Reviews with content warning for Rape - The Justice of Kings

Every now and then a book will come along that I feel was written specifically for me to enjoy. ‘The Justice of Kings’ is one such book. Essentially a murder mystery framed by enormous political upheaval, the story follows the Emperor’s Justice, Sir Konrad Vonvalt. Accompanied by his taskman Dubine Bressinger and his clerk (and our narrator) Helena Sedanka, Vonvalt makes his way from town to town across the Sovan Empire, exacting the law as judge, jury and executioner.

I don’t think—outside of Skulduggery Pleasant—I’ve ever read a fantasy crime book before, but that’s basically what this book is. There’s so much weighing of the law vs justice vs morality amongst these pages, that it’s easy to see where comparisons to Andrzej Sapkowski’s ‘The Witcher’ come from. The rumination on these different factors made for such thought-provoking reading, and I was totally invested in the outcome of each case.

Richard Swan is a wonderful storyteller with a keen grasp of character. Subtext is key, and it’s what’s unsaid as much as it is what’s said. Helena is a highly fallible narrator, writing as an older woman looking back on her young petulant self. I found her fraught, jealous, hormonally-charged father/daughter relationship with Vonvalt relatable and endearing, and Richard Swan falls into none of the traps male fantasy authors are prone to falling into when writing about hormonal young women. I thought he did a really good job. Vonvalt also is a compelling and charismatic protagonist (for truly, it is his story Helena is telling), and I definitely grew attached to this dysfunctional little family in ways that will no doubt hurt me in future books to come.

The framing narrative of the crumbling Sovan Empire was, in my opinion, far less interesting than the legal nuances of the murder mystery at its core, which is why my rating drops down to 4 stars for me. I would honestly love to read an entire book that solely consists of Vonvalt, Bressinger and Helena travelling around and episodically exacting the law. I just find it so so interesting. AND it got proper brutal in places, my God! Just… all the things I love. Like it was written specially for me, like I said.

Loved it. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Can’t wait for ‘The Tyranny of Faith’.

Content Warnings

michaelferlazzo's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I really enjoyed this book. It had a Sherlock Holmes but in Skyrim feel to it and I was all for it. I flew through the book and I am excited to see what is next in this (hopefully) series. His writing is really good, but he does use words I feel he pulled out of a thesaurus. My only gripe story wise is; Dubine(Bressinger) should have died! He should have died, and Radomir replace him, b/c Radomir joins them anyway!
But really enjoyed this book, and that might be why I have so many opinions about it.

Content Warnings

azrah786's review against another edition

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4.0

[This review can also be found on my BLOG]

**I received a proof copy from Orbit Books UK in exchange for an honest review**

CW: violence, blood, injury, gore, murder, death, animal death, child death, war, torture, grief, confinement, sexual assault/rape, adult language
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A compelling introduction to a new fantasy trilogy that has the feel of medieval Sherlock Holmes with added magic and necromancy.

The Justice of Kings revolves around Sir Konrad Vonvalt, one of the Justices of the Emperor - the primary law enforcements of the Sovan Empire, and in the same fashion that Dr Watson recounts the adventures of the great detective, one of Justice Vonvalt’s companion’s – his apprentice and clerk Helena Sedanka – is the narrator here.

Vonvalt, along with his companions – Helena and his fellow veteran and taskman Dubine Bressinger – is traversing the Empire providing judgement and justice. Justices all have a power where they can use their voice to compel people into speaking the truth as well as other distinctive abilities. Upon their travels they are drawn into the murder case of a noblewoman in the village of Galen Vale, which leads them on a trail to a far larger conspiracy that not only undermines his authority but is a threat to the empire itself.

"Empire are built and maintained with words. Swords are a mere precedent to the quill."

I thought Helena as choice of narrator worked really well to begin fleshing out the world and history that Swan has created at the right pace, as well as keep you intrigued about what is to come. As a recount of her past and adolescence, the narrative has an air of naivety to it which made the exploration of morality and the development of the various characters through her all the more interesting too.

Vonvalt, whilst being downright frustrating at times with his very resolute, “stick to your guns” attitude had a very gripping character arc and his relationship with Helena was a solid representation of master and apprentice. Though I’ve got to say the dynamic between all of the trio at the heart of the book was really well written and what I loved the most.

"Few things in this life can be guaranteed with greater certainty than the incredible contrivances men will go to to generate money from nothing at all."

The magic and lore is fascinating but this first instalment seems to only touch on the surface of it all. We predominantly get an insight into the power of necromancy as it is Vonvalt’s particular specialisation and it was really interesting to see it used within the murder investigation. As you can be expected this did mean that the storyline was at times very dark.

All in all I think this was a great debut. The slowly unravelling mystery plot is effectively woven around the worldbuilding, the political scheming and journey of the key players but as the true conflicts come to head it becomes clear that this book is setting the stage for a much larger story. I look forward to seeing what happens next.
Final Rating – 4/5 Star

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grimdark_dad's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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