Epic fantasy is a genre enjoying a fun moment where the settings are more than just substitutes for Western European culture. Earlier this year, Mike Brooks published The Black Coast, the first in The Chronicles of the God-King series. It featured an interesting mix of cultures: Asian, Viking, and vaguely Middle Eastern. I loved the setting of that book, and I wanted to see more of the world that Brooks had imagined. Lucky for me, the second book in The God-King Chronicles comes out today. The Splinter King picks up soon after the events of the first book and ranges much farther into the world. The Splinter King builds on the promise of the first book and sets its characters up for the next one. Along the way, we learn more about each culture. Oh, and there’s new species of dragons. This is the epic fantasy series you should be reading.
Disclaimer: The publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Any and all opinions that follow are mine alone.
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TL;DR
The Splinter King by Mike Brooks is a wonderful follow up to The Black Coast. Return to the world of dragons, sars, and raiders in this fun epic fantasy.
SPOILERS FOR BOOK 1 AHEAD STOP READING IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED THE BLACK COAST
From the Publisher
Epic worldbuilding at its finest, The Splinter King is the second book in the unmissable series started with The Black Coast. Filled with war-dragons, armoured knights, sea-faring raiders, dangerous magic and battle scenes.
The world fractures as a dead god rises…
Darel, dragon knight and the new leader of Black Keep, must travel to the palace of the God-King to beg for the lives of his people. But in the capital of Narida, Marin and his warrior husband will be drawn into a palace coup, and Princess Tila will resort to murder to keep her hold on power.
In the far reaches of the kingdom an heir in exile is hunted by assassins, rumours of a rival God-King abound, and daemonic forces from across the seas draw ever nearer…
Review: The Splinter King by Mike Brooks
The Tjakorshi have settled with the Naridans around the Black Keep. Daimon has married Saana and been saved from the crime of patricide through a technicality. Tila is headed back to the intrigues of the Court. Jeya and Galem are hiding from the thugs who killed the Splinter King’s family. The draug known as the Golden sent raiders to retrieve Saana and kill her clan, but the raiders failed. The Golden is not likely to forgive their failure. And rumors swirl that the God-King has been reborn.
The Splinter King is a close third-person epic fantasy. And at over 600 pages, it is quite epic. Each chapter follows a certain character in a certain region of the world. From the Black Keep to the Smoking Valley to Idramar to Kibaru ce Alaba to the Sun-Palace, itself, this book does a lot of traveling. It varies locations more than the first book, which took place mostly in the Black Keep. In addition, new POV characters are introduced in this book. The Splinter King continues the story from The Black Coast soon after its finish, and the story continues to build in epic proportions.
As expected, Brooks shows us more of his world. We learn more about Narida outside the Black Keep. I liked Marin’s chapters quite a bit. His character expands beyond the husband of a blacksword and more than just a thief. Saana’s daughter, Zhanna, gets a lot of page time, and when she’s out from her mother’s vicinity, she reveals her abilities as a leader. I liked her much more in this novel than the previous because she had more to do than fight with her mother. While I’m not sure which is my favorite storyline, I’m most interested in seeing how Jeya’s develops. The Splinter King moves the story along while deeping the world and characters. That’s what I look for in middle books in a series.
Transitions
The Black Coast was a book about integration of immigrants. The Tjakorshi and the Naridans found a tentative peace, a working relationship that saw them both survive. This doesn’t mean that everything is hunky dory. The two cultures still clash occasionally, and, like anything, a small crowd can’t let go of the past and the stereotypes that each fell into. These problems still exist in The Splinter King, but they’re not the focus. This book is about transitions, which fits for a second book in a series.
Some characters are remaining in place; others travel throughout to develop and expand the plot. I don’t know if its on purpose, but the characters with a lot of POV chapters in the last book tend to remain in place here. The new POV characters get a chance to explore the wider world. I imagine that it is on purpose because this allows the reader to keep up with established plotlines even while new ones are introduced.
The Tjakorshi and Naridans are entering a transitory phase where their cultures are blending. Saana’s daughter carries a Naridan sword and is raising dragons. Naridan youth are tattooing their foreheads in the Tjakorshi manner after the battle. This, of course, is not universally welcome. But it’s an inevitable step. Despite certain groups wishes, culture is not static; it is constantly in flux. Though people wish to maintain ‘traditions,’ it’s really a fear of change. But one way a society stabilizes is the blending of cultures and the creation of new traditions. In The Splinter King Brooks shows the beginning of the two societies cultural evolution.
Tila is a woman of two worlds. She is the divine princess and is also the underworld boss known as Livnya the Knife. Where the reader saw her mostly as Livnya in the first book, we get to see her navigate the royal court as Tila, the divine princess. But Livnya is never far from her. Tila is a woman constrained court politics and misogynistic tradition. Livnya earned her place among the crime lords of Idramar. From the text, it looks like Tila performs her divine princess duties out of loyalty to her brother and family, but she’s more free as Livnya.
It's a Big Book
The Black Coast was a big book, and The Splinter King is also quite big. The publisher and author include a synopsis prior to the prologue. Do not make the same mistake I did and skip the synopsis. There are so many characters, and I forgot some of the minor ones. There’s enough context to catch up quickly, but the synopsis prepares you.
Conclusion
Mike Brooks’ The Splinter King builds on the storylines introduced in the previous book and adds new elements. This book expands upon the world of The God-King Chronicles and cements it as a series worth reading.
The Splinter King by Mike Brooks is available from Solaris Books on September 7th, 2021.
© PrimmLife.com 2021