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The Ring-Sworn Trilogy #2
Upon the Flight of the Queen
"A fast-paced adventure combined with an engrossing mystery, all set in a unique and original fantasy world. I can't wait to find out what happens next!" --Martha Wells, Hugo Award-winning author on For the Killing of Kings
In this sequel to For the Killing of Kings, Howard Andrew Jones returns to the ring-sworn champions of the Altenerai in Upon the Flight of the Queen to continue this thrilling, imaginative and immersive epic fantasy trilogy.
While the savage Naor clans prepare to march on the heart of the Allied Realms, Rylin infiltrates the highest of the enemy ranks to learn their secrets and free hundreds of doomed prisoners. His ailing mentor Varama leads the ever-dwindling Altenerai corps in a series of desperate strikes to cripple the Naor occupiers, hoping for a relief force that may not come in time to save what's left of the city and her charges.
Elenai, Kyrkenall, and the kobalin Ortok ride through the storm-wracked Shifting Lands to rekindle an alliance with the ko'aye, the only possible counter to the terrible Naor dragons. Even if they survive the hazardous trek deep through kobalin territory to find the winged lizards, though, the three are unlikely to get a warm reception, for the queen of the five realms refused to aid the ko'aye when their homelands were attacked, and the creatures have long memories.
While the Altenerai fight impossible odds to save the realms, their queen delves further and deeper into the magic of the mysterious hearthstones in a frantic attempt to unlock secrets that might just destroy them all.
Praised for his skills in drafting modern epic fantasy that engrosses and entertains, Howard Andrew Jones delivers a sequel that expands the amazing world, relationships, and adventure introduced in the first book of this series.
In this sequel to For the Killing of Kings, Howard Andrew Jones returns to the ring-sworn champions of the Altenerai in Upon the Flight of the Queen to continue this thrilling, imaginative and immersive epic fantasy trilogy.
While the savage Naor clans prepare to march on the heart of the Allied Realms, Rylin infiltrates the highest of the enemy ranks to learn their secrets and free hundreds of doomed prisoners. His ailing mentor Varama leads the ever-dwindling Altenerai corps in a series of desperate strikes to cripple the Naor occupiers, hoping for a relief force that may not come in time to save what's left of the city and her charges.
Elenai, Kyrkenall, and the kobalin Ortok ride through the storm-wracked Shifting Lands to rekindle an alliance with the ko'aye, the only possible counter to the terrible Naor dragons. Even if they survive the hazardous trek deep through kobalin territory to find the winged lizards, though, the three are unlikely to get a warm reception, for the queen of the five realms refused to aid the ko'aye when their homelands were attacked, and the creatures have long memories.
While the Altenerai fight impossible odds to save the realms, their queen delves further and deeper into the magic of the mysterious hearthstones in a frantic attempt to unlock secrets that might just destroy them all.
Praised for his skills in drafting modern epic fantasy that engrosses and entertains, Howard Andrew Jones delivers a sequel that expands the amazing world, relationships, and adventure introduced in the first book of this series.
432 pages, Hardcover
First published November 19, 2019
23 people are currently reading
655 people want to read
About the author
Howard Andrew Jones
68 books370 followersHoward Andrew Jones was an American speculative fiction and fantasy author and editor, known for The Chronicles of Hanuvar series, The Chronicles of Sword and Sand series and The Ring-Sworn trilogy. He had also written Pathfinder Tales, tie-in fiction novels in the world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, published by Paizo. He was the editor of Tales from the Magician's Skull and had served as a Managing Editor at Black Gate since 2004. He assembled and edited a series of eight volumes of the short fiction of Harold Lamb for publication by Bison Books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
November 10, 2019
I was fortunate enough to receive an ARC of this book from St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review.
Sheer, unbridled fun from first page to last!
With the exception of a flashback prologue, this installment picks up seamlessly where the first lets off. We continue the adventures of the legendary Altenerai and their second-generation protégés as they fight to push the Naor back from their fragmented realms, enlist the assistance of unusual races once named their sworn enemies, and unravel mysteries surrounding the betrayal of their mad queen and the powerful hearthstones with which she is obsessed. With action and subterfuge that rarely lets up, UtFotQ is a page-turner that really doesn't want you to get a good night's sleep.
Jones has several qualities that have facilitated his ascent into my short list of favorite fantasy authors. One is his trim, handsome prose. It's well-written stuff, and that's an essential for me, but it's not the sort of writing that stops you in your tracks; Jones paints vivid images in a workmanlike way that allows the story to take center stage. Another asset is his characterization--the POV characters are well-rounded human beings who wrestle with believable reactions to the horrors they face, and who grow as a result of them. It's interesting to note that, as fascinating as the older legends are, they serve as little more than vehicles for the progression of their younger counterparts; Elenai, Rylin, and the rest follow their heroes blindly, revere them, are shocked at their foibles and failures, and delve deeper into their own weaknesses as a result.
Ultimately, this is old-school Sword and Sorcery retold in a unique, modern voice. It's heroic fantasy, the stuff of triumph and hope in the face of overwhelming adversity. None of your Grimdark anti-heroes here. This is a book about standing up for what's right and saving the world. And you'll love every page of it.
Sheer, unbridled fun from first page to last!
With the exception of a flashback prologue, this installment picks up seamlessly where the first lets off. We continue the adventures of the legendary Altenerai and their second-generation protégés as they fight to push the Naor back from their fragmented realms, enlist the assistance of unusual races once named their sworn enemies, and unravel mysteries surrounding the betrayal of their mad queen and the powerful hearthstones with which she is obsessed. With action and subterfuge that rarely lets up, UtFotQ is a page-turner that really doesn't want you to get a good night's sleep.
Jones has several qualities that have facilitated his ascent into my short list of favorite fantasy authors. One is his trim, handsome prose. It's well-written stuff, and that's an essential for me, but it's not the sort of writing that stops you in your tracks; Jones paints vivid images in a workmanlike way that allows the story to take center stage. Another asset is his characterization--the POV characters are well-rounded human beings who wrestle with believable reactions to the horrors they face, and who grow as a result of them. It's interesting to note that, as fascinating as the older legends are, they serve as little more than vehicles for the progression of their younger counterparts; Elenai, Rylin, and the rest follow their heroes blindly, revere them, are shocked at their foibles and failures, and delve deeper into their own weaknesses as a result.
Ultimately, this is old-school Sword and Sorcery retold in a unique, modern voice. It's heroic fantasy, the stuff of triumph and hope in the face of overwhelming adversity. None of your Grimdark anti-heroes here. This is a book about standing up for what's right and saving the world. And you'll love every page of it.
November 12, 2019
A Grim Take on the Holy Grail: Upon the Flight of the Queen by Howard Andrew Jones - Nov 12th 2019 Black Gate
The Ring-Sworn Trilogy
Howard Andrew Jones’s For the Killing of Kings jumpstarted the epic fantasy Ring Sworn trilogy this February 2019, and the sequel Upon the Flight of the Queen hits shelves next week (November 19th). MacMillan’s St. Martin's Press pitches the series as “The Three Musketeers presented via the style of Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber.” The pacing is reminiscent of Zelazny since Howard Andrew Jones (HAJ) doles out action and backstory with precision. Yet there are many more than three heroes, and the milieu has more medieval flare than musketry, so it is more “King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table” than Musketeers.
For the Killing of Kings is actually a grim take on the consequences of seeking, and finding, a figurative Holy Grail (hearthstones). The Altenerai guard had been spread out over the Five Realms searching for many hearthstones that fuel magic — the enigmatic Queen Leonara deems them holy. Twice I was completely floored by plot twists, and the last third kept me from going to sleep. I haven’t had that much fun reading a book in a long time. Black Gate ’s Fletcher Vredenburgh's review should likewise entice new readers.
#2 Upon the Flight of the Queen
Summarizing a sequel can be tough without spoiling its predecessor, but the following overview will try as it showcases why you should commit to Ring-Sworn . Upon the Flight of the Queen starts off exactly where For the Killing of Kings ends. The adventure begins in high-gear with Alten Rylin assuming his action-thriller role (~James Bond) penetrating the Naor camp disguised in magic, dragging the reader into mayhem.
The primary story arc still focuses on the coming of age of the female squire Elenai, a soldier with burgeoning magic prowess. Her rise in the Altenerai ranks is compelling. On her journey she campaigns with seasoned members who are still reeling from the previous war; their commander was killed, and their Queen Leonara decided to make temporary peace rather than annihilate the barbaric Naor enemies. War rages across the Five Realms of the Dendressi again, but now the Altenerai forces are less prepared, less numerous, and less united.
By the end of this sequel, the new war with the Naor reaches a major milestone, and the Queen is confronted by the Altenerai. Upon the Flight of the Queen delivers on all the tension brewed in For the Killing of Kings, and you’ll still be left hungry for a third installment.
Cut-to-the-Chase Style
HAJ applies the same intense momentum from his Sword & Sorcery short fiction into these novels. Even though the Ring-Sworn epic spans a continent with dozens of characters, it propels without any filler. Likewise, despite there being ample political intrigue with the loyal Altenerai have been replaced with secretive Exalts of Queen, the conflict pulls no punches. HAJ simultaneously covers:
Remnants of the past war (readers will learn about many of the Altenerai who went MIA previously)
The current escalating war across three major fronts (the besieged Alantris, the corrupted Darassus; the lands about Vedessus)
An impending cataclysm (meddling with hearthstones unsettles the foundation of the Five Realms).
How Can so Much Ground be Covered so Fast and Smoothly?
The carefully designed milieu enables the efficient storytelling and informs everything: the magic systems, the health of the land, and every character’s motivations. The Naor, the kobalin, the Dendressi… all have cultures, and biology, intimately tied to the Five Realms and the conflicts between them. The Naor and ko’aye fight over nesting lands, the hearthstones obsessed by the Queen literally tap into the land’s substance, and as nature is reshaped, so too are the kobalin’s bodies:
[The Shifting Land] looked as though some mad deity had dropped geometric monoliths upon a distant line of irregular hills. Immense, perfectly square onyx and celadon blocks had embedded in three of the nearer ones, and the slopes were littered with smaller cubes of gray and green.
Storms pass and interact with the land and the creatures who live there—nature and beast share the same chaotic lifeforce:
…the light harshened and the dark, rocky soil under their feet transformed into white sand blazing under a tropic haze. The kobalin crooned, then they themselves began to shift…Qirock’s hands lengthened to claws and the hunched one grew hooves... the orange one thrust new elbow spikes into the soil.
Expect a Diverse Cast, with Contemporary Issues and Comic Relief
Don’t expect dwarves, elves, and such, since HAJ is always motivated to create fresh experiences. The Ring-Sworn has a unique cast of humanoid creatures, like the kobalin Ortok who provides humor as a fierce frenemy: if Ortok respects you, then he’ll challenge you to a duel to the death. Ortok’s banter and social analyses are hilarious. A few of the cast are sexually nonbinary (orientations are not a focus of the story, just low-key matters of fact). The macho Rylin certainly tries to charm more women than he deserves, but he is driven to be chivalrous and his approach to relations matures during the adventure.
Gender roles even add tension amongst the masculine Naor ranks. Despite a requisite dose of masculinity (via testosterone-fueled violence), women play a dominant role in the book. In addition to Elenai’s role as lead protagonist, all the governors of the realms are female: Queen Leonara of Darassus, Verena of Vedessuus, and Feolia of Alantris.
Evil Naor
The antagonistic Naor disdain modern sensibilities and civilization. They love to coerce/enthrall dragons to fight on their behalf, they ransack nesting grounds of the ko'aye and harvest blood from hundreds of people to fuel their blood-sorcery (sacrificial “olech” ceremonies). All that just makes them really entertaining, bad guys. While the standard humans are fascinated with hearthstone magic (at the expense of the land’s health), the Naor are thrilled to practice blood magic (at the expense of life):
The rising strands of blood twisted into ropes that quickly shaped a complex framework. Over the course of a few minutes a scaffolding took shape, over which recognizable forms grew distinct: a torso, a head, a mass below that which was flowing and vaguely fishtail-like until it was revealed as the bottom of a robe… long strands of blood hung down either side of the head… Vannek looked upon a sculpture of his oldest brother.
Cover & Map & Trailer
A map was not necessary for the first book, but Upon the Flight of the Queen expands the scope of action across the Five Realms and a map appropriately complements the story. As the Lauren Saint Onge cover indicates, readers will experience aerial battles between dragons and Archaeopteryx-like ko’aye. Darian Jones, son of the author, is a skilled animator and produced the trailer. Fletcher Vredenburgh interviewed Darian Jones and revealed how the trailer was designed and made (including the music), and sheds light on a father-son relationship.
Feb 2019 Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA), I inquired on the release schedule. HAJ returned: “The third book is fully outlined, and I had begun drafting…”. From subsequent correspondence, I learned the working title for Ring Sworn #3 is When the Goddess Wakes (obviously subject to change), with a targeted release in 2020.
Howard Andrew Jones
When not helping run his small family farm or spending time with his amazing wife and children, Howard Andrew Jones can be found hunched over his laptop or notebook, mumbling about flashing swords and doom-haunted towers. His novels include The Chronicles of Sword and Sand (The Desert of Souls, The Waters of Eternity, The Bones of the Old Ones) and several Pathfinders Tales.
Jones has worked variously as a TV cameraman, a book editor, a recycling consultant, and a college writing instructor. He assembled and edited 8 collections of Harold Lamb's historicals for the University of Nebraska Press, and served as Managing Editor of Black Gate. He edits the Sword-and-Sorcery magazine Tales From the Magician’s Skull, and edits for the Perilous Worlds book imprint.
July 9, 2025
Another excellent tale of true heroic fantasy. lt takes off directly after the events of the first book. Magic, dragons and very well written sword fighting.
November 14, 2024
3.5
Rylin and Elenai really grew into their roles here. The magic through the hearthstones and rings is very impressive. It takes a strong sorcerer to control how much he or she uses and not be driven mad by its power.
Kyrkenall and Ortok are in some of the best chapters together. N’Lahr really is an unbeatable alten. So much happens that now propels us to the final confrontation with the queen.
Rylin and Elenai really grew into their roles here. The magic through the hearthstones and rings is very impressive. It takes a strong sorcerer to control how much he or she uses and not be driven mad by its power.
Kyrkenall and Ortok are in some of the best chapters together. N’Lahr really is an unbeatable alten. So much happens that now propels us to the final confrontation with the queen.
September 7, 2019
This review is based on an ARC.
The further adventures of the Altenerai (think a high fantasy mixture of the Knights of the Round Table and the Lensmen) is heroic fantasy in the best tradition of the term. Jones has spent his adult life poking around in the temples of Sword & Sorcery, often seeking out ruined and forgotten monuments half-lost to time and the near-impenetrable jungles of Out of Print, and has emerged from decades of study with a unique style that blends colorful old derring-do with modern sensibilities in a rich and carefully-designed mosaic full of hurrah-worthy heroes. Grimdark this ain't.
My one suggestion is to read the first of the series, FOR THE KILLING OF KINGS, as this volume follows hard on that book's heels and continues several plot and character threads.
The further adventures of the Altenerai (think a high fantasy mixture of the Knights of the Round Table and the Lensmen) is heroic fantasy in the best tradition of the term. Jones has spent his adult life poking around in the temples of Sword & Sorcery, often seeking out ruined and forgotten monuments half-lost to time and the near-impenetrable jungles of Out of Print, and has emerged from decades of study with a unique style that blends colorful old derring-do with modern sensibilities in a rich and carefully-designed mosaic full of hurrah-worthy heroes. Grimdark this ain't.
My one suggestion is to read the first of the series, FOR THE KILLING OF KINGS, as this volume follows hard on that book's heels and continues several plot and character threads.
December 10, 2019
Boom! Bring on book three - https://www.alwroteabook.com/2019/12/...
September 7, 2019
The action barely stops in this one! I'd pick it up just to read a chapter or two, and suddenly it would be 3am.
The story picks up right where the first book leaves off. Since it had been several months since I read the first book and I tore through it so quickly my memory of the details are hazy, I worried that maybe I wouldn't remember what was going on or who some of the characters were. Jones does a great job in the opening chapters, though, of reminding you of the important points without excessively rehashing things that already happened, just with a finely placed sentence here and there.
Though this book is mostly action and subterfuge, in it we see some real growth in some of the main characters, particularly the younger ones. The book does not gloss over what the characters *think* about what they've done and how it changes them.
My only complaint, if I had to find one (and I feel like that's what reviewers are supposed to do), is that some of the antagonists are a little too mustache-twirly. Not that I necessarily have a problem with that in general, but contrasted with the complex and realistic heroes, it stood out to me. Most of them are not viewpoint characters, though, so they're probably more full than the text lets on. I can't really explain why I think that without going into spoilers, though.
Jones does not delve into George RR Martin levels of sadism toward his characters, but some characters do die. I think that's great, but I was a little disappointed that some notable secondary characters died "off-screen".
Those are very minor quibbles when compared to the things I loved about the book though! This is 100% the kind of fantasy I enjoy: it feels familiar while still being unique, the characters are complex and much of the plot is driven by their decisions and histories, it's fast-paced but still takes the time to linger over important moments, and (for me, this is the true mark of greatness in a fantasy story) I want to design RPG books for the setting.
The story picks up right where the first book leaves off. Since it had been several months since I read the first book and I tore through it so quickly my memory of the details are hazy, I worried that maybe I wouldn't remember what was going on or who some of the characters were. Jones does a great job in the opening chapters, though, of reminding you of the important points without excessively rehashing things that already happened, just with a finely placed sentence here and there.
Though this book is mostly action and subterfuge, in it we see some real growth in some of the main characters, particularly the younger ones. The book does not gloss over what the characters *think* about what they've done and how it changes them.
My only complaint, if I had to find one (and I feel like that's what reviewers are supposed to do), is that some of the antagonists are a little too mustache-twirly. Not that I necessarily have a problem with that in general, but contrasted with the complex and realistic heroes, it stood out to me. Most of them are not viewpoint characters, though, so they're probably more full than the text lets on. I can't really explain why I think that without going into spoilers, though.
Jones does not delve into George RR Martin levels of sadism toward his characters, but some characters do die. I think that's great, but I was a little disappointed that some notable secondary characters died "off-screen".
Those are very minor quibbles when compared to the things I loved about the book though! This is 100% the kind of fantasy I enjoy: it feels familiar while still being unique, the characters are complex and much of the plot is driven by their decisions and histories, it's fast-paced but still takes the time to linger over important moments, and (for me, this is the true mark of greatness in a fantasy story) I want to design RPG books for the setting.
September 24, 2020
OH MY GIDDY AUNT.
I just finished this book and it was absolutely AMAZING. Why is it not on every booktuber and bookstagramers list of amazing fantasy series?! WHY~! Because i was too impatient to miss out on any available reading time, i both listened to the audio book AND read a physical copy that i have. I could not read this book fast enough. The pacing in book 2 was amazing. The last few chapters had me flipping pages so fast.
The characters were compelling and experienced amazing growth. The world was beautiful and ever changing and oh so very different than anything i have read in the last year+ A perfect mix of new and interesting cultures, species, and magic.
I LOVE THE ALTENERAI <3
10 of 10 will read again <3 "When the Goddess Wakes" is now the very top of my list for most anticipated reads of 2021.
I just finished this book and it was absolutely AMAZING. Why is it not on every booktuber and bookstagramers list of amazing fantasy series?! WHY~! Because i was too impatient to miss out on any available reading time, i both listened to the audio book AND read a physical copy that i have. I could not read this book fast enough. The pacing in book 2 was amazing. The last few chapters had me flipping pages so fast.
The characters were compelling and experienced amazing growth. The world was beautiful and ever changing and oh so very different than anything i have read in the last year+ A perfect mix of new and interesting cultures, species, and magic.
I LOVE THE ALTENERAI <3
10 of 10 will read again <3 "When the Goddess Wakes" is now the very top of my list for most anticipated reads of 2021.
January 1, 2022
4.5🎉
Ich liebe die Entwicklung der Geschichte und hoffe mein restliches Lesejahr läuft genau so wie es mit diesem Buch angefangen hat 💪 ich mag dass es mehr Sichten gab und die Charaktere alle gute und fähige Menschen sind 😍 das einzige was mich gestört hat ist wie horny alle waren 😅
Ich liebe die Entwicklung der Geschichte und hoffe mein restliches Lesejahr läuft genau so wie es mit diesem Buch angefangen hat 💪 ich mag dass es mehr Sichten gab und die Charaktere alle gute und fähige Menschen sind 😍 das einzige was mich gestört hat ist wie horny alle waren 😅
October 14, 2019
More fantastic heroic fantasy from Jones. I love the touch of weirdness to the world Jones has created. Answers about the nefarious plans of the titular queen and the history of the world itself are in small though satisfying parcels. The steady world-building is again buoyed by fantastic action set-pieces.
September 8, 2019
A fast pace, modern fantasy that sucks you in and refuses to let you go, even after it ends! Howard Andrew Jones did a marvelous job creating a world that teases and entices and grabs a hold of you, much like a modern J. R. Tolkien. Well done!!
November 18, 2019
Warning: Review may contain spoilers for For the Killing of Kings (Ring-Sworn Trilogy #1) by Howard Andrew Jones.
I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of Upon the Flight of the Queen by Howard Andrew Jones, the second in the Ring-Sworn Trilogy. For the Killing of Kings satiated my need for an epic fantasy with lots of world building that I had been missing from my life since I finished Samantha Shannon’s The Priory of the Orange Tree back in June. While many people may find engrossing, epic fantasies that are reminiscent of the greats like Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea Cycle, and J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, intimidating, I like to consume a steady diet – and the Ring-Sworn Trilogy fit the bill perfectly.
The Plot
We pick up the story almost seamlessly after the end of For the Killing of Kings, diving back in with points of view from Elenai and Rylin. Throughout the series we alternate between their point of views, but Howard also expands to other characters in Upon the Flight of the Queen. He incorporates perspectives from Sansyra who is a squire serving under Varama; Tesra, a squire serving under the queen; and Vannek, a Naor general. I really liked the addition of the other characters as it provided a well-rounded perspective of all individual groups of people and their objectives.
Vannek particularly was an interesting character as he is actually a transgendered male who was born a female. This is a highly unrepresented group in the fantasy world (I do not know of any other epic fantasy that includes a true trans person who identifies completely as another gender than they were born as) and it was a nice inclusion in the series. I will say at first, I was a little confused in the earlier chapters by Vannek. Many of the other surrounding character mentioned ‘that’s a woman’ when seeing him for the first time and he was even referred to as ‘sister-brother’ by his own brother. Because it is not uncommon in fantasy novels to have women masquerading as men to further their agenda (while still very much identifying as a women), it did take me a few chapters to realize that he is a transgendered male. The use of his pronouns when describing himself (he/him) helped solidify my understanding during the later chapters.
Because this fantasy world is so large, it is essential that we see all of these different perspectives and it really serves to enhance our complete understanding at what is happening throughout the realms through narrative instead of just descriptions.
Rylin infiltrates the Naor using magical disguises. Varama and Sansyra work to undermine the Naor’s occupation of the city and to create dissention among the Naor ranks while trying to keep the spirits up of those stuck in a ruined city. Elenai, Kyrkenall, and Ortok leave N’lahr behind to manage the forces while they travel to mend their relationship with the ko’aye. Tesra struggles with the queen’s plans for the hearthstones and the morality of the queen’s objectives. And finally, Vannek shows us the discord in the Naor ranks and the power struggle that ensues when leadership is killed by Varama and her Altenerai.
All of these different perspectives weave together the ultimate battle that comes to a head in the last third of the book which is a complete page turner.
The Review
I loved how Howard expanded our understanding of his world through the use of all the different characters. The realm (and other realms) are so endless with the Shifting Lands and the Fragments that include distinctive, sentient races that it can get overwhelming if done improperly. I personally loved Elenai’s storyline the best as her travels persisted through the Shifting Lands and all the different encounters of diverse landscape, enemies and friends.
I can also appreciate how our idea of good vs evil has been slightly muddled. While it is clear who the heroes are, there is bad on both sides. The queen is acting on misguided ideas that are selfish and not to benefit the realm and the Naor have a more human quality this book than the last. While I had pictured them to be more ‘orc-like’ race it is clear they are human and even refer to our heroes as ‘fae’, which changed my perspective of our heroes some. Howards portrayal of dragons was also interesting – which are more vessel than anything else and have very little will or power beyond what happens when being directly influenced by magic.
I also enjoyed his expansion of magic in this sequel. During For the Killing of Kings, we do not really get a clear picture of all the magic that exists in the world, its abilities, limitations, or consequences, mostly I think because the characters themselves do not understand it. Howard definitely builds on our understanding of magi extensively in this book.
I found this book to be free of bloat that sometimes plagues epic fantasy novels. While it is not a short read, it is incredibly fast-paced while still full of details. It did not suffer from the second book dilemma of just being a transition book and I wholeheartedly look forward to reading the conclusion of this trilogy in the future!
I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of Upon the Flight of the Queen by Howard Andrew Jones, the second in the Ring-Sworn Trilogy. For the Killing of Kings satiated my need for an epic fantasy with lots of world building that I had been missing from my life since I finished Samantha Shannon’s The Priory of the Orange Tree back in June. While many people may find engrossing, epic fantasies that are reminiscent of the greats like Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea Cycle, and J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, intimidating, I like to consume a steady diet – and the Ring-Sworn Trilogy fit the bill perfectly.
The Plot
We pick up the story almost seamlessly after the end of For the Killing of Kings, diving back in with points of view from Elenai and Rylin. Throughout the series we alternate between their point of views, but Howard also expands to other characters in Upon the Flight of the Queen. He incorporates perspectives from Sansyra who is a squire serving under Varama; Tesra, a squire serving under the queen; and Vannek, a Naor general. I really liked the addition of the other characters as it provided a well-rounded perspective of all individual groups of people and their objectives.
Vannek particularly was an interesting character as he is actually a transgendered male who was born a female. This is a highly unrepresented group in the fantasy world (I do not know of any other epic fantasy that includes a true trans person who identifies completely as another gender than they were born as) and it was a nice inclusion in the series. I will say at first, I was a little confused in the earlier chapters by Vannek. Many of the other surrounding character mentioned ‘that’s a woman’ when seeing him for the first time and he was even referred to as ‘sister-brother’ by his own brother. Because it is not uncommon in fantasy novels to have women masquerading as men to further their agenda (while still very much identifying as a women), it did take me a few chapters to realize that he is a transgendered male. The use of his pronouns when describing himself (he/him) helped solidify my understanding during the later chapters.
Because this fantasy world is so large, it is essential that we see all of these different perspectives and it really serves to enhance our complete understanding at what is happening throughout the realms through narrative instead of just descriptions.
Rylin infiltrates the Naor using magical disguises. Varama and Sansyra work to undermine the Naor’s occupation of the city and to create dissention among the Naor ranks while trying to keep the spirits up of those stuck in a ruined city. Elenai, Kyrkenall, and Ortok leave N’lahr behind to manage the forces while they travel to mend their relationship with the ko’aye. Tesra struggles with the queen’s plans for the hearthstones and the morality of the queen’s objectives. And finally, Vannek shows us the discord in the Naor ranks and the power struggle that ensues when leadership is killed by Varama and her Altenerai.
All of these different perspectives weave together the ultimate battle that comes to a head in the last third of the book which is a complete page turner.
The Review
I loved how Howard expanded our understanding of his world through the use of all the different characters. The realm (and other realms) are so endless with the Shifting Lands and the Fragments that include distinctive, sentient races that it can get overwhelming if done improperly. I personally loved Elenai’s storyline the best as her travels persisted through the Shifting Lands and all the different encounters of diverse landscape, enemies and friends.
I can also appreciate how our idea of good vs evil has been slightly muddled. While it is clear who the heroes are, there is bad on both sides. The queen is acting on misguided ideas that are selfish and not to benefit the realm and the Naor have a more human quality this book than the last. While I had pictured them to be more ‘orc-like’ race it is clear they are human and even refer to our heroes as ‘fae’, which changed my perspective of our heroes some. Howards portrayal of dragons was also interesting – which are more vessel than anything else and have very little will or power beyond what happens when being directly influenced by magic.
I also enjoyed his expansion of magic in this sequel. During For the Killing of Kings, we do not really get a clear picture of all the magic that exists in the world, its abilities, limitations, or consequences, mostly I think because the characters themselves do not understand it. Howard definitely builds on our understanding of magi extensively in this book.
I found this book to be free of bloat that sometimes plagues epic fantasy novels. While it is not a short read, it is incredibly fast-paced while still full of details. It did not suffer from the second book dilemma of just being a transition book and I wholeheartedly look forward to reading the conclusion of this trilogy in the future!
November 19, 2019
Special thanks to St. Martin's for providing me with a free ARC copy in exchange for review. This in no way affects my opinions on this novel.
And of course, this novel does need some trigger warnings, and point out it is an adult novel, not young adult that I typically write about. There should be trigger/content warnings for some transphobic language: it is from the villains, but there are instances of characters mis-gendering a trans man both purposefully and accidentally. (Accidentally being there is an alternate POV of a character who fights him and uses she/her pronouns because they assume he is a woman). There was also threat of sexual assault towards this trans character. Now I of course have no place to judge whether or not this content is problematic or not, but I wanted to at least provide warning for any trans readers who come across the novel. Plus, I adore Kyrkenall and Orotok, her companions.
It took me much longer than it had with book one to get into this novel, and I felt it was because again the author over-indulged a bit with descriptions and too much storytelling. There were many point of views that took a few pages for anything to happen or for me to actually be interested in the POV, or some I just did not like at all and ended up skimming. However with the Elenai POV, I was hooked from the beginning of chapter to the end. Her POV was the one that had the most adventure and the most information that ended up pulling together at the end of the novel.
There were many more characters, and different points of view in this book which made the story so much more thrilling, especially with the world expanding as our characters travel all over. I particularly liked Vannek's POV, who is the trans character mentioned before. While he was technically what we consider the "bad guy" or rather, who our heroine's are fighting throughout the novel, I actually found myself rooting for him. I am excited to see where his story goes in the following novel and I kind of hope he joins our heroes and makes peace with them.
I had stated in my review of the first book that I thought Rylin was rather static, but his character really shined through in this novel, and I kind of fell in love with him a bit. He's up there as one of my favorite male characters of the series, but I think Kyrkenall takes the crown. Especially his dynamic with Elenai - I sort of hold out hope for their relationship to bloom, but I have a feeling Rylin might place some interest too. There is not a whole lot of romance in this series, so definitely do not expect that, but the little hints of it were enough for me.
The plot moved extremely slowly in this novel, and I blame it on what I like to call "middle book syndrome". This was the second book in a trilogy, and this is the book where the author has to connect what happened first, and also set up for the final story, so there was just SO much extra information that I feel a good chunk of this novel could have been cut down to save us the time. Nevertheless, once all the little plot points started to come together in the last two-hundred pages or so, the slowness began to pay off. When it picked up, I found myself unable to put the book down because the story and characters were becoming so rich, and exciting. It all played out like an episode of TV in my head, where earlier comments impacted later events and watching it all come together, and all the main characters of the book meet each other again in the battle at the end felt so rewarding.
I honestly was prepared to not really like this book but the ending completely blew me away and I am going to be anticipating the hell out of the final book in the series. It does have it's issues with pacing, and problems with some characters not really having too much personality/emotion, but the world building and storytelling really makes up for it.
And of course, this novel does need some trigger warnings, and point out it is an adult novel, not young adult that I typically write about. There should be trigger/content warnings for some transphobic language: it is from the villains, but there are instances of characters mis-gendering a trans man both purposefully and accidentally. (Accidentally being there is an alternate POV of a character who fights him and uses she/her pronouns because they assume he is a woman). There was also threat of sexual assault towards this trans character. Now I of course have no place to judge whether or not this content is problematic or not, but I wanted to at least provide warning for any trans readers who come across the novel. Plus, I adore Kyrkenall and Orotok, her companions.
It took me much longer than it had with book one to get into this novel, and I felt it was because again the author over-indulged a bit with descriptions and too much storytelling. There were many point of views that took a few pages for anything to happen or for me to actually be interested in the POV, or some I just did not like at all and ended up skimming. However with the Elenai POV, I was hooked from the beginning of chapter to the end. Her POV was the one that had the most adventure and the most information that ended up pulling together at the end of the novel.
There were many more characters, and different points of view in this book which made the story so much more thrilling, especially with the world expanding as our characters travel all over. I particularly liked Vannek's POV, who is the trans character mentioned before. While he was technically what we consider the "bad guy" or rather, who our heroine's are fighting throughout the novel, I actually found myself rooting for him. I am excited to see where his story goes in the following novel and I kind of hope he joins our heroes and makes peace with them.
I had stated in my review of the first book that I thought Rylin was rather static, but his character really shined through in this novel, and I kind of fell in love with him a bit. He's up there as one of my favorite male characters of the series, but I think Kyrkenall takes the crown. Especially his dynamic with Elenai - I sort of hold out hope for their relationship to bloom, but I have a feeling Rylin might place some interest too. There is not a whole lot of romance in this series, so definitely do not expect that, but the little hints of it were enough for me.
The plot moved extremely slowly in this novel, and I blame it on what I like to call "middle book syndrome". This was the second book in a trilogy, and this is the book where the author has to connect what happened first, and also set up for the final story, so there was just SO much extra information that I feel a good chunk of this novel could have been cut down to save us the time. Nevertheless, once all the little plot points started to come together in the last two-hundred pages or so, the slowness began to pay off. When it picked up, I found myself unable to put the book down because the story and characters were becoming so rich, and exciting. It all played out like an episode of TV in my head, where earlier comments impacted later events and watching it all come together, and all the main characters of the book meet each other again in the battle at the end felt so rewarding.
I honestly was prepared to not really like this book but the ending completely blew me away and I am going to be anticipating the hell out of the final book in the series. It does have it's issues with pacing, and problems with some characters not really having too much personality/emotion, but the world building and storytelling really makes up for it.
November 19, 2019
While with book one I was not sure what I was thinking about the book - I was not i love, nor hate it - thou three stars in the end. Here as it's a surprise I enjoyed Upon the Flight of the Queen more than For the killing of the Kings (which is not a usual occurrence with book series).
Be warned - read book one prior to this one! It will be really helpful! As I was completely confused at the beginning with the number of books I read - as there is no "Remember form book 1" section. And we are thrown into the action right from the very first page.
UtFotQ is modern fantasy sorcery and sword with a lot of twists that come out of nowhere, but... later make sense that I'm out of my mind! It blew it sometimes even. I think if I read book 1 before this one I would be catching even more things like that. Maybe in the future. I hope book three will be as well on the "better" side of the previous one just like this one.
I think I would enjoy this one more if I had reread book one, as remembering what was happening was a little too long process for my liking.
Be warned - read book one prior to this one! It will be really helpful! As I was completely confused at the beginning with the number of books I read - as there is no "Remember form book 1" section. And we are thrown into the action right from the very first page.
UtFotQ is modern fantasy sorcery and sword with a lot of twists that come out of nowhere, but... later make sense that I'm out of my mind! It blew it sometimes even. I think if I read book 1 before this one I would be catching even more things like that. Maybe in the future. I hope book three will be as well on the "better" side of the previous one just like this one.
I think I would enjoy this one more if I had reread book one, as remembering what was happening was a little too long process for my liking.
March 16, 2020
Everyone knows that second volumes of a trilogy usually have that "neither beginning nor ending" problem, where the story moves on but it lacks the punch of what came before. No one cites The Two Towers as their favorite book. Really, the only exception I can think of is The Empire Strikes Back, which was greater than its predecessor.
This may be The Empire Strikes Back of the Ring-Sworn Trilogy.
I said in my review of For the Killing of Kings, that Howard Andrew Jones had done something exciting and new. Yes, the setting IS well described as The Three Musketeers Meets Nine Prince in Amber, but the crowning achievement was, in an era or bloated, over-wrought and self-important fantasy, Jones had managed to write an opening that had the elegant, direct prose of a pulp-writer, the breathy, fast-paced action of the masters of sword & sorcery while keeping the detailed characterization and grand-vision of epic fantasy. Now that board is set, he launches into volume 2 without missing a beat.
I'll do by best to write this with no real spoilers.
The action literally begins, oh, 30 seconds after the last book ended, and the opening adventure, involving shifting identities, spy-work and a mass rescue in a city just fallen to besiegers is one of the best starts to this sort of novel I have read in ages. Besides clever and exciting, there is a lot of wit, and the character Rylin, who we've seen coming into his own in the second half of book one, now fully emerges. The storyline this sequence sets in motion is not at all what I expected, and read like one of the mad-cap ideas RPG adventurers would come up with ("the city has fallen? It's riddled with tunnels no one knows about? What if we...?), only with an actual coherent plan of action that involves everything from assassinations to...magically controlled hot-air baloons.
We also at last get to see the Naor on their own terms, and while they are not exactly as the Realms folk envision them (think "orcs in human skin"), they really are a brutal folk...as much to each other as their enemies, but as we learn that they view the Realmsfolk as literally a different species, the entire nature of what is human, not human is called into question, as the mystery of the world itself expands. (Jones has a lot of homages to fiction he loved, and reading the Naor and their views of the Realms folks, I wondered if there was one to the Mabden vs. Vadhagh in Moorcock's Corum novels. No matter, the Naor are wholly his own.) Along the way we meet a very intriguing pair of villains and get a glimpse of some truly awful blood-magic, whose visuals will linger in my head for a long time. But the best part of *this* storyline, for me, is that we do not have the tired fantasy trope of the Big Bad who is seemingly infallible until Act Three. The Naor are an uneasy alliance and their own squabbles and ambitions play against them. This was really refreshing.
Of course, there are several other major storylines at work. N'lahr, Kyrkenall, Elenai and the kobalin Ortok ended their last adventure in Vedessus and from here, they split into separate adventures of their own. The legendary hero, N'lahr, remains a bit of a cipher -- we only see him through others eyes, but I think that necessary to the narrative, as it also helps keep the character from becoming a Mary Sue. Also, through this narrative choice, Jones is free not to depict every action of what becomes a complex military campaign, but rather to focus on the more personal adventures, and then suddenly intercut to the Commander's battles, as our heroes use magic -- unreliably -- to find out what is happening in the wider world of their allies. The result actually makes the battle scenes more exciting, and prevents them from becoming too much like what we are already seeing in the siege story.
It is hard to say too much more without true spoilers, so I will say that as the book drives through its last third, we re-meet the seeming traitorous Altenerai Cerai, learn more of the nature of the hearthstones and their connection to the Realms and at last have a confrontation with the queen....and none of it is what we, or the heroes, have expected, but it all makes good sense. As is necessary for a second volume, the novel ends with its cliffhangers, but that simply left me hungering for more.
Finally, I want to make mention of the novel's size. Bloat in epic fantasy has become pathetic. Whereas. "Lord of the Rings" was just over half a million words, each novel being somewhere around 150,000 words, GRR Martin's "Dances with Dragons" was over 450k words by itself, and his rambling saga is already at 1.7 million words. "Upon the Flight of the Queen" is not a small book, I'd guess somewhere around 150k words, but it is spare by comparison and yet *tells so much more story*. Not just action, but *story*. One of my favorite scenes involves the young heroine Elenai visiting her family in Vedessus. We learn about her aunt's lovers, her fraught relationship with a younger sibling, her widowered father's new love, and her own sense of alienation from the world she grew up in -- all over the course of just a few pages that read like real people, having real conversations and dramatically expand *who* Elenai is as a person. There are little vignettes like this throughout, a page here, a few paragraphs there, that give even minor characters a sense of reality, without delaying or bloating the story. That's the work of a writer at the top of his game, and a reminder that a big book should have a reason for its size, other than authorial indulgence.
A great series. I look forward to seeing how it ends next year!
This may be The Empire Strikes Back of the Ring-Sworn Trilogy.
I said in my review of For the Killing of Kings, that Howard Andrew Jones had done something exciting and new. Yes, the setting IS well described as The Three Musketeers Meets Nine Prince in Amber, but the crowning achievement was, in an era or bloated, over-wrought and self-important fantasy, Jones had managed to write an opening that had the elegant, direct prose of a pulp-writer, the breathy, fast-paced action of the masters of sword & sorcery while keeping the detailed characterization and grand-vision of epic fantasy. Now that board is set, he launches into volume 2 without missing a beat.
I'll do by best to write this with no real spoilers.
The action literally begins, oh, 30 seconds after the last book ended, and the opening adventure, involving shifting identities, spy-work and a mass rescue in a city just fallen to besiegers is one of the best starts to this sort of novel I have read in ages. Besides clever and exciting, there is a lot of wit, and the character Rylin, who we've seen coming into his own in the second half of book one, now fully emerges. The storyline this sequence sets in motion is not at all what I expected, and read like one of the mad-cap ideas RPG adventurers would come up with ("the city has fallen? It's riddled with tunnels no one knows about? What if we...?), only with an actual coherent plan of action that involves everything from assassinations to...magically controlled hot-air baloons.
We also at last get to see the Naor on their own terms, and while they are not exactly as the Realms folk envision them (think "orcs in human skin"), they really are a brutal folk...as much to each other as their enemies, but as we learn that they view the Realmsfolk as literally a different species, the entire nature of what is human, not human is called into question, as the mystery of the world itself expands. (Jones has a lot of homages to fiction he loved, and reading the Naor and their views of the Realms folks, I wondered if there was one to the Mabden vs. Vadhagh in Moorcock's Corum novels. No matter, the Naor are wholly his own.) Along the way we meet a very intriguing pair of villains and get a glimpse of some truly awful blood-magic, whose visuals will linger in my head for a long time. But the best part of *this* storyline, for me, is that we do not have the tired fantasy trope of the Big Bad who is seemingly infallible until Act Three. The Naor are an uneasy alliance and their own squabbles and ambitions play against them. This was really refreshing.
Of course, there are several other major storylines at work. N'lahr, Kyrkenall, Elenai and the kobalin Ortok ended their last adventure in Vedessus and from here, they split into separate adventures of their own. The legendary hero, N'lahr, remains a bit of a cipher -- we only see him through others eyes, but I think that necessary to the narrative, as it also helps keep the character from becoming a Mary Sue. Also, through this narrative choice, Jones is free not to depict every action of what becomes a complex military campaign, but rather to focus on the more personal adventures, and then suddenly intercut to the Commander's battles, as our heroes use magic -- unreliably -- to find out what is happening in the wider world of their allies. The result actually makes the battle scenes more exciting, and prevents them from becoming too much like what we are already seeing in the siege story.
It is hard to say too much more without true spoilers, so I will say that as the book drives through its last third, we re-meet the seeming traitorous Altenerai Cerai, learn more of the nature of the hearthstones and their connection to the Realms and at last have a confrontation with the queen....and none of it is what we, or the heroes, have expected, but it all makes good sense. As is necessary for a second volume, the novel ends with its cliffhangers, but that simply left me hungering for more.
Finally, I want to make mention of the novel's size. Bloat in epic fantasy has become pathetic. Whereas. "Lord of the Rings" was just over half a million words, each novel being somewhere around 150,000 words, GRR Martin's "Dances with Dragons" was over 450k words by itself, and his rambling saga is already at 1.7 million words. "Upon the Flight of the Queen" is not a small book, I'd guess somewhere around 150k words, but it is spare by comparison and yet *tells so much more story*. Not just action, but *story*. One of my favorite scenes involves the young heroine Elenai visiting her family in Vedessus. We learn about her aunt's lovers, her fraught relationship with a younger sibling, her widowered father's new love, and her own sense of alienation from the world she grew up in -- all over the course of just a few pages that read like real people, having real conversations and dramatically expand *who* Elenai is as a person. There are little vignettes like this throughout, a page here, a few paragraphs there, that give even minor characters a sense of reality, without delaying or bloating the story. That's the work of a writer at the top of his game, and a reminder that a big book should have a reason for its size, other than authorial indulgence.
A great series. I look forward to seeing how it ends next year!
May 6, 2022
This was epic. It starts right where the first book ends, and it’s one chilling ride of modern heroic fantasy.
September 15, 2022
I want to give this 5 stars just because of how entertaining this book is! It's been a while since I have read a book this fast. What a page turner! Jumping onto the 3rd book immediately.
Rating: 4.5/5
Rating: 4.5/5
November 3, 2023
Great fantasy world building with many characters. This is my first book in this trilogy so was a bit left behind in the first part of the book. Really enjoyed the development of some characters and their powers. As relationships change the survival of characters is not guaranteed.
Thank you NetGalley and (publisher) for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
Thank you NetGalley and (publisher) for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
August 13, 2021
Picking up right after the end of book one, this instalment has a lot going on, but again, because the large cast is split across different locations, we get to watch as the Naor capture one of the cities, killing huge numbers of people. The Naor also practice magic, with their few male wizards using blood-based and other violent styles of magic, sacrificing their captives to power their intentions. They also have created dragons and have other terrible creatures that they use against the population. And when we get to see a war council, it’s obvious we’re not to find anything sympathetic about these brutal, misogynistic people.
Our heroes: Elenai, Kyrkenall, N'Lahr, Varama and Rylin, suffer even while making inroads against the Naor and their own increasingly divorced from reality Queen's plans.
I found that I had a little trouble keeping track of what everyone was doing, partly because there is so much happening, and partly because there are a lot of characters to track, but I still enjoyed this book a lot. The action moves fast, and I liked the characters, though I did think that the Naor needed more nuance. Could they really all be so utterly terrible? But I guess that's where the Naor General Vannek comes in, who finds her fellow warriors often stupid and too focused on status.
Anyway, things go from bad to worse, to possibly better, then to really bad, which is just the way a second book of a possibly world-ending trilogy needs to work. On to book three.
Our heroes: Elenai, Kyrkenall, N'Lahr, Varama and Rylin, suffer even while making inroads against the Naor and their own increasingly divorced from reality Queen's plans.
I found that I had a little trouble keeping track of what everyone was doing, partly because there is so much happening, and partly because there are a lot of characters to track, but I still enjoyed this book a lot. The action moves fast, and I liked the characters, though I did think that the Naor needed more nuance. Could they really all be so utterly terrible? But I guess that's where the Naor General Vannek comes in, who finds her fellow warriors often stupid and too focused on status.
Anyway, things go from bad to worse, to possibly better, then to really bad, which is just the way a second book of a possibly world-ending trilogy needs to work. On to book three.
September 5, 2019
Disclaimer: I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
If you loved “For the Killing of Kings”, you will absolutely not be disappointed with “Upon the Flight of the Queen”.
Just like the first book, the second is a fun adventure story that keeps the reader engaged with mystery, interesting characters, a fascinating world, and really awesome battle and combat scenes.
Again, Jones really knows what it is to write a strong character, that happens to be female, v.s. a strong female character. The lead lady, Elanai reads like a real person, with complex feelings. She has flaws and yet can be a badass, and Jones knows how to walk that line without it being contradictory. It’s awesome to watch Elanai come into her own as an Alten and further explore her new role.
Though some characters can come off as troupe-y, many are truly original (I.e. Kyrkenall)... and let’s honest, who doesn’t love a well written troupe when it’s done RIGHT? (And Jones definitely writes his few troupe-y characters RIGHT).
If you like quirky, swashbuckling adventures with some witty banter, this one is for you!
If you loved “For the Killing of Kings”, you will absolutely not be disappointed with “Upon the Flight of the Queen”.
Just like the first book, the second is a fun adventure story that keeps the reader engaged with mystery, interesting characters, a fascinating world, and really awesome battle and combat scenes.
Again, Jones really knows what it is to write a strong character, that happens to be female, v.s. a strong female character. The lead lady, Elanai reads like a real person, with complex feelings. She has flaws and yet can be a badass, and Jones knows how to walk that line without it being contradictory. It’s awesome to watch Elanai come into her own as an Alten and further explore her new role.
Though some characters can come off as troupe-y, many are truly original (I.e. Kyrkenall)... and let’s honest, who doesn’t love a well written troupe when it’s done RIGHT? (And Jones definitely writes his few troupe-y characters RIGHT).
If you like quirky, swashbuckling adventures with some witty banter, this one is for you!
February 18, 2022
I found the second installment of HAJ’s heroically tinged epic fantasy trilogy an enjoyable read and look forward to the conclusion of the series.
Overall, I thought this was an improvement over the already satisfying first entry. The prose is brisk and has a great forward momentum to it. It’s very readable and hard to put down. I did find the first book’s writing brisk to a fault and was glad that the second book’s prose had the same momentum and readability but allowed the descriptions to breath a bit more. There’s more POV characters in this volume, which does build to emotional impact of the occupation of Atlantris, but I do find this feels a bit at odds with the otherwise quick pacing. HAJ writing is more of the white knuckled pulp of yesteryear and sometimes that clashes with the contemporary markets demand for multi-character driven epics. It’s a minor complaint though, I just wonder if there was a way to convey some of the same emotional impact with a bit less of the back and forth. Additionally, a common complaint I saw in reviews of the first volume was that dialogue felt weak, it was a sentiment I shared and I was glad that it was greatly improved in this volume. Don’t get me wrong, the first entry is solid, but overall everything in this one just felt a bit stronger.
Another aspect of this series I love is the world. It’s got great mystery, and I’m eager to know all the answers. I love the way the Ko’aye and Kobalin are written. They truly feel inhuman in both their dialogue and actions. I honestly think that they’re some of, if not the best non-human races I’ve seen in fantasy. I would love a Kobalin spin off book or series. I think they’re just so much fun.
Elenai continues to be a great protagonist. It’s funny I really didn’t like Rylin in the first book, but man does he grow in this. His moments in the first 75 or so pages I thought were the most captivating moments of the book.
There is one aspect of this book that did not click with me. The Naor just rubbed me the wrong way. They felt like caricatures. Everything else in this book had great complexity and depth to it and they felt flat and one dimensional. I’m not against cartoonish villains, in fact I enjoy them, but these aren’t that. They’re not Saturday morning cartoon villains. The conflict that exists between the Alten and the Naor is a timeless one. The Alten are an individualist and liberty oriented culture, the Naor are an ordered communitarian culture. This conflict has been told many times with great depth, for example my mom read me Red Moon Black Mountain many times as a kid. Here though, the actions and culture of the Naor just feel cartoonish. It’s hard to find them threatening when they’re culture and thoughts feel buffoonish. I honestly think generic monsters might have served better. Every time a Naor character would spew some awkward homophobic dialogue it would just make me feel uncomfortable, and not in a thought provoking way, just regular uncomfortable. The Naor just feel simple to me and out of place with everything else in this world.
This brings me to the one Naor POV character Vannek. I really want to commend HAJ for having the courage to write a transgender character. It’s an impossible task because no matter what you are going to catch flack both from reactionaries who will hate it, and activist who will never be satisfied with it no matter how well it is done. He must have known that going into creating the character and I commend him for following through knowing it would put his writing in people’s crosshairs. Everyone’s thoughts on this character will very based off their own values, experiences, and identity. I liked the character of Vannek and found him compelling. Honestly, I wish we had spent a bit more time with him, or gotten a more detailed vision of Naor life through his lens. That being said, sometimes when other characters said unsympathetic or ignorant things to him, however you want to put it, I couldn’t help but have a bit of visceral reaction to it. That’s because I have an immediate family member who is transgender, as well as a friend who ultimately succumbed to addiction due to the complexities and struggles of that identity. So, sometimes for me personally, it killed the escapism I enjoy in fantasy when some of the dialogue brought up personal feelings. Based off your own experiences you’ll probably have unique thoughts about this character. Regardless, it took great courage to attempt it, and that alone is worth praise.
I really enjoyed this book and eagerly look forward to finishing the series and getting the answers to all the questions HAJ laid out before me. I’m not a big fan of contemporary EPIC fantasy. I find the Ringsworn series far more enjoyable to read than the other current mainstays of the genre that I’ve read or seen the TV adaptations of. It’s earnestly written and lacks the cynicisms and irony of genre mainstays, which I appreciate. Are there dark things in here, sure, but it’s not grimdark and its deeply heroic. I appreciate this series, and am glad that unlike many contemporary authors, HAJ holds the classic in reverence and takes inspiration from them instead of sneering down his nose at the books of yesteryear like so many of big box published authors do. I can’t wait to see how it all concludes…When the Goddess Wakes!
Overall, I thought this was an improvement over the already satisfying first entry. The prose is brisk and has a great forward momentum to it. It’s very readable and hard to put down. I did find the first book’s writing brisk to a fault and was glad that the second book’s prose had the same momentum and readability but allowed the descriptions to breath a bit more. There’s more POV characters in this volume, which does build to emotional impact of the occupation of Atlantris, but I do find this feels a bit at odds with the otherwise quick pacing. HAJ writing is more of the white knuckled pulp of yesteryear and sometimes that clashes with the contemporary markets demand for multi-character driven epics. It’s a minor complaint though, I just wonder if there was a way to convey some of the same emotional impact with a bit less of the back and forth. Additionally, a common complaint I saw in reviews of the first volume was that dialogue felt weak, it was a sentiment I shared and I was glad that it was greatly improved in this volume. Don’t get me wrong, the first entry is solid, but overall everything in this one just felt a bit stronger.
Another aspect of this series I love is the world. It’s got great mystery, and I’m eager to know all the answers. I love the way the Ko’aye and Kobalin are written. They truly feel inhuman in both their dialogue and actions. I honestly think that they’re some of, if not the best non-human races I’ve seen in fantasy. I would love a Kobalin spin off book or series. I think they’re just so much fun.
Elenai continues to be a great protagonist. It’s funny I really didn’t like Rylin in the first book, but man does he grow in this. His moments in the first 75 or so pages I thought were the most captivating moments of the book.
There is one aspect of this book that did not click with me. The Naor just rubbed me the wrong way. They felt like caricatures. Everything else in this book had great complexity and depth to it and they felt flat and one dimensional. I’m not against cartoonish villains, in fact I enjoy them, but these aren’t that. They’re not Saturday morning cartoon villains. The conflict that exists between the Alten and the Naor is a timeless one. The Alten are an individualist and liberty oriented culture, the Naor are an ordered communitarian culture. This conflict has been told many times with great depth, for example my mom read me Red Moon Black Mountain many times as a kid. Here though, the actions and culture of the Naor just feel cartoonish. It’s hard to find them threatening when they’re culture and thoughts feel buffoonish. I honestly think generic monsters might have served better. Every time a Naor character would spew some awkward homophobic dialogue it would just make me feel uncomfortable, and not in a thought provoking way, just regular uncomfortable. The Naor just feel simple to me and out of place with everything else in this world.
This brings me to the one Naor POV character Vannek. I really want to commend HAJ for having the courage to write a transgender character. It’s an impossible task because no matter what you are going to catch flack both from reactionaries who will hate it, and activist who will never be satisfied with it no matter how well it is done. He must have known that going into creating the character and I commend him for following through knowing it would put his writing in people’s crosshairs. Everyone’s thoughts on this character will very based off their own values, experiences, and identity. I liked the character of Vannek and found him compelling. Honestly, I wish we had spent a bit more time with him, or gotten a more detailed vision of Naor life through his lens. That being said, sometimes when other characters said unsympathetic or ignorant things to him, however you want to put it, I couldn’t help but have a bit of visceral reaction to it. That’s because I have an immediate family member who is transgender, as well as a friend who ultimately succumbed to addiction due to the complexities and struggles of that identity. So, sometimes for me personally, it killed the escapism I enjoy in fantasy when some of the dialogue brought up personal feelings. Based off your own experiences you’ll probably have unique thoughts about this character. Regardless, it took great courage to attempt it, and that alone is worth praise.
I really enjoyed this book and eagerly look forward to finishing the series and getting the answers to all the questions HAJ laid out before me. I’m not a big fan of contemporary EPIC fantasy. I find the Ringsworn series far more enjoyable to read than the other current mainstays of the genre that I’ve read or seen the TV adaptations of. It’s earnestly written and lacks the cynicisms and irony of genre mainstays, which I appreciate. Are there dark things in here, sure, but it’s not grimdark and its deeply heroic. I appreciate this series, and am glad that unlike many contemporary authors, HAJ holds the classic in reverence and takes inspiration from them instead of sneering down his nose at the books of yesteryear like so many of big box published authors do. I can’t wait to see how it all concludes…When the Goddess Wakes!
May 31, 2021
Definitely enjoying this series. The ring-sworn are a nice entry into the canon of knightly orders and I like following this group of mage knights as they try to claw their way back after years of decline after betrayal and corruption infected their ranks.
This is also partly a coming of age story as well, with Elenai and Rylin really coming into their own as Alten and showing why they're worthy to wear the ring. They're both easy to root for and believable as people who step up in the time of crisis to lead.
The old guard of heroes makes its presence known strongly, as N'Lahr and Varama command different sets of forces against the savage Naor and Kyrkenall presses forward to build more allies, and you get to know and understand them quite a bit better as well.
Jones tries add to the color of the world a bit more by showing us inside the head of one of the Naor, which is a decent perspective...but ultimately a bit futile, and I'm not sure it works all that well. Might have done better to do more with the corrupted queen and her allies in the Exalts instead of showing how life sucks for a woman trying to fill a man's role in a deeply misogynist society of violent invaders.
I'm still not entirely sure the timing of this whole story works all that well; the old guard of Altens are regarded as legendary figures...but some of them are still active and have been the entire time? The ones who were gone get a level of reverence upon their return like Captain America coming out of the ice, but the actual time period since they've been gone is less than a generation...so I'm not sure how well it works? The almost Arthurian reverence given to N'Lahr (like a Once & Future King, though he never actually ruled) feels a bit off considering how many people still living would have actually known and worked with him.
But that's the biggest flaw in what is otherwise and excellent high fantasy, and for my mind there aren;t enough of these kinds of stories with these kind of warrior-mages and this sort of order and I'm into it. Jones has worked out some interesting support organization for the ring-sworn and how they fit together and I'm into it.
Looking forward to volume three.
This is also partly a coming of age story as well, with Elenai and Rylin really coming into their own as Alten and showing why they're worthy to wear the ring. They're both easy to root for and believable as people who step up in the time of crisis to lead.
The old guard of heroes makes its presence known strongly, as N'Lahr and Varama command different sets of forces against the savage Naor and Kyrkenall presses forward to build more allies, and you get to know and understand them quite a bit better as well.
Jones tries add to the color of the world a bit more by showing us inside the head of one of the Naor, which is a decent perspective...but ultimately a bit futile, and I'm not sure it works all that well. Might have done better to do more with the corrupted queen and her allies in the Exalts instead of showing how life sucks for a woman trying to fill a man's role in a deeply misogynist society of violent invaders.
I'm still not entirely sure the timing of this whole story works all that well; the old guard of Altens are regarded as legendary figures...but some of them are still active and have been the entire time? The ones who were gone get a level of reverence upon their return like Captain America coming out of the ice, but the actual time period since they've been gone is less than a generation...so I'm not sure how well it works? The almost Arthurian reverence given to N'Lahr (like a Once & Future King, though he never actually ruled) feels a bit off considering how many people still living would have actually known and worked with him.
But that's the biggest flaw in what is otherwise and excellent high fantasy, and for my mind there aren;t enough of these kinds of stories with these kind of warrior-mages and this sort of order and I'm into it. Jones has worked out some interesting support organization for the ring-sworn and how they fit together and I'm into it.
Looking forward to volume three.
November 25, 2019
Things have grown quite desperate for everyone. The Naor are attacking and winning the war, claiming the lands won for themselves, but destroying as much as they claim and control. When the Naor take over a town, the people there are turned into slaves and used as blood sacrifices. The town of Alantris’ defences have been breached and it has become clear that the town will not survive, but can the Altenarai who have been defending the town manage to find a way to rescue and save more than a few of the people living within the town? And what about the other towns that are also under attack by the Naor? How can the country as a whole defend against Naor dragons that can destroy whole sections of walls with no more than a roar?
There are a number of strange things happening in the background of this story that involve the hearthstones. What exactly are they, and are they truly helpful or is there a danger to using them? And why is the queen willing to throw away and betray ancient alliances and promises to collect as many of them as she can? What is she hoping to do with all of the hearthstones that she has been collecting? And why is it apparently more important to the queen than the safety of her own people seems to be?
This is an exciting book with a lot of plot twists and turns. There is a great deal going on in this story and it kept me entertained and wanting to see what will happen next. It is an intricate story with a plot that still contains secrets to be discovered by the reader. I am definitely looking forward to book 3 in this series to find out the answers to some of the questions I discovered in this book. This book focuses a great deal on the resistance efforts of the people as well as the continued defense and strength offered by the Altenarai who defend the people.
There are a number of strange things happening in the background of this story that involve the hearthstones. What exactly are they, and are they truly helpful or is there a danger to using them? And why is the queen willing to throw away and betray ancient alliances and promises to collect as many of them as she can? What is she hoping to do with all of the hearthstones that she has been collecting? And why is it apparently more important to the queen than the safety of her own people seems to be?
This is an exciting book with a lot of plot twists and turns. There is a great deal going on in this story and it kept me entertained and wanting to see what will happen next. It is an intricate story with a plot that still contains secrets to be discovered by the reader. I am definitely looking forward to book 3 in this series to find out the answers to some of the questions I discovered in this book. This book focuses a great deal on the resistance efforts of the people as well as the continued defense and strength offered by the Altenarai who defend the people.
December 6, 2019
Originally published at Reading Reality
It’s ironically fascinating that Upon the Flight of the Queen ends in exactly the same way that the first book in this series, For the Killing of Kings, did. Both stories end with our heroes saving another city from the hands, and hordes, of the marauding Naor. And in both cases that recovery comes within a knife edge of disaster, but neither represent the end of anything larger than the immediate battle. As each entry in the series closes, it is obvious to the reader that the endpoint is merely a pause between battles, and that more bloodshed and heartbreak are yet to come.
For the Killing of Kings felt like it began in medias res – translated as “into the middle of things” -, that the story had already begun at some point in the past and the reader was just dropped into the middle of it. As Elenai and Kyrkenall delve deeper into the secrets and lies that have set them on the run from their former compatriots, that situation becomes the real truth. They are already in the middle of the story – they just didn’t know it at first.
This second book begins in medias of the res that happened in the first book. Which means that you cannot start here. The story in Upon the Flight of the Queen only makes sense if you’ve read For the Killing of Kings. But if you love epic fantasy this is a story well worth diving into.
As this second story opens, Rylin and Varama, the ring-sworn warriors of the Altenerai Corps (and of the series title) have just saved one city of the Allied Realms from an army of savage Naor set on conquest, enslavement and destruction of their enemies – who just so happen to be the heroes of our story.
As this entry in the series progresses, the focus shifts among the Altenerai as this small band of warriors and mages tries to be everywhere at once, to defend as much as they can in as many places as they can from their would-be conquerors, while at the same time attempting to figure out why their order and their country has been betrayed from within – and just how much the Queen has to do with the rot at the heart of the kingdom.
At the end of this volume, the “band” has mostly gotten back together from their separate epic journeys, just in time to defeat the onrushing horde – while losing any hope of stopping the mad queen who has set these terrible events into motion.
The battle is won, but the war is not yet over. Our heroes pause as readers gasp in shock as they wait to see what will happen next.
Escape Rating A: While I had a whole dragonload of mixed feelings about the first book in this series, I have absolutely none about this second entry. I loved Upon the Flight of the Queen, in spite of some issues with the audio narration that I’ll get to in a minute.
I don’t know whether it was because this was just the right time for me to get into a meaty epic fantasy, whether I liked this one more because I had a better grasp of the characters and the world, or whether this second book was just better than the first – this was an awesome story and I loved every minute of it.
Unlike my listen to the first book, this time I felt compelled to see what happened next – what new fire our heroes jumped into after escaping their most recent frying pan. I found myself listening to the story when I had time in the car or on the treadmill and then switching to the ebook when I didn’t – because I couldn’t put this one down.
That being said, there were issues with the narration – and they were the same issues I noted in my review of the previous book. The reader conflated cavalry with Calvary – a common issue in everyday life but jarring in a professional reader. Early in the story the word “loll” was read as “lull” repeatedly, to the point where I was temporarily confused about what was happening. My personal “favorite” malaprop was the reading of “brazier” – a container for fire, as “brassiere” – the older word for a woman’s undergarment now known as a “bra”. Just the thought of mistaking the one for the other is, quite literally, painful to contemplate. Seriously, OUCH!
But the story is definitely not an ouch, although the characters in it certainly experience plenty of painful circumstances that generate a lot more than a mere “ouch”. This is a story with a very large cast of characters and a lot of conflicting motivations – something that got a bit bogged down in the first book as we had to learn who all these people were and what was pushing them forward – or pulling them back. That the characters we were following were in the midst of discovering that they had been betrayed and were themselves uncertain of anyone’s motives made that a bit more difficult.
By this point, however, we’ve got a handle on who is who – and our heroes know who is with them and who is against them. The tension however, is ramped up by the Naor incursions. The Queen’s inattention to the good of her realm has provided these long-time enemies with an opportunity to strike at their heart believing that no one can oppose them. And they are very nearly right.
At the same time, one of the tighter focuses in the story is on the guerrilla warfare being waged in one city that is ostensibly under Naor occupation. The plight of the tiny band of warriors led by Alten Varama, a group that watches as their numbers whittled down while their commander lays the groundwork for a rescue that may not come is heartbreakingly terrible and terribly heartbreaking.
Meanwhile, in other parts of this wide-ranging narrative, we watch a legendary commander literally rise from the dead – as he in turn watches a young man and woman from the Corps he led rise to meet the challenges of this new and terrible day.
The ending of Upon the Flight of the Queen is rife with those epic “Riders of Rohan” moments that are the hallmark of the best of epic fantasy – as this certainly is.
There was only one thing that marred my enjoyment of this epic tale. It ends, just as For the Killing of Kings ended, in the pause after an epic battle, a point where the characters and the reader have a chance to take a breath but know that there is more yet to come. When the first book ended, the publication date for this second book was already announced, and was actually imminent.
The title and publication date of the final book in the Ring-Sworn Trilogy have yet to be announced. I’m anxiously waiting for that horn call – and I’m certain that I’m far from alone in my impatience to discover which of our heroes will survive to win the day.
It’s ironically fascinating that Upon the Flight of the Queen ends in exactly the same way that the first book in this series, For the Killing of Kings, did. Both stories end with our heroes saving another city from the hands, and hordes, of the marauding Naor. And in both cases that recovery comes within a knife edge of disaster, but neither represent the end of anything larger than the immediate battle. As each entry in the series closes, it is obvious to the reader that the endpoint is merely a pause between battles, and that more bloodshed and heartbreak are yet to come.
For the Killing of Kings felt like it began in medias res – translated as “into the middle of things” -, that the story had already begun at some point in the past and the reader was just dropped into the middle of it. As Elenai and Kyrkenall delve deeper into the secrets and lies that have set them on the run from their former compatriots, that situation becomes the real truth. They are already in the middle of the story – they just didn’t know it at first.
This second book begins in medias of the res that happened in the first book. Which means that you cannot start here. The story in Upon the Flight of the Queen only makes sense if you’ve read For the Killing of Kings. But if you love epic fantasy this is a story well worth diving into.
As this second story opens, Rylin and Varama, the ring-sworn warriors of the Altenerai Corps (and of the series title) have just saved one city of the Allied Realms from an army of savage Naor set on conquest, enslavement and destruction of their enemies – who just so happen to be the heroes of our story.
As this entry in the series progresses, the focus shifts among the Altenerai as this small band of warriors and mages tries to be everywhere at once, to defend as much as they can in as many places as they can from their would-be conquerors, while at the same time attempting to figure out why their order and their country has been betrayed from within – and just how much the Queen has to do with the rot at the heart of the kingdom.
At the end of this volume, the “band” has mostly gotten back together from their separate epic journeys, just in time to defeat the onrushing horde – while losing any hope of stopping the mad queen who has set these terrible events into motion.
The battle is won, but the war is not yet over. Our heroes pause as readers gasp in shock as they wait to see what will happen next.
Escape Rating A: While I had a whole dragonload of mixed feelings about the first book in this series, I have absolutely none about this second entry. I loved Upon the Flight of the Queen, in spite of some issues with the audio narration that I’ll get to in a minute.
I don’t know whether it was because this was just the right time for me to get into a meaty epic fantasy, whether I liked this one more because I had a better grasp of the characters and the world, or whether this second book was just better than the first – this was an awesome story and I loved every minute of it.
Unlike my listen to the first book, this time I felt compelled to see what happened next – what new fire our heroes jumped into after escaping their most recent frying pan. I found myself listening to the story when I had time in the car or on the treadmill and then switching to the ebook when I didn’t – because I couldn’t put this one down.
That being said, there were issues with the narration – and they were the same issues I noted in my review of the previous book. The reader conflated cavalry with Calvary – a common issue in everyday life but jarring in a professional reader. Early in the story the word “loll” was read as “lull” repeatedly, to the point where I was temporarily confused about what was happening. My personal “favorite” malaprop was the reading of “brazier” – a container for fire, as “brassiere” – the older word for a woman’s undergarment now known as a “bra”. Just the thought of mistaking the one for the other is, quite literally, painful to contemplate. Seriously, OUCH!
But the story is definitely not an ouch, although the characters in it certainly experience plenty of painful circumstances that generate a lot more than a mere “ouch”. This is a story with a very large cast of characters and a lot of conflicting motivations – something that got a bit bogged down in the first book as we had to learn who all these people were and what was pushing them forward – or pulling them back. That the characters we were following were in the midst of discovering that they had been betrayed and were themselves uncertain of anyone’s motives made that a bit more difficult.
By this point, however, we’ve got a handle on who is who – and our heroes know who is with them and who is against them. The tension however, is ramped up by the Naor incursions. The Queen’s inattention to the good of her realm has provided these long-time enemies with an opportunity to strike at their heart believing that no one can oppose them. And they are very nearly right.
At the same time, one of the tighter focuses in the story is on the guerrilla warfare being waged in one city that is ostensibly under Naor occupation. The plight of the tiny band of warriors led by Alten Varama, a group that watches as their numbers whittled down while their commander lays the groundwork for a rescue that may not come is heartbreakingly terrible and terribly heartbreaking.
Meanwhile, in other parts of this wide-ranging narrative, we watch a legendary commander literally rise from the dead – as he in turn watches a young man and woman from the Corps he led rise to meet the challenges of this new and terrible day.
The ending of Upon the Flight of the Queen is rife with those epic “Riders of Rohan” moments that are the hallmark of the best of epic fantasy – as this certainly is.
There was only one thing that marred my enjoyment of this epic tale. It ends, just as For the Killing of Kings ended, in the pause after an epic battle, a point where the characters and the reader have a chance to take a breath but know that there is more yet to come. When the first book ended, the publication date for this second book was already announced, and was actually imminent.
The title and publication date of the final book in the Ring-Sworn Trilogy have yet to be announced. I’m anxiously waiting for that horn call – and I’m certain that I’m far from alone in my impatience to discover which of our heroes will survive to win the day.
December 29, 2019
Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.
Upon the Flight of the Queen is the second book in the high fantasy Ring-Sworn trilogy by Howard Andrew Jones. Released 19th Nov 2019 by Macmillan on their St. Martin's imprint, it's 432 pages and available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.
I love high fantasy epic quest doorstop books like this. The world building is superlative and the characters and plotting are engaging. Reading this book was actually so immersive for me that I lost track of passing time several times. It's taken me a while to actually review this installment because I picked it up without having read the previous book and couldn't keep track of what was going on and had to go back and pick up book one before getting through this one. The good news is that the author is darned gifted at plotting, tension, dialogue, characterization and the other technical details of immersive storytelling. The downside is that this book probably won't work well as a standalone.
Full of action, grand themes, honor, fighting, dragons, more fighting, magic, fighting, battles, impossible odds, and a bit of mystery, it's a ripping yarn in true high octane high fantasy. I really enjoyed this one (just don't try to read it as a standalone).
Five stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
Upon the Flight of the Queen is the second book in the high fantasy Ring-Sworn trilogy by Howard Andrew Jones. Released 19th Nov 2019 by Macmillan on their St. Martin's imprint, it's 432 pages and available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.
I love high fantasy epic quest doorstop books like this. The world building is superlative and the characters and plotting are engaging. Reading this book was actually so immersive for me that I lost track of passing time several times. It's taken me a while to actually review this installment because I picked it up without having read the previous book and couldn't keep track of what was going on and had to go back and pick up book one before getting through this one. The good news is that the author is darned gifted at plotting, tension, dialogue, characterization and the other technical details of immersive storytelling. The downside is that this book probably won't work well as a standalone.
Full of action, grand themes, honor, fighting, dragons, more fighting, magic, fighting, battles, impossible odds, and a bit of mystery, it's a ripping yarn in true high octane high fantasy. I really enjoyed this one (just don't try to read it as a standalone).
Five stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
March 29, 2022
Upon the Flight of the Queen
by Howard Andrew Jones
Epic Fantasy
Scribd Audio
4 Stars
Picking up from where the first book left off, each chapter is centered on an individual character as they try to save their kingdom from the Naor invasion, either by fighting or by finding allies to help in the battle.
But there is still the queen and her obsession with the hearthstones, believing unlocking them will transform all of the realms into paradise, and she is willing to kill anyone who stands in her way.
Others, though, believe opening them will destroy everything.
This book dumps you right back into the plot and action, and the recaps are quickly done, merged right into the story, and allows the pace to keep at a steady rate. The writing creates a vivid picture of the characters and the world that throws you into the plot.
Wonderful book/series. Highly recommend!
4 Stars
by Howard Andrew Jones
Epic Fantasy
Scribd Audio
4 Stars
Picking up from where the first book left off, each chapter is centered on an individual character as they try to save their kingdom from the Naor invasion, either by fighting or by finding allies to help in the battle.
But there is still the queen and her obsession with the hearthstones, believing unlocking them will transform all of the realms into paradise, and she is willing to kill anyone who stands in her way.
Others, though, believe opening them will destroy everything.
This book dumps you right back into the plot and action, and the recaps are quickly done, merged right into the story, and allows the pace to keep at a steady rate. The writing creates a vivid picture of the characters and the world that throws you into the plot.
Wonderful book/series. Highly recommend!
4 Stars
February 10, 2022
My thanks for the eARC of Upon the Flight of the Queen from NetGalley in exchange for this review.
Upon the Flight of the Queen follows the perspectives of Kyrkenall and Elenai as they go in search of allies for the besieged Alantris, as well as Varama and Rylin within Alantris fighting underground against the Naor. We get the perspective of a seeming trans Naor leader Vannek. I hope to see more of him and Ortok in the future as their fates are rather up in the air or besieged by the end.
I much enjoyed the mysteries and how past and future and realms are being changed by the doings of Queen Leonara and her love for a unnamed goddess of the hearthstones.
Upon the Flight of the Queen follows the perspectives of Kyrkenall and Elenai as they go in search of allies for the besieged Alantris, as well as Varama and Rylin within Alantris fighting underground against the Naor. We get the perspective of a seeming trans Naor leader Vannek. I hope to see more of him and Ortok in the future as their fates are rather up in the air or besieged by the end.
I much enjoyed the mysteries and how past and future and realms are being changed by the doings of Queen Leonara and her love for a unnamed goddess of the hearthstones.
November 24, 2019
So far this may be one of my favorite epic fantasy series of all time! Book 2 has the same great characters, humor, and non stop action that made the first book so hard to put down. The main characters are all incredibly smart and competent, which makes the story really fun to read. A special shout out to the author, who can write believably from a female perspective (many great male authors struggle with this). I can't wait to hear what happens next!
January 8, 2020
This is the first book that I've read in 2020 and it is a 5 star read. I loved it! It picked up right where the first one ended. The characters are so amazing! I couldn't pick a fave because there are so many that I love. Hopefully the next one comes soon, because of course the ending left us hanging. I love this series.
December 7, 2019
Very strong sequel and second entry in the Ring Sworn trilogy. Picks up right where the first ended with a bit of a cliffhanger. Great action scenes, interesting characters, top-shelf worldbuilding all wrapped with strong innovative writing.
It has been a while since I've enjoyed a fantasy series this much.
WARNING: The author pulls no punches when it comes to character mortality. Not quite GRRM put not too far off the mark.
A read well worth your time.
It has been a while since I've enjoyed a fantasy series this much.
WARNING: The author pulls no punches when it comes to character mortality. Not quite GRRM put not too far off the mark.
A read well worth your time.
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