The Heretic Kings

I've posted the following review on the first book, but it's about the series as a whole. I'm reposting it here as it's relevant to this book as part of this fantastic quintet.

They may call it military sff, epic fantasy, adult speculative fiction, or any of the ready-made stamps, genres, or labels. And they would be right. And wrong; a label is too defining, too narrow.

To me, it's what a damn good story should be. It has magic, religion, royalty, corruption, brotherhood, war, sacrifice, love, and honor, and it never confines itself into preachiness, never aggrandizes one favorite theme on top of its world. A story from the better past where stories were not burdened by a Message with a capital M, or some forced formula of certain beats show more at specific moments, rather a heartfelt tale following a sample of humanity at the pendulum between best and worst.

It is one story involving its whole world over decades, but the relentless machinations of history would mean little were it not for the men and women whose lives are trampled by its heartless, inexorable march.

It's the mud on these men and women's faces, the scars on their bodies, the fears in their hearts and the small, fleeting glimmers of hope they cling to that put you constantly in their shoes. You are not a general or a historian reading a treatise. You're simply there in their skin, trembling, fleeing, fighting, bleeding, and rejoicing with every one of them.

Not one character was underwhelming, misplaced, or uninteresting. Not one scene was unessential or forced. Everything flowed naturally; in the heart of every character was the seed of his destiny, and the world evolved from its past towards its unfolding future with the natural elegance of a seedling towering into a magnificent tree.

The world, the theme, the plot, the characters, the scenes, it's all one organic whole, a fluid dance with a thousand performers moving in rhythm. Everything is a symphony of exceptional storytelling from the first page to the last.

I cannot recall experiencing such unity of vision except in a handful of books. That Paul Kearney has written this quintet almost thirty years ago, and it staying relatively unknown, is most confusing to me. Over the years, I've read tens of bestselling, critically acclaimed novels that are not worthy to untie this book's sandals.

Less than 400 people have added this book to their libraries on this site, while much drivel filed on the same genre has dozens of times as many readers. Marketing shenanigans or whatever. Crazy world.

Having finished all five books of Paul Kearney's Monarchies of God quintet, I found it one of the biggest, epicest, awesomest stories I've ever read.

(No, I won't go into a summary of what exactly happens to whom. You can check that out in other reviews, or the first book's pitch on Amazon)

The Monarchies of God is peak storytelling and deserves the highest recommendation. Pick the first book and you'll devour it, I promise you.

And I'll be sure to check the author's other novels as well. If they're half as good as this, they're definitely worth a read. show less

Great fun. The different theatres and focuses are a welcomed change of pace. It has a lot of fantasy tropes, but in a weird mish-mash I haven't really read before so it feels fresh. Not much else to say - Kearney's writing is a breeze to read and I'll happily continue on with the series in Book 3!

Año del Santo de 551. Un cisma divide a las naciones ramusianas de Normannia. A un lado, los monarcas que respaldan al sumo pontífice Macrobius, dado por muerto en la caída de la ciudad santa de Aekir pero milagrosamente reaparecido. Al otro, los reyes que han ligado su suerte a la de Himerius, un prelado ambicioso que planea convertir a la Iglesia en un imperio secular.