not the easiest to cope with. The narrative moves between three timelines; all involving Kihrin, the main protagonist. This temporal flip-flopping was a bit confusing.
We open and occasionally return to Kihrin in a prison cell watched over by Talon, a shapeshifter. Kihrin’s past is recounted in the other two timelines.
The later timeline, after Kihrin is enslaved, is told in the first person; while the earlier period of his life is related in the third-person.
Even though I enjoyed what I read the constant shifting between locations and groups of supporting characters wasn’t easy and at times broke the tension.There are footnotes throughout clarifying points and providing background. Some are quite useful and others a bit random.
When I come to read the entire book I probably will need to take notes on who’s who and the like as it’s a complicated world with a large cast of characters.
The above answers the question of whether after reading this extended preview will I buy the entire book? Yes as I connected with Kihrin and want to see how things turn out for him. The pre-order is in.
February 5, 2019
I received a free copy of this book from the author. I had the opportunity to review or not.
The Ruin of Kings is an epic tale of royalty, decadence and betrayal; and a young man’s search for who he is. The world building is fascinating and the characters intriguing. I found the different pov’s to be confusing at first but it didn’t take long to settle into it. Once I got comfortable with the various points of view I became engrossed in the tale.
Explaining this tale is beyond my abilities at the moment. There are many aspects to this tale. A young man who would be a unique blacksmith, a monster that likes to hear stories and tell stories, a group of controlling elites that want it all, all the time. Thieves, murderers, special metals, known and unknown enemies, and unknown heritage. How the author pulls this all together is amazing and well worth reading. I kept reading when I should have been sleeping. This is one not to pass up.
The Ruin of Kings is an epic tale of royalty, decadence and betrayal; and a young man’s search for who he is. The world building is fascinating and the characters intriguing. I found the different pov’s to be confusing at first but it didn’t take long to settle into it. Once I got comfortable with the various points of view I became engrossed in the tale.
Explaining this tale is beyond my abilities at the moment. There are many aspects to this tale. A young man who would be a unique blacksmith, a monster that likes to hear stories and tell stories, a group of controlling elites that want it all, all the time. Thieves, murderers, special metals, known and unknown enemies, and unknown heritage. How the author pulls this all together is amazing and well worth reading. I kept reading when I should have been sleeping. This is one not to pass up.
February 4, 2019
This review is for an excerpt of the book only and not the book in its entirety. Thank you to Netgalley, Jenn Lyons, and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
Kihrin is an orphan who gets captured and sold. He finds himself being pursued by one of the world's most powerful wizards. The book itself is told like a story. It's split into two different perspectives, and time periods. It might be a bit confusing at first but it does get better. I'm indifferent towards the characters so far. A fantasy book with loads of gods, demons, wizards, and magic, for those who likes that kind of thing. However, the story does start off pretty slow.
Overall, I'm interested in reading what happens next and finishing the last half of this book when it releases.
Kihrin is an orphan who gets captured and sold. He finds himself being pursued by one of the world's most powerful wizards. The book itself is told like a story. It's split into two different perspectives, and time periods. It might be a bit confusing at first but it does get better. I'm indifferent towards the characters so far. A fantasy book with loads of gods, demons, wizards, and magic, for those who likes that kind of thing. However, the story does start off pretty slow.
Overall, I'm interested in reading what happens next and finishing the last half of this book when it releases.
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February 6, 2019Thank you to Tor for the opportunity to read this preview via Netgalley.
Sadly I ended up having to DNF this one. The preview was 178 pages, I made it to 85. There are 2 points of view but they are telling the story of one character but from two different timelines. As a result it was taking an extra long time to establish what was going on and who the characters were, I was never able to connect with the character and the story was still every confusing. Also I am not a fan of the footnotes, yes Jay Kristoff did them (and I am not a fan of them there either) but that doesn't me that world building elements that you can't work into the story should be handled this way.
Sadly I ended up having to DNF this one. The preview was 178 pages, I made it to 85. There are 2 points of view but they are telling the story of one character but from two different timelines. As a result it was taking an extra long time to establish what was going on and who the characters were, I was never able to connect with the character and the story was still every confusing. Also I am not a fan of the footnotes, yes Jay Kristoff did them (and I am not a fan of them there either) but that doesn't me that world building elements that you can't work into the story should be handled this way.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews