The Ruin of Kings

By: Jenn Lyons

Narrated by: Feodor Chin, Vikas Adam, Soneela Nankani

"Everything epic fantasy should be: rich, cruel, gorgeous, brilliant, enthralling and deeply, deeply satisfying. I loved it." (Lev Grossman, author of The Magicians)

Jenn Lyons begins the Chorus of Dragons series with The Ruin of Kings, an epic fantasy audiobook about a man who discovers his fate is tied to the future of an empire.

When destiny calls, there's no fighting back.

Kihrin grew up in the slums of Quur, a thief and a minstrel's son raised on tales of long-lost princes and magnificent quests. When he is claimed against his will as the missing son of a treasonous prince, Kihrin finds himself at the mercy of his new family's ruthless power plays and political ambitions.

Practically a prisoner, Kihrin discovers that being a long-lost prince is nothing like what the storybooks promised. The storybooks have lied about a lot of other things, too: dragons, demons, gods, prophecies, and how the hero always wins.

Then again, maybe he isn't the hero after all. For Kihrin is not destined to save the world.

He's destined to destroy it.

Library Journal Best Books of the Year - 2019
Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year - 2019

©2019 Jennifer Williamson (P)2019 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"A trio of talented narrators tackles the first book in a new fantasy series centered on a man who is destined to destroy an empire...the trio complement each other and elevate an unconventional story filled with intense world-building and vivid characters." (AudioFile Magazine)

Interesting story but incredibly confusing

The narrator's were fantastic. I absolutely enjoyed having all 3. It really set off the footnotes and made them enjoyable.

The overall story was interesting, but it was unnecessarily confusing. I'm 100% glad I listened to this via audiobook rather than suffered through all the pages.

Great book but a little of a struggle sometimes

I really do love this book the story is fantastic and keeps me guessing the only thing I don't like is how it is necessary to get some of the information through to the main character and then how he refuses to believe it, kind of like throwing a brick at a wall and then having a tantrum that it didn't stick, I do understand the main character is young and that could be there reason for it.

Good first book, phenomenal series

I almost didn't listen to this book because of the reviews describing how confusing the book was. Don't listen to them. It does sometimes take a little critical thinking to figure things out, but definitely worth it. The whole series is phenomenal, and though the world building is this first book can be confusing, it all comes together in the rest of the series. If the changing times lines is a source of confusion then my recommendation is to also have the written book to refer back to. Plus it contains descriptions of characters that can be helpful.

excellent story and narration

narrators do an excellent job creating distinct voices and characters. intriguing story with a well fleshed out world. story starts at two different timelines that merge together at the end. there are some loose ends that sets up for the sequel

amazing

best epic fantasy book ive read in a good while. its absolutely fantastic although sixty bucks is pretty pricey. the performance is top notch you definitely get what you pay for.

Incredible writing, terrific pacing and storytelling

Brilliant story telling technique! I love how this book takes you on a wild adventure, or two, (possibly three) and layers depth with each chapter. The narrators voices ring with clarity and character, this is a performance of the written word.

Confusing, but still a very enjoyable book!!

I FINISHED!!!

Honestly, it’s an achievement I finished this book at all since I’ve tried to read this book three times before and was unsuccessful all three times. The thing about this book is that it is confusing. Very, very confusing. This time I started this book because I was in the right mood where I wanted to read a book with no thoughts, and just be here for the vibes. And this book fit the bill.

As confusing as this book is, I think I really enjoyed it. Is that weird? I would recommend reading this by e-book and audiobook together. The e-book so you can search names, places, and things more easily than you could with a physical book, and the audiobook because the narration performances are FANTASTIC and really do help bring the characters and story to life.

Trigger warnings include multiple mentions and scenes of rape, PTSD, sexual assault, slavery, torture, suicide (part of reincarnation rituals), incest, graphic violence, mind control, body possession, kidnapping, misogyny, domestic violence, abuse, and murder.

I will try my best to break down this story. But if I get details wrong, well...I tried.

This story is told from three different timelines and by different POVs. Remember how confusing The Witcher TV show was before everyone caught on to the multiple timelines that were happening? This is like that.

Our first timeline, and one that we see more in voiceover than playing out in real time, is the one told in present-day. Told in third-person, this is where we start with the main protagonist, Kihrin, in a jail cell with a captor by the name of Talon. Talon holds a magic stone that records whatever the holder is saying and wishes to record Kihrin’s story as they pass the time. In this present-day story, Kihrin is 20.

The story then begins with their accounts of what happened that leads up to them being locked away together.

We have Kihrin telling his story in first-person set in the past (he’s 16 here) where he is captured and being sold as a slave. He captures the eye of one wizard, Relos Var, and a group of vané. Vané are the last immortal race and the Manol vané here are a group of worshippers to a death goddess and their Black Brotherhood “cult”, as they are referred to, are able to come back from the dead. At least, that’s how I understand it.

No, it is not at all lost on me how the Black Brotherhood name so closely resembles the Black Dagger Brotherhood created by J.R. Ward, and the vané here resemble vampires in appearance and agelessness, as well as the vané’s penchant to drink blood during their sacred rituals. Coincidence?? The word vampire does not exist in these books but if you were to give the vané a familiar name, I think it would be vampire.

Anyways.

In Talon’s recounting of events told in third-person, Kihrin is 15. Her story being us up to Kihrin’s retelling of his story. And Kihrin’s chapters brings us to present-day. It’s important to note that Talon is not human and every character she “tells” the tale from in their perspective are all people who have died and has eaten, or she has stolen their memories. It’s actually sad when you think about it, but I liked some of these characters.

Then there’s a third narrator who talks in first-person, who inputs his opinion of the recorded accounts called Thurvishar. His comments add as a footnote throughout the story and is sarcastic but insightful. I found him funny. His character does show up in the story in Talon and Kihrin’s accounts and I think it’s surprising to see him in flesh and bone after only associating him as a voice in the footnotes. He has some pretty funny footnotes regarding his own character as well.

Confused yet? Yeah.

I think the only book I appreciated being told in a nonlinear fashion is WHERE DEATH MEETS THE DEVIL by L.J. Hayward, and that’s because the past and present timelines built off each other in parallel that worked really well. Here? It just didn’t really seem all that necessary, honestly. This book is confusing for a whole host of reasons, and the multiple timelines will probably turn a lot of readers off before they even get to the other reasons why this book is confusing.

Let’s talk about names. There is an explanation for so many names being so similar, and it is actually part of the worldbuilding. But as someone who doesn’t usually read adult high fantasy, this was not fun to try to follow along with. We have a lot of names that start with a T and a lot that start with a K, and almost none of them are pronounceable without the help of the audiobook. This is before we add in the names of trying to remember or pronounce the places this book is set in.

While there is a pronounciation guide at the end of the book, it’s at the END. Same with the glossary. How is anyone supposed to know any of that is there??? That’s the kind of stuff that should be at the front of the book.

This book is FULL of unreliable narrators. This means that what you’re being told in one storyline from one character could change multiple times until the truth is revealed later in the book. This goes for the very, very complicated family tree of our protagonist Kihrin. This book involves body switching due to magic and lots of murder involved, so who’s really whose parent is COMPLICATED. The family tree diagram is a spoiler at the end of the book, and I’m not sure if it answers more questions than it asks even if you look at it early.

Another layer of complicatedness is the idea of reincarnation and past lives. The questions are who is able to be reincarnated and who is able to remember all of their past lives. This is complicated, and trying to make sense of the different afterlives presented in this book are not clear. But just know that not everyone stays dead in this book, although there is an extremely high body count.

Someone I haven’t mentioned yet is Teraeth. He is a vané who does remember his pasts, and he has a very slow burn (like HUNDREDS of years in the making) with Kihrin. Kihrin is a total disaster bi, who in this book, has too much to deal with and is actually just a teenager so he doesn’t necessarily think that he’s bi yet. Moments between Kihrin and Teraeth are hilarious a lot of the time. They like to needle each other and their banter is neverending. In terms of physical appearance, they are around the same age. However, when you add in Terareth’s reincarnations and immortality and everything we find out about Kihrin’s history, the whole thing gets more than a little murky.

This series is apparently a polyam endgame with Kihrin, Teraeth, and someone we meet at the end of this book, so this romance has a while to go. I love slow burns that crosses multiple books, so to me, this is PERFECT.

I am a sucker for spoilers and indeed looked ahead to some reviews for future books and this series is going to be very queer. And I am here for all of it!!! We have some ace characters in a relationship in the other books? I will suffer any number of confusing storylines as long as the romances are queer. I am simple that way.

I think character-wise, the book is entertaining and a lot of fun. If extremely violent. Please do take a look at the trigger warnings because this book is DARK.

I ADORE Kihrin, and Talon is a very interesting character. They definitely bring life to the story. This book, so far, contains gods and goddesses, demons, vampires (and maybe reptile vampires??? I think), zombies, and dragons. Like I said. This book is ~vibes~ for me. I think I got the main pieces of the storyline figured out by the end of the book, although I would be hard pressed to give a summary of what all happened.

LUCKILY...the audiobook has an excerpt of book 2, THE NAME OF ALL THINGS, at the very end. What’s included in that excerpt? That’s right, a recap of everything you need to know going into book 2. So, if you need a reminder of what you just read, there is a convenient excerpt at the end of the audiobook to jog your memory.

I think the narrators of the audiobook did an EXCELLENT job here. Vikas Adam (Kihrin), Soneela Nankani (Talon), and Feodor Chin (Thurvishar) are really amazing narrators and they switch between male and female voices very well. I wouldn’t have finished the book without the help of their narration, and I really appreciate how they brought the story to life!!

Which is why I was so very confused at the narrator changes for the second book, but I think I understand now after some research. The events of book 2 run in parallel to the events in book 1 and is actually about different characters that will eventually catch up with the main storyline. These books are massive in this series (the audiobooks around 27 hours each), so the reader commitment here is actually asking for a lot. But one of the leads for the second book is actually part of the polyam relationship with Kihrin and Teraeth in the long run, so I guess I can deal. She’s also a demon. So, that’s fun. It helps that by the time I’m reading this, books 1 through 3 are out and we’re a month out from book 4’s release (out of a 5 book series), so I guess I’m coming into this series at a really good time.

All I can really say is that I’m happy I finally finished the book, I did enjoy it, and I’ll be diving into the next book immediately!

Terrible waste of money!!

Hard to follow. Slow and boring. I have over a 100 books and this one is at the top of the worst list.

Good book

I liked the audiobook alot but it would have been less confusing if I had the actual book in my hands a few times.

. . .

It started out weird, but it flows. I was amazed by how well it worked.