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The Story King

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Member Reviews

Such a great fantasy book filled with action and so many good lessons. It is fast paced and so original.

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i had so much fun reading this book, it was a great book in the series. The story was interesting and I enjyoed going on this series.

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This was quite the epic. It had several story lines running concurrently and is the third book in a series. So, reading it as a stand alone felt a bit confusing at first, like I was stepping into the middle of a story. But it does work as a stand alone. The story is full of mystery and unanswered questions for which the characters must search. It is also full of magic and biblical allegory. Join the characters on their epic journey (and maybe read the other two books first?)

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Normally I don’t have enough good to say about Mikalotos’ work. I loved the first two books in this series. But, this book dragged on in unexpected ways for some reason. The storyline was choppy, and there are some extremely blatant attempts to draw attention to social justice in our current society. In the earlier books, these attempts were subtle, which helped me see racial issues in new light. The earlier books both addressed these issues in this subtle manner, but this book drags the reader out of a fictional land directly into the headlines of the time in this world. It is as if the author didn’t feel his subtle approach was doing enough, so he altered his writing. For me, this was a swing and a miss.

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This series is stunning. You can’t start with book three, you need to read The Crescent Stone and The Heartwood Crown first, and really, you should.

Though targeted for ages 13-18 any adult with a bit of imagination could love this series. The world-building is spectacular. The humor is delightful. The author doesn’t shy away from difficult topics weaving themes like terminal illness, racial tension and the complicated danger of seeking and wielding power into a tale that will keep you on the edge of your seat. And all the while the characters are growing, discovering who they are, untangling the lies they have believed, and taking their places in a larger and grander narrative arc than they could have imagined.

While several of the themes are intense, and death is a part of the story, the writing never feels dark and for an author to accomplish that balance is a real feat.

I recommend the whole series and loved the conclusion brought to life in The Story King.

I received a free digital galley of this final book in the series in exchange for my honest opinion.

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3 to 3.5 stars. Much of this book is really fantastic, and a worthy conclusion to the series; other parts are less so. The agenda and correlations to present-day events are, at times, glaringly obvious in this read--much more so than in previous books. (I mean, come on ... a white-supremacy group called the Vain Boys. Can't imagine what that plays off of.) Allegory included sometimes felt like a 2x4; I wished at times it was a little more nuanced.

Certainly thought-provoking in more ways than one ... and strength and weakness are juxtaposed here also in more ways than one. A bit of a mixed bag; worth reading (with a grain or six of salt) for the resolution and conclusion to the series, and I would just add, go in with your critical-thinking cap on and eyes wide open.

I received an eARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

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The Story King is the third book in the Sunlit Lands series (The Crescent Stone and The Heartwood Crown are books one and two). If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that Matt Mikalatos is one of my favorite theologians and I try my best to get my hands on and read and share all of his titles. No surprise then that I loved The Story King.

Mikalatos does a great job of wrapping up all the stories and filling in all the right holes while leaving enough mystery for the story to have a life of its own. In much the same way that The Final Battle from the Narnia series helps explain the beginning of the story, The Story King does so for the Sunlit Lands. Even though it's an ending, it's rooted very deeply in the beginning of the story and how we don't have to let broken things stay broken because that's the way it's always been. If pressed very hard to sum up the entire series, I would say that the story we believe about ourselves helps shape the world we live in. And because of that, it's very important that we recognize the grace and love that help bring us into being.

Since finishing The Story King, I've spent many hours pondering my name and how I think of myself, and how I interact with the world because of those thoughts. I don't know if that was Mikalato's intent with this trilogy but it is a very beautiful result.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for the purpose of review. I'm never required to say positive things but I'm always thankful when I can.

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A good conclusion to the trilogy. I have loved Jason throughout for his humor, heart, and his headlong, all-in, bravery. I loved the friendships, relationships, and worldbuilding aspects.

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Absolutely stunning conclusion to The Sunlit Lands

Madeline is gone, having reset the magic in the Sunlit Lands, Jason Wu listens to Mother Crow’s stories even as death approaches, Shula and Yenil live with Wendy Oliver who is regaining her memories, and Darius puts himself in harms way to return to the Sunlit lands. Meanwhile, Hanali continues his plan to become the leader of the Elenil, plotting his bloodiest evil yet.

Again, the players are called to take their places. As in the first two books, the world-building is absolutely top-notch, the humor is funny (with many authors, too often it’s not) and well-timed, the adventure is engrossing, the characters believable and engaging, and the story is multilayered and believable. The characters we’ve cherished, and some we are learning to embrace, head for a confrontation to shake the world.

This is the most intense book in the series and you’ll find yourself alternately laughing, cheering, and crying. But even as the characters and stories burn their way into your heart, you will be reminded that we are all the same. All battling to save lost loves, to gain love, to gain peace, to remember who we were and where we’ve been. To choose our names. To live our story. To learn the story of us.

Absolutely brilliant from beginning to end. My only thought is that I really need to start this series from the beginning and read it all again. There’s just so much story in this story.

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** “There is a power in words … It is words that make the world. And even more power in story, for what is a story but a collection of words, arranged to bring order to the world, to change the world, to make the world.” **

Matt Mikalatos wraps up his Sunlit Land series with “The Story King,” the third installation that picks up shortly after Madeline’s sacrifice in “The Heartwood Crown.”

“The Story King” follows the journeys of her friends as they work to save the Sunlit Sands and release the hold of the Elenil people upon the rest of the land’s residents. Plucky Jason Wu is also working to win the hand of his beloved Baileya; Darius is still on Earth trying to find his way back to the Sunlit Lands; and Shula is still protecting young Yenil while on a quest to find her brother whom she thought was dead.

Mikalatos does an incredible job of developing a fantastical world filled with unique creatures, like a “unicorn” rhinoceros that can change its size, people who can shape shift, and people with magical powers. He creates characters that are truly loveable (including sweet yet fierce Yenil and Delightful Glitter Lady, the rhino “unicorn”), as well as ones not so likable. He also fills his world with intrigue and wonder, with knights and castles and battles.

Besides having a great plot that weaves suspense, inspiration and love together, “The Story King” is filled with several great themes, like overcoming injustice; showing humanity and compassion to others; the importance of memories and one’s story; caring for the poor, orphans and widows; and overcoming our wounds in life and growing stronger from them (“When you don’t remember a wound, you can’t heal from it. You have to acknowledge it, study it, and then you start to heal”).

This book is a great allegorical fantasy story that is geared toward young readers but will be loved by adults too. Fans of C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, Andrew Peterson’s Wingfeather Saga, or either Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games or The Underland Chronicles with Gregor the Overlander will love the Sunlit Lands stories.

Five stars out of five.

Tyndale House Publishers provided this complimentary copy through NetGalley for my honest, unbiased review.

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The Story King is the third of The Sunlit Lands books. It has great characters and like the others, it has a really interesting setting. I think the book is really unique and I love the authors writing style. I look forward to reading more of their work.

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While I must admit I'm getting a bit tired to fantasy books that play on the Narnia model, this one had a sense of humor that made it enjoyable and a bit tongue in cheek, which certainly set it apart. The fantasy setting itself is very interesting and unique, which helped as well.

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A satisfying resolution to a very good series. The author did such an excellent job with his worldbuilding and character development that it was easy to jump into book 3. While OwnVoices books are so needed right now, Mikalatos handles difficult issues the BIPOC characters face with sensitivity and thoughtfulness. I do think the Olivers' storyline deserved a little more time, and the ending felt a little rushed after the rest of the book's pacing. I'm sad the series is done, but I'm ready for whatever the author's next project is.

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And so we come to the end of The Sunlit Lands. After two years, Matt Mikalatos is finally giving readers the long-awaited conclusion to The Sunlit Lands with The Story King. Where to even begin? First, if you haven’t read the first two books (The Crescent Stone & The Heartwood Crown), go and do that. There’s so much to absorb in The Story King, I can’t imagine trying to read it while also relying on only distant memories of the first two books. Second, prepare yourself for a complex and nuanced story. That’s been true for this series as a whole, but The Story King takes it to another level as Mikalatos explores the creation and foundation of the Sunlit Lands.

The Sunlit Lands is a well-crafted, fully-realized world so rich in lore and legend that even Tolkien would appreciate it. It’s almost too much at times. Not too much objectively, but too much for one book. Since the world is so unique and does not rely on standard fantasy tropes, Mikalatos has no great way of giving readers a succinct shorthand. On one hand, this leads to beautifully lyric descriptions; on the other, it’s just so much to take in all at once. I wonder if the story wouldn’t have been better told if expanded and allowed to breathe through two books. Now there are publishing reasons for why it isn’t, I’m sure, so I’ll always take too much over too little (especially when it’s Mikalatos dishing it out).

There are also some plotlines that are a little…complicated. I didn’t understand everything I read in the moment—such as when the fake Jasons kidnap Jason. And there are things I’m still not sure I totally understood in all its fullness—Darius’s journey to Malgwin and the Sea Beneath. And there are things that are still mystery and meant to be mystery—such as the origin of Cumberland’s master’s magic. (This last one could have been a prequel novel in and of itself.)

The first two books in The Sunlit Lands explored the concepts of privilege, inequality, social justice, and sacrifice. In The Crescent Stone, we learn that the Elenil obtain their power by taking from the Scim. When Madeline is healed of her lung disease, it is to the detriment of a Scim who takes that burden upon themselves. The Heartwood Crown is about undoing the generational effects of such systemic injustice and Madeline sacrifices her own life to reset the balance of power. The Story King moves one step further to consider what we are to do if the very system itself was created out of a pattern of injustice and inequality. It’s a dense, yet understandable movement from awareness to individual activism to true systemic deconstruction.

The Story King is one of those novels that you could read several times and still pick up new things from it. Mikalatos has layered his legends one over the other and ensured that each story within the story has its own purpose and isn’t simply there to serve the narrative. If you’re a fantasy buff, the best analogy that I have is that The Story King is to The Sunlit Lands what That Hideous Strength is to C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy. (Except I had a much better time reading The Story King.) If you thought the first two books were deep and compelling, challenging and mysterious, just wait until the third.

In fact, I’m willing to extend the comparison: Matt Mikalatos is a C.S. Lewis of his generation. Consistently thoughtful, yet whimsical. Very serious, yet full of snark and sarcasm. An evident love of mythology, symbolism, and story. Lewis’s influence is seen several places throughout the series, perhaps even in the name The Sunlit Lands itself.

In this world, our preconceived biases often keep us from being able to see issues from a different perspective. By placing a near-analogue of those issues into a fantasy world—a world where we have no biases—Matt Mikalatos shows readers our world through the lens of that one, helping us see old issues with new eyes. The questions he asks and the answers he suggests are not easy (indeed they may mean our undoing), but they worth the conversation. Mikalatos uses story in the most profound of ways. Like Nathan of old, he tells us a parable, notes our outrage, then says to us quite simply “Thou art that man.” But he does so in a way so loving, so non-condemning, so simply, that you can’t help but ask him where to start. Because it’s one thing to deconstruct a fantasy world and quite another to do so to our reality.

The Story King is a worthy conclusion to The Sunlit Lands, though I desperately hope for more adventures to follow.

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