Book Review: The Kheld King by L.L. Stephens
Genre(s): Epic Fantasy
Book Synopsis:
The King is dead.
Long live the Kheld King
The Triempery lies crippled, its godborn princes slaughtered by treachery, its ruling houses desperate to maintain their monopoly of the god-machine Entities. In the aftermath of the slaughter, Stefan Stauberg-Randolph inherits his grandfather’s throne. Already an outsider because of his Kheld heritage, Stefan sees enemies around every corner–but he particularly fears Dorilian Sordaneon, sole surviving heir of the Rill Entity’s power.
Set upon conflicting paths by betrayal and suspicion, the animosity between the two young rulers could well threaten not only the Triempery’s remaining houses, but the Entities themselves.
Review:
This is an excellent continuation of the series. The two main characters, Dorilian and Stefan, stayed true to their personalities but continued grow – sometimes in ways I wasn’t expecting.
Dorilian has always been intelligent and prone to anger, but he becomes more calculating as the story goes on. And he seems to be a little more willing to compromise (with most people) in this second book. He’s an intriguing character and I really enjoyed his portions of the storyline. I hope he remains a fixture in the series.
Stefan was…aggravating. I lost count of how many times I wanted to scream that he was being ridiculous or irrational. He was stubborn and thinks he’s always right, and no one can persuade him otherwise. So many of his troubles came from his own doing… But it set the stage for the events that followed. (And even though I had some idea of what was coming, there were a few big twists I didn’t anticipate.)
And those twists… I’d love to share some details, but I don’t write spoilers into my reviews. They were really well done. And at least one was pretty shocking.
The politics of the Triempery are so complex and in such disarray by the end that I have no idea what book three will bring. But I’m excited for the next installment, because I need to know what happens next. This has been a great series so far, and I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys epic fantasy with a darker tone.
Author website: triempery.com
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