I enjoyed the plot but I found it hard to get past the writing style. It felt quite juvenile at times, almost more like YA.

This was great!
Honestly, no idea who the author is but I'm a fan!
Favorite genre/trope..hoping for more!

Thank you NetGalley for the eArc copy of this book for an honest review.

'two severed legs stood upright in their boots'... That's one way to get your readers attention!

Personal it wasn't for me. But I am glad I gave it a go. It was different and I think it opened up opportunities for me to want to explore similar books in the genre.

Ps. It has a map! All good readers know, that books with maps must always be explored.

A veces es la cubierta de un libro lo que te impulsa a leerlo, aunque no conozcas el autor. Esa mano que mueve como un títere una corona fue lo que me llevó a The Sins of Kings, aunque luego me encontrara un libro escrito con oficio, pero poco original en sus pretensiones. Esto es algo que me sucede cada vez más con la fantasía, me acabo cansando del reino pseudomedieval envuelto en intrigas palaciegas y guerras por el control del terreno con el toque de magia que corresponda.

Una mano que maneja como una marioneta una corona de rey.
Daniel Thomas Valente tenía una idea muy ambiciosa en mente cuando comenzó a escribir esta novela y la serie a la que da comienzo y no negaré que sale bien parado en cuanto a la ejecución, pero de ideas me parece que iba un poco más cortito, porque tanto la dinastía que lleva siglos en el poder como la heredera que se camufla para parecer uno más entre el pueblo llano no son de lo más original que puedas leer en el género. Hay diversos puntos de vista y están bien equilibrados, es solo que me suena a historia ya conocida y repetida hasta la saciedad.

Es cierto que trata algunos temas de más profundo calado social que las batallitas entre ejércitos, como el racismo y la desigualdad social, pero creo que le hacen un flaco favor al compararlo con la obra de Abercrombie, que le da sopas con honda. El libro está bien escrito y se ve que el escenario está bastante trabajado y nos deparará alguna sorpresa en las posteriores entregas. Tiene un primero capítulo impactante, que luego se ve lastrado por una bajada en el ritmo de la aventura, debido principalmente a la presentación de los personajes, que son muchos, y a los cambios de punto de vista, que quizá necesitarían una revisión.

También suena bastante tópico la existencia de una “amenaza que vuelve desde el pasado” y en general, el tono de la magia a la que se hace referencia en el libro es muy del siglo pasado. No creo que sea imprescindible explicar cada regla de la magia y aplicarla como axiomas en el desarrollo de un libro, pero tampoco me gusta el “lo hizo un mago” de Lucy Lawless en los Simpsons, dicen que la virtud está en el equilibrio y aquí al menos no lo encontramos.

Para ser una primera novela me parece interesante y le veo potencial a la historia, acompañada por una prosa atractiva. Espero que se desarrolle el mundo de una forma más interesante y que el autor sea capaz de aportar alguna idea más novedosa en la siguientes entregas de la saga.

À tale of intrigué, politics, and betrayal, which was definitely my kind of thing. I genuinely enjoyed the plot throughout and how it was carried out.

I really liked the main character, Edlen, even though it was a little tropey. However, I was not a fan of her brocken friend and his self-pity. It was very grating throughout the book. I also felt that I couldn't connect to him at all as there wasn't much in the way of redeeming characteristics.

The Eyes are an interesting group, and I would like to learn more about them.

It was an enjoyable read, but I did find that it was hard going at times. I had a hard time getting into it, and it did drag in places. I also felt that things were a bit too neatly explained away with convenient plot devices sometimes, as well.

Overall, I would say it's more 3.5 stars. I would definitely read the next one, however.

While the book was enjoyable, it was convoluted with the amount of characters there were. I also felt there were too many adult themes for a YA novel.

This book was too slow of a burn for me. The first four chapters were hard to get into which made me lose a lot of my energy for the book. I also felt that their language and says were forced and didn’t fit very well. I understand that many fantasy worlds have different terms and phrases for cursing or surprise this one just felt really forced and kinda cheesy to me.

"The sins of a king are not forgiven by the gods".

This book is mostly about power corrupting people, difficult choices kings have to make. Choices that shape their realms. Should a king choose well-being of his family above his domain? What choice is right when all of them lead to people dying? What even *is* sin? Is surrendering to an enemy you have no chance at defeating wrong?

I wish there were character list at the beginning. I wrote down all names and titles that seemed important but more than once I was left confused who's who. Apparently Rhen and Rhohl are two different characters. The lore isn't explained which is good because there are no infodumps but I have a lot of questions. Like what religion do they follow? What's role of priests in the society? Who are pedagogues? What are the rules of knight tournaments?

I am not sure how all that theme gonna play out in book 2. People being selfish and trying to protect their own even when it can cause death of innocents, people doing evil things because they believe other options are worse are explored in the story. I can't name a single character that is malignant just for the sake of it. Which is great for me because I despise good characters who don't have any reasoning behind being good.

I was a bit frustrated by some of the characters refusing to acknowledge that something magical is going on. It's the least interesting aspect of the story, come on. A few plot twists I saw a mile away which isn't inherently bad but I got the feeling author wanted me to be surprised. I enjoyed political scheming and politicians being more interested in getting money than in their subjects. Overall I liked the story and I am intrigued what will happen next.

This book was confusing with so many different points of view but when you got into the thick of the story it was fantastic. Edlen and Darrin were absolutely amazing to read about. The story was captivating and had a mix of just about everything - eg. Tournaments, knights, royalty, and even giants.

I hope to see that this book is a first of many by this author.

DNF at about 20-30% and so disappointed. The cover of this book is so captivating - the title intriguing - the blurb makes you want to dive into an epic fantasy adventure. And then.....well it was just lacking. And at the 20-30% mark I just could not force it one page more. It felt disjointed, characters were not well developed and too emotional. Just not my cup of tea.

I just reviewed The Sins of Kings by Daniel Thomas Valente. #NetGalley

I had a really hard time getting into and reading this book. Based on the synopsis I wanted to like this book, but I couldn’t keep track of the characters, who they were, how they were related, or even the plot. I’m all for multiple POV in a book, but this was just too much.

Like many other reviewers, I found this book started out really promising but simply didn't deliver. It was uneven and couldn't seem to decide if it was a YA novel, or not. I also found the characters uneven - they seemed to veer from normal human being to raging psychopath and back within a few pages. One character is introduced as a rather meek and timid woman who is slapping people across the face a few pages later. It felt like a first draft, to be honest.

The opening of the novel was fairly intriguing!
Unfortunately, I quickly felt myself becoming a little bit bored and more inclined to skim-read. I found it a bit difficult to connect with the characters enough to really root for them.
In the end, there were some neat ideas, turns of phrase, and story beats, but I just don't think this book was for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance reading copy of this book. I originally choose it because the cover is so cool looking. Based on the title I was really hoping for a deep historical and political story but that's not what I got.

There were times the characters just came off so YA that it pulled me from the story. I also found it confusing at times which made it difficult to want to keep reading. Overall, I think someone else would enjoy this, I just don't think that I did.

Writing and characterization are both great. The author does an excellent job of creating a wide variety of characters with varying motivations/opinions/mannerisms/etc. Loses a point because it takes waaaaay too long to get into the main story.

I loved this book! The weaving of the characters and plots is very well done. I do feel like there was a lot of information in the last 10% of the book that just kind of left me hanging; however that just makes me more excited and inclined to read the second book! Definitely had the right ingredients to be a great series and part of the great fantasy authors!

I appreciate the opportunity to read this but unfortunately I was not able to finish this one. The beginning was really hard to get into and follow.

Thank you NetGalley and author Daniel Thomas Valente, for providing me with this arc in exchange for my honest review.

This book has one of the best and most intriguing covers I’ve ever seen. Truly fitting for an epic fantasy.

I received an e-arc of this book, which I read on my kindle but even though I also tried reading it on my Ipad, the map was never clear enough. I hope this will be improved or maybe it’s just better to read this book as a physical copy. Some maps are only clear in paperbacks or hardcovers. It does look like a simple but effective map.

The acknowledgements at the start, were a nice touch, I loved reading them. I think the author is a good person and grateful he had the change to publish a book and for people reading it.

In chapter one, we meet Darrin, an 18 year old boy who joined a group of rovers called The Eyes of the Forest, 3 months ago and is out on his first mission after taking The Oath of the Eyes.

He is accompanied by 2 fellow rovers called Bart and Haron and they come across something peculiar and quite gruesome. And they are soon in a lot of trouble.

In chapter 2 we meet 16 year old princess Edlen, in the midst of a lessen taught by her grandfather Laustair, although she would rather be outside preparing for the King’s tournament but she’s a girl so she is not allowed to compete or even learn to.

I had a really hard time to keep reading at this point. Because chapter one was very adult, unfortunately it dragged but it was engaging enough. It was adult, gruesome and it had a hint of a paranormal being at the end which I loved. But then we get to chapter two and this is 100% young adult fantasy. And unfortunately our main girl wasn’t the strong heroine to be but a very very naive girl who wanted to be one of the boys and felt trapped in her priveleged life but didn’t seem to mind their benefits. It didn’t get better when we’re introduced to a friend of hers, a giant who has the most inconstant character. He goes from being nice and normal to crying, to raging to being calmed down by someone he doesn’t even trust (anymore), almost in a blink of an eye and al this because of a very unbelievable plot line.

I kept reading for 5 chapters, every chapter having a different POV and many new characters. As a reviewer I noted down every name and physical traits of every character to not get confused and this usually works like a charm but not in this case. Too many is too many.

I had to DNF at 20% because it was becoming too much of a chore to keep reading, which I am really sorry for because I am grateful I received this arc and I did enjoy some parts.

The best part for me was the intriguing start, the gorgeous cover and an amazing character called The Iron Woman. She was the former Primacy of the Realm and she’s an incredibly
wise and funny tough cookie. I enjoyed reading about her so much!

This book wasn’t for me but I am sure someone else might enjoy it or at least parts of it.

Rating: DNF

Review: I dumped this sucker at the 30 percent mark after jumping to the end. Started off so promising and then......fooking YA's as central to the theme. Throw in a rebellious princess with lesbian tendencies and away you go!!! The scenes shift and fail in a constant susseration. Oooooh my, little scamps with rocks take everyone out including the kings guards!!!! Mr. Giant stomping around angry then crying but Miss Mwuffins Pwincess Douche Nozzle defwends her champion (but is attracted to strange gurls within a second of meeting them).

I scanned the whole novel and the story line goes nowhere.

Sweeping fantasy with mystery, political scheming, giants and magical gods. Complex writing with a wide array of characters and locations. With a conflict at the center of the story that keeps you interested and guessing.

Pros
- beautifully written with immersive world building.
- plot and story line have a lot of potential- has the same vibe of Game of Thrones, especially with the opening scene parallels of finding a horror in the woods.
- suspense keeps you turning the page and the mystery at the heart of the story is intriguing

Cons
- the first 100 pages move slowly, which normally is not an issue but because this book is fairly short the unveiling of the story and especially the conclusion does not feel fully fleshed out. The ending felt abrupt and unresolved, but does build interest and suspense for forthcoming sequels.
- multiple character POVs: again not generally an issue but because this book is so short it feels hard to connect with any one character or POV and it is a task to track and connect all the characters across the board.

Overall I would recommend this book to lovers of epic fantasy, it is clear to see this story is leading to exciting and intriguing places in upcoming books.