Rob J. Hayes

War makes monsters and corpses of us all. For generations the blooded have ruled the Wilds, cultivating a lawless frontier and bleeding the good folk dry. The Black Thorn, once the most wanted outlaw the world has ever seen, is set on stopping them, and bringing an end to the great game that oppresses them all. Crucible is the only blooded fortress left, but not for nothing is it called the City of Kings. Its defences are unbreakable, its walls unassailable, all built so one hundred can hold back a thousand. Worse yet, the Black Thorn is running out of time and there are darker things hiding underground, looking to turn the city into a tomb.

City of Kings

Celeste Richardson

You can find this review and more at Novel Notions. 

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

Rose has decided that she will become queen of the Wilds or die trying, and the Black Thorn is dead set on doing everything in his power to keep his heavily pregnant wife happy. For the most part, this story takes place over the course of a week as Rose and her Thorn lead their army of misfits in a siege of the last city holding out against Rose’s reign. Her goal is to take the city before her daughter is born, and to slaughter the remaining blooded families hiding within the walls. The problem? The city is impenetrable. But Rose will accept no excuses, even legitimate ones, and she will have that city, even if every man and woman fighting for her is slaughtered in the process.

This is a standalone novel in Hayes’s First Earth, the setting for his The Ties That Bind trilogy and his Where Loyalties Lie duology. While I haven’t read the first trilogy, I loved Where Loyalties Lie. It was definitely grimdark, which isn’t my favorite genre, but I absolutely adore pirates. And Hayes created some great ones. Where Loyalties Lie was filled with an eclectic cast of miscreants who would all stab you for a cookie, but they were likable and endearing just the same. The duology also featured a varied plot with some intricate twists. It’s among my favorite self-published works.

In City of Kings, Hayes once again gives us a cast of likable but morally bankrupt characters who you can’t help rooting for even as they commit travesties. I enjoyed them, but I feel that I would have enjoyed them even more had I read The Ties That Bind first. While this is indeed a standalone novel, it features characters from this trilogy. I never felt lost while reading, but I did feel that I was missing out on some deep history between various characters. I highly recommend reading that trilogy before picking up this book. I’m kicking myself for not doing so; don’t make my mistake!

As I wrote earlier, this entire book is about a siege and roughly takes place over the course of a week. Almost the entirety of the book is one giant battle scene. There were small breaks in the fighting here and there, but I would say a solid three quarters of the book is comprised of descriptive action scenes. I’m a lover, not a fighter, so this was a lot for me. Thankfully Hayes is very good at writing action scenes in a way that maintains my interest, but I do have to confess to feeling some battle fatigue myself by the final pages.

 “War makes monsters and corpses of us all.” 

I have never seen a catchphrase on the cover of a book that captures the content of the story within quite so aptly. Remember earlier when I mentioned that grimdark isn’t my favorite genre? Well, this was one of the grimmest, darkest things I’ve ever read. First Earth is a world of almost unrelenting bleakness, and in this tale I didn’t have swashbuckling pirates to distract me a bit from that bleakness. I did have Anders, who provided a bit of comedic relief, but he was facing down horrors of his own, so even that humor had an edge to it. The story was just too dark for me to fall in love with. 

However, it was an engaging story well told, full of interesting characters living in a fascinating world, albeit a dark one. And if you happen to be a true fan of the grimdark genre, I strongly believe that this book will work extremely well for you. It’s a story dark and dire and full of daring deeds, and will have you rooting for people who will never be heroes. Once again, I suggest that you read The Ties That Bind first before diving into this one, but if you don’t, City of Kings will definitely whet your appetite for Hayes’s First Earth and have you running to check out the rest of the book set in that world.

Alexia Cambaling

I received an e-ARC for free from the author in exchange for an honest review.

I got an e-arc for City of Kings and I thought that since I’ve been reading quite a few grimdark books lately, why not? So despite reading a lot of military-focused fantasy these past few weeks, I haven’t yet encountered anything like Rob J. Hayes’ City of Kings.
I have not read any of Hayes’ other fantasy books. I’ve only read his sci-fi book, Drones and so I went into this fresh. Despite having little prior knowledge going in, this still managed to work as a standalone.

City of Kings deals with the siege of the city of Crucible, a fortress city where aristocrats called the Blooded live in an area called the Wilds. Rose and her husband Betrim or Black Thorn have been waging war against the Blooded for some time to gain control of the Wilds.

The way the story unfolds is in the course of less than a week. It was also narrated by multiple POVs and all of them present a cohesive picture of what’s going on during the siege and how it affects the people involved. This actually only applies to the besiegers, not the people who are actually living in Crucible and would have to deal with their lives disrupted.

I’ve often mentioned this in my reviews of grimdark fantasy books, but what I really like to see are the character relationships. Grimdark tends to have this oppressive fantasy atmosphere so I like some light-heartedness (?) or genuine character interactions along the way. I like to see complexity in the way people interact and I wasn’t let down in that regard. The characters presented are varied with their own complex histories and tangled relationships. Nothing here can really be said to be black and white.

It’s only later that I learned that the characters appeared in other books and their histories are certainly hinted here. I have not read those books, but I confess I’m interested now. As I mentioned before, this did not hamper the reading experience. Not having prior knowledge going in did not prevent me from enjoying it. It really does work as a standalone.

As far as grimdark goes, this certainly has that particular atmosphere. The despair and grimness that characterizes the genre is certainly apparent here and it doesn’t make for light reading. There are no happy endings here and there are no heroes either. I wouldn’t call any of the POV characters ‘good’. The end is just as violent as the start and although I did expect it, there’s something to be said about nearly villainous anti-heroes winning.

The world-building is very subtle, almost too subtle for my world-building loving self. However, it does work and I got a sense for how the world works as it went on. There’s a bunch of terms thrown around that one eventually understands as they keep on reading. There isn’t a lot of magic here, although it’s present, it’s not exactly a strong overarching presence. There’s a small subplot involving magic, but overall, the book stays pretty low-magic.

City of Kings is pretty tightly-plotted and I didn’t find any glaring plot holes or inconsistencies. Each scene helped lead to the end and there isn’t a lot of filler or fluff. It has a tight narrative which overall conveys the story it wants to tell.
It also works as a standalone so I can recommend this to anyone who wants to try out grimdark.

City of Kings

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