| $@%&! level: Low “Bedroom” level: Low Violence level: Medium-High (Fantasy violence) Back Cover: “Thanks to Paks's courage, the long-vanished heir to the half-elven kingdom of Lyonya has been revealed as Kieri Phelan, a formidable mercenary who earned a title—and enemies—in the neighboring kingdom of Tsaia, where Prince Mikeli suddenly faces the threat of a coup. Acting swiftly, Mikeli strikes at the powerful family behind the attack: the Verrakaien, magelords steeped in death and evil. Mikeli's survival—and that of Tsaia—depend on the only Verrakai whose magery is not tainted with innocent blood. Two kings stand at a pivotal point in the history of their worlds. For dark forces are gathering against them, knit in a secret conspiracy more sinister and far more ancient than they can imagine.” |
First of all, this isn't about Paksenarrion, or at least not directly. Oh, she shows up, but she isn't a main character at all. This is more about the way her actions—or even her presence—changed the lives of the people who knew her. For this first one, you get three main characters telling three separate stories. The first one is pretty obvious—Kieri, newly found King of Lyonya, has to adjust to being a king, learning a whole new set of cultural traditions, finding out that he's half-elven and not an unwanted bastard, and just starting to rediscover and re-invent his kingdom so that it will work again (which it apparently hasn't done for around half a century). His story doesn't get very far, which is sad to me because he's one of my favorite characters ever. Don't worry, though; it picks up in the next novel.
Then you've got the story of Arcolin, who was Kieri's senior captain when he was a mercenary, and now suddenly has to take over as Count (they decide not to make him a Duke), manage the northern lands, and take the Company south so they can earn enough to support themselves. His story gets far enough to make a really good set up for continuing books, especially with what happens to Sergeant Stammel.
And finally, there's Dorrin's story, who was another one of Kieri's captains and ends up as Duke of a land that's been ruled by sadistic, torturing Mages for the past several hundred years. Also, she has magery of her own, which she is forced to use in order to defeat those same sadistic Mages, in spite of magery being outlawed by the laws of the land. Now her story shows some serious progress and growth, so it's only fair that she gets the climactic ending.
In many ways, this first book of the new series is mostly set up for what's coming after, but I was so happy to see these characters again after so long that I don't even mind. And I'll just give you a hint that the following books are definitely worth having a really good set up for.