This was a long book and I found the constant switching between the two narrators a little difficult for a while but eventually managed to live with that. What was nigh impossible was the footnotes being at the end of the ebook, it would have been useful to have had those added at the appropriate point rather than at the end where they added little of value.

A good tale, certainly and would I want to read the next in the saga, well yes as it's raised a level of interest.

I've tried many times to pick this book up over the last couple years, but I just couldn't get into it. It was confusing to me and I didn't really connect with the characters. I'm going to go ahead and add it to my DNF list, but thank you for the opportunity to read and review it.

I've mourned the loss of Game of Thrones (given up on ever seeing the final book Winds of WInter) and grabbed this as the first of five in A Chorus of Dragons series. This is just as complicated with several timelines to follow and a lot of switching between narration. An epic fantasy to read when stone cold sober to avoid getting lost....

This book is epic and ambitious and I am still a little taken aback that this was Jenn Lyon’s debut novel. It has everything I love about adult fantasy.

Kihrin is an unlikely, yet lovable “hero”, and it is easy to get swept up into his bratty, insolent nature. I really came to adore his give-no-fucks personality and I’m excited to see what sort of ruckus he’s going to cause next.

I did find that I enjoyed the “Talon’s story” chapters a little more, but I think that’s pretty expected, as much of what happens in the “Kihrin’s story” chapters is dependent upon your understanding of just what the hell is going on (which is all to be revealed as you keep reading and really comes together beautifully).

This is a book that certainly ages well, overall. I can see why someone may find it a little confusing and perhaps want to set it aside early on, but I trusted in the author and positive reviews and was certainly rewarded for my patience. After all, the one-shot aspect of the chapters early on is literally part of the storytelling itself, as they’re essentially all flashbacks until we catch up to “present” day. However, I think there could have been a little more groundwork laid at the beginning to give the story a little more framing early on. This is the only reason it’s not a five star read for me.

Needless to say, I am impressed and excited to keep reading this series!

Defying expectations and toppling tired genre tropes
a fantastic first volume in a blockbuster new epic fantasy series.
Kihrin rises from a thief from the slums and growing up
in a brothel to being the long lost scion of one the empire's
ruling families to being a prisoner awaiting sacrifice to a dark god.
This is his story.
From the slums to Imperial galas ; slave ships to a death cult
this book has it all.

Probably a 3.5 rounded up.

What I liked: the world of this book was interesting- the theology was cool, the setting takes place in jungles and warm climates instead of the usual northern European setting, and the monsters and supernatural beings were neat too. Kihrin was perhaps a bit too much of a smartass and seemed to have a very well-tuned moral compass for a kid raised in a brothel and employed by a thieves' guild, but he's a hero-protagonist after all, I guess. Also, the author just can write. I was put off by the narrative structure of the book but she won me over despite it.

The narrative structure- needlessly complicated IMO. There are two plots, and they are BOTH flashbacks. Ugh. Kihrin and his jailor are taking turns telling his story to themselves as Kihrin waits for some dreadful fate and are using a magic rock to record their tale. Kihrin starts his story with him on the slave block waiting to be auctioned and brings it up until the current time in-story. The monster guarding Kihrin wants to go further back than that so she starts the story when Kihrin sees something he shouldn't while in the process of burglarizing a wealthy merchant's home. This story catches up to when Kihrin ends up on the slave block. MEANWHILE, occasional footnotes are inserted into both stories by someone listening to the stone, who also ends up being a character in the book. If you know my dislike of flashbacks, you'll know how good this book has to be in order to get me over a DOUBLE flashback. And the book does continue after the two strands of the stories end.

If you thought THAT was complicated: keeping track of characters in this story is not easy. That's because the goddess of death will occasionally allow people to return from the grave. Even if she doesn't, people get reincarnated eventually anyway, although they(mostly) don't remember who they were in previous lives. ALSO: there's a magic item that allows someone wearing it to switch places with the person who kills them (if they are killed, that is). So there are quite a few people wearing other people's bodies, and quite a few people who are the biological-but not spiritual or spiritual-but not biological offspring of said body-jumping people. So, there are reincarnated people who remember who they once were, people who don't remember who they once were, and people who should have been dead who are lurking about in other people's bodies. Plus a long backstory about beings who are essentially dark and light elves (color family only, they all seem sort of like jerks) who have long memories of bad things done in the past, some of which elves are also body-switched. And who have had children since they've body switched too, keeping these old feuds alive.

Oh, there's more, so much more. Part of the reason I didn't rate the book higher, despite the great writing and original concept, is because I got confused by all the time and body jumping. Eventually I just couldn't quite figure out who was who, even with the handy family tree, and I couldn't figure out who hated who and why, and who was enchanted not to be able to act upon that hatred (gaeshing people into slavery is also a thing and muddles things even more).

So I got a pretty good sense of who Kihrin was, and even many of the reasons why many people wanted him either dead or a prisoner. Other than that, even I who read a lot of epic fantasy with confusing and complicated character casts, was confused.

Also, the book was llooooooooong. I am interested to see what happens next, but I know that there's a good 2500 pages (at least) of story left to go and so I'm not quite sure if I'll go on or not. So, it's good, but good enough? I don't know.

The Ruin of Kings is the first book in the Chorus of Dragons series by author Jenn Lyons. The Chorus of Dragons series is a high fantasy series, and I have to say, I really loved this book. I am so excited to continue on. I just know this is going to be a series that I will completely love! (hopefully from start until finish!) The Ruin of Kings is Jenn Lyons debut novel and she certainly created a big and complex world to start off with. This novel is a large undertaking. It is not a book that you can speed through, but rather this is a book that is meant to be explored and savored. If you read it too fast, you may be confused or overwhelmed by the sheer amount going on in the plot and the multiple timelines that are present, but if you slow down The Ruin of Kings is a very well crafted story.

In the Ruin of Kings we meet our main character Kihrin, who starts off the story in Jail. (at least in the present timeline) but soon the reader sees that this novel is told in multiple different timelines, jumping back and forth between them, which is an interesting story telling technique because we get to see some of the events that led to Kihrin being imprisoned, but not necessarily all is revealed in order. And then to make matters more complicated, we don’t actually start out the story with Kihrin’s perspective, but rather with this perspective of his jailor. Really cool if you are paying attention, but it can get confusing. Especially at first. I found myself wanting to map out a timeline of events as they were revealed so I wouldn’t get lost. While I liked that there was a lot going on in this story, I am kind of hoping that in the next book we keep the multiple perspectives, but that we limit the timelines to one linear timeline (maybe with sporadic memories from the past) rather than jumping back and forth between 3 timelines.

Kihrin is such an interesting character. Just like everything else with this novel. He has a huge destiny to live up to. I don’t want to get into too much because it is something that is revealed gradually, layer by layer as the story progresses, but Kihrin wears many hats, and he is a very complex character. The Ruin of Kings has everything I love in a fantasy; a crazy world, a crazier plot that will really mess with you head at times (in both good and bad ways!) political intrigue galore, battles and plenty of adventure.

Fans of epic fantasies will really like the overall complexity of the world. I think once you really get to know the characters and the world, you will fall in love with the book. I loved the story line of this one so much and I can’t wait to see where it goes. I know it can seem daunting at first (and trust me, i was right there with you feeling confused at first) but stick with it! It gets easier to follow along with, and this really does become an unputdownable adventure. I can’t wait to see the next installment from Jenn Lyons.

The Ruin of Kings has been heavily pushed by promotion wise for a few months now by Tor books. And whilst this one was enjoyable, it definitely didn't allow me time to wrap my mind around it's convoluted nature.

The switches between 1st and 3rd person becomes confusing and our main character isn't one I could really connect to. The ending felt forceful and rushed but the author did her best to explain the complex nature of this series.

It's convoluted and complex and I love it. The premise is amazing and it's well-written! The characters aren't quite as three dimensional as I would have liked BUT they're still interesting! the backstories were a little cliche though.

However, the point of views switching between 1st and 3rd person made things confusing and it was awful having to readjust. The beginning and middle were fantastic but the last fourth of the book occasionally felt forced and rushed. However, the final 30-40 pages were stunning!

EDIT: I finished my first re-read. I've fallen more in love with this series after having read the sequel and third book & wanted to see what little things I might have missed on the first read. The world-building is amazing, and now that I'm used to the switch between POVs & the timeline-jumping, I can say that both of those things work in the book's favor rather than against it. It makes the book feel like a puzzle where pieces are slowly being added to once-empty spaces in the middle of an otherwise complete section. Lyons is meticulous in how she sets things up and subtle in connecting things to make the most impact. I adore this series. Definitely one to pick up!

[The DRC I got seems to only have been a partial book, so these are just preliminary thoughts for the novel.]

This is the first book in Lyons's A Chorus of Dragons fantasy series.
THE RUIN OF KINGS is a very strong opening instalment - well-written, with interesting characters and an engaging plot.

Will definitely read the rest of the novel and series. Very promising start.

DNF. I couldn't connect with this book at all and found it really hard to get into. I had high hopes for this, which is a shame.

Very much enjoyed reading this, so much so I bought a copy and look forward to reading again in the near future, when time and backlogs permit. As well as picking up the next book in the series.

Took me a while to get into the writing style but once I did it was a very enjoyable read.

I enjoy epic fantasy and this was definitely a start of an epic series. I look forward to reading more titles in this series and being even more invested in the world Lyons created.

This book made me dream with fantasy! I extremely liked it, and cannot wait to continue with this saga. I like how the story is settled and how is told.

Ruin of the Kings by Jenn Lyons, I read this book in December 2018, sorry for posting a late review.

I was looking forward to this book which had so much advace publicity, I became disappointed after reading The Ruin of Kings. This debut novel from Jenn Lyons was the first of a series of world building novels that would center around dragons, magicians, princes and demons. Kihrin, is the thief raised in the slums of Quur, Lyon's seems to change Kihrin backstory in every chapter. Instead of the complex world building, for me the plot and character became a tangled web as I tryed to keep the plot line straight from chapter to chapter. There were to many confusing plots, characters with similar names. I finshed this book but I would not read the next of the series to The Ruin of Kings.
I have read may books published by Tor and have enjoy their fantasy fiction. I have high school readers who have grown to be fantasy fiction readers, who also love dystopian fiction.
Thank you NetGallery and to Tor Pulishing for providing this free copy for my opinion, I rate this book 3 stars.

The protagonist is Kihrin, the son of a minstrel who spends more time getting into mischief for his thievery and fighting than practicing his harp. After one of his heists, it looks as if Kihrin is about to profit from his work, when a demon manifests in the city and chases him through the streets of Quur. After being saved by the city watch, it is revealed to him—because of his physical attributes—that he is the lost heir of House D’Mon, one of the 12 Royal Houses of the Quur Empire. Claimed against his will into a life he doesn’t want, Kihrin learns quickly that being a noble is not as worthwhile as the tales and other people make it out to be. At the same time, Kihrin suspects that a few members of his new family might be up to no good. However, before he can escape, Kihrin is kidnapped and sold to the Black Brotherhood as a slave. Yet, this organization isn’t interested in keeping him as a slave, but wants to train him to be an assassin in order to fulfill his destiny in the war to come. Kihrin’s story is a twisted bildungsroman about a 15-year-old boy who is forced to grow up under arduous conditions in a hostile environment with people who refuse to reveal his identity to him. Kihrin develops into an adult whose complexity leaves him with more questions than answers; but, the other characters he meets and interacts with along the way give him hints to his (true) identity.

The Ruin of Kings is an ambitious start to a new epic fantasy series, which present the harsh realities surrounding royalty, magic and prophecies. Within these twisted tropes is a story about a young man who had all of his choices taken away from him, yet he strives to protect everything he cares about, even if destiny says otherwise. Jenn Lyon’s story contains complex characters and a world whose history and culture is as complex yet constant as ours. This novel is like the story it tells, simple at first, and then drops you into the story “in media res.”

"The Ruin of Kings" is a mostly good story but can be confusing at points. I think the story could have used a few changes in order for the reader to be able to make sense of everything.

Overall rating is closer to 3.5 than a 4.

I loved this book! My review is not based on this NetGalley excerpt, but from the FC I purchased for myself.

The Ruin of Kings is a long and multilayered book that you probably need a spreadsheet to keep track of all the things and layers and historical tidbits and characters in it. The story has quite a few layers. The first is that the entire thing is a transcript of the event sent to the ruler collected by a mage. The second is the mage's own comments as he goes through and gathers this information (lots of Nevernight reminiscent footnotes). The third layer is Talon and Kihrin sitting in prison, recounting Kihrin's story. The fourth and fifth layer is their recountings, Talon's from a third party POV about how Kihrin got to this point, Kihrin's a first person POV a little bit after Talon's about how he got to this point. The sixth layer happens after the retellings, once they are caught up to modern day. Kihrin's and Talon's story are told in alternating chapters, and it can get confusing switching from first person to third person but still being a story about the same person (Kihrin). Confusing? It happens.

In addition, the story is filled with layers of historical bits of all the characters, races, and gods that is hard to keep track of in between the switching of POVs and actual events in the book. AND there is the main plot of the book and a smaller one (but one that seems much more important) that we are given information for (but in bits and pieces. Things will be briefly mentioned in one chapter and then so much will happen and then they will come back to it many chapters later and expect you to remember everything). Honestly, it was a little bit of torture. But there is so much world-building and so many awesome characters, that I forgave this book its flaws. I really adore this series.

Unfortunately, this was not the book for me. I tried very hard to read it, but I had to DNF it.

I don't feel like I can accurately review this book as I did not finish it.

Thank you for allowing me the chance to read it.

A different take on fantasy. Dark and brutal. Love the multiple pov's and scope of the story. Not your average read.