I have just finished reading the next thrilling instalment in the Chorus of Dragon series and it continues Kirhin’s and his friends’ story following the devastation in the final battle of the Memory of souls. Now, I can’t wait to read the next book to see how Kirhin’s story ends.
Summary
Kirhin engages in a continuous cat and mouse chase with Vol Karoth in the hope he can make the monster whole again but also to keep his friends and family safe and hopefully safe the world. Will Kirhin succeed or will the people who love him lose him forever?
The good
The book starts where the third book in this series, House of Always, ends just after Kirhin is stabbed by Talon in a desperate attempt to fix Vol Karoth. As with the other books in this series, there are multiple viewpoints from several characters over several periods before neatly converging into one. It was great to find out more about Galen, Xivan, Talea and Kalinda in their own right and not just their connections to Kirihin. Thurishavar has more to do than be just a narrator and Qown gets his chance to redeem himself. There are some lovely and not so lovely relationships between many of these characters. The relationships between the main players are unconventional particularly the polyamorous relationship between Kirhin, Teraaeth and Yanel and I found myself rooting for all of them to work out.
The action never stops and the pacing is much better in this book than the last book with scenes of action, romance, and introspection well balanced out. Jenn Lyons’ prose brings Kirhin’s world to life with vivid descriptions of the food, clothes, people and it is so easy to lose yourself in this world. I wasn’t expecting the final outcome at the end and was pleased that I can still be surprised at the end of a book
( as I seem to spend most of my time guessing what the twist/denouement is going to be).
As with the other books in this series, there is plenty of diversity- not just sexual and racial diversity but also gender and( could I call it? )species diversity- not all the characters are human. How did I miss Janel’s distinctive colouring in the other books?
The plot is complex and the narrative structure is linear but complicated and you do need to focus to take everything in with so many secrets, betrayals and desires are revealed in the most public of ways to all the main characters.
Kirhin remains one of my favourite characters and I like how his story doesn’t follow the usual chosen one trope and his constant battle to keep Vol Karoth from harming his friends was riveting. I secretly adore Talon and her devious ways and we learn a little more about her slightly softer side in this book
The bad
Not much. Janel is a lot less irritating but possibly because there are so many characters to take the focus away from her. There is a bit of romantic angst in some of the relationships and there is a scene between Xivan and Talea that made me queasy. The focus is on the younger characters in this book but I missed Khaeriel, Therin, Thaena and the other older characters from the last book
The ugly
A certain scene between Talea and Xivan made me uncomfortable, and I really couldn’t see the point of it.
Romance
There is lots and lots of romance and complicated relationships in wonderfully diverse ways.
Any cliffhangers
The main story is resolved but the overall arc needs to be resolved.
Summary
5 stars, it’s going to be a long wait for the final instalment
Content warning implied rape, slavery, child abuse, dubious consent ( mainly in Book 1)
Overriding story arc
This is so complicated to summarise in one short paragraph but I will give this a try ( from what I think is going on!)
Thousands of years ago, In an attempt to stop demons, one of the eight immortals takes a drastic step and creates Vol Karoth. Vol Karoth can destroy the worlds in his own right, and has been dormant for millenia but has started to wake. Kirhin, the hero of the series discovers, his destiny and his link with Vol Karoth, but is he the hero or the person who will wake Vol Karoth and destroy everything he cares for.
Review
Main Characters
Kirhin
The ruin of Kings is told from Kirhin’s perspective- both in the first person and in the third person making the first book having the most complicated narrative I have ever read. He is also the main character in the third book, Memory of Souls but plays a minor role in the second book. Kirhin is an engaging character, you can warm to with genuine character flaws, lots of ambiguity and sexual confusion to boot. He is affected and traumatised by the awful things that happen to him which makes him a real and believable character.
Janel
Introduced in the first book but the second book Name of all things describes her story and her role in defeating Vol Karoth. I have to admit, I do not like Janel and I’m not sure why. She is everything I would want in a female character- brave, strong, confident, no messing around with romantic entanglements but I just find her overbearing and preachy.
Teraeth
Teraeth is my favourite character, strong, dependable and apparently unfazed by anything, he does appear to be the quiet strength behind Janel and Kirhin. He finally gets his own point of view in Memory of Souls and his own path and destiny becomes clearer.
The Good
I was late in discovering this series, and only came across this when trying to find boks similar to the Lymond Chronicles and was intrigued by the tagline ‘ What if you weren’t the hero of the story ‘. I can see why the Chorus of Dragons could be compared to the Lymond Chronicles- they both feature blond, blue-eyed heroes who face hardship and challenges from a young age, a vast range of characters and spread across many places although obviously in this case the worlds are completely made up.
The plot races along, with plenty of twists and some genuine moments of WTF when another tangled relationship or what the stone of shackles can do is revealed. The books all end on a bit of a cliffhanger .so I bought book 2 immediately after finishing the Ruin of Kings but more about that disappointment later. Luckily, book 3 picks up Kirhin’s story with the familiar twists and WTF moments from book 1.
The author’s world-building is extraordinary and she doesn’t confine this to just one world. There are several countries, planes of existence and afterlives and each country and race has its own well-defined culture. When the author takes time to describe places or food, you could almost be there enjoying a piece of sag bread under a dull sun.
There is oodles of diversity in these books, and people change races through magic at the drop of a sign of trouble. The slaves in this universe appear to be from all races and not just from one race, and slavery seems to be due to trickery or punishment.
The sexual diversity in this book isn’t shoehorned with just one character as in the books, but all the characters seem to be comfortable in their sexuality with the same or opposite gender especially by the third book. Name of all things is more focussed on gender fluidity and people are accepted in the gender of their choice but I did find it hard to wrap my head around the voramer, a race of beings who are born male and then become female- I mean, how is that biologically possible?
There are footnotes, but these do help with the story for example explaining why someone might have chosen to act a certain way when it made no sense to do so. The footnotes also help when you realise that the story is in fact being told by someone else. I haven’t come across such a complicated way of telling a story in fantasy but I enjoyed this.
There are thousands of characters ( it felt like this anyway), who all seem to have a role to play and had their own unique flaws and strengths. I loved how most of them seemed to be connected to each other through family, or through past lives. Darzin, from the first book, was two-dimensionally evil but I’m glad the author didn’t attempt to give him any redeeming features.
I do like the fact the author has tried to talk about issues such as gender, sexuality and slavery in these books but some readers might find this boring.
I almost forgot, there are dragons, lots of dragons.
The bad
I could witter on for ages on what really annoyed me but to summarise this it would be book 2- Name of all things. I loved the main and secondary characters from the first book and I desperately wanted to find what happened to them. So, you can imagine my crushing disappointment when the next book was about preachy, annoying Janel with Kirhin playing a secondary role. I found the second book boring and while the discussions on gender were interesting the first few hundred times, it did get a bit annoying after a while ( I know I exaggerate but did I tell you how disappointed I was?). I started to reread the series before buying Book 5 in the series but couldn’t face
300 pages of preachy Janel, so, I skipped book 2 without missing another that adding to the story in the third book. There is a helpful summary of the events of book 2 at the start of Memory of Souls.
The plot in book three drags in the middle with t far too many conversations between people which is a shame as the author’s descriptions of food, clothes and places really bring Kirhin’s world to life. The characters in book three all sound the same and sound far too modern day for this kind of book.
The ugly
I wouldn’t call the series grimdark but the first book does have some dark parts. The ruin of Kings opens up with a naked, 16- year- old being sold as a slave and almost put me off reading anymore. There are scenes of physical abuse and implied rape to a child ( a 15-year-old is a child in my view and even if consensual is still wrong on so many levels). This is addressed in the book instead of being glossed over.
This is another series where I almost didn’t finish the first book because of graphic descriptions of sexual and physical violence but not present in the subsequent books. Is this a trend or trope I’m not aware of?
Romance
There a complicated, messy romance between Kirhin, Janel and Terarth but it isn’t your usual love triangle. There are also romantic plots between several of the other secondary characters
Any cliffhangers
Yes, at the end of each book. After reading the last page and that ending in Memory of Souls, I have to find out what happens next in the House of Always.
Perfect for Fans of
Games of Thrones, Lymond Chronicles, Captive Prince Trilogy
Summary
4 stars. I recommend this ambitious series but have knocked a star off for the second book and draggy middle of the third book.
I can’t wait to read the next book and will update this review once done.
Series Book Lover 