Right off the bat, I just want to start off my review of The Ruin of Kings by mentioning that I stumbled upon Jenn Lyons’ A Chorus of Dragons series while I was browsing on Amazon a couple months ago, and I’m so glad that I discovered this series, because I really loved The Ruin of Kings for the most part.
The fantasy genre has definitely been one of my favorite genres of books to read for many years now, and there are a variety things about Lyons’ writing style for The Ruin of Kings that made it one of the most unique fantasy books that I’ve ever read. For starters, I especially love the fact that Lyons’ writing style for this book had somewhat of a sarcastic tone to it when it came to her writing for the character Kihrin, the footnotes that were featured throughout the book, as well as various other times in the book. I definitely tend to have a very sarcastic personality, as well as a very sarcastic way of thinking; so that aspect of Lyons’ writing style for The Ruin of Kings really resonated with me personally.
Both Kihrin and Talon were really great, interesting, well-written, and complex characters. That being said, while I loved both Kihrin and Talon as characters, Kihrin is definitely my favorite of the two characters, and I did enjoy his P.O.V. chapters the most. That being said, Talon being a mimic who can take on the physical form and the memories of the people that she kills definitely made her a very fascinating character; and it also added a very intriguing element to the overall plot of the book from a storytelling standpoint. I also thought that it was rather amusing that Talon actually believed that she could do a better job of telling Kihrin’s life story than he could. Plus, I absolutely loved the interactions between Kihrin and Talon throughout the course of the entire book.
Tyentso definitely stood out to me as being my favorite secondary character in the book. Personally, I thought that Tyentso was a very intriguing and well written character, and I absolutely loved the friendship between Kihrin and Tyentso. Their interactions with each other were oftentimes rather amusing, and a major highlight of the book for me personally.
One of the things that I loved the most about Lyons’ writing style for The Ruin of Kings, and her execution of the world building for the A Chorus of Dragons series in general is the inclusion of footnotes throughout the course of the book. In my opinion, the inclusion of footnotes in The Ruin of Kings is something that made both this book, and Lyons’ take on the fantasy genre in general, very unique compared to all of the other fantasy books that I’ve ever read before. I thought that the footnotes were all very well written, and well executed in terms of how often they were featured throughout the course of the book. Plus, given the fact that I loved the somewhat sarcastic tone that Lyons’ writing had at times throughout the course of the book; I’m really glad that she wasn’t afraid to have the writing for the footnotes to also have a slightly sarcastic tone to them at times as well.
As much as I love the fantasy genre, one recurring complaint that I tend to have about fantasy books, especially long books like this one, is that they can oftentimes suffer from pacing issues; more specifically the pacing of the plot of fantasy books can really drag at times, sometimes to the point where reading it can honestly feel like somewhat of a chore. That being said, I thought that the overall plot of The Ruin of Kings had great pacing, and I felt like the plot never truly dragged at any point in the book. Lyons’ writing definitely did a really great job of holding my interest throughout the course of the entire book. Considering the fact that the hardcover edition of the book is 542 page long, not including the three addendums at the end of the book, and the book is 560 pages long including the three addendums; I was honestly very pleasantly surprised that The Ruin of Kings didn’t suffer from any pacing issues, as far as I’m concerned.
Personally, I absolutely love it when fantasy novels end on an action-packed and exciting note. The ending of The Ruin of Kings was definitely incredibly exciting, and left me feeling very anxious to read the second book in the A Chorus of Dragons series, The Name of All Things. I’m really looking forward to seeing how Kihrin shattering the Stone of Shackles continues to play out in The Name of All Things; which according to Thurvishar:
“The pacts that allow for the summoning of demons hinges on them being able to tap on to the power of the Stone of Shackles to gaesh—if they can’t do that, then the contracts are nullified. So someone has freed the demons, just as prophecy predicted, but it wasn’t Gadrith or Kaen.” (pg. 538).
Major oops, Kihrin! Major oops!
Considering the fact that Tyentso is my favorite secondary character in the book, I absolutely love the fact that she was named empress at the end of the book. It was also revealed that she is the person that Thurvishar had been transcribing the story to throughout the course of the entire book after she had been newly minted as empress. I’m absolutely thrilled that the book ended on a very big and exciting note for Tyentso, and that the ending of the book featured a huge reveal that involved her. Plus, Tyentso being named empress was a great way to end her character arc in this book, as far as I’m concerned.
While I absolutely love and appreciate the fact that Lyons’ writing for The Ruin of Kings is very detailed, descriptive, and action-packed, there were definitely quite a few times throughout the course of the book where things became rather convoluted and hard to follow; especially when it came to keeping track of the fact that the three storylines in the book take place at different points in time. The chapters with Kihrin in jail telling his story to Talon began about halfway into his journey, and they take place in the present; whereas the two other timelines in the book, which is where most the book’s events take place, deal with Kihrin’s past. Considering the fact that the plot jumps around to different points in time throughout the course of the entire book, I definitely think that The Ruin of Kings could have benefited from Lyons specifying at which point in time each chapter takes place at the beginning of each chapter. Plus, I also think that it was somewhat of an odd choice on Lyons’ part to write Kihrin’s chapters in first person point of view, but she wrote Talon’s chapters in third person. Perhaps Lyons did that due to the fact that Talon is a mimic who can take the form of different people, but it still made things rather confusing and hard to follow at times.
All things considered; The Ruin of Kings definitely serves as an awesome start to Jenn Lyons’ A Chorus of Dragons series. While the writing The Ruin of Kings does have a tendency to be somewhat convoluted and hard to follow at times, and Lyons’ writing and her execution of the world building is so detailed that it was a little overwhelming at times; the strengths of her writing ultimately outweigh the book’s weaknesses. Kihrin, Talon, and Tyentso are all really great, well written characters in a book that’s filled with a wide variety of great characters. The overall plot of The Ruin of Kings is consistently incredibly interesting and engaging from beginning to end, and the pacing of the book’s plot is also handled very well throughout the course of the entire book. Lyons’ tendency to incorporate a little bit of sarcasm into the tone of her writing at times throughout the course of The Ruin of Kings is not only another one of my favorite things about the book, it’s also something unique that she offers people when it comes to her take on the fantasy genre. Given how exciting I thought both the ending of the book, and the book as a whole, were, I’m definitely going to be continuing on with the A Chorus of Dragons series; because while I may have only read the first book in the series, I’m already completely invested in the A Chorus of Dragons series.
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