Review: The Ruin of Kings

The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So here's the thing... I got lost in reading this book, which tells the story of a young man, Kihrin, of mysterious origins. Cutting back and forth between Kihrin's version of his story and Talon's (a mimic) version, over the course of almost 600 pages Kihrin's true story emerges. It's a convoluted story and, some might argue, an overly convoluted book. The magic system of this world is complicated but well defined. Death is temporary (if you've been good), dragons are real (people) and mimics are pretty terrifying. Kihrin's story for him begins the moment he is auctioned as a slave, but in Talon's mind it began much earlier when he was taken in as the adoptive child of his father, Surdiyeh, and mother, Ola. In fact, both of them are wrong, and his story began long, long before that.

Giving us the story of gods (people with grand ideas) and monsters (people with monstrous ideas), of political schemers and dysfunctional family, Lyons has created unique world that I got lost in for a while. Tor has promoted this book as being for fans of GRRM, Sanderson, and Rofthuss, and while that is true based on the story, I began to feel the clichéd, stock writing phrases heavily by the end of the book. Lyons is not a new writer and so I'm less inclined to cut her, or her editor, some slack on this account. This is a fascinating story that could have used a bit more of the lyricism in the writing of R0fthuss, in my opinion. I enjoyed the book, but by the last 100-150 pages, I started to long for a conclusion, for answers, in a way that I'm not sure I would have had the writing shimmered a bit more.

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from Tor in exchanged for an honest review.

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