SPFBO Final Score - 5/10

Official Author Website
Order Kings of Paradise over HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic's interview with Richard Nell

OFFICIAL AUTHOR INFORMATION: Richard Nell concerned family and friends by quitting his real job in 2014 to 'write full-time'. He is a Canadian author of fantasy, living in one of the flattest, coldest places on earth with his begrudging wife, who makes sure he eats.

ANALYSIS (Lukasz): Making me read a large, weighty book that counts more than six hundred pages is almost impossible. Even bribery doesn't work. And yet I reached for Kings of Paradise and couldn't put it down. 

ANALYSIS (Mihir): “Ruka Stared at the corpse of the boy he’d killed, and his stomach growled”

As far as killer opening lines go, that one has to be one of the best ones. Not just in the epic fantasy genre but possibly all types of speculative fiction in the thirty-forty years. And yet with that singularly enigmatic line, Richard Nell introduces us to perhaps one of the most divisive POV characters ever written. Not only are we introduced to a brutal characters but also to a brutal world.

We get to see two world and through the eyes of three characters. The continent of Ascom and the Pyu islands along with its neighborly great continent. There three POV characters are:
- Ruka
- Kale
- Dala

We get to see Ruka as a young man and then we get to see why and what events lead to become a cannibal. We see Kale as a carefree prince who finds out truly where he stands in his father’s eyes and sets out to find himself. Dala is a girl forced to grow quickly due to the harsher living standards of the Ascommani and finds herself seeking change. These three characters are our three facets into these twin lands and the lifestyles within.

Right out of the bat, let me get this out of the way. This was my first Richard Nell book and it was such a stunning experience that I’ve become an ardent fan of his. The brutality within the characters lives, the ambiguity about the reason for conflict as well as the nature of the world. Richard skillfully raises questions and makes you wonder about the philosophical underpinnings of life and existence. All of this while giving us a rousing story and glorious, glorious characters.

First there was Joe Abercrombie, then came Mark Lawrence and now there’s Richard Nell but he goes above and beyond his peers by giving us characters who are perplexing to say the least. I couldn’t help but wonder who would survive between Logen Nine-Fingers and Ruka while between Jalan and Kale who would outwit the other. Such questions are inevitable but what’s not inevitable is Richard Nell’s ascent in the hallowed annals of epic fantasy along greats such as the aforementioned two alongside George R. R. Martin, R. Scott Bakker and others. His talent at providing human characters who perhaps do inhumane tasks and feeling the worse for it. None better encapsulate this fact than Dala and Ruka.

Ruka primarily is a wonderful case study as the author showcase all that has happened in his life and your heart melts at his plight during his childhood and teenage years. At the very same time, his brutality is scary beyond belief when he attains his Bukayag persona (like shit your pants scary). The author veritably plays with the readers hearts and minds as he makes us root for Ruka whilst he does horrible things. Very few can do such feats however Richard Nell is truly among the rare few folks such as Thomas Harris, and to a lesser degree Blake Crouch who make cannibalistic characters seem charismatic and scary. Ruka is very much a cross between Hannibal Lecter and the Bloody Nine in the sense that he shares Hannibal Lecter’s inexplicable brilliance while being simpatico with the bloodthirsty savagery of the Bloody Nine. To a certain degree he surpasses them both and is more complex than either character.

There’s also Dala who we learn is forced to undergo a different sort of hardship. A chance encounter with a killer makes her learn of her shortcomings and she understands what truly needs to be done for the salvation of the Ascomanni folks. She strives harder than ever and we get to see another brilliant mind at work whose zeal matches her drive to do what’s necessary to bring the required changes.
Kale in comparison to both of them, simply doesn’t shine to the same degree. That’s not to say this chapters or characterization is weak but compared to diamonds, a ruby or sapphire might not seem so brilliant. His chapters show his own struggle and eventual path realization. That’s what this 600 page book is all about, all of these characters recognizing what they truly are and all the steps that they take to get to their hearts contents.

In the hands of a lesser writer, this story would have faltered horribly or came of a very one-sided. Richard Nell is not one of those writers, he very carefully reveals each layer of the story while further twisting the knife on his characters. He doesn’t make them altruistic or heroic but he shows what they are truly capable of. Be it revenge, mass murder or societal change, no character is bereft of the their mental whims but they take the hard path and we the readers are rewarded for it. There's also the non-POV characters who are brilliantly etched and their actions certainly drive the story in interesting ways such as Beyla, Al Farahi, Amit, etc.

Lastly the world-building is definitely one to be highlighted. The author eschews the normal euro-centric pathways and gives us a culture that's slightly Nordic but has enough differing elements such as a matriarchal society to make it complexly unique. There's also the Pyu islands which distinctly has a south east Asian flavor and there's some Hindu names mixed in as well. All in all this book distinctly borrows from our world and the end product is a multivariate one that while seemingly similar is much different one. Kudos to Richard Nell for it and I can't wait to further delve in to the world and see how both the lands might be connected (if at all)

Is this a story without any faults, I don’t think so. The pace of the story due to its vast length cannot be said to be of a galloping kind. It’s not just possible within such a complex story. There are no vast battles or magic being thrown about by wizards. No but there’s action in it plenty of the personal kind. The savagery and brutality within makes this book one for adults and adults only. Perhaps my only complaint about this book is the lack of an eventual reveal about who or what Ruka is. However this is book 1 of a trilogy and supposedly good things come to those…

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS (MIHIR): The Anointed is a book that I was super excited to read based on its blurb. The details that the blurb entails are pretty cool as is the spiffy cover. This world has some pretty cool features and dragons. All in all I was very much wanting to read this book.

The story has many POV characters and chief among them is Xinlas, our “hero” and resident problem child. He’s a sole surviving proxy baby which makes him uniquely arrogant. This world as presented is a very cool one, there’s the span concept which basically means that anybody who’s born immediately knows how long they will live. There’s also the fact that nothing can float in this world so potentially any water body is an unsurpassable boundary. There’s also the concept of proxy babies, which is a way for people to increase their life span (in a horrific way). There’s the sudden discovery of a hitherto hidden place which has magical wood which floats which suddenly causes the plot to go into high speed.

There’s a few more things that are bubbling under, but overall the world settings and magic system which really differentiate this story and this I believe is the USP of the story. For me though this book wasn’t an enjoyable read inspite of these interesting characteristics because of its utterly annoying main character Xinlas. This is not a knock on unlikeable characters, I like prefer stories with darker turns and unlikeable protagonists. However Xinlas as a character failed to hold my interest. His dealings with the other characters, his superiority complex as well as his arrogance. There’s also the fact he assaults a female character which supposedly helps him grow as a person. Now I’m not a reader who believes in absolutes. I believe an author should be able to explore any aspect that they want but then they should be able to explain as to why their characters behave as they do. This is where my enjoyment of the story fell apart, Xinlas absolutely comes across as jerk of the highest order and there’s no real reason given for his change. This is not to say that the author doesn’t present the case for Xinlas’ change of heart but honestly it didn’t come through as genuine enough for me.

There’s also the part about the people who have managed to stay hidden for so long who are peaceful beyond compare and also are truthful beyond fault. I failed to buy this aspect of the story, not saying that this can’t happen. But there’s not much of an explanation provided and that really hampered my read. Lastly the story pace is also something that perhaps could have been spruced up. More than two-thirds of the story, things are just tepid. Again in the end, this is my subjective opinion. I feel that I’m unduly trashing this story and that there might be better stories by Keith Ward. Unfortunately for me this one wasn’t to my taste at all.