The Justice of Kings // by Richard Swan

This book gave me a lot of feelings about my own reading preferences and I'm still thinking about how I feel about some of the decisions made for the writing and story-telling style itself here (rather than the story itself though I definitely enjoyed that). This book did not totally blow me away, which is why it's not a 5 star rating, but I did very much enjoy it and do recommend it (though if you are a very plot-driven reader, this probably is a bit slow for you).

This book is a retelling of past events (I would assume that the narrator is now much older) about the life of Justice Konrad by his clerk that travelled across the lands with him to assist him in his duties. On one side, I really liked having someone else narrate this because she gives us a lot of opinions on how she feels about his actions and decisions and since she is a very intelligent person herself, her analysis of Konrad Vonvalt is generally pretty interesting. At the same time though, and this is what keeps me thinking back on the book, I wonder if it might have been better if it was told in two POVs. I love knowing about how a character arrives at the decisions they made and seeing the change in Vonvalt's character, I would've loved to know more about this decision-making process for him. He is obviously incredibly smart so for him to develop as he did, there must have been a lot of thinking behind that! I can see there being a good reason to make this choice of only having this one narrator that will probably be revealed later on in the series, but I just think that it would have added a lot more interesting view points to the story for those of us who love internal debates and political intrigue (though I could also see his thoughts being rather dry hehe).

Something that was well done for me personally was the pacing. It's weird to explain. Looking back, it was definitely slow - I don't think there's really any arguing that - but it didn't really feel that way as I was reading it. I found myself steadily moving through the story, connecting different parts of it to figure out the intrigue as it went along, and honestly was surprised at how quickly I finished it. Something that was missing was more emphasis on the world-building, a part that I really like generally, but I honestly don't think it really would've fit this story well. The world seemed much like ours a long time ago and aside from the presence of some magic here and there, it didn't really need much explaining. This magic though is rather interesting and I loved how it was adapted to become a tool of the law and to see how it can be used for both good and bad. It was a very interesting take on the usual styles of magic we see. A whole series set around the interpretation and enforcement of such an intricate law system may not sound like the most exciting thing, but Swan did an excellent job of mixing it with action and intrigue to weave a wonderful tale.

"No one is above the law."

Thank you for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Surely a 4.5 but I’m rounding up.

I can’t remember when exactly this book came onto my radar but it was a tweet about a review, and I was immediately fascinated by this story as soon as I finished reading it. The cover of the book also hadn’t been revealed then and I just had this fascinating premise and a glowing review but I was sure that I had to read this book and I knew that I would love it. I kept checking for the book on netgalley periodically and I’m so glad I was approved because I didn’t wanna miss this one.

As much as I always say that it’s hard to write reviews for books I really love, I somehow manage it decently. But today I find myself without words to describe this book. So pardon me if I’m not articulate enough. The writing in this book was very accessible (I don’t know why I thought it wouldn’t be) and I found it very easy to feel engrossed in the story and not notice how much time passed. The writing also has a detached quality to it because the narrator is remembering these events while writing a book in her old age, decades after the events took place - and this detached style made it less anxious for me to handle the very high and dangerous stakes of the story. The pacing was mostly very fast, with things happening quickly and decisively, not always giving us enough time to process them. There is also a tone of sadness, regret, melancholy and some amount of sarcasm throughout because that’s how the narrator is feeling while reflecting back on the happenings of her past, and I thought this was an interesting choice for the author to make - I definitely feel I enjoyed this style of storytelling and it probably wouldn’t have been as effective if told in the present. There is some action but primarily this is an investigative novel, with lots of trying to find out the truth and culprits, detangling empire wide conspiracies, peppered with much philosophizing about the importance of common law and Justice. The world building isn’t extensive but we get enough information about the history of the empire and it’s hierarchy, as well as the various gods and it’s main religion - it’s just enough that we feel like it’s a lived world where things are changing constantly, but we also realize that there’s much more we don’t know and will find out soon.

As many of my fellow reviewers have pointed out already, the premise makes it look like the story is being told through Justice Konrad Vonvalt’s POV but what we get is his story being told by his young clerk and protégé Helena. She is a resourceful young lady who has suffered a lot in her childhood and should technically be thrilled to be on her way to become an Imperial Magistrate herself in the future. And while she is grateful for everything Konrad has done for her, she is still unsure about the path she wants to take in life; however, she definitely enjoys the investigative process and isn’t squeamish about many things but loathes violence. I also felt like I couldn’t always get a handle on her character, except that she is smart and brave and will survive almost anything the cruel world throws at her. But she does have an air of innocence about her at the beginning which gets shattered violently towards the end and I’m curious to see how that will change her.

Konrad on the other hand is an impeccable Justice of the empire who believes in his work and the certainty of the law. He can be stubborn and dismissive when others tell him things he doesn’t want to hear, but isn’t a bad person - just someone used to his way of life and clinging to a view of the empire and it’s hierarchy that may be on the wane. And he does cut a Sherlockian figure with his adamant sense of finishing his investigations despite any dangers that might be chasing him - but Helena with her narration manages to create a more fuller perspective of his personality - a flawed man who is set in his ways, maybe has a high opinion of himself, is relentless in his methods even if it’s hurting his companions, coming across as unfeeling and unsympathetic to their plight, but ultimately a loyal and maybe even compassionate man. But the changes we get to see in him as the story progresses are fascinating in real time and if the ominous words Helena uses to describe him towards the end are an indication, it’s only going downhill from there.

While there are many small characters here and each have significant impacts on the story, there were only a few whom I really liked. Dubine is a brute of a person but an efficient taskman to Konrad and despite his gruff demeanor, someone who cares about Helena. Sir Radomir was another character who I thought would be more antagonistic but turned out to be a brave and upright person with a keen sense of right and wrong. Claver may have been present in person for very few pages but this religious fanatic with excessively growing power and connections is an enigmatic figure who is always in the back of our main characters’ minds and I can’t wait to see what more havoc he will wreak.

In a nutshell, this book was everything I expected it would be. It has its share of brutality and gore but it’s not an action packed novel - this debut is a highly engrossing investigative fantasy novel featuring enigmatic characters, with enough depth to let us think on about the pros and cons of imperialism in this story and the affects of religious fanaticism as well as the importance of enforcing the law equally and dispassionately. And if you are a Sherlock Holmes fan like myself and love the fantasy genre, this one is right up your alley. I’m just glad that it ended in a way which deeply satisfied me and while I’m very excited for the sequel, I’m feeling more composed about the long wait.

Me, before starting this book: Ugh, this is gonna be one of those super long epic fantasies that takes me a month to read.

Spoiler alert, it did not. I read this in 5 days and it only took that long because work was extremely busy. ANYWAY, this was overall much more interesting than I expected.

We are following around Emperor's Justice Konrad Vonvalt. He's like a circuit judge, riding around the far-flung parts of the Empire and administering justice with a combination of magic powers, investigative skills, and Javert-like zeal for law and order. The story is told by Helena, Vonvalt's young clerk, who is now an old woman and narrates with the mostly-ominous wisdom of hindsight.

It was the police procedural aspect of this that hooked me. I'm a big fan of the combination of detective work, political maneuver, and Solomon-style "cut the baby in half" shrewdness involved in the work Vonvalt and Helena do.

The epic fantasy part comes later, and in the form of a huge battle scene. There are a lot of good seeds sown here:

• The omnipresence of the Empire's past. The worldbuilding is explained when necessary, but it doesn't need to be described in explicit, painful detail to be clear how the Empire's recent wars of bloody conquest have left everyone with trauma.

• It is very much hinted that we are about to see the downfall of the empire, and the ominous nature of the story, it being told by Helena as something already over, comes through strongly.

• Vonvalt is a very intriguing character. His complexity and compellingness are presented very well, and the contradictions in his relationship with Helena too. His fall from faith and what happens later because of it promise to be painful.

• Helena is present, but in many ways Vonvalt inhabits the story more than she does. This seems to be the beginning of Helena grappling with her own story, and who she wants to become outside of just being Vonvalt's clerk and shadow.

• The priest and religious shenanigans are not my favorite, but I am VERY intrigued by what is actually going on in the afterlife. I hope that is a worldbuilding mystery we will get to explore more in later series installments.

Overall, definitely an enjoyable, intricate ride and I'm fascinated to imagine where we will go from here.

This was a great book about concepts like justice, honor, and legal ethics. It was fun to follow the scribe of a judge/executioner, and getting an understanding of the legal system in this fantasy world, which is a unique angle to explore the worldbuilding through. The plot was well-paced and unpredictable.

DNF at 40%

I just can't...I HATE the narrator. She's annoying and very very unlikable.
At first, it's pretty okay but after reading 25% into this book, I started to get annoyed with the narrator, Helena. The narrator is not the 'main character', Sir Konrad Vonvalt, the Justice, who narrated our story but Helena Sedanka, his talented protégé. Helena is a 19 years old girl. She's pretty okay at first but she's got even more annoying from time to time.

I'm a big fan of 'romance' but I don't care whether the fantasy book that I read did contain it or not. At least please do the 'romance' part in the right way! There is this one particular serious scene where Vonvalt somehow can't use his ability and shits went down. It's pretty crucial and I also feel afraid of what will happen next after I read that particular scene. At that time, Helena thinks about this guardsman she's currently seeing named Matas....they kissed once and fell in love instantly. She's also a bit of a bitch to Vonvalt and said something cruel to him (I feel second-hand embarrassment here). That makes me even hate her more.

Possible Triggers:
Death | Gore | Rape

Characters:
The story follows three characters traveling together, with a focus on one (Sir Konrad Vonvalt), told from the perspective of his protégé (Helena Sedanka).

Sir Konrad Vonvalt: is a pretty interesting character. I love the fact that he is SO VERY LAWFUL. He strikes me as an, ‘I signed a contract/made a pact (what have you) and will do my duty to uphold the very letter of the law, but not necessarily the spirit of it’, kind of guy.

Positives:
+ Justices in the world seem to have a special magic all their own. Vonvalt had a few magical abilities that he had trained in when he became a Justice and a few others were mentioned as the story progressed. I am interested to see if there are even more that haven’t been talked about yet and what those might be. There didn’t appear to be any other obvious uses of magic in the story; making it a pretty low magic fantasy - which for me is fairly rare. I enjoyed getting the snippets of the Justices’ group history sprinkled throughout.
+ Vonvalts’ character progression was very interesting. By the end of the book it was fascinating to see the changes that had come over him because of the consequences of his own actions. Really looking forward to seeing how he changes more in the subsequent book(s?). Closely linked with that, it's also going to be really neat to see how Helena changes (specifically in her views on Vonvalt) as she matures.
+ 500 badassery points to Dubine Bressinger. I think I have a new candidate for “most badass character in a book”.

Negatives:
- Saddest of pandas, the next book appears to be slated for 2023. We will have to patiently wait to find out what happens to our new book friends. This isn’t a negative really, more of a bemoaning my lack of patience.

Final Thoughts:
This book was fantastic. Absolutely recommend it for anyone who enjoys mystery along with their fantasy! It was really neat to slowly uncover the true scale of what all is going on in the characters' country while their work was being unveiled piece by piece. There wasn’t a ton of fighting in the book, but what combative action there was, was well written and brutal, with real and lasting consequences. The magic was also quite interesting. This is not a high magic world. There are no mythological beasties and magic appears to be feared and abhorred as unnatural. I absolutely did not guess what was going on in the mystery aspect of the story and was delighted with the reveal. Can’t wait to finally have this bad boy up on my shelf as part of my collection.

I'm sitting here finding that I may be in the minority here. This book wasn't bad, it was just missing **something**.

Firstly, lets talk about the elephant - the synopsis and how it is definitely not telling you what you need to know. Is this book about Sir Konrad Volvalt as he traipses through the map, meting out Justice and gets more than he bargains for when he reaches this town and the world seems to upend itself??? SURE, yeah that definitely happens, but we don't get his point of view at any point. It's told by Helena Sedanka an older lady who is telling you the story from when she was in his employ at 19 years of age. And I think this is where a lot of my issues lie with the book.

Helena, in her remembrance of her youth felt like a hollowed out version of who the character could have been. I'd like to give the author the benefit of the doubt that he can write women, but this wasn't a great showing. Helena, For a kid who grew up on the streets, her outbursts at times when there was even the smallest amount of friction between her and Konrad, seemed unnecessary and didn't fit with how she was set up to be. Interactions with other female characters also fell flat, and what should have been an easy interaction was painful to read because WOMEN KNOW when they ask "Hey that dude seems creepy, yeah?" There isn't much room for conjecture there. The author did kind of shit on housewifes a few times, and that wasn't super nice. Also besides the last big scene, it was Helena and August that were doing all of the heavy lifting in moving this plot on through.

Konrad, oh Konrad, you deluded dimwit. I understand that you get this image of him through the eyes of a beloved employee, but many of his actions were a hindrance to solve the things he was there to solve. His concept as a character is super cool, and it's not a common occurence in fantasy that we follow the lawmaker since they're usually the side characters of all side characters. But in practise he just seems to be like the last guy changing his mind on a thing, even when all the evidence is presented to him. And when you boil down motives and actions that happened this book, it's basically him not listening to the key information from the people surrounding him (unless they're male, or it's a really good idea), and the direct consequences for him being his stubborn self.

And to speak on the stubborn self parts of Vonvalt, is that there is a plot that is happening off page. It's about politics, but since we haven't specifically met any of these people, it's REALLY hard to care about what is happening there. Like sure, you have to get the politics in there, but at times it felt info dumpy because it all happened off page.

The other thing that kept niggling at the back of my brain the entirety of reading this is that it is IMPERIAL Justice and there was a lot of trunkating religions in the recent past. When they meet a representation of a group still worshipping the older gods, Volvalt is sympathetic (to a great extent), but it's still giving big colonizer vibes, and it was sometimes hard to be reading it from the Imperial end and root for it.

Lastly, I was super excited at one point where it looked like the author was going to reward me with my favorite trope of all time, but then it fell super short of what I needed it to be, and also disappointed me further from where I was.

I think that there are going to be a lot of people who are going to LOVE THIS, and I am happy for them.

An elderly woman, Helena Sedanka, is retelling her life as a young law clerk in this fantasy tale set in an empire of many peoples held together by a common law code. Helena is an orphan surviving on the streets when she tries to steal the purse from Sir Konrad Vonvalt, Imperial Magistrate. Instead of arresting her he offers to mentor her as his clerk. Together with his taskman, Bressinger, they travel around the outer empire. Accompanied for part of the way by a rather fanatical Neman priest, Claver, Vovalt makes a decision that later impacts them all. When they arrive in Galen's Vale to investigate the murder of Lady Bauer they discover much has been happening in the empire between the emperor, the senate, religious factions and various nobles. It reminded me a bit of the old Holy Roman Empire or the Ottoman Empire. Helena is a fun character to root for and Vonvalt is complicated and interesting. I look forward to the next book. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks so much to Richard Swan, and Netgalley for providing a free Arc for my Honest review.....

Well here is my honest review....

I just could not finish the the book...I thought the description sounded great and I have thoroughly enjoyed Mystery/ Fantasy mashups in the past, as this Genre bending combines two of my favorite types of book...

I really wanted to like this book and I really wanted it to get better, but for my personal take :the idea of Vonvalt being the main character, as seen through the eyes of Helena, although unique, didnt work for me. I didnt get Vonvalts internal dialogue, thoughts or feelings. I enjoy this sort of thing and come to expect it when vonvalt is purportedly " the greatest this, that, and so on..." Annnd the main character...Helena doesnt seem very deep

My other problem is that this book isnt totally original in its use of terms from a semi-modern world which really takes away from the authentic feel of a story and takes away from creativity that I enjoy from authors....

The prose itself is good and the story pacing is not bad, but I found myself struggling to really care about what happens next. The magic may not be meant to be a primary focus but I felt it was bland and unexciting in especially when the the books description lead me in to a different belief....it was actually more exciting than the story itself...

I thoroughly enjoyed The Justice of Kings, hooked from the beginning by the gritty, Slavic-feeling medieval world and a truly compelling focal protagonist. My early impression was that this book feels like The Witcher 3 with low magic, focused on law and philosophy instead of monster hunting. Humans can be monstrous enough, as this narrative shows.

Sir Konrad Vonvalt is a fantastic, layered protagonist who I bonded to immediately. The narrative is told not from his interior but from the point of view of his young clerk, Helena, a choice that frames Vonvalt in a way that feels both intimate and mythic. He is at once very human, with all the faults thereof, and also legendary, revered, unapproachable. I would have enjoyed more time with Vonvalt versus the story taking us elsewhere periodically with Helena, but overall I felt the point of view choice was a solid one.

The relationship between Vonvalt and Helena has many angles, all of which get stressed during the story and keep the characters dynamic around the mystery plot, which itself gets slowly expanded and convoluted from small village scale to country-wide politics and revolution. While confronting this broadening, deepening scope, both characters have to face up to naïveté and the cost of their ideals, while also exploring the meaning of service. The novel starts quite slow but builds on itself to an intense climactic scene and a peak of character growth that sets up strongly for the next book in the series.

Lastly, the magical abilities in the novel are sparse and used sparingly, but feel more impactful because of that. One of Vonvalt’s skills is an interesting form of necromancy that gives readers a peek into a complex afterlife…which promises to be explored more in the sequels.

As if Aragorn left the hobbits and because a lawyer. Or, Judge Dread, maybe.

A magical solider responsible for upholding the law, a Justice travels the country, making sure the Emperor's law is enforced. This includes taking testimony, courtroom depositions, etc., which was surprisingly well done.

The actual court case is interesting and serves the plot well, but the characters is where this book shines. Characters are flawed and real, We see a person lose their faith in what they believe and keep moving forward anyway. We see everyone looking after themselves, especially those with the most to gain by cooperating. Everyone feels real, even if stiff at times. I'm looking forward to seeing these characters more and having the time to let them develop through the story.

I received a free advance reading copy (ARC) of this book from Orbit books in exchange for my honest review.

I did like the book, but the characters felt a bit flat to me and I didn't connect to them as much as I would have liked. The blurb for the book says it "introduces an unforgettable protagonist destined to become a fantasy icon: Sir Konrad Vonvalt." Sir Konrad is an epic character, but the story is told from the point of view of his clerk, Helena, who isn't very likeable at all. So, as great a character as he is (and I do think he's awesome), the narrative of the novel doesn't really allow us to get to know him very well and that's a pity.

This isn't the first time I've read a book (or series) where the main POV character isn't the center of the story, but this attempt wasn't as effective. I think that's because, while we did learn more about Sir Konrad & his history, I still felt like I didn't get to know him very well by the end of the book. Some of the choices he made throughout the book puzzled me. Had I gotten to know him better, some of those choices might have been easier to understand.

On the plus side, the politics & political intrigue in this book were very well written. I'm usually not very interested in stories that feature religion & religious conflict as a major plot point, but in this case, I found it intriguing, and it helped move the plot along very nicely.

The heart of this story is the investigation into various crimes, including murder, political corruption and disappearances. It is a gripping story and it pulled me in, I just wish I had gotten to know Konrad better.

I liked the book, but I wasn't in love with it. I give this book 3.8 out of 5 stars (rounding up to 4).

I dnfed this at ~85%
Just like many reviewers, I was originally surprised to find out this novel had a female protagonist, I assumed this book would be about Konrad Vonvalt. And I thought it was a rather interesting story narration idea aka "Present but not heard". Besides, you don't often have a fantasy book centered about Law, Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the execution and overall I was bored.

I disliked the main female character because there was absolutely nothing that made her a woman. If there was no "Ugh, sharing a room with a man", "ugh, sexism" and "I want to marry that guy", I'd never have guessed she was a woman. This is a first person POV yet there was absolutely nothing feminine about her thoughts, no sense of kinship when talking to other women (like when she was in the kloster it was time to experiment with it, but there was nothing), no female intuition, no female logic, no love for clean orderly environment, no giggling, no being embarrassed in certain situations - nothing.
I got way more female presence from Brienne of Tarth than I ever got from Helena.

I thought that the writing style (the sentences) were bad at times, and some words were used inconsistently.
The exposition was clunky.
Another big problem for me was anachronisms.
This book had:
- Crusades (11-13 century called)
- "groat" (a coin speficially used between 1351 and 1662)
- "Breakfast" with "porridge and bacon" - both of which are very modern concepts
- "Bigots" and "homosexuals" (21 century called)
(+ a few other words similarly spread across an entire Millenia of history)
You can have all these concepts in a book, but you need to use time appropriate language and explain why does your novel have these concepts if the historical period did not (like breakfast). This book could've had disel fuel and driving cars and I wouldn't bet an eye, IF there was an explanation to HOW society reached that stage.
I don't think in this case "It's just fantasy" is an appropriate cover-up bc it does seem to try and draw a picture of a certain time period in reader's mind and it actually uses real-life words and cultures

Besides, I have had a linguistic education, and history and historical linguistics have always been a passion of mine, and I did not approve of the mumble-jumble of Germanic and Slavic words mixed with some Roman, Greek and others.
Again, I think there needs to be an in-world explanation to why the characters and places are named so differently and why they use so many words from so many languages. IRL these languages used to be one Indo-Proto-European language, but are now vastly different because of the history and geography and if one language borrows a word, there's an explanation behind it. And here there was no geographical or historical explanation to why there was this mumble-jumble of so many words from so many different fields/classes.

Absolutely incredible story from a master craftsman. This book sucked you in from the beginning and refused to let go, culminating in the extraordinary and unexpected ending.

I enjoyed this book, it's interesting and intelligent. Richard Swan did an excellent job with character development. I recommend it.

This was a great start to a new fantasy series. I enjoyed this though I was skeptical. The book cover suggest grim dark. Think of it as a clash between Church and Roman empire. Very interesting. This had mystery and political machinations. There is even a bit of romance, though this portion was a little clunky.

I enjoyed this book. It is told from the perspective of Helena, a young law clerk, traveling around what feels like a Soviet Union/Northern Europe type empire expansion in a medieval time period, solving crimes, holding court cases, and carrying out executions. Sir Konrad is an Emperor's Justice, with a few magical abilities including speaking to the recently dead and compelling people to tell the truth. Other Justices have other magical abilities. The magical abilities are only moderately helpful, though most people are frightened of them. Most of the characters in the book are described to be in a bad mood most of the time, I suppose unsurprisingly given how grueling and dangerous their life is. It is pretty much always cold and wet, and bad smells abound. Helena and a young watchman fall deeply in love after talking twice, with Helena in a bad mood as usual and rude. She expects Sir Konrad will want a sexual relationship with her when he hires her, which to her relief doesn't happen, but she is jealous when Konrad displays affection for another woman. Anyway, the romance wasn't terribly convincing, but the other relationships were interesting. The story is told as a memoir, by Helena as an old woman, with a lot of hints about what were good or bad decisions in hindsight, which I don't love. There's a set up for additional books about this trio though, and certainly a lot more to explore.

4.5 stars. A solid debut. I was really drawn in to the story and it kept me engaged from page one. The description is a little misleading... Yes, the story is about Sir Konrad, but it's told from the first-person perspective of Helena, his clerk, and she's telling the story looking back years later as an old woman. I actually really really liked this. It added a sense of anticipation: We knew what the end result was, but we didn't know how it was going to play out. There were a few twists and turns and heartbreaking moments, and overall I really enjoyed it and anxiously look forward to the next book in the series.

There is so much I could say about this book, but I will only hit the highlights for brevity’s sake. The story is told from the POV of a sidekick to the protagonist. This struck me as a little unusual, but it worked really well. We don’t know the thoughts of any character except the narrator.
The World building isn’t exactly original, yet it is an excellent backdrop for the tale being told. I felt as though I were in the story and it seemed real. There was magic and it was believable.
Five stars for #TheJusticeOfKings. You will enjoy this one! My thanks to #Orbit via #NetGalley.

I feel the names were unneedingly complicated and made the writing bland in comparison to the character names. I felt it could've reached a higher level but fell short.