A review by lostlenore_
The King's Peace by Kevin Hammond
4.0
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I received this ARC by its author in an exchange for an honest review.
Kevin Hammond’s work is filled with exquisite and elaborate descriptions. From the beginning of the novel, the reader finds himself trapped in fast-paced narration and well-trimmed action scenes. It has been a while since I last read a decent fantasy novel and I was glad to get my hands on something whose author clearly demonstrates a long and thorough understanding of what it means to write about a quest within a fictional realm after so many of his predecessors have done the same.
The edition I received was linguistically impeccable. The author knows how to handle the tropes of this genre; he seems confident enough in structuring a world from scratch and in placing a hero whose status as a thief could easily deem him as an anti-hero, but not a villain. Hammond’s exploitation of dragon lore and light fantasy blend successfully in a novel which refuses to stumble upon well-worn fantasy motifs and patterns.
On the downside, while the novel is of high caliber both structurally and linguistically, I often felt a little bit at loss by the number of descriptions provided in each paragraph. They are not at all tiring—on the contrary, they shed the appropriate amount of light in need of someone to get a better grasp of Nathaniel’s surroundings—but I am more of a reader who gets easily bored by dense and wordy text. Also, I faced some issues with the received format as I could read the novel only online thus, missing the opportunity to bookmark the page I was reading each time.
Hammond’s work is another reminder of the self-published gems I am lucky to encounter as a book blogger. I was particularly fond of the amazing introduction which, not only fully immersed me in Hammond’s world but also led me to believe that this book deserves worldwide recognition.
VERDICT:
The King’s Peace comprises one of the best self-published fantasy novels that I have ever read. Hammond’s writing ability is outstanding and the main character is interesting and enjoyable. If I were to draw an analogy, The King’s Peace resembles a Dungeons and Dragons version of Skyrim yet, uniquely and originally crafted to appeal to any reader of fantasy.
I received this ARC by its author in an exchange for an honest review.
Kevin Hammond’s work is filled with exquisite and elaborate descriptions. From the beginning of the novel, the reader finds himself trapped in fast-paced narration and well-trimmed action scenes. It has been a while since I last read a decent fantasy novel and I was glad to get my hands on something whose author clearly demonstrates a long and thorough understanding of what it means to write about a quest within a fictional realm after so many of his predecessors have done the same.
The edition I received was linguistically impeccable. The author knows how to handle the tropes of this genre; he seems confident enough in structuring a world from scratch and in placing a hero whose status as a thief could easily deem him as an anti-hero, but not a villain. Hammond’s exploitation of dragon lore and light fantasy blend successfully in a novel which refuses to stumble upon well-worn fantasy motifs and patterns.
On the downside, while the novel is of high caliber both structurally and linguistically, I often felt a little bit at loss by the number of descriptions provided in each paragraph. They are not at all tiring—on the contrary, they shed the appropriate amount of light in need of someone to get a better grasp of Nathaniel’s surroundings—but I am more of a reader who gets easily bored by dense and wordy text. Also, I faced some issues with the received format as I could read the novel only online thus, missing the opportunity to bookmark the page I was reading each time.
Hammond’s work is another reminder of the self-published gems I am lucky to encounter as a book blogger. I was particularly fond of the amazing introduction which, not only fully immersed me in Hammond’s world but also led me to believe that this book deserves worldwide recognition.
VERDICT:
The King’s Peace comprises one of the best self-published fantasy novels that I have ever read. Hammond’s writing ability is outstanding and the main character is interesting and enjoyable. If I were to draw an analogy, The King’s Peace resembles a Dungeons and Dragons version of Skyrim yet, uniquely and originally crafted to appeal to any reader of fantasy.