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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
(3.5) An Acquired Taste, May 13, 2009
This review is from: Kings and Assassins (Paperback)
I wasn't sure I'd like this one. Janus Ixion as the protagonist? I hated Janus in Maledicte. I started reading Kings and Assassins with that loathing firmly in place, and in the early pages of the book, he didn't do much to make me like him any better. I didn't like the other characters either. I didn't care about Janus, I didn't care that he missed Maledicte, I didn't care about his wife or about their endless quarrels, and I couldn't have cared less who ended up regent for Prince Adiran after King Aris's assassination. What kept me going was Lane Robins' prose, which I enjoyed as much as ever.
Imagine my surprise when, halfway through the book, I found myself thinking that Antyre was in deep trouble if Janus lost his bid for the regency.
Oh, he didn't become a nice guy or anything, have no fear. But I did realize that neither Maledicte nor Gilly saw him clearly. Maledicte idealized him too much until the very end; Gilly vilified him too much. He's complicated. He's violent, ambitious, ruthless, but also intelligent and keenly interested in the welfare of Antyre, even when his concern is based on selfish motives. He's also the only noble in the kingdom who has any idea what life is like for Antyre's poor. He's a bit like a George R.R. Martin character in some ways. Every time I started hating him, he'd do something admirable, often for all the wrong reasons. Every time I started liking him, he'd do something so horribly unethical that I wondered what I'd been thinking.
Kings and Assassins follows Janus as he tries to scheme his way through the Antyrrian court and prevent the country from being taken over by neighboring Itarus in the aftermath of Aris's death. It's not easy; he is opposed at every turn by snobbish Antyrrian nobles, a grasping Itarusine prince, angry working-class mobs, and his own wife, Psyke, who is convinced Janus had Aris killed. Not to even mention the gods: Black-Winged Ani is still on the scene, and now Haith, the god of death, has awakened as well.
I didn't read this quite as compulsively as I read Maledicte, and I'm not sure if the fault lies with the book or with the fact that I was trying to fit it into a busier schedule. I do know that I enjoyed reading it once I got past the initial "I hate all the characters" stage. Recommended if you like political fantasies and don't mind gore and characters with skewed moral compasses!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
NOT Maledicte, But Still Very Good In Its Own Right, January 1, 2011
This review is from: Kings and Assassins (Paperback)
WARNING : SPOILERS FOR MALEDICTE
Kings and Assassins is not a story that cuts an emotional swath as deep as Maledicte does, so I do not encourage any reader to see it as a direct sequel to it. Many people bemoan the fact that Mal doesn't actually appear in the book beyond Janus's memories but after finishing this, as much as I would have loved to hear more about him, I realized that it just wasn't a part of this book that was meant to be. Because, for now at least, his part of the story is over. K&As is Janus's story, and love him or hate him it's a very appropriate follow up in the Antyre novels and while it might be more story driven rather than character this new book really frees up a lot of room for Robins to play around with some things. And play around she does, and well.
Even reading it's predecessor I wasn't prepared for how dark this book was going to be. There are a lot of ugly questions that the book demands it's readers to grapple with if they want to continue with the story - what is the value of the mentally handicapped in society? How much are the lives of a nation as a whole when measured against the fruitfulness of it's soil, especially when those numbers can be re-multiplied? What is the role of gov in censuring of the press? Robin's its seems has decided to build her fantasy crafting in the tradition of Le Guin and others who knew that it was more than just a way for us to transport ourselves to another world, but rather to grapple with our own social issues head on in a new way.
There are no easy answers in this book, however after finishing this I do think that the ones the characters manage to find for themselves in the end are, if not squeaky clean, then at least *right*. And while this was not the direct sequel I was hoping for, it still makes for a very satisfying read and conclusion indeed. Five stars HIGHLY recommended.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall., October 2, 2009
This review is from: Kings and Assassins (Paperback)
The Kingdom of Antyre is in trouble. The heir to the king is young and feeble-minded. The King Aris is indecisive. Prince Ivor of the Itarusine Court is a visiting envoy of a powerful nation that is hovering at the borders, waiting for an opportunity to invade and conquer. The nobility is decadent and corrupt. The poor are more grindingly poor than ever and civil unrest is growing in the city. Janus Ixion, Earl of Last, in line for the throne after the feeble-minded prince, believes he can save Antyre. He's grown up amongst the poorest of the city, when he and his mother had been abandoned by his father, but the brought back to court. He believes in new ideas that can bring industry and prosperity back. Unfortunately, he is mistrusted by everyone... and not without cause. He has ambitions. He can be ruthless, a heartless killer, a soul-less degenerate. He has scandalized the Court by his liaison with the murderous courtier Maladicte, who is now supposedly dead. And when an assassin kills the King, Janus's own wife accuses him of being behind the deed.
This is a dark and deadly political fantasy of plots and intrigue and the interference of old gods and dark magics. Janus is a complex character, not at all sympathetic, and who truly will stop at nothing to gain power. He is pitted against enemies who are more powerful and ruthless, as well as enemies who are merely self-centered and uncaring. Seeing him have to battle against such odds is possibly the only point of sympathy in his favor. The trouble in Antyre and Janus's efforts to stay above the deadly machinations (by creating his own), has the curiosity of a nasty train-wreck. While I was never all that attached to Janus, he did seem to have at least some ideas of how to save the kingdom, so one did wish him to succeed. Watching him scrabble through all the deadly traps around him definitely had its fascination.
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