I loved this book. I think Richard Swan has done a great job in taking elements from many different sources and genres and blending them together in a way that makes Justice of Kings feel very unique. Konrad Vonvalt was such a fascinating, complex character and seeing him through the POV of his clerk, Helena, was a great choice. I really enjoyed Helena's perspective and character growth as well! I had a few minor quibbles, mainly the romance aspect, but otherwise this was great! Full review to come closer to the date but this book was a hit.

This book was only okay for me, it was simply a bit too slow to keep my attention and my wanting to read. The voice and style were fine, the world building was excellent, but the pacing was a touch slow and lacked my personal level of engagement and entertainment. I liked the magical abilities of the Emperor's Justice, Sir Konrad Vonvalt, but he didn't use it enough for my liking. I felt like his magic was something akin to Jedi mind powers and he could've gotten things done way quicker if he used them more.

Justice of Kings was a very refreshing read. The powers of the Justices are very fascinating, I want to know what other powers one can have. I enjoyed the very subtle way the author went about worldbuilding. Vonvalt and Helena were very well written characters and their relationship was very interesting. The book does start out very slow, but picked up around the 60% mark.

The Justice of Kings is a refreshing political fantasy by a debut author who is writing in a new direction. Really looking forward to seeing more from Richard Swan.

Thanks to the publisher, author, and narrator for an advance listening copy for review consideration. This did not influence my thoughts or opinions.

The Justice of Kings is a sensational fantasy debut. It is The Witcher meets Judge Dredd with a little bit of Ned Stark thrown in for good measure. I would liken it to Peter McLean’s War for the Rose Throne as it is a gritty, low fantasy romp rife with political intrigue and plenty of violence to go round. Sir Konrad Vonvalt is going to be a character you’ll hear about for years to come.

With several in the FFA family having already read and enjoyed TJoK, I figured it was time to throw my hat in the ring and see what all the fuss was about. While this isn’t necessarily Swan’s ‘debut’ novel, it is his first fantasy novel as he wrote and published an entire self-pub sci-fi trilogy called ‘The Art of War‘ back in 2015-16. I do have to say that the hype is real and Swan has the beginning of a phenomenal series here.

If you go into Justice without having read the blurb and just going off the cover, you will probably expect something completely different than you get. Yes, this story is about Sir Konrad Vonvalt – the foremost of the Emporer’s Justices – but it isn’t told from his perspective. It is actually a tale from the POV of his clerk, Helena Sedanka, whom he pulled out of poverty and brought alongside him in order to bring her into the fold. Also, it isn’t even told in the present tense; we are actually hearing Helena recount the tale as she lived it, many years into the future.

I found this to be a very intriguing way in which to tell this story because you have a sense that you already know the way the story is going to end, but the way in which it unfolds tends to keep its secrets hidden well enough to keep you engaged. While there is also Vonvalt’s bodyguard, Dubine Bressinger, who makes his appearance known, Vonvalt and Sedanka steal the show throughout the entire novel. Even with no POV chapters, Konrad’s pains and woes will sink deep into your marrow and make you want to fight right alongside him. Then you have Helena; still young, naïve in a sense but really comes into her own when it is required.

The world-building, while at times fairly minimal, does enough to sink you into the setting and provide backdrop to the goings on within the towns and cities the company ventures through. Again, it is a low fantasy novel but the magic that does seep through when it comes to Vonvalt, Resi August (another of the Emperor’s Justices that makes a few appearances), and a few others whom won’t be named <.<.

All in all, I highly recommend picking up The Justice of Kings if you have a bit of a hangover after watching Season 2 of The Witcher or you are a big fan of Ned Stark with magical abilities. But in all seriousness, it is a fantastic read and the audiobook with narration by Lucy Paterson is phenomenal. She really dove right into Helena’s character and nailed it IMO.

This is my first review and also the first time Orbit Publishing has sent me an ARC.
The Justice of Kings, is a mix of Sherlock Holmes, Law and Order and Judge Dredd.
Without spoilers, we follow a man, known as a Justice who travels the country administering justice in small towns and cities for whom may not have justice system to serve them. He travels with his "sidekicks" or employees who help him in his day to day tasks. When on one such occasion a uncommon murder of a Lord's wife occurs. Mystery and intrigue follow and our main characters are pulled into a plot they had no idea existed. Richard Swan writes very well. Its nice and seamless. Its not to difficult to understand and follow the "law" stuff. He writes it like a layman is reading, which i appreciated. The only thing about the book, that bothered me is the occasion grammatical errors of a missing word in a couple sentences. Didn't matter how many times I read the sentence it couldn't have been a choice by the author or editor.

I believe this is his debut. And if that's the case a very good start. Ill be picking up the next ones in the series to see where the story takes me.

I requested a digital copy in order to sample the prose on my phone (since I don't have a eReader) before requesting a physical copy for review. I will update Netgalley once I read & review a physical copy.

My review will be based on the physical ARC I read.

Although this was a slower start than what I generally like, once I was in the story I was hooked. I loved the fact that this was told from the perspective it was told in. Generally speaking, we usually see the oppressed or the rebellion side of things and not the powers that be. So that was a unique quality that I found I enjoyed. This is a slower paced fantasy that did have some dragging points. However, the politics were interesting to read about. I found the power of truth speak intriguing. If we all could have such a power. That would probably be disastrous.

All in all it was enjoyable albeit a little slow..

4.5

This was a unique book about justice, honor, and morality. I loved that we hear the story from an older Helena. Being able to see her regrets and the foreshadowing of certain events was a remarkable way to read about the events in this book. Reading about the legal system in this fantasy world was also a highlight of the book. The plot was well-paced and unpredictable. The characters were strong, and fleshed out. I grew attached to our group throughout their journey.

I look forward to reading more from this world and from this author.

4.5 stars
If Law and Order took place in Middle Earth, you would have The Justice of Kings.

This book is most definitely a mystery first and fantasy second, but that doesn't mean the fantasy elements are subpar. It only takes a back seat. Let me explain. When I review a fantasy I look at 4 things; plot, character development, magic system, world building. In Justice of Kings the magic system and the world building are the areas that I thought played second fiddle to the strong plot and character development. These 2 aspects were really driven by the mystery elements of the story. The search for a murder and bringing the culprit to justice. But this is still very much a fantasy novel. So let me break down my thoughts in that way.

1. Plot (5 stars): The story here is intriguing and the pacing was excellent. I never found the narrative wandering or stalling throughout the entire book. The premise was both familiar (as a mystery reader) and yet unique as there are few if any fantasy novels that focus for the most part on a murder mystery. I enjoyed every second.

2.Character Development (5 stars): This is the shining point of this novel. There was definitely room for improvement as I didn't feel the characters jumped out of the pages. I think this is mainly due to the fast paced nature of the plot which constantly pushed the characters to points of decision which altered who they were. This was done brilliantly, and was my favorite part of he experience. The characters go through many things and they change. They don't soldier through and come out the other end with the same values, ideas, or even purpose. Every decision affects them and this is what made them real.

3. Magic System (4 stars): I wanted to know more. The magic system in The Justice of Kings appears to be a lot more than you know in this first novel. There is a lot of mystery around the magic system as well and it is not common practice, so the narrator only explains was she knows about it. To explain more would be a spoiler, so I will leave it with saying that I liked what I got, but it left me unsatisfied.

4. World-building (4 stars): The world is very much reminiscent to a European middle ages. The empire is the result of a crusade like war that resulted in a Romanesque ruling system. As part of this system, there is an Order of Justices that carry out law and order through out the empire. The reader gets a lot of information about the judicial system (without info dumping), but the rest of the world felt blurry and unfinished. This may be due to the narration style as first person doesn't allow for the reader to know more than the narrator; who in this case doesn't know much. However, the small scope of the world didn't affect the story at all.

Overall this was an excellent debut and a great start to this trilogy. I look forward to the sequel!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital advanced reading copy in return for an honest review.

Congratulations to Richard Swan for writing an amazing debut novel! I thoroughly enjoyed reading the Justice of Kings and I finished it in a couple of days as I could not put it down. I am so intrigued by the world and the law/political system that I cannot wait to read future sequels.

Again, I really liked the politics and legal system of this world. I am fascinated by the abilities Sir Konrad Vonvalt has and why he has them. I thought it was a good idea to have the story narrated by a "side" character, Helena. She seemed like a reliable narrator and kept me interested in the story all the way to the end. The story is set in a very interesting new fantasy world, that has mixes of German and Eastern European (especially Serbian) name influences. As a Serb, I greatly appreciated the correct usage of the letter "ć" in a variety of names. I really enjoyed the pacing of the book and it picked up very quickly. I thought I wouldn't enjoy the usage of first person but I found it helpful when I realized that Helena from the future was telling the story to the reader. I appreciated the usage of brutal violence and bloody descriptions - this is something that I enjoy in many high fantasy novels.

Since the world of the Sovan Empire is so vast, I wish we got some more worldbuilding in this novel - I was left wanting more and expecting more. I found myself slightly lost from time to time, trying to understand the legal procedures in the empire. It would've been helpful to understand why these laws were the way they were. I also would've liked more history on the Sovan Empire and why certain regions have such animosity towards each other - we're shown the animosity exists but not fully explained why. When starting the book, it took me 2 chapters to realize the narrator was a young woman and even longer to realize that she was writing to a reader from the future, when she is an old woman. It would've been beneficial to have a prologue with Helena explaining some details rather than just be thrown into the story and have to figure it out later.

Overall I would highly recommend this book to lovers of high fantasy. I thought each character was unique and had complexities, just like real humans. I am so excited to get to know the characters and the Sovan Empire more in subsequent novels. Richard Swan is definitely a new fantasy author to look out for!

Richard Swan wrote a combination of Political, religious abs high Fantasy, to create a world that’s intriguing . But the main character is told With s female prospective. I give it 4 star’s

This book was amazing. Amazing debut. Great characterization. Great plot. Definite buy. I look forward to reading anything he puts out in the future.

Very engaging book with well thought out characters, Enjoyed the book very much and excited to see where the story continues. A different take on the fantasy genre!!

I’ve had this ARC since November and as this is one of my most anticipated releases, I couldn’t help but read a few chapters back then, and my immediate rough first impression was this is similar to The Witcher. Maybe with the release of the show, we’re going to see that style of storytelling in mainstream even more and I wouldn’t argue with it. So you kind have that here but with more bells and whistles. Anyways January comes along, read it fully and it solidified that comparison even more. The perspective we follow was very unexpected, upon looking at the cover you think “oh, we’re gonna follow this guy.” Nope. We see the story through the eyes of Helena who is the clerk to Vonvalt, and he is the emperors justice. He travels the land to be the judge to crimes basically. We also have a third character who is like the muscle of the group and this trio we follow reminded me a lot of Wax, Wayne and Marasi from the Wax and Wayne series by Brandon Sanderson.

So they travel with Vonvault serving justice across the empire, they have a run in with a settlement where there’s been a murder of the lords wife there which is very peculiar. Well Vonvalt is kind of behind the times, unfortunately there’s a bit of turmoil happening amongst the order, some powerful people are “shieleded” so to speak against his justice, his quote is literally no man is above the law and that’s just not the case anymore it seems so we’re having to deal with that. Being a Justice comes with a lot of advantages, Vonvault has special powers that help him in his investigations like necromancy which the way that’s described is haunting and what is known as the emperors voice which is the power to compel a man to reveal his mind. Now you’d think “oh Vonvault is overpowered.” But he is a very respectful man and there are consequences to using it as it does not work in every circumstance or even on all men and it’s written in such a realistic way In fact there’s a lot of tension with these powers as some societal groups argue they should be forces of religion instead of law. Which makes religion a big factor here.

So you have this murder investigation, a mysterious cult like army rising up in the background, our main character who definitely has a lot of anxiety which is written very well and all these conflicts are paced so well together. I breezed through this book. I swear it felt like I had read for 10 mins and I was 100 pages through and I love books like that. I loved the way the author described all of the different towns our characters visit, from cottages, townhouses, temples, watch towers, the woodsmoke rising from them, the snow, all the different sorts of people living in them, you can clearly see everything as it’s described. It was one of my favorites experiences while reading was just being able to picture the medieval ruddy environment, the authors writing is easy going but still detailed, not so detailed that is flowery and takes away from plot, it’s just perfect.

New all time fav book and I'm excited to see what happens next!

Judge Dredd, the Witcher, and Game of Thrones if they had a baby. Best to describe this epic opener to a fantasy trilogy by Richard Swan.

The story of Sir Konrad is told by his apprentice, now an old woman who writes their stories down and it's her perspective that we see as she narrates her life with the Justice.

An epic read, explosive ending.

I remember reading the synopsis for Richard Swan’s debut quite a while ago. “That sounds interesting,” I thought to myself, and made a note. The buzz for the novel grew over the next few months, as it was sent out to authors for blurbs. So, when I was able to read an early copy, I jumped at the chance. The Justice of Kings is a very strong debut, and an engaging start to a new fantasy/crime series. I really enjoyed this.

The novel is something of a blend of genres — there is the obvious fact that it’s a fantasy novel, but it’s also got a hefty dose of crime/mystery fiction. After all, the protagonists are travelling law keepers. Specifically, Sir Konrad Vonvalt, a fervent and dedicated Justice with a seemingly unshakeable faith in the Emperor’s laws. Vonvalt is accompanied by Bressinger, his opinionated and somewhat insouciant muscle. The novel is narrated by Helena Sedanka, Vonvalt’s clerk, and is presented in the form of a written account (perhaps her memoirs). I liked this approach — it’s first-person, but the narrator’s perspective is more about someone else’s activities than their own. They are a witness to events, rather than necessarily the driver of them all (she has plenty to do in the story, though — she’s not just a passive observer). Swan executes this approach brilliantly, and Helena sprinkles throughout her account some tantalizing, cryptic comments about events still to come (some not-so-cryptic).

Swan is very good at writing characters. Through Helena’s narrative, we see each of the protagonists — as well as a few supporting characters — develop and evolve over the course of the novel. The experiences they have and the events they face challenge their beliefs, values, and more. Vonvalt’s fierce and blinkered belief in the empire’s system of justice, in particular, is challenged throughout the novel and especially towards the end. Helena, in her late teens, is resistant to committing to the life and role of a justice, despite Vonvalt’s complete belief in her abilities. She came to his employ from the streets and poverty, and struggles as her respect and gratitude conflict with her desire to have a “normal” life — especially after a young member of the town watch catches her eye. Each of the characters is well-written and three-dimensional.

The novel has plenty of social, political, and economic commentary sprinkled throughout — much of it could be seen as an analogue of what we see in contemporary life: the economic inequality, fear of those empowered to keep and exercise law, corruption (economic and religious), racism, and the long-tail effects of war. The various machinations of the elite, too, as they manipulate markets and society to their own ends, as well as their effective immunity from prosecution and censure. (That is, until Vonvalt arrives on the scene…)

The Justice of Kings is a substantial read that provides plenty of world-building, lots of excellent character work, and yet never felt over-written. I’m one of those readers who believes that authors really need to justify every page over 400-450, and Swan easily does this. I eagerly looked forward to being able to read more whenever I could, and it kept me up late into the night to finish. A debut fantasy hasn’t grabbed me like this since Mike Shackle’s We Are the Dead (and, before that, Peter V. Brett’s The Painted Man).

I finished reading The Justice of Kings very much looking forward to the next novel; and frustrated that I will have to wait so long to read it. If you are at all interested in fantasy fiction (and especially if you appreciate one with crime-fiction components and qualities), then I highly recommend you give Swan’s debut a try. It’s engaging, well-balanced, populated by interesting and engaging characters, and has a plot that offers a few great twists and turns. Simultaneously, it sets up the overall series story very nicely. A fantastic start to the year.

eARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review


I first heard of this book from Petrik and Allen on booktube, and just from their comments alone praising it I had to put it on my tbr. That's way I was super excited when it became available to request to on Netgalley.

This book pretty much hooked me from page 1. First of all its narrative style, first person retrospective, is one of my favorites in all of fiction. And this is an excellent execution of that style. It is told from the perspective of a young female clerk to a traveling Justice of The Empire named Sir Konrad Vonvolt. In this world law and justice is brought to outlying areas of the Empire by traveling justices who investigate, mediate, pass judgment and sentence offenders. They have training and certain magical abilities that assist them with this, and it is definitely some of the more interesting magic I have read particularly the way in which it is utilized.

The story starts by slowly introducing us to the world and characters and the factions at play. It does so without ever the slightest hint of info dumping. All of that information is conveyed so organically through the narrative I never once noticed when it was happening, but by the end you have a really good feel for everything in the world and the political situation. It helps that people narrator is a young character learning from the experienced Justice. Because of that the pacing is really a strength of this book. It never drags. It's very much a "one more page" "one more chapter" type of read. The initial mystery sets the hook, and as the larger plot is uncovered you won't be able to put it down.

Even though I thought the plot was great there is a lot more to this book than just good plotting. I enjoyed all of the characters and their development throughout the novel. It's really interesting to see how they react when confronted with the circumstances at hand, and how those change them long term. The author does that really well particularly in the case of VonVolt. Also there are some really good themes explored in this book such as the nature of power and authority and how that can change with political circumstances.

Now I do have one small criticism. There is one particular romantic relationship in this book that provides conflict for one character, but it wasn't a relationship I was ever really that invested in and felt a lot like insta-love. Thankfully it was not a huge plot driver.

In conclusion I highly recommend this book. It had pretty much everything I wanted and everything I love in a fantasy book. Now I can't wait to get my hands on book 2.

The Justice of Kings is a book told from the perspective of law enforcement in a fantasy world. The story is told through a young law clerk, Helena's, perspective. However, it is told in retrospect as she is reflecting on events that occurred. She is clerk to a Justice named Konrad Vonvalt, who saved her from a life on the streets when she was young. They travel throughout the land investigating crimes that have occurred and determining fault and punishment.

Unfortunately, I DNF'd this book at around 48%. That doesn't mean it is a bad book by any means, though I don't feel like it was a good fit for me as a reader.

While the description of the book makes it seem like the focus of the book will be on this murder investigation, it felt like the real focus was the political instability in the region. Even as they're investigating the murder, I got the feeling that the more pressing issue (and thus likely to become a larger focus on the remainder of this book and the rest of the series) was a "new order versus old order" politics beginning to roar in the background. While I don't mind this type of story focused on politics, I didn't feel like I had enough information about the world and players involved to care about the tension. I felt like important details were glossed over, leaving me confused at times and disconnected to the story. For example, Claver is a character near the beginning of the book for a few chapters. He comes off as a side character that is there just to add another dynamic to the group. Yet, later in the novel, he turns out to be a very important character, but it felt like by that time, we didn't know anything about him or why he was so influential.

Part of the issue, I believe, is the way the story is framed. You're following Justice Vonvalt and his crew as they carry out justice through several towns, but you're doing everything through the eyes of Helena. While this might be OK, the author then added the layer of telling through the eyes of Helena in retrospect. With this came a lot of foreshadowing that took what little tension there was out of the story. By this I mean things like, they would make a decision, then the narrator (Helena in the future) would say something to the effect of "boy were we wrong." So you know in advance that the decision they made was the wrong one and things are going to turn out poorly. I feel like it being written straight from Helena's perspective as she experienced events unfold would've provided a better avenue to develop the characters, increase the tension, and color the story. Maybe this type of narration has a purpose by the end of the book, but I felt myself getting frustrated with it.

Further, the romance for Helena felt unbelievable to me.

That being said, I do believe that the concept of the novel is a great one. Fantasy novels rarely have this perspective of the law as the main character, and I was so excited to have gotten an advanced copy of this. Unfortunately it fell short for me, but others have raved about staying up all night to read it. To each their own!

I'm still happy to have gotten an advanced copy of this book and will recommend it to people who I think would enjoy it. Thank you to Orbit and Netgalley!

I received an ARC of this from NetGalley for an honest review.

I'll start by saying that I enjoyed the book, and will definitely want to read the next in the series. However, i wasn't really sure what to make of the story for the first half of the book, then the second half bedded in the characters for the future. So, I see this more of a world building entry, with hopefully more depth to come.

There was definitely the sense that the author is preparing the ground for an epic, with history and lore and politics thrown in there, but there's also a bit of whodunnit, coming of age and revenge thriller for good measure.

So, all in all, a good first entry, but a little all over the place, with hope for the future