The Justice of Kings

By: Richard Swan

Narrated by: Lucy Paterson

Action, intrigue, and magic collide in this epic fantasy following Sir Konrad Vonvalt, an Emperor's Justice, who is a detective, judge, and executioner all in one—but with rebellion and unrest building, these are dangerous times to be a Justice . . .

The Empire of the Wolf simmers with unrest. Rebels, heretics, and powerful patricians all challenge the power of the Imperial throne.

Only the Order of Justices stands in the way of chaos. Sir Konrad Vonvalt is the most feared Justice of all, upholding the law by way of his sharp mind, arcane powers, and skill as a swordsman. At his side stands Helena Sedanka, his talented protégé, orphaned by the wars that forged the Empire.

When the pair investigates the murder of a provincial aristocrat, they unearth a conspiracy that stretches to the very top of Imperial society. As the stakes rise and become ever more personal, Vonvalt and Helena must make a choice: Will they abandon the laws they’ve sworn to uphold, in order to protect the Empire?

"Richard Swan's sophisticated take on the fantasy genre will leave readers hungry for more." – Sebastien de Castell, author of Spellslinger

“A fantastic debut.” – Peter McLean, author of Priest of Bones

©2022 Richard Swan (P)2022 Orbit

Critic reviews

"A stunning piece of modern fantasy writing." (RJ Barker, author of The Bone Ships)

"A marvelously detailed world with an engrossing adventure from a unique perspective." (K. S. Villoso, author of The Wolf of Oren-Yaro)

Wonderful fantasy

The finely drawn characters and philosophical bent of this fantasy helps to overcome the usual unoriginal Sword and Mail, European medieval setting.

The narrator was wonderful as well.

Great debut novel and well worth a credit. I’m looking forward to the next novel in this series.

loved it

absolutely loved everything about this book. only down side os the series is only starting so long wait for next fix.

Cold, Deliberate, Brutal

The beginning of this trilogy unfolds carefully, revealing the true nature of its story and characters in a well-paced story full of mystery, violence, and the question of justice.

Best fantasy I've listened to in a long time

I love this. Great story, perfect narration. I loved the set-up, with the narrator being the apprentice to the justice, which is basically a travelling judge who has magic. The story itself is about them solving a murder in a town, but there are a lot of political and magic things going on behind the scenes, so they get in deeper than they thought.

This is book 1 in the series, but it has a great, satisfying ending while still leaving the path clear for the rest of the trilogy. Highly recommended.

A Fantasy detective drama

This story was fine. While I enjoyed elements of all aspects of the story, I found that the whole was ultimately less than the sum of its parts. That is a rare thing. Usually I find it is the other way around. I found the narrative choice of perspective, while interesting, distancing and limiting. I found the characters, while nuanced, were each forgettable in their own right. Thematically, while I see what the author was intending, it didn’t land as strongly as I hoped. The magic system is cool if not under utilized, perhaps it is expanded upon in the latter installments of the series. Overall, It is absolutely worth a read, I’m glad I read it, but I will be quick to move on and likely forget about it. I have not yet decided if I will continue with the series.

Excellent

What a unique story! The characters made the story to be honest. Absolutely continuing the series. Phenomenal audiobook narration.

Give it a try. Doubtful you'll regret it.

There was a lot to enjoy about this book. The pacing was a slow build, but done really well. The choice of using the clerk as narrator gave a good twist to the styling of the story. The magic system applied is well thought out, well used, and maintains a decent balance as to not become an overpowering factor in the story. Small applications of magic go a long way in making a good story into a great story.

We only touch on a portion of the world being built in this story, but the narrative has given us a glimpse at something with a lot of potential. As a reader, the learning style is more of a show than tell which is also a plus in my opinion. The voice of the story isn't treated like she just came out of a coma and knows nothing of what's going on in the world.

It may take a bit to invest yourself into the characters, but there will be a point when it does happen and the story will be that much better for it.

The narrator is on point with her voicing. She does a great job at keeping characters distinct from one another and really gives the story life.

Good but not great.

As other reviewers have pointed out, this book takes awhile to get going. I considered quitting a few times, but it was just interesting enough to keep going. The book does improve in the second half, but even when completed I didn’t consider it a great book.

The narration, like the book, took me awhile to get into. The narrator has a nice voice, but doesn’t have a lot of variations in character voices. I got used to it about halfway through. This may have played a part in the overall difficulty of getting into the book.

Overall, I would say this book is a solid ok. I enjoyed it, but it could have been better. I’ll consider moving on with the series in hopes it improves, but I’m not sure.

The Work of a Justice

Helena got on my nerves after awhile. It is hard for me to see her as a heroine.

An Excellent Beginning

This is by far one of my favorite intro books to any recent fantasy series. It’s dark in all the right ways. It features intense violence, but uses it to show the effects that violence has on people, rather than purely as spectacle. It puts a ton of moral and ethical questions in front of the reader, and has a great cast of characters. I couldn’t recommend a start to a series much more, it hooked me immediately.