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The Scalussen Chronicles #1
The Forever King
Revenge loves company.
Mithrid Fenn wants nothing to do with magick. Magick is a curse word, banned by the vast Arka Empire and punishable by death. Its purging has finally brought peace to war-torn Emaneska. Only a stubborn rebellion, led by the warlord Outlaw King, raids and pillages the empire’s northern fringes.
To cliff-brat Mithrid, this is an age of tranquility and childhood games. That is until an illegal spellbook washes up on her shores, and she finds herself thrust into a war she never knew existed.
Now hunted by daemons and mages, she is dragged inexorably north to Scalussen and its rebels fighting doggedly to preserve a memory of freedom. Mithrid holds no such ideals. She fights for revenge and nothing nobler. If spilling blood means helping the Outlaw King, then so be it. Even if it means all-out war.
———
The Forever King is the first book in a new trilogy – The Scalussen Chronicles – set in the dark and nordic world of The Emaneska Series. A breathless and emotional tale of revenge that crisscrosses a vast world, The Forever King is an epic fantasy ideal for fans of Joe Abercrombie, Steven Erikson and Mark Lawrence.
Mithrid Fenn wants nothing to do with magick. Magick is a curse word, banned by the vast Arka Empire and punishable by death. Its purging has finally brought peace to war-torn Emaneska. Only a stubborn rebellion, led by the warlord Outlaw King, raids and pillages the empire’s northern fringes.
To cliff-brat Mithrid, this is an age of tranquility and childhood games. That is until an illegal spellbook washes up on her shores, and she finds herself thrust into a war she never knew existed.
Now hunted by daemons and mages, she is dragged inexorably north to Scalussen and its rebels fighting doggedly to preserve a memory of freedom. Mithrid holds no such ideals. She fights for revenge and nothing nobler. If spilling blood means helping the Outlaw King, then so be it. Even if it means all-out war.
———
The Forever King is the first book in a new trilogy – The Scalussen Chronicles – set in the dark and nordic world of The Emaneska Series. A breathless and emotional tale of revenge that crisscrosses a vast world, The Forever King is an epic fantasy ideal for fans of Joe Abercrombie, Steven Erikson and Mark Lawrence.
664 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2020
360 people are currently reading
3722 people want to read
About the author
Ben Galley
51 books849 followersBen Galley is a British author of dark and epic fantasy books who currently hails from Vancouver, Canada. Since publishing his debut Emaneska Series, Ben has released the award-winning weird western Scarlet Star Trilogy and standalone The Heart of Stone, the critically-acclaimed Chasing Graves Trilogy, and the new Scalussen Chronicles.
When he isn’t conjuring up strange new stories or arguing the finer points of magic systems and dragon anatomy, Ben explores the Canadian wilds, sips Scotch single malts, and snowboards very, very badly. One day he hopes to haunt an epic treehouse in the mountains.
Find all of Ben’s books or join his Discord and Patreon at: www.linktr.ee/bengalley
When he isn’t conjuring up strange new stories or arguing the finer points of magic systems and dragon anatomy, Ben explores the Canadian wilds, sips Scotch single malts, and snowboards very, very badly. One day he hopes to haunt an epic treehouse in the mountains.
Find all of Ben’s books or join his Discord and Patreon at: www.linktr.ee/bengalley
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February 12, 2021
Ben Galley writes some of my favorite fantasy books that always seem to turn out incredibly fun, epic, with loads of cool magic and ideas. His books are eminently readable, so much so that no matter how high the page count, it feels like I have spent no time at all ripping through them. So I'm not surprised that my experience with his latest epic fantasy release, THE FOREVER KING, was even more of the same brilliant storytelling that I have come to expect.
The story revisits Ben's Emaneska series some years after the events that transpired at the end of the final book. Prior knowledge of that series is helpful, but by no means a deal-breaker as this is a brand new series and Ben does a great job of setting the table of where everything is in relation to the circumstances leading up to the beginning of THE FOREVER KING.
There's not a lot of dallying about as the action kicks in pretty quickly from the opening pages. War is in the air and the empire is cracking down on magic whenever and wherever they see it. Yet there are still some who haven't been touched by the empire's purge and it is they who hold the hope of a return to freedom once again, led by the Outlaw King in hiding. We follow much of the storyline of the rebels through their newest member, Mithrid, who embodies everything that Emperor Malvus holds in contempt.
Does this band of rebels really have what it takes to take on the emperor's well-trained and brutal forces? Can they marshal enough strength before those forces root them out the same way they have others who have dared try to stand against them? As these two factions get perilously close to all-out war, who will gain the upper hand and what will that mean for the future of Emaneska and Scalussen?
I had such a blast reading this book for a variety of reasons. Obviously the big reason is the story is so darn great and takes a number of different turns that I wasn't expecting. The theme of a ruler who suppresses information about the nature and use of magic, and the twisting of that information to shape it so that the populace almost accepts that it is a crime against the empire, was chilling to say the least. We all know our recent history and how misinformation can lead to some devastating consequences. The same can be said in this fantasy world as well as Mithrid has been raised believing a certain narrative, yet is forced to question those beliefs as she gets another side of the story. It was also nice to get treated to a reunion with some of the familiar characters from the previous series, albeit much affected by their past ordeals.
The world-building and magic is turned up to a high degree in this book as we see incredible sorcery (some quite dark) as well as talking dragons, and ships containing floating libraries of outlawed magic books that have been spirited away from the emperor's clutches in an effort to preserve the forbidden knowledge contained in them. The library ships were something that I found an especially cool idea given how the empire so desperately wishes to eradicate any reference to magic whatsoever in order to maintain their vicious stranglehold.
All in all I thought that this was an excellent beginning to this brand new series from Ben Galley. The trademark tight writing is there throughout and I gobbled this one up in no time flat. If you enjoy entertaining fantasy that is epic in scope, filled with imaginative magic, thrilling adventure, and some evil bastard antagonists to hate on, then you should read THE FOREVER KING as soon as possible. And while you are at it, check out his other books too because he is just an amazing writer and someone who consistently hits the mark with regard to originality and quality.
The story revisits Ben's Emaneska series some years after the events that transpired at the end of the final book. Prior knowledge of that series is helpful, but by no means a deal-breaker as this is a brand new series and Ben does a great job of setting the table of where everything is in relation to the circumstances leading up to the beginning of THE FOREVER KING.
There's not a lot of dallying about as the action kicks in pretty quickly from the opening pages. War is in the air and the empire is cracking down on magic whenever and wherever they see it. Yet there are still some who haven't been touched by the empire's purge and it is they who hold the hope of a return to freedom once again, led by the Outlaw King in hiding. We follow much of the storyline of the rebels through their newest member, Mithrid, who embodies everything that Emperor Malvus holds in contempt.
Does this band of rebels really have what it takes to take on the emperor's well-trained and brutal forces? Can they marshal enough strength before those forces root them out the same way they have others who have dared try to stand against them? As these two factions get perilously close to all-out war, who will gain the upper hand and what will that mean for the future of Emaneska and Scalussen?
I had such a blast reading this book for a variety of reasons. Obviously the big reason is the story is so darn great and takes a number of different turns that I wasn't expecting. The theme of a ruler who suppresses information about the nature and use of magic, and the twisting of that information to shape it so that the populace almost accepts that it is a crime against the empire, was chilling to say the least. We all know our recent history and how misinformation can lead to some devastating consequences. The same can be said in this fantasy world as well as Mithrid has been raised believing a certain narrative, yet is forced to question those beliefs as she gets another side of the story. It was also nice to get treated to a reunion with some of the familiar characters from the previous series, albeit much affected by their past ordeals.
The world-building and magic is turned up to a high degree in this book as we see incredible sorcery (some quite dark) as well as talking dragons, and ships containing floating libraries of outlawed magic books that have been spirited away from the emperor's clutches in an effort to preserve the forbidden knowledge contained in them. The library ships were something that I found an especially cool idea given how the empire so desperately wishes to eradicate any reference to magic whatsoever in order to maintain their vicious stranglehold.
All in all I thought that this was an excellent beginning to this brand new series from Ben Galley. The trademark tight writing is there throughout and I gobbled this one up in no time flat. If you enjoy entertaining fantasy that is epic in scope, filled with imaginative magic, thrilling adventure, and some evil bastard antagonists to hate on, then you should read THE FOREVER KING as soon as possible. And while you are at it, check out his other books too because he is just an amazing writer and someone who consistently hits the mark with regard to originality and quality.
April 14, 2022
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Actual rating: 3.75 Stars
I have been meaning to read Galley’s books for a very long time now because I saw a lot of praise for them. In general, I am a big believer of reading books in the publishing order so I would have preferred to read this after finishing the Emaneska series but I can’t just read 4 books to get into one finalist as I have limited time to read. As the author and many reviewers mentioned; this can be read and enjoyed without reading the original series. I did not feel that the story is missing something but inside me, I knew it would have been a better experience if I had read the first series before jumping into this book.
We are provided with a kind of summary of the important events of the first series and then we are thrown into an action scene that sets off the story. And speaking of action scenes, let me tell you how good and “colorful” are these scenes in the book. Out of the finalists I read thus far, this had the most epic battles which were very nice to imagine and as I just mentioned, they were vibrant in my imagination which is something that only a few books can provoke in me.
The prose is good, I liked the excerpts at the beginning of each chapter. I highlighted many quotes and passages so I understand why Galley is such a successful author. The second half is easier to read than the first one because the first part is info-dumpy and slower. (which I believe reading the original series would have helped with)
There is a wide cast of characters and there are Dragons and other creatures too which add to the interesting world-building. Mithrid is an interesting character and she does have her flaws that makes her borderline annoying sometimes. Both of the kings are intriguing and seeing Loki there was just the addition that I needed!
Summary: I enjoyed my first book by Galley for the most part. I really liked the prose the world-building and characters. On my part, I would have preferred reading the first series before. On the author’s part, I would have preferred less info dumping, a quicker pace at some points and slight distance from some of the typical tropes in the genre!
Actual rating: 3.75 Stars
“Wars are fought in the mind and heart just as much as on battlefields.”
I have been meaning to read Galley’s books for a very long time now because I saw a lot of praise for them. In general, I am a big believer of reading books in the publishing order so I would have preferred to read this after finishing the Emaneska series but I can’t just read 4 books to get into one finalist as I have limited time to read. As the author and many reviewers mentioned; this can be read and enjoyed without reading the original series. I did not feel that the story is missing something but inside me, I knew it would have been a better experience if I had read the first series before jumping into this book.
We are provided with a kind of summary of the important events of the first series and then we are thrown into an action scene that sets off the story. And speaking of action scenes, let me tell you how good and “colorful” are these scenes in the book. Out of the finalists I read thus far, this had the most epic battles which were very nice to imagine and as I just mentioned, they were vibrant in my imagination which is something that only a few books can provoke in me.
‘So you see me as a tool?’ The mage tapped his sword hilt. ‘In war, tools are called weapons, Mithrid.’
The prose is good, I liked the excerpts at the beginning of each chapter. I highlighted many quotes and passages so I understand why Galley is such a successful author. The second half is easier to read than the first one because the first part is info-dumpy and slower. (which I believe reading the original series would have helped with)
There is a wide cast of characters and there are Dragons and other creatures too which add to the interesting world-building. Mithrid is an interesting character and she does have her flaws that makes her borderline annoying sometimes. Both of the kings are intriguing and seeing Loki there was just the addition that I needed!
“Loki flashed a smile and sighed dramatically. ‘What is a dog to a king, Malvus Barkhart?’ Malvus narrowed his eyes. ‘Nothing.’ ‘Then what is a king to a god?’ Loki answered.”
Summary: I enjoyed my first book by Galley for the most part. I really liked the prose the world-building and characters. On my part, I would have preferred reading the first series before. On the author’s part, I would have preferred less info dumping, a quicker pace at some points and slight distance from some of the typical tropes in the genre!
January 6, 2023
Nine chapters. 148 pages. 21% on the progress bar. That's as far as I could go.
I infrequently DNF. I started a shelf for the few that I have; until now it had only seven books on it, and three of those don't even count because I didn't start them in earnest.
So, for me to give up on this epic fantasy, a well-reviewed SPFBO finalist, with excellent production values (I mean, just look at that cover), something must have gone seriously awry. What was the dealbreaker? What egregious sin did this book commit?
It was the writing. The prose. The wordcraft. I just couldn't stand it.
Are the words bad? No. They're often quite lovely, creative, poetic even. In small doses. Taken one sentence at a time, you could say, "That's a cool way to express that thing, good job." But when every sentence is given a creative twist, every object and action is elaborated upon, every little bit is made fanciful and precious, it's just too much. It's like eating nothing but the richest gourmet foods, all day long until you feel nauseated. It takes what could have been an enjoyable action-filled fantasy adventure, with awesome gigantic floating magic library battleships, dragon allies, elemental magic that makes things go kablooie all over the place, and turns it into a 600-page prose poem.
My spidey senses startled tingling on the first page, when I immediately thought, "there are too many words." Again, they weren't bad words! Perhaps too many adjectives, perhaps trying too hard, but take this example from the opening, in which an elderly woman is to be hung by the neck until dead, and decide for yourself:
And as much as I thought at first that the sentences were well-crafted despite the lack of less heavily-worked passages to break them up, the further I read, the less appealing even the small bits became. Similes, frequently employed, became less apt. Alternative descriptions became more forced. My hunger for a single plain statement grew intolerable. I could have stopped reading chapters sooner than I did, but I wanted to give it a fair shake, to come up with other reasons to urge me onward. I gave it one final shot after giving the book a few days' rest to see if that made any difference. But even aside from the maddening writing style, I found no character, no worldbuilding, no story element sufficient to hook me into continuing any further.
I could share a slew of passages from the book to further illustrate what I'm talking about, but I don't think they would adequately convey what I'm talking about, because it's the sum total of them all that drove me mad. I will, however, share one cherry-picked passage that was the final stake through my vampiric reading heart, which I think exemplifies the lack of authorial restraint that killed the book for me. Here, at the end of a subsection, the mature, mighty mage who knows the ways of the world is frustrated with the until-recently sheltered, embittered young woman main character:
But don't just take my word for it, if you have the slightest interest in this book otherwise. The book's preview is available to all and will carry you into chapter 5. I don't see other reviews complaining about the writing as I have here, so clearly it won't affect everyone the same way.
I infrequently DNF. I started a shelf for the few that I have; until now it had only seven books on it, and three of those don't even count because I didn't start them in earnest.
So, for me to give up on this epic fantasy, a well-reviewed SPFBO finalist, with excellent production values (I mean, just look at that cover), something must have gone seriously awry. What was the dealbreaker? What egregious sin did this book commit?
It was the writing. The prose. The wordcraft. I just couldn't stand it.
Are the words bad? No. They're often quite lovely, creative, poetic even. In small doses. Taken one sentence at a time, you could say, "That's a cool way to express that thing, good job." But when every sentence is given a creative twist, every object and action is elaborated upon, every little bit is made fanciful and precious, it's just too much. It's like eating nothing but the richest gourmet foods, all day long until you feel nauseated. It takes what could have been an enjoyable action-filled fantasy adventure, with awesome gigantic floating magic library battleships, dragon allies, elemental magic that makes things go kablooie all over the place, and turns it into a 600-page prose poem.
My spidey senses startled tingling on the first page, when I immediately thought, "there are too many words." Again, they weren't bad words! Perhaps too many adjectives, perhaps trying too hard, but take this example from the opening, in which an elderly woman is to be hung by the neck until dead, and decide for yourself:
'The price of dallying with magick and disobeying the emperor's decree is death,' intoned the mage who stood alone upon that wretched stage with the condemned. His words lacked grandeur or ceremony. They wore the blunt edge of rehearsal. Bored, the mage sounded, and in that sense, callous, as were the shrieks of the rusted lever, the cruel clatter of the trapdoor, and the gap of silence before the woman met the scant limits of the noose with a jerk.At first I made allowances; an opening has a lot of leeway to be evocative, to conjure a mood, to provide essence for the reader to sink into the book's world. But it went on like this, and on, and on and it was just too much.
And as much as I thought at first that the sentences were well-crafted despite the lack of less heavily-worked passages to break them up, the further I read, the less appealing even the small bits became. Similes, frequently employed, became less apt. Alternative descriptions became more forced. My hunger for a single plain statement grew intolerable. I could have stopped reading chapters sooner than I did, but I wanted to give it a fair shake, to come up with other reasons to urge me onward. I gave it one final shot after giving the book a few days' rest to see if that made any difference. But even aside from the maddening writing style, I found no character, no worldbuilding, no story element sufficient to hook me into continuing any further.
I could share a slew of passages from the book to further illustrate what I'm talking about, but I don't think they would adequately convey what I'm talking about, because it's the sum total of them all that drove me mad. I will, however, share one cherry-picked passage that was the final stake through my vampiric reading heart, which I think exemplifies the lack of authorial restraint that killed the book for me. Here, at the end of a subsection, the mature, mighty mage who knows the ways of the world is frustrated with the until-recently sheltered, embittered young woman main character:
‘There’s a lot you don’t know, Mithrid!’ he snapped.Mic drop! Good one Mithr—
Mithrid lifted her chin. ‘Perhaps one day I’ll be as wise as you.’
She dropped that comment like a vase.. . . yeah . . . we know. She just gave him a searing retort. The dialogue was highly effective without any furth—
It shattered between them, and she trod upon its pieces as she departed the tower.Jesus, I get it! There's no need to belabour the point like this.
But don't just take my word for it, if you have the slightest interest in this book otherwise. The book's preview is available to all and will carry you into chapter 5. I don't see other reviews complaining about the writing as I have here, so clearly it won't affect everyone the same way.
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October 31, 2021I haven't read this yet, but it has been chosen as one of 10 finalists from 300 entries to the 7th Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off ... so it must be good!
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Check it out.
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March 18, 2021
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Ben Galley is an author who has really rocketed to the top of my Need To Read list. He intimidates me a bit because in the indie scene, everyone knows who Galley is. His books are everywhere, and just about everyone I know has read at least one of them. Dude has attained a level of popular I admire, and yet somehow I know I will absolutely never reach with my own books.
In truth, I’ve been a bit burnt out on epic fantasy. I love it, but I really need to be in the right mood. I was a bit reluctant to give Galley’s epic fantasy a shot, but I decided, since I’ve loved his other stuff so much, I wanted to give this one a try. He has a way with doing things just different enough to make it feel fresh and new, and his obvious passion for the stories he tells is felt in every page.
The Forever King was the book I chose. Reason being, I felt like it. I should also note, as soon as I finished this book I picked up The Written and devoured that beast in about three days flat. If you’re looking for an early summarization of this review, there you go. It was so good, I instantly went and read the first book in Galley’s other series because I wanted more.
The Forever King is its own series, but it takes place years after the events of his Emaneska series. You do not need to read the Emaneska series to appreciate, understand, or enjoy this one. Though I will say, if you have read his Emaneska series, you might get a few more of the layers and nuances in this one. Don’t let that stop you. I haven’t read his Emaneska series before reading this book and I absolutely loved it.
The action in this book kicks off almost from page one. Instantly, the reader is thrown into a situation full of tension and strife, where the government is pitted against a growing dissenting population who are looking for saving from an Outlaw King. War is in the air. In fact, the feel of impending strife and war fairly leaps off the page. If Galley does one thing really well, it’s working with tension, and moving pieces around a gameboard really well, and creating ripples with all those motions.
The Forever King was so much fun to read. Galley takes readers on a nonstop ride. The plot is fast moving and addicting. There are a lot of twists and turns that I never saw. Probably what I loved the most was how Galley played with some of the themes he used to tell this story. For example, the emperor uses disinformation to manipulate public opinion about magic, and to manipulate the public in general. This sort thing finds its way into fantasy every now and again, but I think Galley really used it well. It is cleverly used and showed a division, of a sort, between message and reality, and the devastating consequences that result.
Mithrid, our protagonist, has been raised a certain way, and throughout the book, you follow her as she finds herself embroiled in events that surpass anything she ever anticipated. Mithrid both ends up questioning her engrained beliefs, her place in the world, and herself. She was a fascinating character to follow, and Galley dealt with her development flawlessly. On the other side, Galley marches out a bunch of antagonists you can really love to hate. I absolutely love a good antagonist, and he really knows how to craft them.
Mithrid, though, really grabbed my heart and pulled hard. She’s a strong female protagonist who is hellbent on revenge against the people who did her wrong. She’s got an axe and some magic no one has ever seen, and she goes all over the place on her quest. She joins up with a group of interesting characters, each of them well-crafted. Galley plays his characters off each other well, but Mithrid was really the star of the show.
The magic in this book was both central to the plot, but also really interesting. It was darker than I expected it to be. One of my favorite things about really good magic systems is its balance. Positive and negative are balanced well, and while I expected that with Galley, I don’t think I expected it to get quite so dark (and sometimes horrific). I have to put the dragon in on the positive side. I know, I know, a dragon is its own thing, but this one talks so I’m counting it as part of the magic system.
All in all, Ben Galley is an author who has breathed new life into epic fantasy. He knows how to tell a good story, and his writing is superb. Never too much, never too little. Each scene blazes to life. His characters live and breathe off the page. Galley is incredibly talented, and solidly falls on my Instant Buy list. The Forever King is one of the best epic fantasy books I’ve read in a while. In fact, it’s so good, I’ve basically began devouring all of Galley’s other work.
If you haven’t read Ben Galley’s books yet, you really, really need to rectify that.
Ben Galley is an author who has really rocketed to the top of my Need To Read list. He intimidates me a bit because in the indie scene, everyone knows who Galley is. His books are everywhere, and just about everyone I know has read at least one of them. Dude has attained a level of popular I admire, and yet somehow I know I will absolutely never reach with my own books.
In truth, I’ve been a bit burnt out on epic fantasy. I love it, but I really need to be in the right mood. I was a bit reluctant to give Galley’s epic fantasy a shot, but I decided, since I’ve loved his other stuff so much, I wanted to give this one a try. He has a way with doing things just different enough to make it feel fresh and new, and his obvious passion for the stories he tells is felt in every page.
The Forever King was the book I chose. Reason being, I felt like it. I should also note, as soon as I finished this book I picked up The Written and devoured that beast in about three days flat. If you’re looking for an early summarization of this review, there you go. It was so good, I instantly went and read the first book in Galley’s other series because I wanted more.
The Forever King is its own series, but it takes place years after the events of his Emaneska series. You do not need to read the Emaneska series to appreciate, understand, or enjoy this one. Though I will say, if you have read his Emaneska series, you might get a few more of the layers and nuances in this one. Don’t let that stop you. I haven’t read his Emaneska series before reading this book and I absolutely loved it.
The action in this book kicks off almost from page one. Instantly, the reader is thrown into a situation full of tension and strife, where the government is pitted against a growing dissenting population who are looking for saving from an Outlaw King. War is in the air. In fact, the feel of impending strife and war fairly leaps off the page. If Galley does one thing really well, it’s working with tension, and moving pieces around a gameboard really well, and creating ripples with all those motions.
The Forever King was so much fun to read. Galley takes readers on a nonstop ride. The plot is fast moving and addicting. There are a lot of twists and turns that I never saw. Probably what I loved the most was how Galley played with some of the themes he used to tell this story. For example, the emperor uses disinformation to manipulate public opinion about magic, and to manipulate the public in general. This sort thing finds its way into fantasy every now and again, but I think Galley really used it well. It is cleverly used and showed a division, of a sort, between message and reality, and the devastating consequences that result.
Mithrid, our protagonist, has been raised a certain way, and throughout the book, you follow her as she finds herself embroiled in events that surpass anything she ever anticipated. Mithrid both ends up questioning her engrained beliefs, her place in the world, and herself. She was a fascinating character to follow, and Galley dealt with her development flawlessly. On the other side, Galley marches out a bunch of antagonists you can really love to hate. I absolutely love a good antagonist, and he really knows how to craft them.
Mithrid, though, really grabbed my heart and pulled hard. She’s a strong female protagonist who is hellbent on revenge against the people who did her wrong. She’s got an axe and some magic no one has ever seen, and she goes all over the place on her quest. She joins up with a group of interesting characters, each of them well-crafted. Galley plays his characters off each other well, but Mithrid was really the star of the show.
The magic in this book was both central to the plot, but also really interesting. It was darker than I expected it to be. One of my favorite things about really good magic systems is its balance. Positive and negative are balanced well, and while I expected that with Galley, I don’t think I expected it to get quite so dark (and sometimes horrific). I have to put the dragon in on the positive side. I know, I know, a dragon is its own thing, but this one talks so I’m counting it as part of the magic system.
All in all, Ben Galley is an author who has breathed new life into epic fantasy. He knows how to tell a good story, and his writing is superb. Never too much, never too little. Each scene blazes to life. His characters live and breathe off the page. Galley is incredibly talented, and solidly falls on my Instant Buy list. The Forever King is one of the best epic fantasy books I’ve read in a while. In fact, it’s so good, I’ve basically began devouring all of Galley’s other work.
If you haven’t read Ben Galley’s books yet, you really, really need to rectify that.
July 14, 2021
3.5 Stars
This is a very classic fantasy narrative that blends together many of my favourite tropes in the start of a new series.
This is my first time reading anything by this author and I was excited to finally jump into his work, since he is such popular indie fantasy author (at least in my corner of the internet).
This is adult fantasy and while it uses adult language and violence, it was not particularly objectionable. This could certainly be enjoyed by younger readers looking to jump into adult fiction.
In terms of epic fantasy, this one was straightforward and easy to follow with a simple, modern writing style. The character list wasn't overly long, but I do wish those characters had felt more distinctive. I have few criticisms of this book, other than the fact that it did not feel particularly new or special. Admittedly, I am known to be a tougher fantasy reviewer so I will suggest that die hard fantasy fans who cannot get enough of the genre will likely enjoy this one more.
I would recommend this to fantasy readers looking for an accessible, easy epic fantasy series to pick up.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author.
This is a very classic fantasy narrative that blends together many of my favourite tropes in the start of a new series.
This is my first time reading anything by this author and I was excited to finally jump into his work, since he is such popular indie fantasy author (at least in my corner of the internet).
This is adult fantasy and while it uses adult language and violence, it was not particularly objectionable. This could certainly be enjoyed by younger readers looking to jump into adult fiction.
In terms of epic fantasy, this one was straightforward and easy to follow with a simple, modern writing style. The character list wasn't overly long, but I do wish those characters had felt more distinctive. I have few criticisms of this book, other than the fact that it did not feel particularly new or special. Admittedly, I am known to be a tougher fantasy reviewer so I will suggest that die hard fantasy fans who cannot get enough of the genre will likely enjoy this one more.
I would recommend this to fantasy readers looking for an accessible, easy epic fantasy series to pick up.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author.
July 19, 2021
DNF at. 35%. I've read a few reviews that describe the book as "Classic Fantasy", but after over 200 pages, I've just read a bunch of (uninteresting) infodump that presented me with a worldbuild without anything interesting.
December 17, 2021
The Forever King is the first book in the Scalussen series. It (mostly) follows the exploits of a girl named Mithrid. Mithrid and her people live on the northern edge of the Arka empire, where magic is outlawed by order of the Emperor, Malvus. When an illegal spellbook washes up on the shore and into Mithrid’s hands, she finds herself tangled up in a war against Malvus that The Outlaw King, Farden and his rebellion are waging. Many shenanigans follow.
This was a difficult book to review, for a few reasons. First and foremost, while this is a separate series from the Emaneska series, it takes place after the events of it. I’ve read the first book in the Emaneska series, but never had time to continue, so I had some knowledge of Farden, at least, beforehand. This book makes reference to events and characters from that series on the regular, so if you don’t want to basically know what happens before this series, I suggest reading the Emaneska series first. I think it’s definitely possible to find enjoyment in this series without having read the series before it, but in the end, I feel as though I’ve both spoiled Emaneska for myself, and missed a great deal of important detail.
I do like Ben Galley’s writing a lot. It was well paced and I liked the prose quite a lot. There are some pretty quotable quotes throughout, and lots of action and shenanigans happening, but it took me rather a long time to latch onto the protagonists and care about why they were doing what they were doing. I did eventually get there, about halfway through, and so the last half of the book was far more entertaining than the first half.
It was a very easy audiobook to turn on and listen to for hours at a time. I love this narrator (Matthew Lloyd Davies) quite a bit. Admittedly, I’ve mostly heard him narrate romance novels, so an epic fantasy was a treat. I just love the sound of his voice, so he’s very easy for me to listen to for long periods of time. He did a great job with the characters here, given that there are a lot of them, and there are everything from dragons to demons to give voice to. I think that I enjoyed this book more as an audiobook than I would have in print. During the parts that I was having trouble getting invested in the story, the narration definitely helped keep me listening.
So, all told, I liked it, but I didn’t love it like I expected to. I feel like I would have gotten more enjoyment here had I read the Emaneska series first, as I would have been able to get all the references to it that were sprinkled throughout, and probably would have had favorite characters from the beginning. On its own, The Forever King is an entertaining book that starts an interesting-sounding adventure, but I still can’t help feeling like I missed something important by starting here.
This was a difficult book to review, for a few reasons. First and foremost, while this is a separate series from the Emaneska series, it takes place after the events of it. I’ve read the first book in the Emaneska series, but never had time to continue, so I had some knowledge of Farden, at least, beforehand. This book makes reference to events and characters from that series on the regular, so if you don’t want to basically know what happens before this series, I suggest reading the Emaneska series first. I think it’s definitely possible to find enjoyment in this series without having read the series before it, but in the end, I feel as though I’ve both spoiled Emaneska for myself, and missed a great deal of important detail.
I do like Ben Galley’s writing a lot. It was well paced and I liked the prose quite a lot. There are some pretty quotable quotes throughout, and lots of action and shenanigans happening, but it took me rather a long time to latch onto the protagonists and care about why they were doing what they were doing. I did eventually get there, about halfway through, and so the last half of the book was far more entertaining than the first half.
It was a very easy audiobook to turn on and listen to for hours at a time. I love this narrator (Matthew Lloyd Davies) quite a bit. Admittedly, I’ve mostly heard him narrate romance novels, so an epic fantasy was a treat. I just love the sound of his voice, so he’s very easy for me to listen to for long periods of time. He did a great job with the characters here, given that there are a lot of them, and there are everything from dragons to demons to give voice to. I think that I enjoyed this book more as an audiobook than I would have in print. During the parts that I was having trouble getting invested in the story, the narration definitely helped keep me listening.
So, all told, I liked it, but I didn’t love it like I expected to. I feel like I would have gotten more enjoyment here had I read the Emaneska series first, as I would have been able to get all the references to it that were sprinkled throughout, and probably would have had favorite characters from the beginning. On its own, The Forever King is an entertaining book that starts an interesting-sounding adventure, but I still can’t help feeling like I missed something important by starting here.
August 9, 2021
3.5 stars
February 15, 2022
I read this for SPFBO. More about the contest and links at the bottom.
The Forever King, the first in the new series by Ben Galley that takes place decades after his first series the Emaneska. The amount of time that has passed in-world made having to know anything about that series to understand this book, a non-issue for me. I skimmed the notes of past events in the start of the book and pretty much everything is self-explanatory and for the rest, there were informative history excerpts in the beginning of the chapter to fill you in along the way.
Most of the book is shown between three characters:
Mithrid - a girl who lost her home and family, after finding a book of magic on the shores of the village she lives near.
Farden- The Forever King has built a stronghold in the north keeping his people safe from the Arka Empire.
and Malvus- who has been gathering his army ready to squash the last of his enemies and rule completely.
The Forever King had a great beginning with Mithrid and the others scavenging the coastline. It really grabbed me and made me want to come back and see what happens to them.
But as the story progressed, I found myself losing interest and had to refrain from skimming, which was surprising to me since this story is full of everything I love. Plus, the writing is tight, and has a fantasy landscape that would make any of the classics proud.
It’s a huge feeling world with magic that is very present- I loved the making of the Scarred. The “bad guys” feel malevolent and dark, and I do like a story with a villain that feels evil; one that I can really be worried about winning, and how our heroes will fare.
Somewhat spoilery talk ahead-
I struggled to put into words what it was that held me back from this story and more importantly for me- the characters. I hate to just say “I didn’t connect to them” and not give a reason, though, honestly for a review outside of SPFBO, I would have left it at that.
Because this was world-building heavy and a very full book, the characters quickly fell into patterns of predictability for me- grieving girl with big angry chip on her shoulder, disillusioned and weary leader willing to go to any lengths to protect the world. They didn’t feel as realized to me, as the incredible world they lived in.
And I sometimes questioned Farden and Mithrid’s relationship. It’s a pretty big part of the story, and affected my interest more than anything else. (BTW this wasn’t a romantic relationship it’s more a comrade-in-arms kind of thing.)
I wondered why was he willing to sacrifice the many for his cause, but Mithrid, he felt he had to protect? He didn’t seem to see her as a daughter but more someone that he felt bad for their circumstances.
And why, after so many years of keeping himself aloof from all but his closest circle he had interest in her welfare, out of a stronghold full of people that had suffered the same kinds of losses as she did?
Outside of the obvious, of course, that I won’t go into for more spoilery reasons, but Farden could have as easily sent assassins rather than saviors and in his mindset at that point, that would almost have made more sense to me.
Anyway, back to the stuff I loved-
The highlight for me in this story, was the siege and the big battle towards the end. I love sieges. I thought the scale of the armies were shown well and I couldn’t help but think of some of those scenes in the Tolkien movies when they’d pan out and you could see the scope of the gathered armies, their magnitudes so astounding that you wondered how the good guys could ever succeed. Very cool.
And on a side-note, as someone who lives in the north and has winter up to 7 months of the year; I really felt the cold in this book. The crunch of the snow, that cut right through you chill of the wind, the ozone smell- it felt like winter.
TLDR:
I didn’t connect to the main players as much as I would have liked but The Forever King is definitely worth checking out if you like epic fantasy with an impressively built landscape and very present magic.
spfbo score- 7 or 4 stars
Phase one is here-
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December 25, 2020
How wonderful to be back in the world of Emanska again; journeying with familiar characters such as Farden, Morden, Durnus and of course those wondrous dragons; but in this latest series they are joined by some more excellent protagonists in the fight for freedom - namely a young girl Mithrid. After she loses her family to the self proclaimed Emperor Malvus she joins Farden's group of rebels, armed with her father's axe and magic that has never been seen before, the need for revenge takes our young heroine to places she has never dreamed about.
With not many Written left to carry Emanska to a place where mages, tribes and different can live without threat, is Mithrid the hope the Forever King has been looking for?
Once again Ben Galley has given us another wondrous story from that brilliant imagination of his.
With not many Written left to carry Emanska to a place where mages, tribes and different can live without threat, is Mithrid the hope the Forever King has been looking for?
Once again Ben Galley has given us another wondrous story from that brilliant imagination of his.
February 9, 2022
Ben Galley's The Forever King has it all - history, war, adventure, magic, and mystery. You can feel the author's creative passion seeping through the pages. Fans of epic fantasy will be thrilled. Sadly, I'm not one of them.
Arka Empire banned magick (yes, with k) and kills those who possess it. Sure, there is a rebellion (there's always one) led by the Outlaw King, but they operate near the empire's northern fringes. Mithrid Fenn leads challenging but overall enjoyable life until the spellbook washes ashore. Then, things go terribly, terribly wrong, and she loses everything she holds dear.
She joins the rebels, learns valuable lessons, discovers her inner potential and appetite for revenge. Of course, it's much more complicated than that, what with dragons, politics, precarious balance of power. You'll find out for yourself if you give it a try.
Mithrid is a fierce female protagonist. Not always likable, sometimes headstrong, but focused and determined, and I appreciate those qualities. Her development and acceptance of her potential to do magick is gradual and convincing. Kudos for that.
Side characters are relatable and magic inventive - it's based on words and sounds, and some mages have spellbooks carved into their backs. Fascinating stuff.
While The Forever King's world is quite captivating, the amount of information can feel cumbersome. Readers have to consume a lot of lore to understand where the story takes them. Of course, fantasy readers want lore and worldbuilding, but it sometimes feels like the story doesn't always come first. That said, I'm not too fond of epic fantasy precisely because of this. I may be just the wrong reader to appreciate Ben's work; extensive worldbuilding tires me quickly.
Although the story takes some time to get going and wrap up toward the end, it feels structurally balanced. However, the story's pacing may feel uneven to those who like a faster pace; the extended passages and some repetitions slow it down. I think (but it's strongly subjective) that cutting off 20 % of the text wouldn't hurt it—quite the opposite.
The Forever King will appeal to fans of dark and epic fantasy. Even though it drags, it still packs a punch and provides solid entertainment. The evocative setting, relatable characters, and intriguing events create a memorable story. Not surprising or original, but hitting all the right epic fantasy beats. Additionally, the audiobook version is excellent, and I highly recommend this format to those who enjoy audiobooks.
Arka Empire banned magick (yes, with k) and kills those who possess it. Sure, there is a rebellion (there's always one) led by the Outlaw King, but they operate near the empire's northern fringes. Mithrid Fenn leads challenging but overall enjoyable life until the spellbook washes ashore. Then, things go terribly, terribly wrong, and she loses everything she holds dear.
She joins the rebels, learns valuable lessons, discovers her inner potential and appetite for revenge. Of course, it's much more complicated than that, what with dragons, politics, precarious balance of power. You'll find out for yourself if you give it a try.
Mithrid is a fierce female protagonist. Not always likable, sometimes headstrong, but focused and determined, and I appreciate those qualities. Her development and acceptance of her potential to do magick is gradual and convincing. Kudos for that.
Side characters are relatable and magic inventive - it's based on words and sounds, and some mages have spellbooks carved into their backs. Fascinating stuff.
While The Forever King's world is quite captivating, the amount of information can feel cumbersome. Readers have to consume a lot of lore to understand where the story takes them. Of course, fantasy readers want lore and worldbuilding, but it sometimes feels like the story doesn't always come first. That said, I'm not too fond of epic fantasy precisely because of this. I may be just the wrong reader to appreciate Ben's work; extensive worldbuilding tires me quickly.
Although the story takes some time to get going and wrap up toward the end, it feels structurally balanced. However, the story's pacing may feel uneven to those who like a faster pace; the extended passages and some repetitions slow it down. I think (but it's strongly subjective) that cutting off 20 % of the text wouldn't hurt it—quite the opposite.
The Forever King will appeal to fans of dark and epic fantasy. Even though it drags, it still packs a punch and provides solid entertainment. The evocative setting, relatable characters, and intriguing events create a memorable story. Not surprising or original, but hitting all the right epic fantasy beats. Additionally, the audiobook version is excellent, and I highly recommend this format to those who enjoy audiobooks.
May 2, 2022
The Forever King is so long… Which might not have been a problem, if it had caught my interest right from the start, but I only started to really engage with the plot at about the halfway point.
I wonder if I would have liked this better if I had read the previous series, The Written, as this seems to be kind of a sequel series. Maybe if I had already known these characters, I might have cared about them earlier? As it is, it took me ages to connect to them, they felt flat for a long while before they finally took shape in my mind.
My husband who read it at the same time enjoyed it more, and to that specific problem just shrugged and said, “Oh well, it’s a more classical fantasy.” He also and didn’t mind the bad guy seemingly being bad for the sake of being the villain. And the hero saves the world because that is what heroes are supposed to do. I personally like more rounded and deeper characters.
In the second half the characters have started to settle a bit, but mostly it’s the action being turned up high that makes me more engaged, and still not the characters.
I also didn’t like the way it felt very classic and ‘tame’ most of the time, but then felt grimdark for one paragraph, before falling back to an easy style. For me the switch didn’t feel natural, but grinded a bit and stood out.
I wonder if I would have liked this better if I had read the previous series, The Written, as this seems to be kind of a sequel series. Maybe if I had already known these characters, I might have cared about them earlier? As it is, it took me ages to connect to them, they felt flat for a long while before they finally took shape in my mind.
My husband who read it at the same time enjoyed it more, and to that specific problem just shrugged and said, “Oh well, it’s a more classical fantasy.” He also and didn’t mind the bad guy seemingly being bad for the sake of being the villain. And the hero saves the world because that is what heroes are supposed to do. I personally like more rounded and deeper characters.
In the second half the characters have started to settle a bit, but mostly it’s the action being turned up high that makes me more engaged, and still not the characters.
I also didn’t like the way it felt very classic and ‘tame’ most of the time, but then felt grimdark for one paragraph, before falling back to an easy style. For me the switch didn’t feel natural, but grinded a bit and stood out.
July 29, 2021
“We found a spellbook in a shipwreck. A summoning book. We opened it. Read it aloud. A creature came from the book and killed my friend, and I woke up to a village dripping with blood and my dead father next to me.”
Mithrid has always been taught to hate and fear magick. But when a spellbook washes onto the shores of her peaceful life, she finds herself entangled in the rebellion of an Outlaw King and the tyranny of an Empire. Mithrid has no interest in which side of this battle is the noble one, she cares only which will allow her brutal and bloody vengeance.
Y’all this book has every single bit of fantastical goodness you could hope for in a high fantasy. I’m talking magick, dragons, outlaws, vampyres, gods, kings, emperors, children with trauma AND daemons.
I would love more of y’all to read this, not only because I think it’s great, but also because I could absolutely use some collaboration on how I’m supposed to be pronouncing any of these Nwords :)
I do wish that I’d read the Emaneska series (the original books in this world) before I embarked on the Scalussen Chronicles, but I was 100% able to follow without that background. If any of you are fans of Leigh Bardugo’s YA fantasy systems and are looking to start adult high fantasy, I think this could be a great place to start!
For my Marvel fans, this book features Loki (albeit not quite Tom Hiddleston’s version) and might help to cure your MCU hangovers.
A mini playlist for this book:
- Vídbláinn // Peter Gundry (if you’re wondering whether I already had this creepy Viking music in my playlist before now, the answer is yes I did)
- Immigrant Song // Led Zeppelin
- 1944 // Jamala
The opening and closing paragraphs of this book live rent free in my brain, so here’s the whole opening one to convince y’all to read it:
“A whimper. A garbled moan of a half-prayer to an absent god. That was the sum total of the last words the woman was allowed before the noose slid tight against her pallid neck.”
Thank you so much @bengalleyauthor for sending me this book, I can’t wait for book 2 (Heavy Lies the Crown) next week!
Mithrid has always been taught to hate and fear magick. But when a spellbook washes onto the shores of her peaceful life, she finds herself entangled in the rebellion of an Outlaw King and the tyranny of an Empire. Mithrid has no interest in which side of this battle is the noble one, she cares only which will allow her brutal and bloody vengeance.
Y’all this book has every single bit of fantastical goodness you could hope for in a high fantasy. I’m talking magick, dragons, outlaws, vampyres, gods, kings, emperors, children with trauma AND daemons.
I would love more of y’all to read this, not only because I think it’s great, but also because I could absolutely use some collaboration on how I’m supposed to be pronouncing any of these Nwords :)
I do wish that I’d read the Emaneska series (the original books in this world) before I embarked on the Scalussen Chronicles, but I was 100% able to follow without that background. If any of you are fans of Leigh Bardugo’s YA fantasy systems and are looking to start adult high fantasy, I think this could be a great place to start!
For my Marvel fans, this book features Loki (albeit not quite Tom Hiddleston’s version) and might help to cure your MCU hangovers.
A mini playlist for this book:
- Vídbláinn // Peter Gundry (if you’re wondering whether I already had this creepy Viking music in my playlist before now, the answer is yes I did)
- Immigrant Song // Led Zeppelin
- 1944 // Jamala
The opening and closing paragraphs of this book live rent free in my brain, so here’s the whole opening one to convince y’all to read it:
“A whimper. A garbled moan of a half-prayer to an absent god. That was the sum total of the last words the woman was allowed before the noose slid tight against her pallid neck.”
Thank you so much @bengalleyauthor for sending me this book, I can’t wait for book 2 (Heavy Lies the Crown) next week!
March 29, 2023
A solid book that I really enjoyed overall. It has a simple, linear plot with interesting characters. I had a couple of issues with it though:
1. The writing wasn't very...visual. I had a hard time "seeing it" in my head and I usually have no issues with that.
2. The relationship between Farden and Mithrid. It felt like there was not enough bonding time for them to become as close as they turned out to be towards the end.
I listened to the audiobook and the narrator wasn't the best and I had to speed it up in order to make it sound like normal speed.
This was my entrypoint to the series and I really enjoyed jumping into it on this end. I will definitely continue with the series.
1. The writing wasn't very...visual. I had a hard time "seeing it" in my head and I usually have no issues with that.
2. The relationship between Farden and Mithrid. It felt like there was not enough bonding time for them to become as close as they turned out to be towards the end.
I listened to the audiobook and the narrator wasn't the best and I had to speed it up in order to make it sound like normal speed.
This was my entrypoint to the series and I really enjoyed jumping into it on this end. I will definitely continue with the series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 4, 2021
Such a fantastic piece of writing, smooth, decent world building and excellent characters who grow as the book moves along the seat of the pants storytelling.
A spfbo 7 finalist worthy to win
A spfbo 7 finalist worthy to win
November 25, 2020
received this ARC from the other in exchange for an honest review. This is my first experience reading a novel written by the excellent Ben Galley and it certainly won’t be the last. Right from the start you are thrown into a gritty and cruel world where magic, or magick as it is told in the book, is forbidden and punishably by death. When you also throw into the mix: daemons, dragons, an all powerful evil empire, rebellion, and a revenge story you know that you are in for a kickass time. The Forever King is set to be released on December 1st and it should be on the radar for epic fantasy fans of all tastes and backgrounds.
This story does take place in Ben Galley’s Emaneska series, taking place many years after the conclusion of those novels. Don not let this deter new readers as Mr. Galley gives us a brief introduction to the events in his previous works and it sets the stage nicely for the Forever King. I have not read any of the Emanaska books and I never once felt like I was missing anything in the story. The book is told through Multi-POV characters but we primarily follow the story of Mithrid Fenn. The Arka Empire has a strangle hold not only on magic but the population inhabiting it. Spreading rumors and horror stories regarding the viscous Outlaw King.
The peace between the two kingdom’s is broken and an outright rebellion is unleashed in the northern fringes of the empire. To cliff-brat Mithrid, this is an age of tranquility and childhood games. That is until an illegal spell book washes up on her shores, and she finds herself thrust into a war she never knew existed. Now hunted by daemons and mages, she is dragged inexorably north to Scalussen and its rebels fighting doggedly to preserve a memory of freedom. Mithrid will go to any stakes to exact her revenge on the Arka empire and if she has to seek the help of the Outlaw King, then so be it.
Ben Galley is a very descriptive writer, letting the world and scenery unfold naturally as if you were a traveler making your way through the countryside. This does lead the book to be a little bit of a slow burn at times, but I didn’t mind this as the story was very engaging and the payoff was well worth the wait. Mithrid is a broken character eager to prove herself every chance she gets. When she learns of all the lies, deception, and unforgivable things her empire has done to her, she seeks to bring the thing down in any way she can. One of the best female characters I have read in the fantasy genre.
I am eagerly looking forward to continuing this series and even starting from the beginning with the Emanaska books to see how it all began. Ben Galley is an ambitious and skilled writer who will one day be a household name in the fantasy community.
Here’s to you Ben Galley, job well done!
Cheers!
More reviews at undertheradarsffbooks.com
This story does take place in Ben Galley’s Emaneska series, taking place many years after the conclusion of those novels. Don not let this deter new readers as Mr. Galley gives us a brief introduction to the events in his previous works and it sets the stage nicely for the Forever King. I have not read any of the Emanaska books and I never once felt like I was missing anything in the story. The book is told through Multi-POV characters but we primarily follow the story of Mithrid Fenn. The Arka Empire has a strangle hold not only on magic but the population inhabiting it. Spreading rumors and horror stories regarding the viscous Outlaw King.
The peace between the two kingdom’s is broken and an outright rebellion is unleashed in the northern fringes of the empire. To cliff-brat Mithrid, this is an age of tranquility and childhood games. That is until an illegal spell book washes up on her shores, and she finds herself thrust into a war she never knew existed. Now hunted by daemons and mages, she is dragged inexorably north to Scalussen and its rebels fighting doggedly to preserve a memory of freedom. Mithrid will go to any stakes to exact her revenge on the Arka empire and if she has to seek the help of the Outlaw King, then so be it.
Ben Galley is a very descriptive writer, letting the world and scenery unfold naturally as if you were a traveler making your way through the countryside. This does lead the book to be a little bit of a slow burn at times, but I didn’t mind this as the story was very engaging and the payoff was well worth the wait. Mithrid is a broken character eager to prove herself every chance she gets. When she learns of all the lies, deception, and unforgivable things her empire has done to her, she seeks to bring the thing down in any way she can. One of the best female characters I have read in the fantasy genre.
I am eagerly looking forward to continuing this series and even starting from the beginning with the Emanaska books to see how it all began. Ben Galley is an ambitious and skilled writer who will one day be a household name in the fantasy community.
Here’s to you Ben Galley, job well done!
Cheers!
More reviews at undertheradarsffbooks.com
December 3, 2020
One of the best things about fantasy series, is the possibility of returning to a world as it moves on. I did always wonder what would happen at the end of Dead Stars Part two, the last book of the Emaneska series. I now have my reward after reading The Forever King!
I am going to start with characters, and one of the things I love about Ben’s writing is how he captures character and this is something he has consistently achieved throughout his many books. I loved the characters, both the old and the new, the developments that happen are wonderful. While Mithrid is the main character and her story is the main focus, the character I enjoyed meeting again and following was Modren! I loved him in the original series and seeing his new journey was something quite special for me! It was incredible to be back with Farden as well, he is one of the better characters that Ben has created
Now something I have always enjoyed in books by Ben is the magic system, they are arguably some of the best and most well thought out in modern fantasy literature. The system in The Forever King is much the same as The Emaneska series, Mages have their book tattooed for want of a word ont their back and magic is random. You can be gifted with skills in one area, or in Farden’s several, but it does have it’s cost and it can be lethal to the untrained. One of the best aspects of Magick in the world is that it is alive, those trained feel it and it can almost function like a character. It can often be an ally, but sometimes it is deadly.
Now the world of Emaneska is a world, if you are a returning reader, you will be familiar with. It is a dark fantasy world if you are not, and again the description will ease you into this. I actually remembered some time ago, and one of the reasons why it was so good to be back, is that this is Norse-Inpsired fantasy and some elements are wonderful. The world is shown to you through the characters and this is another fine example of character driven fantasy that I have read this year. I have seriously loved my return to Emenska! This is the start of a fantastic new series by one of my favourite authors, I cannot wait for book 2!
March 19, 2022
I read 'The Forever King' for the SPFBO7 contest as part of the last batch of remaining finalists (10!) My review will be part of FanFiAddict's. This will reflect only my personal rating and opinion and is not the final score for FFA.
The Forever King was a roller-coaster ride. I loved the mage magic and I realized that I don't read enough stories with mages. This will be changing immediately.
The story felt modern, rooted in epic fantasy with Nordic influence. I will preface this review by stating that this was my entry into the world. I regrettably haven't read any previous books within this setting. Now, I do not like to do this so this was a really interesting experience for me because it was the first time I did such a thing. I sadly did not get the chance to pick up on any easter eggs or details brought in from the other books, so I don't know if there were any added but I imagine fans of the previous series would truly appreciate it.
The beginning and middle were fantastic. It was epic in nature and I loved most of the characters introduced. I did feel a little neutral on Mithrid's POV. The last 25% of the story is where I struggled. Some of the plot decisions were a miss for me and a little too deux ex machina by the end.
I can't wait to continue with the series, as it introduced a lot of things I love.
The Forever King was a roller-coaster ride. I loved the mage magic and I realized that I don't read enough stories with mages. This will be changing immediately.
The story felt modern, rooted in epic fantasy with Nordic influence. I will preface this review by stating that this was my entry into the world. I regrettably haven't read any previous books within this setting. Now, I do not like to do this so this was a really interesting experience for me because it was the first time I did such a thing. I sadly did not get the chance to pick up on any easter eggs or details brought in from the other books, so I don't know if there were any added but I imagine fans of the previous series would truly appreciate it.
The beginning and middle were fantastic. It was epic in nature and I loved most of the characters introduced. I did feel a little neutral on Mithrid's POV. The last 25% of the story is where I struggled. Some of the plot decisions were a miss for me and a little too deux ex machina by the end.
I can't wait to continue with the series, as it introduced a lot of things I love.
February 24, 2022
3.75/5 stars. This is definitely EPIC fantasy at it's core. This is a big sweeping world with a pretty typical pacing structure of first act (high action), second act (low action), third act (build-up) and then climax. Galley wasn't afraid to step outside the fantasy norms, he came up with his own creatures and lore in a lot of cases which were well explained and slowly introduced. He also played with some typical creatures though like minotaurs and vampyres, which I liked because that meant that not everything was new. The magick system in this book was amazing, and was a riff off an elemental system in some ways, which I like because it grounds you in the familiar while introducing the unique quirks present especially in the cases of The Written and their books.
Now it was clear that this is a sequel series, so it did feel like there was some history and some story that had already been told, but I do believe that you can enter the world of Scalussen from this book and still enjoy it thoroughly.
Now it was clear that this is a sequel series, so it did feel like there was some history and some story that had already been told, but I do believe that you can enter the world of Scalussen from this book and still enjoy it thoroughly.
November 9, 2021
My Take:
I come to this book as a reader of the author’s Chasing Graves trilogy. An Egyptian-inspired fantasy book about enslaved souls… and the riches and politics that surround the famed Arctian Empire. I thoroughly enjoyed those novels and that opened me up to other books by the author, but you know the nature of TBRs… Ben reached out to me last year when this book was released and to be honest I started reading several times before the it really clicked. It may be because I had never read the other parts of the Emaniska Series, or I suspect that I felt overwhelmed by the short history lesson at the beginning… I kept thinking, am I gonna need to know this?
Here are some things that I found in the story… Well-drawn central POV characters. Mithrid’s life is thrown into chaos immediately in the first several pages. And a double switch on the part of the enemy/ allies just shows what type of book the reader is getting into.
I also enjoyed the range of worldbuilding… from focused spellcasting to brief tidbits of historical importance to geographical details, I think Galley does a superb job of including all parts of Emaneska in the writing.
The one major issue I found with the storytelling is connected to the multiple POVs. The author throws a lot of balls in the air, and at times I felt that some of the characters were left outside of the frame for too long. I think this is a hard decision for an author when thinking about scope of narrative and depth of characters.
The Forever King is a big book… certainly page count can be a factor, but this novel screams big characters, dragons, magic, and war. Enjoy!
4 out of 5 stars
Thank you to the author for an advanced copy for review.
I come to this book as a reader of the author’s Chasing Graves trilogy. An Egyptian-inspired fantasy book about enslaved souls… and the riches and politics that surround the famed Arctian Empire. I thoroughly enjoyed those novels and that opened me up to other books by the author, but you know the nature of TBRs… Ben reached out to me last year when this book was released and to be honest I started reading several times before the it really clicked. It may be because I had never read the other parts of the Emaniska Series, or I suspect that I felt overwhelmed by the short history lesson at the beginning… I kept thinking, am I gonna need to know this?
Here are some things that I found in the story… Well-drawn central POV characters. Mithrid’s life is thrown into chaos immediately in the first several pages. And a double switch on the part of the enemy/ allies just shows what type of book the reader is getting into.
I also enjoyed the range of worldbuilding… from focused spellcasting to brief tidbits of historical importance to geographical details, I think Galley does a superb job of including all parts of Emaneska in the writing.
The one major issue I found with the storytelling is connected to the multiple POVs. The author throws a lot of balls in the air, and at times I felt that some of the characters were left outside of the frame for too long. I think this is a hard decision for an author when thinking about scope of narrative and depth of characters.
The Forever King is a big book… certainly page count can be a factor, but this novel screams big characters, dragons, magic, and war. Enjoy!
4 out of 5 stars
Thank you to the author for an advanced copy for review.
November 28, 2020
Received as an arc
A tomb of a book full of nail biting twists and turns. Yes this is a long book but didn’t feel like to me. Kept me interested from the start. My imagination was in overdrive throughout. My heart in my throat. Great world building with plenty of action. A definite read for Farden fans.
A tomb of a book full of nail biting twists and turns. Yes this is a long book but didn’t feel like to me. Kept me interested from the start. My imagination was in overdrive throughout. My heart in my throat. Great world building with plenty of action. A definite read for Farden fans.
January 4, 2021
I should start by saying that I did actually enjoy parts of the book, but I thought it was overdone. It felt like the author just kept piling more and more things in ‘willy nilly’. Maybe if I had read the previous series it wouldn’t have felt so chaotic, but I actually groaned out loud when ‘Loki” suddenly appeared. If I had known the author was going to resort to Norse Gods I wouldn’t have started the book. He also seemed to dwell on misery and gratuitous violence a bit too much for my tastes.
July 10, 2021
A novel that doesn’t feel like it’s over 600 pages long, The Forever King is an enchanting, exciting, action-filled story with an interesting world and fun characters.
As someone who doesn’t tend to enjoy the descriptive nature of fantasy, Galley does a great job balancing this with interesting details - I never felt like the scenery was described unnecessarily or for padding. The battle/action scenes are executed with finesse - they move quickly and I enjoyed how his heroes didn’t spend time bemoaning taking someone’s life mid-fight. They enjoy using their powers/techniques and I found that realistic.
While the other characters are interesting, Mithrid really stole the show for me. A firecracker of a young woman with no tolerance for bullshit, her stubbornness, bravery, and sheer audacity made me adore her instantly (and usually I’m not fond of stories featuring teenagers). Her sections were engrossing and it was wonderful to follow her. The subtle LGBTQ+ rep was a nice surprise too, especially in a novel where a love story is definitely not a subplot.
I adored all the fantastical elements. The magic concept was very fun. The bookships … gah! Two of my favourite things (boats and books)! I loved that part so much. The daemons were so creepy and gross but fascinating. The minotaurs!
I loved that the main minotaur was female. So often in fantasy books are we given minotaurs (as a mythological race, which is different from The Minotaur a la Crete) who are male (with the female ones being in the background or not mentioned). Warbringer was awesome.
In fact, one of my favourite aspects was how gender was handled. Unlike most European-based fantasy, we aren’t given a society rooted in patriarchy where we have one or two token women warriors or there is a strong princess or wizardess. This novel presupposes that women are indeed 50% of the population and are just as likely to be warriors, mages, generals, and blacksmiths as the men. In fact, aside from one comment (by the villain) sexism doesn’t even seem to exist (and the comment was more denigrating of sex work than women in general). No women in this book are sexually assaulted to show how bad the villains are, nor is that part of their story. Honestly, EVERY fantasy writer should take note.
There were a few things that kept it from being perfect for me. Because this takes place in the world of a previous series, I did feel like I was missing something when it came to the older main characters. While I never was lost plot-wise, I felt like the new girlfriend at a party with people who have known one another for ten years. While no one was rude or cold, all the inside jokes went over my head. As such, Farden’s story wasn’t as impactful to me as it could have been, and I found him a little bit too brooding. I think some of their fates (whether good or bad) would have meant more to me had I read the other trilogy.
I also wasn’t super into the Loki character. I realize he’s a staple of Nordic mythology, but given I’m also watching the Marvel Loki show at the moment (and loving it), I’m kinda Loki’d out. This didn’t impact my rating, just a comment.
Still, it’s an engrossing, exciting book and I look forward to the second one!
Highly recommended to those who like dark(er) epic fantasy with lots of battles, really fun characters, an amazing amount of gender parity, and a rich fantasy world.
As someone who doesn’t tend to enjoy the descriptive nature of fantasy, Galley does a great job balancing this with interesting details - I never felt like the scenery was described unnecessarily or for padding. The battle/action scenes are executed with finesse - they move quickly and I enjoyed how his heroes didn’t spend time bemoaning taking someone’s life mid-fight. They enjoy using their powers/techniques and I found that realistic.
While the other characters are interesting, Mithrid really stole the show for me. A firecracker of a young woman with no tolerance for bullshit, her stubbornness, bravery, and sheer audacity made me adore her instantly (and usually I’m not fond of stories featuring teenagers). Her sections were engrossing and it was wonderful to follow her. The subtle LGBTQ+ rep was a nice surprise too, especially in a novel where a love story is definitely not a subplot.
I adored all the fantastical elements. The magic concept was very fun. The bookships … gah! Two of my favourite things (boats and books)! I loved that part so much. The daemons were so creepy and gross but fascinating. The minotaurs!
I loved that the main minotaur was female. So often in fantasy books are we given minotaurs (as a mythological race, which is different from The Minotaur a la Crete) who are male (with the female ones being in the background or not mentioned). Warbringer was awesome.
In fact, one of my favourite aspects was how gender was handled. Unlike most European-based fantasy, we aren’t given a society rooted in patriarchy where we have one or two token women warriors or there is a strong princess or wizardess. This novel presupposes that women are indeed 50% of the population and are just as likely to be warriors, mages, generals, and blacksmiths as the men. In fact, aside from one comment (by the villain) sexism doesn’t even seem to exist (and the comment was more denigrating of sex work than women in general). No women in this book are sexually assaulted to show how bad the villains are, nor is that part of their story. Honestly, EVERY fantasy writer should take note.
There were a few things that kept it from being perfect for me. Because this takes place in the world of a previous series, I did feel like I was missing something when it came to the older main characters. While I never was lost plot-wise, I felt like the new girlfriend at a party with people who have known one another for ten years. While no one was rude or cold, all the inside jokes went over my head. As such, Farden’s story wasn’t as impactful to me as it could have been, and I found him a little bit too brooding. I think some of their fates (whether good or bad) would have meant more to me had I read the other trilogy.
I also wasn’t super into the Loki character. I realize he’s a staple of Nordic mythology, but given I’m also watching the Marvel Loki show at the moment (and loving it), I’m kinda Loki’d out. This didn’t impact my rating, just a comment.
Still, it’s an engrossing, exciting book and I look forward to the second one!
Highly recommended to those who like dark(er) epic fantasy with lots of battles, really fun characters, an amazing amount of gender parity, and a rich fantasy world.
Read
February 12, 2022Read this book entry finalist for the SPFBO7 contest as part of the last remaining ten novels for phase two to be read.
My review will be part of the judges panel when we post it on THE FANTASY HIVE in a few weeks.
My review will be part of the judges panel when we post it on THE FANTASY HIVE in a few weeks.
January 26, 2023
Roll on part 2
Ben galleys work just seems to get better with every new release and this has been no exception. His worlds come alive and drag you through live action battles with blood and brutality. His world building and characters are second only to an epic story
Ben galleys work just seems to get better with every new release and this has been no exception. His worlds come alive and drag you through live action battles with blood and brutality. His world building and characters are second only to an epic story
December 17, 2021
This is a 3-star review. That is an accurate estimate of my experience with this book.
The writing and general story structure were pretty good. However, the book had two significant flaws that were hard to overlook.
- there really wasn't much effort put into creating an emotional connection with any of the characters. The protagonists get victimized early on in the book with only a middling amount of character development to form the basis for an emotional connection.
- there is an inconsistent representation of power. On a related note, the balance of power is also inconsistent.
The magic users have lots of power, but they still work with ordinary fighters. Towards the end of the book, the fighters seem to be largely irrelevant to the ongoing fight while the magic users do all the heavy lifting. Equally, the protagonists have dragons that are quite powerful. There really doesn't seem to be that much of a need for normal infantry.
The first half of the book was really good, but the back half was a bit of a chore to finish. I don't have any plans to continue this series.
The writing and general story structure were pretty good. However, the book had two significant flaws that were hard to overlook.
- there really wasn't much effort put into creating an emotional connection with any of the characters. The protagonists get victimized early on in the book with only a middling amount of character development to form the basis for an emotional connection.
- there is an inconsistent representation of power. On a related note, the balance of power is also inconsistent.
The magic users have lots of power, but they still work with ordinary fighters. Towards the end of the book, the fighters seem to be largely irrelevant to the ongoing fight while the magic users do all the heavy lifting. Equally, the protagonists have dragons that are quite powerful. There really doesn't seem to be that much of a need for normal infantry.
The first half of the book was really good, but the back half was a bit of a chore to finish. I don't have any plans to continue this series.
Read
February 11, 2022The Forever King (hereafter referred to as FK) is a sprawling, classic-style epic involving magic, mystical races such as minotaurs, vampires, a dark lord that needs overthrowing, a heroic symbol about which to rally around, a plucky youngster, and—of course—dragons. FK is the first book of a second series covering the events in the world Emaneska but I was able to pick it up well enough and didn’t feel like there was story I was missing. The Arka Empire has vanquished magic and hoarded what remains for it’s own ends, and come to dominate the land, though a band of rebels, including the Written mages, continues the struggle—all set against a backdrop of Norse gods, especially the trickster Loki.
The tale of FK is told through a number of POVs, though mostly via Mithrid, a teenage girl whose village is destroyed in a false-flag operation by the Arka; and Farden, the leader of the rebellion whose conscience and self-doubt are as lethal an enemy as the Arka. These main characters are generally easy to empathize with. I liked them both, though their character development take on familiar arcs. Other characters receive variable development, though I found the antagonists a little too one-note for my taste. The Arkan emperor Malvus is suitably cruel and malicious but that’s about it. The sentient dragons added a note of fun, especially one young, smart-mouth, speedy dragon who flies like a drunken maniac.
The depth and lore of the world are impressive and reveal not only a layered history for both realm and characters, but also an interesting, varied magic system. I feel like I’ve read a lot of fantasy lately based on Norse mythology and while its presence here was light, Loki functioned as much in a deus ex machina role for the antagonists, instigating certain plot events and bailing them out of trouble. Timely interference by the gods, just ‘cause, is pretty standard for fantasy but I would have preferred to see the antagonists use their big brains to drive the plot more often. The overall pace felt a little off to me, with the first half of FK feeling quite slow to develop. That said, I enjoyed the second half quite a bit more as certain events happen. A number of character die but I expect most fans of epic fantasy will see the major deaths coming; in fact, the overall plot was fairly predictable and hit most of the notes I was expecting.
All this may sound as if I didn’t enjoy the book. I did, though I’m not sure it stands out enough for me. To put it simply, I’d say that FK is solid classic fantasy, with a very familiar feeling. It should appeal to fans of epic fantasy, teen protagonists, and large-scale worldbuilding.
The tale of FK is told through a number of POVs, though mostly via Mithrid, a teenage girl whose village is destroyed in a false-flag operation by the Arka; and Farden, the leader of the rebellion whose conscience and self-doubt are as lethal an enemy as the Arka. These main characters are generally easy to empathize with. I liked them both, though their character development take on familiar arcs. Other characters receive variable development, though I found the antagonists a little too one-note for my taste. The Arkan emperor Malvus is suitably cruel and malicious but that’s about it. The sentient dragons added a note of fun, especially one young, smart-mouth, speedy dragon who flies like a drunken maniac.
The depth and lore of the world are impressive and reveal not only a layered history for both realm and characters, but also an interesting, varied magic system. I feel like I’ve read a lot of fantasy lately based on Norse mythology and while its presence here was light, Loki functioned as much in a deus ex machina role for the antagonists, instigating certain plot events and bailing them out of trouble. Timely interference by the gods, just ‘cause, is pretty standard for fantasy but I would have preferred to see the antagonists use their big brains to drive the plot more often. The overall pace felt a little off to me, with the first half of FK feeling quite slow to develop. That said, I enjoyed the second half quite a bit more as certain events happen. A number of character die but I expect most fans of epic fantasy will see the major deaths coming; in fact, the overall plot was fairly predictable and hit most of the notes I was expecting.
All this may sound as if I didn’t enjoy the book. I did, though I’m not sure it stands out enough for me. To put it simply, I’d say that FK is solid classic fantasy, with a very familiar feeling. It should appeal to fans of epic fantasy, teen protagonists, and large-scale worldbuilding.
February 19, 2025
“Winds have changed. The war is coming.”
I was lucky enough to get an ARC of The Forever King. I could not put this book down and I didn’t want it to end. I have binged the whole Emaneska series and I’m jealous of anyone who still has this to read. It has clearly been a work of love, sweat and tears for Ben, which does not disappoint. There is plenty of action and violence, and it is emotional.
The Scalussen Chronicles is a continuation to the original trilogy. Can you read the Scalussen books without knowing the Emaneska story? Yes, but I would recommend starting with The Written and working your way though, if for nothing else than the pure enjoyment of Ben’s books.
The Forever King begins with a whistle stop history lesson of Emaneska, which provides a background and/or a recap of events. The world created in the Written is extended with new characters. Having the connections to the likes of Farden, Modren and Durnus means that little bit more when new ones are introduced. You can be absorbed into the book and the approaching war. The building tension throughout the book is well worth the wait, the battle scenes are fantastic – some of the best I have had the pleasure of reading.
There are plenty of nods towards the Emaneska trilogy which I really enjoyed, but it does not prevent a new reader becoming engrossed in the story.
In short, this is brilliant. Anyone who follows Ben on social media can see the work that has been put into this book. Farden has the unwanted title of the Forever King yet still prefers being the lone wolf.
I was lucky enough to get an ARC of The Forever King. I could not put this book down and I didn’t want it to end. I have binged the whole Emaneska series and I’m jealous of anyone who still has this to read. It has clearly been a work of love, sweat and tears for Ben, which does not disappoint. There is plenty of action and violence, and it is emotional.
The Scalussen Chronicles is a continuation to the original trilogy. Can you read the Scalussen books without knowing the Emaneska story? Yes, but I would recommend starting with The Written and working your way though, if for nothing else than the pure enjoyment of Ben’s books.
The Forever King begins with a whistle stop history lesson of Emaneska, which provides a background and/or a recap of events. The world created in the Written is extended with new characters. Having the connections to the likes of Farden, Modren and Durnus means that little bit more when new ones are introduced. You can be absorbed into the book and the approaching war. The building tension throughout the book is well worth the wait, the battle scenes are fantastic – some of the best I have had the pleasure of reading.
There are plenty of nods towards the Emaneska trilogy which I really enjoyed, but it does not prevent a new reader becoming engrossed in the story.
In short, this is brilliant. Anyone who follows Ben on social media can see the work that has been put into this book. Farden has the unwanted title of the Forever King yet still prefers being the lone wolf.
June 19, 2021
Ghosts do not glow nor shriek, nor rattle their chains in abandoned ruins. They are made of memory, haunting minds instead.
The Forever King is the first book in a new trilogy - The Scalussen Chronicals - set in the Emaneska world.
I loved catching up with my favourite characters in this new tale from the Emaneska series.
This is top notch fantasy with Daemons, magic and Dragons. What's not to love?
The Forever King is the first book in a new trilogy - The Scalussen Chronicals - set in the Emaneska world.
I loved catching up with my favourite characters in this new tale from the Emaneska series.
This is top notch fantasy with Daemons, magic and Dragons. What's not to love?
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