The Justice of Kings

November 1, 2021
Swan (The Art of War Trilogy) launches his Empire of the Wolf series with this riveting but uneven fantasy crime novel. The story is relayed decades after the fact by Helena Sedanka, once the assistant to Justice Sir Konrad Vonvalt, a detective and prosecutor for the Sovan Empire’s Imperial Magistratum. Now an old woman, Helena tells of how Vonvalt’s operation in the village of Rill possibly triggered the Empire’s downfall. Her account begins with Vonvalt penalizing the village dwellers who practice paganism. Though Patria Bartholomew Claver, a devout priest tagging along with Helena and Vonvalt, urges him to burn the villagers on mere suspicions, law-abiding Vonvalt insists on only executing avowed heretics. Along with Vonvalt’s right-hand man, Dubine Bressinger, the group makes for Galen’s Vale next, where they spend much of their time solving the high-profile murder of a lord’s wife—until the disgruntled Claver makes a rash decision. Though the investigative element sparks intrigue as Vonvalt and his team juggle multiple cases, Helena’s direct address to the reader often disrupts the flow and keeps the suspense in check. Still, Swan crafts a strong, dynamic character in Vonvalt, and the whodunit twists will keep readers turning the pages. This promises good things from the series to come. Agent: Harry Illingworth, DHH Agency (U.K.).

Starred review from January 15, 2022
Murder mystery meets grimdark political fantasy in this first of a trilogy. Sir Konrad Vonvolt is a Justice of the Imperial Magistratum; accompanied by his taskman (a kind of bodyguard, enforcer, and investigator), Dubine Bressinger, and his law clerk, 19-year-old Helena Sedanka, he travels the Sovan Empire, solving, prosecuting, and judging criminal acts. A few decades after a dreadful period of war and conquest, Vonvolt is confident in the strength of the empire, the power of the law, and his magical abilities (necromancy and the Emperor's Voice, which compels others to speak truth and obey his commands) to enforce his judgments. But all of those are threatened by a rising tide of religious zealotry and a call for a Crusade, both of which act as a cover for a shift in who holds the power in the Empire. As Vonvolt attempts to solve the murder of a noblewoman, the conspiracy of corruption he uncovers threatens everything he knows and loves. Meanwhile, Helena, the novel's first-person protagonist, struggles with an internal conflict involving her loyalty to Vonvolt, who transformed her from a street orphan into an educated woman with the potential to become a Justice herself; her boredom and frustration with many aspects of her work; and her nascent desire to settle down with a young guardsman she meets during the investigation. The initial setup of the story--that of a traveling investigator/prosecutor/judge--will feel familiar to readers of Robert van Gulik's classic Judge Dee series and Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma novels (these especially, as they include a certain amount of plot tension around orthodoxy vs. heresy and newly established religion vs. paganism). But aside from the fantasy setting, this novel differs in that it focuses far more intensely on how brutal realities of war and politics can overpower a well-established legal system and, in the face of that, erode the ethical and moral structures of that system's representatives. We have hope that Judge Dee and Fidelma of Cashel and the laws they uphold will prevail despite the obstacles against them; but although Vonvolt, Helena, and Bressinger solve the case and several of the perpetrators pay the ultimate price, our heroes, too, pay a terrible price, and what occurs seems a bit more primitive and angry than dispassionate justice; certainly, that's what Helena thinks. An intriguingly dark (and realistically depressing) deconstruction of a beloved mystery trope.

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January 1, 2022
The Empire of the Wolf is ever expanding and absorbing new lands. Not everyone in the empire is happy with their new overlords, be it for religious or ideological reasons. Sir Konrad Vonvalt is a lawyer, judge, warrior, and member of the Emperor's Justice, a group that travels around to solve or settle problems. As the leader of the company, Sir Konrad is the voice of the Emperor. Through his position, he ends up pulled into the mysterious death of several nobles. But the murders become more than they appear, and they lead Sir Konrad and his group into the murky, rebellious side of their empire. Murder mystery meets epic fantasy in the first in this new trilogy. Sir Konrad is a leader with a moral code, and the world of the Empire of the Wolf is a rich and interesting one--not without complications, but not complete chaos either. Readers will enjoy the world building, Sir Konrad and his crew, and the unique touches to a familiar fantasy tale.

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