One of my favorite books of the year so far. The emphasis on justice, the desire to do what's right, to hold society to a certain set up agreed upon principles, and deciding what those principles should be, are all themes I greatly enjoyed seeing throughout the book.

Though it wasn't a complaint for me, I do think this book will be less enjoyable to those who consider themselves plot-driven readers, as the plot definitely meanders, and is not clear cut.

Excited for book two!

A type of fantasy unlike any I've ever read, Richard Swan's THE JUSTICE OF KINGS has the complexity of Game of Thrones but with an element of lawyers that I couldn't put down.

This was a very well done and well rounded novel. I really enjoyed the characters and the development of the plot throughout.

This book was such a disappointment. Both the cover and marketing lead you to believe that this story is focused on Justice Konrad when in reality it’s about his clerk. I think a book that focused on the justice or at least had his pov would have been much better. This was book 1 in a series I won’t be continuing.

Full review - https://youtu.be/hPI5YxmXTIY

Book Rating 3/5 ⭐️
I wanted to love the book more than I did. But, with that being said it was very well written and captivating in some parts. I just couldn’t find myself caring got the characters or getting attached to anything during the book. Overall, not a bad book! But not my favorite either.

This book sounded like it was going to be PERFECT for me! Justice based high fantasy where the summary sounds like The Punisher.

But the writing! I know so many people who will like this style but it was not for me. I got a few chapters in and had to dnf. It felt like short choppy diary entries trying to tell me about this person our storyteller knew a long time ago. I so wanted to like this but in the end not all books can work for all readers :(

Thanks to Netgalley and Orbit for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was an excellent fantasy novel. It tells the story of Konrad Vonvalt, who is a Justice of the Emperor. He and his companions make the rounds provincial villages and arbitrate disputes. When they are asked to examine a twisty murder case, things that will affect the whole empire are uncovered.

I loved the character Vonvalt - his sense of justice and his whole personality. And I thought the author made a fantastic choice to have Vonvalt's clerk Helena narrate the story. Adding her feelings as she watches choices she sees Vonvalt make brings a lot of depth to the story.

I've read a few great fantasy novels this year, and this book is a standout - I really enjoyed it. Huge thanks to Netgalley for letting me check it out!

I wasn't really a fan of this one. It was perfectly fine as far as the writing quality, but I just couldn't get into the story. It was difficult for me to focus and I had to keep rereading parts of it to remember what was going on. Like I said, the quality of the book was not bad, I just found it boring personally.

I tried so hard to like this but the main character was kind of annoying and uninteresting. I was barely able make it past the halfway mark before I quit. It was a well written book just the character was meh.

have preordered the paperback of this one, cannot wait to read it. like the cover and the premise of it.

ARC provided by the publisher (Orbit via Netgalley) in exchange for an honest review.

This book had incredible potential and one of the things I liked most about the book, it's genre-busting nature, also marred it's execution. I think there's a REALLY deep well here that authors should mine that is kind of branched off something like Umberto Eco's "the Name of the Rose". The Justice of Kings" is a book that blends the murder mystery, high fantasy, magic, Eastern European lore and names, British history, criminal court cases, necromancy, older druidic type religions vs. more modern religions, zealotry, poverty, politics, the afterlife, a cringeworthy throwaway YA love plot, and much more. All of this actually could work with a more deft hand but too often Swan tells you directly over implying and intimation. Awkward passages abound where we learn important information or world-building necessities. Having said that, I did absolutely rip through it's 500 pages very quickly and do have an interest in wanting to keep going with the series.

I would say, this is a series and a type of book we need more of and that I am hopeful that book 2 (and 3) can build on the excellent bones that are here and that with some tighter editing and clearer authorial choices end up with a smashing series. The elements are there.

Lawyer, judge, jury, executioner, and kind of a stubborn jerk! A compelling read. In a different author's hands, I could easily see the story being written from Vonvalt's POV, so I appreciated Helena, a supporting character, driving the narrative. This story plays out a season of True Detective with some necromancy thrown in for good measure, set against the backdrop of a crumbling kingdom with a failing court system. Vonvalt is a fascinating character, and his singular quest for the truth is noble, yet foolish as it disregards many other important events surrounding him: the feelings of his cohorts, the events in his hometown, and how to prepare for the future.

Swan writes plenty of modern allegory into his work, which is depressing because the zealotry of today feels so dated. But the character work is solid, and there is noticeable character growth and interesting world-building going on. Even though the majority of the story takes place within one city. I got a sense that there were many cultures and languages clashing over small parcels of land, and everything about this post-war era was chaotic and under intense strain.

I wouldn't classify this as grimdark, but it is grim, and sad at times. It was well-paced and plotted and I'm looking forward to the next entry.

This is an engaging political fantasy that I cannot wait to continue. On this story we follow Helena the justices clerk as she writes her story many years later. The tale begins with Helena serving as clerk to Justice Vonvalt and his Tasman Bressinger after a mysterious murder of a noble lady. While investigating this confounding murder Vonvalt finds himself embroiled in a scandal involving money from the town funding a group of zealot templars. Vonvalt soon discovers this conspiracy may be further reaching than he realized and may affect the entire empire.

This book kept me entertained throughout while crafting and imaginative immersive fantasy world. The character building was really great in this book I felt myself really caring what the fate of these characters were. I also really enjoyed how vast and different this empire was it really made me interesting in learning more about this empire. I also appreciate how the end of this book leads me to believe we will see more of this empire. I will definitely will be picking up more books in this series as well as exploring this authors back catalog! I would like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for an opportunity to read this book for an honest review.

Thank you so much to Orbit and NetGalley for giving me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Justice of Kings was one of those books that, as soon as I started reading it, I had a feeling I was going to love it. That was exactly what ended up happening, and I found myself running to the bookstore to get a physical copy of the book.

This book was advertised as following the adventures of Konrad VonValt, an Emperor's . In this world. the Justices play the role of judge, jury, and executioner and travel the countryside to pass judgment in locations where the emperor can't travel to. While this is all true, you actually follow his story from the perspective of his 19 year old clerk, Helena. While I did love this book, I think this was its weakest choice because, well....Helena was annoying as all hell.

Her perspective is 1st person POV and is written as though she is telling the story as an older woman looking back on her life, so she does actually acknowledge that she was annoying as a teenager, but...it was very much a teenage girl written by a man. Outside of this, though, the story itself intrigued me enough that I was able to mostly ignore the "teenage girl" stereotypes and enjoy what was going on.

A fantasy murder mystery? Check. A fantasy courtroom scene? Also check. A mentor relationship? Check again, although that did get weird at times. I loved every single one of those aspects, will be very interested in seeing where this series goes. I gave this a 4 out of 5 stars and will definitely be continuing with the next books.

This was so so for me. I wasn't expecting it to be so Agatha Christie style in a fantasy. What sounded like a cool concept, was just a little too slow in pacing for me. Not bad, but not enough to keep me truly invested.

Unfortunately this book was not for me. I read 50% of it before deciding to put the book down.

I was hoping with all the praise I would love this book but I think the combination of it being a low magic fantasy with a murder mystery plot focus, characters I found frustrating and a writing style that didn't flow well for me just meant that this book was not meant for me.

I do think that if you enjoy the tropes of this type of fantasy story you would have a fantastic time!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC.

Description from NetGalley:
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?

I didn’t really know what this one was about when I finally picked it up; however, I really liked the journey it took me on. The narration of the story is done by Helena after everything has happened. So it’s like she is telling you the story instead of you being with her as it unfolds. It was an interesting approach. Helena did get on my nerves a little bit. She struck me as a street kid with book smarts instead of street smarts, but I still felt for her and Justice Vonvalt.

Overall: 4/5

I had a lot of technical problems with this book.
One thing I absolutely hated about it was how we are introduced to new concepts and things. Most times you see authors still using the show don't tell method, whereas this book said the word and then gave the definition of it. Like, imagine if someone was going to Walmart and they break out in a tangent saying "I'm going to Walmart, a place where you buy grocery's and other daily necessitates and sometime get harassed. Often time when I....". It gets annoying quick.
I also just couldn't find myself caring for the characters, most of them felt so bland and had no personality. I couldn't tell some of the characters apart, I literally thought two character were the same person because they acted the same and talked with the same dialect.
Speaking of dialect randomly in the book characters started using British slang, like main characters who showed no signs of having an accent just started saying "Arsehole".
I also had some problems with the writing style. The word choice was very pretentious at time, saying words like "daren't" or "tis" when the words that follow were nothing special. Its not Shakespeare like where you can understand why the author uses these words specially.
One thing that I was looking forward to when reading this book was the quotes that are given before each chapter. It reminded me a lot of Dune, and the quotes were one of my favorite parts. However, some of the quotes just didn't seem to fit the chapters. With Dune, it gave you more insight on the people of their world. With this book it just seems like pretentious quotes for the sake of being quotable. They add nothing to the story, just the amount of pages you have to read.
Overall, I just disliked this book. The writing was less than mediocre and the character were bland in every way possible.

Richard Swan's THE JUSTICE OF KINGS is a debut epic fantasy novel that gets bogged down by worldbuilding and character choices.
I wanted to like this one. Swan is a much better writer, in terms of his prose, than a lot of fantasy that gets published, and I liked the idea of Justice with secret, magical powers (which were pretty cool and reminded me a little of the Bene Gesserit from Dune).
Unfortunately, the worldbuilding is a weird, cobbled-together European medieval setting that feels a little too European and not 'fantasy' enough. The beginning drags because of the point of view choice--instead of the Justice, we watch everything happen from the point of view of his scribe, who is just along for the ride. And Justice himself quickly becomes a caricature--so much shouting.
It will probably find its audience among fantasy enthusiasts.

I struggled very much with one. The writing felt very generic and I found myself getting bored and putting the book down several times. I was fascinated by the magic system, though there wasn't much of it.
We have this elaborate murder mystery plot, but the story moved so slow. I ended up not really caring.
I really wish that I liked religious political plots more...
Because this one was done well in an easy to understanding way.
As for the characters....I loved the unexpectedness of having the apprentice be the narrator of this story. (I think based on the cover that wasn't want people expected). I liked seeing her conficting feelings on the life she was living. (I could have done without the romantic subplot though) all in all this was a pretty average read. I would definitely continue on in the series to see what happens.