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theodorebrovinsky's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Such an amazing debut novel. Each character, both women and men, is written to perfection. Character development plays an important roll; I found myself rooting for both the hero and the villain and many of the side characters (both ‘good’ and ‘bad’). If you want a sometimes dark and gruesome, but also at times inspiring, hopeful, and clever book with lots of action and adventure, and entertaining and loveable characters, then please read this book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Abandonment, War, and Classism
Moderate: Bullying and Cursing
Minor: Alcohol
thereadingstray's review
Women just want to have sex ... That's their only purpose in life ..
markymark09's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
apar's review against another edition
5.0
I absolutely loved this book! Full review to come.
------
Five full glorious stars!
I've been working on this review for a few weeks now. Seriously! Weeks of trying to be thoughtful, concise and sane while talking about this book because I still only feel capable of doing some "BUY THIS BOOK NOW!" shouting from rooftops. So, having reduced my standards, all i'm going to attempt now is...coherence. In case that plan fails, too, FYI - BUY THIS BOOK NOW. IT'S REALLY BLOODY GOOD!
Right. So. Here goes.
Summarising the plot of Kings of Paradise would take patience and focus that I, not the most concise writer in the world (ha!), feel completely incapable of doing. The blurb does a much better job of summarising the plot than anything spoiler-free I could do, so please scroll up and have a look-see. This book is being promoted as similar to A Song of Ice and Fire, and that is completely accurate.
Overall, the writing makes the pacing feel leisurely, except you're suddenly half way through and you realise you've already had almost a trilogy's worth of character development and questions that need answering. So much happens over an unexpectedly long time frame (about a couple of decades worth of growth), but Nell's "every word needs to serve a purpose" style of writing means you get multiple layers of information from each thought, interaction, fight and conversation. I was completely sucked in right from the get-go. Nell is a storyteller, and he's woven a tale spanning different cultures, traditions and protagonists, giving the reader just enough information to make sure they keep turning pages.
The entire book is a series of revelations, and our view expands as the characters' does. Exposition is not Richard Nell's easy answer to world building - there are no lengthly paragraphs about the world and the magic system and the culture. There is only the character's experiences, interactions and perspectives for the readers to use to imagine the lands of Ash and Sand. This method of handling world building is difficult, and very often fails to work all that well since it is so damn hard to communicate all that a character goes through over such long periods of time, and sometimes ends up making the pacing and voice seem uneven. Now here, I think is truly where Nell's genius lies. He has given us a rich high-fantasy-style world, with multiple unique cultures drawn from across the world, and he's done all of that without feeling the need to give us all this information via lecture-like blocks of dialogue. I think this is Nell respecting his audience (even though he puts us through the damn emotional wringer again and again and again!)
To me, this is a story in three parts, with three very unique voices - Kale, Dala and Ruka, and their search for answers to the same questions.
Kale was my favourite of the three, and completely different from the other two. He seems like a delightful child, becoming a delightful man! My favourite scene in the entire book is one of Kale's pivotal scenes with his father and brother. Spolier Ahead:, and over the course of a few pages, this one scene defines Kale's place among his people, his father and brother's motivations, explain more of who his mystery teacher is, and shines a light on a few previously minor characters. It's all very well done. I wasn't expecting the story to change so quickly and so decisively. Everything that happens to Kale after that is surprising, but still very much in keeping with his character - well, or at least all the new twists and revelations and Kale's reactions to them, feel very much like they are true to his developing character.
Dala is the kind of Strong Female Character(TM) people are looking for when they say things like "physical badassery isn't the only way for a female character to show strength". A blunt listing of the events of her life might make her seem passive, but she fights and fails and fights and fails over and over, and just keeps going. There’s a grace in that kind of spirit that makes Dala both sympathetic and compelling. Dala reads very much as a real human being - she has real flaws and real strengths; her fears are realistic, and her actions more so; she’s not just her sexuality, and she’s not asexual; she’s clever, but makes human mistakes. I really appreciate Nell’s handling of the kind of character that so many (many!) SFF authors completely ruin.
Ruka is Nell’s main show. The transformation of Ruka from horror [JFC what an opening chapter!] to sweetness and light back to horror is absolutely fascinating. Nell writes Ruka with a deft hand - no scene is wasted, all the dialogue serves a purpose to further his character development and his story. Nell forces us to understand how Ruka comes to become the cannibalistic monster that we meet on the very first page, and then shows us how such a person would deal with the world. Through it all, we are forced to understand and sympathise with Ruka's worldview, while accepting that world views him, rightly, as a monster. For large parts of the book I wanted nothing more than for Ruka to find a friend, while being terrified for anyone...any character at all...that interacts with him. I don't normally connect with blood thirsty, kill-first-never-ask-questions type of characters unless they're meant to be hilarious. And after 600 pages of death and destruction, all I want to do is give Ruka a hug, a lecture and a safe place to sleep.
I... feel so damn much for our three main protagonists and many [many!] of the supporting characters. Damn you, Richard Nell, and thank you so much!
The only drawback to Nell's style (and the book as a whole) is that the PoV and PoV shifts makes the book slightly confusing in the beginning, since we're seeing and learning everything from the PoV of a small child who lives outside of normal societal structure. And once we begin to understand Ruka's world, we're whisked away to Dala and Kale's worlds, both of which are vastly different. However, that feels like a such a small hiccup since Nell fleshes out these worlds and characters so well, that there's very little disconnect while reading.
So, to sum up - this is a good story, very well told. And really, what else are we all here for? So do yourself a favour and BUY THIS BOOK!
------
Five full glorious stars!
I've been working on this review for a few weeks now. Seriously! Weeks of trying to be thoughtful, concise and sane while talking about this book because I still only feel capable of doing some "BUY THIS BOOK NOW!" shouting from rooftops. So, having reduced my standards, all i'm going to attempt now is...coherence. In case that plan fails, too, FYI - BUY THIS BOOK NOW. IT'S REALLY BLOODY GOOD!
Right. So. Here goes.
Summarising the plot of Kings of Paradise would take patience and focus that I, not the most concise writer in the world (ha!), feel completely incapable of doing. The blurb does a much better job of summarising the plot than anything spoiler-free I could do, so please scroll up and have a look-see. This book is being promoted as similar to A Song of Ice and Fire, and that is completely accurate.
Overall, the writing makes the pacing feel leisurely, except you're suddenly half way through and you realise you've already had almost a trilogy's worth of character development and questions that need answering. So much happens over an unexpectedly long time frame (about a couple of decades worth of growth), but Nell's "every word needs to serve a purpose" style of writing means you get multiple layers of information from each thought, interaction, fight and conversation. I was completely sucked in right from the get-go. Nell is a storyteller, and he's woven a tale spanning different cultures, traditions and protagonists, giving the reader just enough information to make sure they keep turning pages.
The entire book is a series of revelations, and our view expands as the characters' does. Exposition is not Richard Nell's easy answer to world building - there are no lengthly paragraphs about the world and the magic system and the culture. There is only the character's experiences, interactions and perspectives for the readers to use to imagine the lands of Ash and Sand. This method of handling world building is difficult, and very often fails to work all that well since it is so damn hard to communicate all that a character goes through over such long periods of time, and sometimes ends up making the pacing and voice seem uneven. Now here, I think is truly where Nell's genius lies. He has given us a rich high-fantasy-style world, with multiple unique cultures drawn from across the world, and he's done all of that without feeling the need to give us all this information via lecture-like blocks of dialogue. I think this is Nell respecting his audience (even though he puts us through the damn emotional wringer again and again and again!)
To me, this is a story in three parts, with three very unique voices - Kale, Dala and Ruka, and their search for answers to the same questions.
Kale was my favourite of the three, and completely different from the other two. He seems like a delightful child, becoming a delightful man! My favourite scene in the entire book is one of Kale's pivotal scenes with his father and brother. Spolier Ahead:
Spoiler
Kale has an unexpected brush with castrationDala is the kind of Strong Female Character(TM) people are looking for when they say things like "physical badassery isn't the only way for a female character to show strength". A blunt listing of the events of her life might make her seem passive, but she fights and fails and fights and fails over and over, and just keeps going. There’s a grace in that kind of spirit that makes Dala both sympathetic and compelling. Dala reads very much as a real human being - she has real flaws and real strengths; her fears are realistic, and her actions more so; she’s not just her sexuality, and she’s not asexual; she’s clever, but makes human mistakes. I really appreciate Nell’s handling of the kind of character that so many (many!) SFF authors completely ruin.
Ruka is Nell’s main show. The transformation of Ruka from horror [JFC what an opening chapter!] to sweetness and light back to horror is absolutely fascinating. Nell writes Ruka with a deft hand - no scene is wasted, all the dialogue serves a purpose to further his character development and his story. Nell forces us to understand how Ruka comes to become the cannibalistic monster that we meet on the very first page, and then shows us how such a person would deal with the world. Through it all, we are forced to understand and sympathise with Ruka's worldview, while accepting that world views him, rightly, as a monster. For large parts of the book I wanted nothing more than for Ruka to find a friend, while being terrified for anyone...any character at all...that interacts with him. I don't normally connect with blood thirsty, kill-first-never-ask-questions type of characters unless they're meant to be hilarious. And after 600 pages of death and destruction, all I want to do is give Ruka a hug, a lecture and a safe place to sleep.
I... feel so damn much for our three main protagonists and many [many!] of the supporting characters. Damn you, Richard Nell, and thank you so much!
The only drawback to Nell's style (and the book as a whole) is that the PoV and PoV shifts makes the book slightly confusing in the beginning, since we're seeing and learning everything from the PoV of a small child who lives outside of normal societal structure. And once we begin to understand Ruka's world, we're whisked away to Dala and Kale's worlds, both of which are vastly different. However, that feels like a such a small hiccup since Nell fleshes out these worlds and characters so well, that there's very little disconnect while reading.
So, to sum up - this is a good story, very well told. And really, what else are we all here for? So do yourself a favour and BUY THIS BOOK!
hugorhill1's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
And with this begins one of the greatest series in fantasy. The land of Ash is a harsh place, and it has turned ruka into a character strong and ruthless enough to gain power in this world. Ruka, son of bayla, is a standout character, one of the strongest of the genre.
But ruka is not our only main character, and Kale comes from a very different world. He was born a son of royalty to the island nation off the coast of the land of Ash. Kale's Island home is a paradise, and it might be a prize too big to be ignored forever.
This is a series for lovers of game of thrones or the first law books, someone looking for real character driven drama and action, world building political maneuvering and some truly excellent magic. But a word of warning. Think of the most insane trigger warning you can imagine being on any piece of media. That probably applies to this.
But ruka is not our only main character, and Kale comes from a very different world. He was born a son of royalty to the island nation off the coast of the land of Ash. Kale's Island home is a paradise, and it might be a prize too big to be ignored forever.
This is a series for lovers of game of thrones or the first law books, someone looking for real character driven drama and action, world building political maneuvering and some truly excellent magic. But a word of warning. Think of the most insane trigger warning you can imagine being on any piece of media. That probably applies to this.
elwoodradley's review against another edition
3.0
3.5. It was entertaining as hell, but there were a lot of grammatical errors in the kindle edition. Definitely going to keep reading, I have to know what happens with Kale and Rukas stories.
shanembailey's review against another edition
5.0
I think Richard Nell just became one of my favorite authors with this book, if not my favorite author period, then my favorite self-published author. What a feat! The world-building in this book seems effortless and comes out in conversations with characters rather than huge exposition dumps, it seems like you learn about the world WITH the characters as they grow and learn themselves. It's primarily character driven and you don't really learn about the main plot until way later in the book, but you're entranced with the characters the whole way through. It's very grim, bad things happen to good people throughout, but like the best of these books, a sliver of hope is wound all the way through. Speaking of, I hope I can purchase the next book soon as I'm ready to keep reading.