Book Review: A Lion’s Pride by P.L. Stuart
Genre(s): Epic Fantasy
Book Synopsis:
Wound a lion’s pride, and you will feel their claws.
When Plas, defiant King of Ipithyia, insults Wely, proud King of Lynchun, Wely needs no further provocation for invading the realm of his long time enemy. As Wely’s lord of battle, Othrun of Eastrealm is charged to destroy Plas and conquer Ipithyia. This, despite Othrun winning a hard-earned peace with Plas, by sparing him from death, years before.
But other ambitious warlords vie to seize Ipithyia for themselves. Othrun faces bitter combat on multiple fronts, intrigue, and the mysterious powers of Eltnish mages like Queen Lysi. Who still has securing Othrun’s love, and her own plans for conquest, squarely in her sights. Othrun will require the aid of his own mage, the enigmatic Viwa, to combat his foes who can deploy mages of their own.
For Othrun’s mysterious spiritual guide appears to have deserted him. Othrun is forced to rely more and more on pagan magic—magic he is supposed to disavow as heresy—rather than his Single God.
Othrun’s armies are led by heroes who seem destined to become legends, such as Othrun’s son the Younger, Ingersa, Glathan, Thurol, Yedwol, Eld, Centi, and the fiery and skilled yet untested She-Wolf of Carthlughe, Hiris, also known as the Haughty Princess. Yet even all those great warriors won’t be enough to ensure triumph. And Othrun will need to prevent temptation, doubt, and his mercurial nature, putting his once staunch faith, and his allegiances, in jeopardy.
But before Othrun can grapple with all these challenges, he must confront dark secrets that could not only destroy his shaky beliefs, but also destroy Othrun himself.
Review:
I fell in love with P.L. Stuart’s world with A Drowned Kingdom, book 1 in this saga, but A Lion’s Pride is, hands down, the best book in this series so far. It’s also the longest, but it certainly didn’t feel that way.
There is so much going on between the characters themselves, the numerous political machinations of…well, everyone, and new facets of the worldbuilding that I’m not entirely sure where to begin. It’s definitely a book you can’t pick up without reading the previous three, as those set the stage for everything that unfolds in this one.
The main character, Othrun has as many friends as he does enemies, but even when he should choose diplomacy, he often speaks his mind to his own detriment. He’s a complicated and unpredictable individual, expected to follow the rules of his overlords (though he sometimes doesn’t), all while attempting to balance being a good man with being a good king.
Throughout the series, Othrun has been both fascinating and aggravating in turns, though he begins to display a more sentimental side in this book (at times.) Watching his character develop and change subtly over time has been interesting. As he ages, some of his rougher edges are smoothed away, though he stubbornly clings to some of his ideals that I really wish he’d put aside. As I said before, he’s complicated, but he’s also what makes this series so compelling.
The politics Othrun is mired in are endlessly complex. Every time I think I’ve started to figure things out, there’s a new twist presented that throws all of my ideas out the window. While many of Othrun’s friends and foes were established in previous books, many of them return in various scenarios here, but often not in a way I predicted.
The intricacies of this world and its warring nations are incredible, and after the way A Lion’s Pride ended, I can’t wait to read what comes next.
Author website: plstuart.com
Amazon link: A Lion’s Pride
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