While out hunting one day, Han and his Clan friend, Dancer, discover three young wizards using a magical amulet to set fire to the sacred mountain of Hanalea. Han wrestles it from them, but without realising that his heroism has put him and his family in great danger. For the young arsonist is Micah Bayar, son of the High Wizard, and the amulet a treasure with immense power; it once belonged to the Demon King, the legendary wizard who nearly destroyed the world a millennium ago. The Bayars will stop at nothing to get it back.
Meanwhile, Raisa ana’Marianna, Princess Heir of the Fells, has just returned to the city after spending three years with her father’s Clan in the mountains. She aspires to be like Hanalea, the legendary warrior-queen who vanquished the Demon King and saved the world, but her mother has other plans for her – plans that will put both the queendom and Raisa’s future in great danger. The Seven Realms will tremble when the adventures of Han and Raisa collide in this stunning new page-turner from bestselling author Cinda Williams Chima.
Han Alister:
·
a drifter and a grifter
·
a life of perpetual uncertainty
·
a home he can't visit and a foster camp he can't
call home.
Raisa
ana'Marianna:
·
a princess
·
a life planned for her before she was even born
·
a home she can't leave, far from a camp she
calls her real home.
Han and Raisa are about to meet -
in a world brought down by wizards but where wizards rule from the shadows, and
in queendom run by a queen who circumvents conflict. They'll meet in
street-gang territory where street gangs are the least dangerous denizen. And
though Han and Raisa's worlds are about to collide, their stories will unveil
separately.
Needless to say, The
Demon King is a wonderful mass of contradictions. Its biggest
contradiction to date is how good it is, and how it never quite got the acclaim
that it deserves.
(Based on book one, at the very
least.)
Before I get into any aspect of
the story, I will be kind and generous and impart this great advice -
STAY AWAY FROM THE SYNOPSIS. This, of course, varies
depending on which edition of the book you have (or which edition you look up
on Goodreads). But the synopsis on the back cover of my book (bought as a box
set, to whom it may concern) was so needlessly detailed that
it revealed half of the book's plot, and pretty much gave me a rundown of all
the plot twists meant to take me by surprise. If ever there was a series where
knowing less is more, this is it. The synopsis is your
enemy. If you aren't best friends with spoilers, at any rate. Now...
*clears throat* Moving on to the book praise.
First off, I am biased. I am
biased as heck about this series. Fantasy is my literary home. It's where I run
when things get really scary in other genres (only to be re-traumatized by
fantasy in turn - but that's a self-inflicted, masochistic sort of thing). This
is mostly because I find that when fantasy fails, it doesn't often fail as
dramatically as other genres. A fantasy book/series can go
wrong, of course. There are almost mapped pitfalls where it can hit a snag and
drag, drag, drag.
The Demon King, needless to say,
didn't. And witnessing it swerve around the pitfalls was
beautiful.
·
Some of the time, the world and the
overall plot in fantasy serve as a kind of muted, faded backdrop for the
rampant romance in the forefront. The Demon King doesn't.
(If you're noticing a theme here... the theme is noticing you back and winking.
It's wearing glitter, so you know it isn't going for subtle.) Sometimes I will
still read a romancey fantasy series, because I'm a hypocrite who basks in
their own hypocrisy. But most of the time, I'll feel cheated. The Demon King
follows two separate protagonist in same, yet vastly different worlds, as they
fight their vastly different battles. The natural assumption is that they will
naturally meet and interact. And so they shall. But if you're expecting awkward
teenage sexual tension and dream sequences where that was the first
night Raisa dreamed of Han Alister - HA. That's my professional assessment
- HA. Make of that what you will.
·
Alternatively, fantasy can be slow. The
Demon King... you guessed it, isn't. In the interest of not
spoiling you to anything beyond chapter one, I will say that in this first
chapter alone, there are wizards, a forest fire, a standoff, a making of arch
nemeses, cursed talismans, and a mention of demons. So there.
These, incidentally, aren't even
the highlights. The highlights, in my fantasy-loving heavily-biased opinion
stand thusly:
·
I love the worst thusly and it's a
highlight in and of itself.
·
Queens, wizards and shamans are in
power. Cue epicness Wizards and shamans lowkey hate each other. Cue
epic power struggles.
·
QUEENDOM! MATRIARCHY! Not
only is this land ruled by a long line of QUEENS, all from names to titles and
status is inherited from mothers. Even in camps which adhere to very few rules
of the queendom, the matriarchs are in charge, and women are beyond respected.
·
The story touches on some themes
explored in The Giver - the curse of one who sees
the world for what it is clearly, and who knows it for what it was.
·
NO ONE writes teenagers like Cinda
Williams Chima. Even in this charged, epic fantasy setting, the
teenage characters read like teenagers! They aren't
precocious fifty year-olds in teenage bodies. They are, you know, sixteen years
old, with all its occasional awkwardness and poor decision-making. Han's
relationships with his friends and his inability to find his own independent
identity at times should resonate with just about every human being, if only in
retrospect. Seeing Han laugh at the urban legends surrounding him and
exclaiming that "[He is] only sixteen, how could any of [the
legends about him] be true?" was a new high for me. Raisa's
constant questioning and occasional spite are also quintessentially sixteen.
The easiest thing to get Raisa to do something is to inform her that it's
forbidden. She disappears in a poof of smoke like a cartoon character, and
she's off doing it right now, immediately, this very second. She isn't every
sixteen year-old, but she is in no way a wise, sensible adult. (Just
in case such people exist. I've heard rumors. Scary, scary rumors.)
As for the bad? Well, I saw the
plot twists coming from about page five. But I'm almost certain that this is
the oversharing synopsis's fault far more than the book's. The synopsis is that
one aunt at a family gathering who never stops talking, usually about unsightly
moles and surgeries. During meals. In glorious detail.
So avoid the synopsis, really.
But absolutely give this book a chance. I hear the series gets
better with each installment, too, not that that's even
possible. But I dare you, in an official-challenge capacity, to find out
alongside me. *throws down the gauntlet*
Word to the wise: Cait @ Paper Fury is even wiser. Take her recommendations and run with them into a glorious future full of fantasy, cake and dragons. So far, this first book in the Seven Realms series covered 2/3, and I'm a happy, happy camper. (I meant it about that challenge, too - this book; me and you guys; asap.)
Leave us a comment below and let us know if you've read this or any other series by Cinda Williams Chima, and how you liked them. If not, pledge your intention to do so in the future in exchange for praise, glory and potential Nutella. You know you want to. ;)
1 Comments
AHHHH HHFASDKLJFADS I'M SO GLAD YOU LOVED IT. (I will not deny my recommendations are glorious. Ahem.) ISN'T IT JUST THE MOST WONDERFULLY MAGICAL CATASTROPHE THAT EVER DEMONED THE UNIVERSE?! <3 *hugs book mightily* I haven't read the last 2 yet, though, mostly because I loved the first two books so so much I nearly died of fangirling, so now I'm just gathering myself for the upcoming finale. And partially because I DOOOON'T WANT IT TO END. *hyperventilates* Ahem.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, least to say I loved all the things you loved about it. XD I love how sassy Han is and I LOVE that it's a matriarchy (although still pretty sexist when you think about it, sheesh, because they aren't really letting the queens do much??? BUT I LIKE) and I loooove the tribes. <33 AHEM SO YEAH YEAH I'LL STOP TAKING OVER YOUR COMMENT SECTION WITH MY FANGIRLING. *shushes self*
*continues to fangirl quietly*
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