Monday, August 29, 2016

BOOK REVIEW: "Kings or Pawns" by JJ Sherwood


The first book in JJ Sherwood's Steps of Power epic fantasy series. The Kings, Book I: Kings or Pawns is a political intrigue that spirals into an action and adventure series as the final events unfold.
8,994 P.E.—The elven city of Elvorium has become corrupted to the core by politics. With his father dead and The Royal Schism at his back, Prince Hairem becomes the king of the elven world on Sevrigel. Young and daring, Hairem is determined to undo the council’s power, but quickly finds his loyal council members brutally murdered by an assassin loosed within the city.
As corruption and death threaten to tear the city apart from within, the warlord Saebellus threatens the city from without, laying siege to Sevrigel’s eastern capital. With the elven world crumbling around him, Hairem finds himself in a dangerous political balance between peace and all out war.

I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Epic fantasy can be hit or miss. It can also be a mishmosh of everything that's already been published. Thankfully, Sherwood's series is wholly original and excellently written.
You get absorbed in this beautiful storytelling and moments of intense action (something a lot of fantasy is sorely missing). This is by far a plot-driven novel, and the plot delivers all that the blurb promises. With an undertone of politics that can be translated to reflect modern times easily, there's a sense of reality in this story I never expected but enjoyed.
Hairem at times falls flat to me, a bit of a predictable character, but that is really the only flaw I found in this book. Even if you're not a fantasy fan you NEED to read this.

4/5--beautifully written!

Purchase Kings or Pawns on Amazon!

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