Review: The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan

Action, intrigue, and magic collide in this epic fantasy following Sir Konrad Vonvalt, an Emperor's Justice, who is a detective, judge, and executioner all in one—but with rebellion and unrest building, these are dangerous times to be a Justice . . . 

The Empire of the Wolf simmers with unrest. Rebels, heretics, and powerful patricians all challenge the power of the Imperial throne. 

Only the Order of Justices stands in the way of chaos. Sir Konrad Vonvalt is the most feared Justice of all, upholding the law by way of his sharp mind, arcane powers, and skill as a swordsman. At his side stands Helena Sedanka, his talented protégé, orphaned by the wars that forged the Empire. 

When the pair investigates the murder of a provincial aristocrat, they unearth a conspiracy that stretches to the very top of Imperial society. As the stakes rise and become ever more personal, Vonvalt and Helena must make a choice: Will they abandon the laws they’ve sworn to uphold, in order to protect the Empire?

"Richard Swan's sophisticated take on the fantasy genre will leave readers hungry for more." –  Sebastien de Castell, author of Spellslinger

“A fantastic debut.” – Peter McLean, author of Priest of Bones

Since coming back to reading fantasy after a break, Empire of the Wolf by Richard Swan is the one series that I consistently saw rated and reviewed so highly that it became a must read. Needless to say, my expectations for this series were really high and the question is, did The Justice of Kings live up to the hype for me? Honestly, I really enjoyed this book, but I think I am going to wait to answer if it fully lives up to the hype until I complete the series.

I think the first thing to understand about this book is what a Justice is. The Order of Justices report directly to the Emperor and travel the lands of the empire making sure the law is adhered to, they have the authority to command basically anyone it seems, and they are called on to serve as judge, jury and executioner to the towns they visit. They also make sure towns are upholding the law on their own by auditing all of the trials and sentences to make sure that the law is equally applied, and the sentences are adhering to the Emperor’s rule. Justices are also afforded some magical skills, they can vary from Justice to Justice. The main Justice feature in this book is more powerful than most. He can question the recently deceased, who serve as grim witnesses in his trials when necessary. This ability definitely makes people fear him.

As the book progresses, you can start to sense a shift in seeing the Justices as great and necessary enforcers as justice, and you see questions start to arise about if any one person should hold such tremendous power. To be the sole person to determine if another party is guilty, and then if it should cost them their life instills fear in people. And then they have unnatural abilities that further separate them from others. There is a huge responsibility on the shoulders of these Justices, and the cost of human error or an error of judgement or outright bias could wrongly end the life of an innocent person.

This is an interesting perspective for a fantasy book. The story as told from the perspective of a 19 year old women, Helena, who through a major stroke of luck, wound leaving her life as a street urchin at 17 to up serving as a clerk to an Emperor’s Justice. She is not the first in her class at some prestigious magical university, she does not have any special abilities in either fighting or magic. She is by all accounts just a normal person whose lot in life has thrust her into a position to be a front line observer to what looks like will be major political shifts. She is smart and inciteful, and the story is told as a memoir as such, so we occasionally get commentary with hindsight revelations or regrets.

While I did not feel this was a fast paced book, it never had areas that would drag. The author does a very good job of feeding the reader information to set up the political environment of the empire without it ever feeling like an info dump or boring. It all felt naturally told, it was something I did not even notice or think about until considering it for the review. This very natural dissemination of information when you are dealing with a wide scoping epic fantasy that involves different races and and empire that was built on a rather recent history of conquering other people and lands is honestly something many, if not most, authors fail to accomplish through the entire first book.

Overall I really enjoyed this first book in the series, it’s honestly surprising this is the author’s debut as it feels like the work of a seasoned author. As for my rating, I was a little torn, and honestly the main reason I went a little lower was because while I enjoyed this book quite a bit, I could put it down and walk away. I usually reserve ratings over a 4 for books that I just can’t put down. Honestly, I don’t even think I can point to a flaw in this book, the style of story telling is what I think made it easier to put down, as it is not action packed or drama filled, but it is still very intriguing and was a very good read. I am looking forward to heading straight to book 2 as I am curious what is in store next. I suspect if the story to continues as strong as this first book, my ratings may go up.