Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Justice of Kings

(edit: For the completionists out there this trilogy is now fully published and finished, so if you've been waiting to start now is the time!) I think it actually lives up to the hype, which I was not expecting. It's everything. The characters feel like people, the world is subtly well established without info dumps, the plot pulls you in and feels like it matters, and the whole framing of one of the characters writing the story of her mentor in his strengths, failures, and changes he goes through due to story events they experience is surprisingly compelling. It was hard to put down and I'm left excited to read the next one. It's quite good and worth the time.

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ryanhaile's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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dorianatgan's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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bookishwondergoth's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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’.

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fenglei's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

This book left me feeling quite conflicted, but after a few days, I can definitely say that I enjoyed it and that it made me think.
The plot is rather slow, but the characters, particularly our narrator Helena and Sir Konrad, get you hooked on the story. The magic is not really one of the main elements of the story, but it is still compelling, and hopefully we will learn more about it in the next installments.
The main point, or even character, of this book was definitely the Law. The concept of law, the role it has in society, what it means to different people, how it can unite or divide.. it gave me a lot of food for thought.
If you enjoy fantasy and law, this is a great read. I'm not entirely sure it lived up to the hype that it got, but I still enjoyed it and would recommend it. I will certainly read the sequel.

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emilyacres's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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