Maledicte and Kings and Assassins Excerpts

I just saw that Lane Robins has a new website and there are excerpts from the two fantasy novels set in Antyre. Since I've mentioned them a lot lately, I thought I'd share them with anyone who is interested:

• Maledicte
• Kings and Assassins

Although her urban fantasy written as Lyn Benedict is mentioned on the site, there is not yet an excerpt from Sins & Shadows (it is supposed to be coming soon, though!). I finished it yesterday and it was very good - dark with lots of mythology, mostly Greek, and it contained a lot of the same themes as her fantasy books. If John hadn't stolen my laptop for most of the night, I'd probably be halfway through the review by now, but I decided to be nice and hand it over since he turned in his last gigantic paper of the semester today after staying up all night finishing it.

Review of Kings and Assassins

	Kings and Assassins by Lane Robins 368pp (Trade Paperback) My Rating: 8/10 Amazon Rating: 4.5/5 LibraryThing Rating: Not Yet Rated Goodreads Rating: 4.5/5

Kings and Assassins is the sequel to Maledicte, the debut novel by Lane Robins. Since I very much enjoyed Maledicte, I was very eager to read this novel even though my favorite characters from the first book were absent. While it was somewhat different from its predecessor with less focus on relationships between its characters and more on politics and court intrigue, it was still plenty dark with characters who were on the conniving and ruthless side. Kings and Assassins could be read on its own, but I'd recommend those interested in these books start with Maledicte since it does provide some background for this novel and it's a very compelling story.

Maledicte has disappeared and left behind Janus, the current Earl of Last and the king's nephew. Ivor, the prince of a foreign country and Janus's mentor, invites Janus to play cards with him and the foppish Lord Blythe, who ends up losing a lot of money to the far more clever Ivor and Janus. During the game, there is a commotion outside and a bell begins to ring. When the curious Ivor does not leave the game to see what the fuss is about, Janus realizes that whatever is going on, Ivor is behind it. Janus finds King Aris with a gaping hole in his chest, murdered right before the eyes of Lady Last. He's even more shocked when his wife accuses him of killing the king before all present.

Janus is the king's closest living relative other than his son, a mentally disabled boy who will never be able to run the kingdom more than in name only. It is said that when people die, Janus profits, and this has been proven true in the deaths of the rest of the Last family. In this case, suspicion could lead to giving Ivor what he wants more than anything - the country of Antyre for himself. Janus must make sure that doesn't happen while contending with his wife's recent possession by Haith, the god of death.

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Kings and Assassins is a political/court intrigue focused fantasy with battles of wits and the occasional exciting swordfight. The setting is not medieval times as there are pistols and new technology such as cannons is being developed. There is no actual magic other than the occasional curse, and the main fantastic element in this series is the role gods play in the world. In both this book and Maledicte, events are influenced by human possession by a god or goddess.

As with the previous novel, several characters are very flawed, but there a couple of more agreeable ones to balance them out. Janus himself was the most unpleasant character in Maledicte, and although he is still far from angelic, he is more human and likable in this book. I was a little worried that if he had any redeeming qualities at all it would not seem fitting after reading about him in the previous book. However, it did work with the absence of Maledicte since the two of them seemed to be feeding off each other's more evil tendencies. Janus truly does want what is best for Antyre and that is admirable, but he is also arrogant enough to think his way is always the right way, even if others have more experience than a boy who grew up in the slums. He's rash, quick to anger, and he has no issues with callously removing those who are in his way. Through the course of the book, Janus does undergo much growth as a character, though.

Janus was my favorite to read about, but I also enjoyed reading about Ivor, Delight and Psyke. Ivor is another cold-hearted politician who will do anything to get his way. Janus probably knows him better than anyone else in court and had this to say when Delight asked if the prince was as terrible as he had heard:

"Ivor? He's everything charming," Janus said. "Right up until the moment he steps away from your corpse."

Delight is one of Janus's engineers along with his twin brother Chryses and is one of the more sympathetic, kind-hearted characters in the book. Both brothers were removed from court when Delight dressed as a woman and pretended to be Chryses's date so they could look at the women at an event only open to courtesans and their escorts. Delight's father disowned him, but Delight has worn women's clothing ever since to spite his father for doing so.

Although I didn't find her quite as compelling as the others until later in the book, Psyke is another character who is generally good that one can feel for. Her entire family has been killed and now her king has joined them. When the king died, she was possessed by Haith like one of her ancient ancestors before her and now sees ghosts, including the shade of the woman who killed her relatives. She's always felt undesirable to her husband, who only had eyes for the controversial courtier Maledicte.

This novel felt a little tighter and more believable than Maledicte, which I loved but thought suffered from an end that wasn't as good as the strong beginning and middle. Kings and Assassins was equally good from start to finish, but I felt it was not as engaging and fresh as Maledicte and its story of love and vengeance. Maledicte was a more dramatic tale with the court's reaction to Maledicte and Janus and the conflict between Janus and Gillie (whom I absolutely adored and missed in the sequel). Both novels featured possession by a god/goddess and reading about how this affected Maledicte was more interesting to me than how it affected Psyke. Maledicte is more memorable - it's been over a year since I read it and I've found it has stuck in my memory as one of the more intriguing books I've read in the last couple of years in spite of a somewhat weak ending.

Nevertheless, Kings and Assassins is an entertaining fantasy novel that should appeal to fans of darker characters and political maneuvering.

8/10

Reviews of other books in this series:

• Maledicte

Review of Maledicte

	Maledicte by Lane Robins 464pp (Trade Paperback) My Rating: 7/10 Amazon Rating: 4/5 LibraryThing Rating: 4.3/5 Goodreads Rating: 3.56/5

Maledicte is the debut novel of Lane Robins, who is writing a loose sequel to this book that takes place in the same world but features different characters. Since all the loose ends are tied up in Maledicte and the story arc definitely feels like it has a conclusive ending, it works well as a stand alone book. The concept and plot of this character driven fantasy were not particularly complex, but it was very readable and kept me turning the pages to find out what happened next.

The Earl of Last has no heirs other than an illegitimate son Janus, whom he captures unwillingly from a life in the slums and teaches the ways of the court. Miranda, Janus's childhood friend and lover who is left behind, runs away to the temple of Black-Winged Ani, the goddess of love and vengeance. The people no longer believe in the gods, yet when Miranda leaves the temple she has a mysterious black sword and a thirst for vengeance that will not be quenched. She disguises herself as a young man, takes the name of Maledicte, and vows to find Janus and his father. (Note: From this point on, Maledicte will be referred to as a male since he has shed his identity as the woman Miranda - and that's how it was in the book.)

While searching for the Earl of Last, Maledicte intrudes in the home of the sickly Baron Vornatti, who also harbors animosity for the earl after he slandered his sister's name. Lonely and intrigued by the handsome youth, Vornatti coerces him into staying the night in his house with the aid of his servant Gilly, who slipped a drug into Maledicte's wine that put him to sleep. Vornatti teaches Maledicte the ways of the court, where he becomes a controversial figure with his poor temperament yet manages to win the favor of the king. Maledicte awaits the arrival of Janus and his reaction to him - if Janus no longer loves him, he will kill him, but if he does, he will include him in his plans for revenge.

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This is a story for those who enjoy flawed characters - perhaps flawed is even a bit of an understatement. The main character is Maledicte himself with a lot of focus on Gilly and some on Janus. Maledicte is possessed by the goddess, giving him a penchant for bloodlust, and he is selfish and not a particularly nice person due to the fact that he kills rather easily. He only cares about Janus and Gilly, with whom he forms a friendship early in the story. However, his motives are at least somewhat understandable since he is driven by Black-Winged Ani's desire for vengeance and there are a few times when he shows glimmers of human feeling. Janus is even less likable than Maledicte and has no excuse other than greed and a desire for power. The most likable character is easily Gilly, who is generally good but still far from perfect. Gilly loves Maledicte but tells him he will not kill for him, yet he often finds himself committing actions he disagrees with morally in order to protect Maledicte. (Janus also hates Gilly because of his feelings toward Maledicte and would kill him if not for the fact that it would displease Maledicte, which makes him seem even more despicable.) Even though I enjoy reading about anti-heroes, I found I had real empathy for Gilly and liked reading about him the most.

The plot, court intrigue, and character relationships were very uncomplicated, making this an easy and fun book to read. The writing style is more convoluted, bordering on what many would refer to as purple prose, but I did not think it was excessive (of course, I like more verbose writing as long as it is not to the point of being so descriptive it is boring).

The perspective is always third person, although whose perspective it is changes often. At times, it is Gilly, occasionally it is Maledicte himself or the king or even for a short time that of Kritos, the man who actually stole Janus away from Maledicte by order of the earl. Some may find this distracting but it did not bother me at all.

At times, I did find myself questioning character actions. Why would the baron take in an intruder who just appears in his home one night? Why would a nice guy like Gilly be so enamored of Maledicte when he was so evil at times? Why would the king and many other court members be so fascinated by Maledicte when he is so disagreeable and disobedient to the rules? Mostly, I thought they made sense after some reflection, though. The baron was alone other than Gilly with an illness that confined him to bed a lot so he was probably glad for the company, especially after finding out their common enmity for the earl. Gilly was an empathic person and had the gift of seeing the gods' work so he knew what a large part of Maledicte's problem was even when others did not and would have been the type to want to help him. As far as the king and some women of the court go, I suppose Maledicte was somewhat mysterious, although I'm not finding the answer to that question comes as easily as the other two.

Maledicte was a dark tale containing some characters I grew very attached to, although they did not seem to contain great depth. I did feel that the story was lacking something I cannot put my finger on in its simplicity, but it was a good debut novel and I am looking forward to reading the next book set in this world.

7/10

Read the Prologue