Hello Fellow Journeyers,
We once again find ourselves within the Amazon realm of authors in David Estes and his series of The Kingfall Histories, beginning with Kingfall. This tale comes as a somewhat sequel series (same world, different continent) of the Fatemarked series Estes wrote but I have not read. I primarily wanted to start with this one as Tim Gerard Reynolds narrated the audiobook.
What's the story about: Kingfall is a multiple POV story of characters in several different but deeply interconnected stories. The first follows a young man who seeks greatness in a formidable quest with an unexpected weapon. The next follows a grizzled commander who's life is broken and finds himself captured and forced to fight for the opposing nation in a war. The third follows a captured godling as she tries to survive her way through being a slave of the king that has bought her. The fourth POV, who's quest includes being married off to a man as a way of making an alliance, but soon discovers an adventure of her own. And the fifth and final character is about the man the fourth POV is slated to marry; his is one of duty and courage as being lead dragonrider to his people. This all sounds more convoluted than it actually is.
The story certainly starts off with a bang with several opening chapters of excitement and intrigue building. What I liked about this was how world-building wasn't the sole focus and there was reason to get behind the characters first and foremost because of what they were going through in the moment. This continued as the story progressed and I thought it was very natural. Also, from the get go, the first three main characters already had interlinking stories which is always a plus for me. When you see the stories and how they connect early on, it just adds something additional to the intrigue that captured my attention. I also think it makes the gravity rise and Estes does a good job balancing it.
What also stuck out to me while reading was that Estes's writing does a sufficient job with prose and detail, without being flowery or too straightforward. It reads smoothly and allows you to invest in the writing without having to work hard at it. Secondly on the writing aspect, the chapters are long, but Estes does a valiant job of not making them feel meandering or bloated. His chapters read as interestingly or worthwhile as shorter chapters and this surprised me, but I was thankful for it. For as long a book as this one is, this was really relieving, since the overall length still made for some fatigue.
Next, the characters. They are the cornerstone to what makes the read very enjoyable in the end. Each storyline is clear, distinct, and unique from the others that you never have to worry about mixing them up. This was a wonderful surprise as I am someone who normally struggles with keeping multiple POV stories straight in maintaining what is occuring. Fortunately, each character has enough depth and personality that they never get confused or muddled.
Finally, the last thing worth noting is Estes's work in the moral realm. For the most part, the characters that are at the focus of the story stand on different sides of wars and countries and this makes for interesting interactions and crossovers. I liked how each character had enough to them that the intrigue from all the storylines stay rich and vivid throughout. But it really shines when the characters are faced with difficult choices and having to make the best out of hard situations time and time again. The plot was busy, but not bogged down in this way. Overall, a great balance of intrigue, consequences, and action.
Side Note: It would be advantageous to communicate that the main storyline is only 700 pages of the book, even though the book is 800+ pages. Estes includes a number of "postludes", or rather, short stories of a few characters he deemed essential to read. While the main story ends a little abruptly, these stories appear to be crucial to the overall story and must be read for future installments. I found this odd, but didn't take away from the overall enjoyment of the novel. Just lessened the impact of the ending a little.
Let me hear from you! If you like what you read, want to hear more thoughts on this book, other reviews, or talk book recommendations and Essential Reading, leave a comment below.