The Mercenary Code, Book 1 of The Shattering of Kingdoms, builds an epic world of politics and social intrigue, magical elements and promises much more to come. Like many epics, this book contains many different storylines which slowly progress towards a cumulating point where the many worlds collide, so to speak.

The world-building Moss does in this novel is, as is necessary for any epic, complex and thorough. Learning the back story of each of the people and choosing to love or loathe them is part of the process that needs to be established, but Moss does it such a natural way that it draws you into each of their stories, and some parts offer hints of more to learn yet.

The characters are working their way through a warn torn world which is undergoing changes that are forced upon them from the balance that they have achieved after the fall of the king and his line. The intrigue and plotting the various factions face draw you into the world and leave you wanting to read more. The end promises much more to come. If you are a fan of epic fiction, don't miss this one.

this book was a slow starter but gradually picked up pace as the story went along, liked the different threads of the plot where you could see the gradual bits were going in the plot and the majority of the first book is character building and fleshing out the history of the world

I wanted to love this book. The blurb about it sounded like a perfect fit for me. I enjoy reading about warriors with troubled pasts who are just trying to do the right thing, monsters, magic, and battles. This story has all of that. The story is there, and it is a good one. Unfortunately, the writing is not quite there. The story is slow-moving, which is fine. The author is giving you time to get acquainted with the characters and history. For me, there was too much reliance on the dialog. I felt at times like I was hand-fed the story. Being told what this character feels, rather than allowed to feel it with them. And the dialog was not great. It felt a little flat and forced. It did improve some once the story got going, but not enough for me to really be drawn in. I guess I am used to reading authors that drop you in on the action and expect you to keep up. I know some people hate that style of writing, but I love it. This book is not like that at all. The characters were excellent and interesting. But because of the weakness of the writing, I felt like I was being held at arm's length. I never felt like I got to know them well enough for me to enjoy the story. For someone who reads books for the story, this is a great choice. But if you're like me and read for the characters, you might be a little disappointed. All the pieces are there for this to be great, and I hope the author continues to improve because, with a few adjustments, this could be excellent. It's worth the read, and I will be looking for the second book. I give it a strong three out of five stars.

After reading A Game of Thrones I really wanted to read another book in the same vein of fantasy, which lead me to this. Although it failed to hook me from the start, I became engrossed from the second chapter onward. Looking back, I could chalk that up to the fact that I started reading this while tired and in a noisy environment.

While reading, I noticed a few similarities to A Game of Thrones regarding the world layout. I wouldn’t necessarily say that it’s a bad thing because this book isn’t a retelling of the same story and does have many differences. Personally, I saw it as one author taking inspiration from another. I don’t know if this is what actually happened or it’s just a normal trope of the genre, but I liked it.

I can honestly say I enjoyed this book. The characters are really developed, the world is diverse, and the story is interesting. I didn’t feel bored at any point and probably could have finished the book in a day if life didn’t get in the way. The one criticism I have is that I can’t read the second book in the series because it’s not out yet (I guess that’s not really a fault on this book, but I want more of the story). The second book does come out fall of this year, according to the author note at the end of the book, so the wait isn’t terrible. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed A Game of Thrones or enjoys fantasy.

Suggested Reads: A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

5/5

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley and am leaving a completely honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book had its pros and cons. At first it moved very slowly, to the point where I got bored. There was a lot of setup, which I’m used to in this sort of fantasy book, but it was a bit of an info dump, which I was not a fan of. It felt very unnatural and was too much all at once.

However, once this book got going, it had a Tad Williams (the author of To Green Angel Tower) feel to it, in that it was a well thought out world. It left a lot of room for the story to continue to develop in the next installment in the series.

This is a shorter review than I usually post, simply because this book didn’t really stick with me. If I come across the sequel at the library at some point, I might pick it up, but this isn’t an author that I’ll go out of my way to look for.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with the ARC. I was so excited to get approved for this ARC! I love science fiction and fantasy books and this book sounded great! The writing style, characters, world, everything I thought was a hit for me. Will read more from this author in the future.