The Falcon Throne

Full disclosure: I didn't finish this book; I quit after a month on page 211 of 676. I explain why below.

Summary: Harald, Duke of Clemen is corrupt and is is running his Duchy into ruin. Neighboring lands scheme about how to claim a piece of Clemen for their own, while Harald's bastard-born brother, Roric, and a group of his political advisors, plot to overthrow the Duke and place Roric in his stead. Roric has the qualities that are needed to run the Duchy, but he is haunted by the deeds he had to commit in order to ascend the throne in the first place - including the murder of Harald's infant son. Little does he know, however, that the boy survived, and will grow up to one day attempt to reclaim his father's place. (Presumably, show more anyways. I quit when the baby was still a baby.)

Review: I feel like I should have liked this more than I did. I like fatty-fat pseudo-medieval fantasy novels; I love Game of Thrones, and this book has a lot of similarities: opposing factions, lots of ambition, a struggle over power, people doing bad things in furtherance of their own aims, etc. But I couldn't ever get into this book, because it was really, really hard to find anyone to root for. Maybe, like in Game of Thrones, initially despicable characters get more nuanced over time, but if so, I didn't stick around long enough for that to happen. As one of my friends to whom I was describing the book said, "So it's like Game of Thrones except all of the characters are Joffrey," which is it exactly. Even Roric, who seems like basically a decent guy, was getting to be pretty annoying by the time I quit. This book was also slooooow going; I feel like 200+ pages is a decent length of time to devote to a book, but in that time, relatively little actually happened, and none of it really managed to catch my attention or interest, so combined with the unlikeable characters, I felt pretty justified putting this one on the DNF pile. 2 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: I think the "if you like Game of Thrones, you'll like this book" comparison actually is pretty apt, although maybe it would work better in the other direction ("if you like this book you probably also already like Game of Thrones".) It didn't grab me, but if medieval fantasy political scheming is your cup of tea, then it's probably worth a try. show less

After quite a long gap writing YA Karen is back to writing grown-up fantasy. It's billed as 'epic' but it isn't being much more closely focused on a few characters in just two duchys. These were once a united kingdom which is where all the trouble comes from. Succession is always to the eldest male child, even when they turn out to be either figuratively or literally a bit of bastard.

Out antagonist is the aforementioned figurative bastard Balfre, not beloved of his father, the current Duke, whom feels Balfre is far too headstrong and aggressive to lead a country into peace and prosperity. Traditionally the eldest son would learn his leadership as Steward of a local territory, but the duke bestows this honour on his younger son, leaving show more Balfre fuming and dispatched to the Marches, the quasi-independent border between the two territories. Roric is the literal bastard, but being a nice person has the support of the local Lords and they depose of his hated brother the current Duke of the other land. In the surprise the young heir is believed killed but escapes with his nursing whispering vengeance into his ears. Roric tries to rule well, but the land suffers an unfortunate run of weather, fearful and greedy merchants, etc and finds it hard to counter Balfre's continual antagonism, however while the old Duke lives, peace simmers on and Liam lives as a foster son in a Marches pub.

Women get very short shift in this world. Lords daughters are assigned to marriage and male heirs are required. Little choice or agency is given to them unless they work subtly with an understanding husband - rare indeed. There are tow exceptions, one a pub Matron, Molly (who fosters Liam) but even she leads a hard life, brutally bereaved of her first husband. The other is a witch Izuna, who's on no-ones side but her own and the dead spirits she communes with.

As may be expected from a book that opens with the escape of a baby ducal heir, many years of events have to be compressed into a readable length, and unfortunately this is often done in skips and jumps not always signaled as clearly as they should be. The transitions between character viewpoints are also sometimes a little jarring. I much preferred the first person style of Empress. Very few of the characters are in and of themselves likable but together they make a twisted plot with plenty of unexpected turns and the consequences of their actions well thought through.

The magic is very light, almost low fantasy, with just the witch having any powers at all. I suspect a greater play of religion will be forthcoming in the later books as there is frequent mention of tension between a one god grey robed church and the old ways of the villagers with their charms and superstitions.

Enjoyable is perhaps the wrong word for a lot of it but it was captivating reading and I'm interested to know how it all works out. show less

The Falcon Throne introduces readers to a kingdom torn apart by a centuries-long feud between two neighboring duchies, Harcia and Clemen – all because of a conflict that happened long ago. In the distant past, two stubborn and power-hungry royal brothers fought for rule, and the resulting rift caused the land to split into the two dukedoms. Now Harcia and Clemen are on the brink of war again with the tensions threatening to boil over, fueled by the lofty ambitions of men on both sides.

Okay, so follow along with me here: in Clemen, the tyrant Duke Harald is feared and hated by his nobles, and inevitably a rebellion led by his bastard-born cousin Ederic and backed by Ederic’s foster lord Humbert swiftly puts an end to Harald’s show more reign of terror. Believed to be among the casualties is Harald’s infant son and heir Liam, but in fact the child was whisked away to safety by his nursemaid, who intends to raise the boy until he is old enough to take back his stolen throne. Meanwhile over in Harcia, Duke Aimery has two living sons, his hot-tempered heir Balfre as well as the younger and more level-headed Grefin. Balfre has dreams of being the supreme ruler of a reunited kingdom, which would require bringing Clemen back into Harcia’s fold by brute force if necessary. Aimery, recognizing his heir’s dangerous ambitions, would like nothing more than to have his favorite son Grefin succeed him, but you can also be sure Balfre isn’t going to let anything – not even his own father and brother – stand in his way.

First I just want to put it out there that The Falcon Throne is my first book by Karen Miller, but from what I’ve heard about her previous work, I can’t say this is what I expected. I’ve seen reviews of her other books, especially her Godspeaker Trilogy, that have intrigued me with their discussion of controversial characters and bold subject matters. Readers seemed to either love or hate those books, but at least they sounded very different and intriguing. I think I’d expected The Falcon Throne to go in a similar direction, but that didn’t quite happen. Despite the twisty plotlines involving court intrigue, lordly politics, and the unpredictable consequence of shenanigans by pathological schemers, the story and themes aren’t really groundbreaking or anything to write home about.

And yet, I really enjoyed this book in spite of myself. Looking at the fantasy genre, I’ve noticed that in recent years the classic elves and dwarves seem to have been largely replaced by squabbling noble houses and psychopathic royalty. With Game of Thrones fever taking the world by storm, I suppose it’s really not that surprising to see writers hoping to ride on the coattails of its success by emulating its style or concepts. I don’t know if this was Miller’s intent, but I definitely sensed some of those vibes while reading this. Nothing wrong with that, though! Not especially with her obvious talent for writing fully-realized characters and intense sequences.

However, as much enjoyment as I got out of this book, Miller doesn’t quite push things over to mind-blowing territory. Don’t get me wrong, the story was certainly addictive – enough to make getting through 670-ish pages of this ARC not feel like a chore at all. I am still surprised at the speed I gobbled up this book. But like any lengthy epic, it has its ups and downs. The characters are great, but I was largely unaffected by any significant events that happened to them, and even unexpected character deaths didn’t always have the desired impact. Here and there were also several patches with borderline information overload that I was tempted to skim, but I have to make it clear that for the most part, these rare hiccups in the story were made up for by the wonderfully executed dialogue between characters and action-filled fight scenes.

In case you’re still wondering about the validity of the comparisons of this book to Game of Thrones, I would say those descriptions are pretty apt. Still, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I always hesitate to compare anything to George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire…simply because nothing out there is like George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. Certain series like that or Harry Potter are just so big they defy comparison. But quite honestly, it wouldn’t be fair to The Falcon Throne to make that comparison either. This book can certainly stand on its own. Some of its themes might ring familiar to avid readers of epic fantasy, but I’ll be the first in line to admit I can’t resist these kinds of stories, and Karen Miller brings her own unique and elegant touch to The Falcon Throne. show less

The Falcon Throne: a doorstop-sized fantasy epic with lots of intrigue and some magic. I was both thrilled and intimidated by the size of this tome, because if it was good, the numerous pages meant I could revel that much longer. If it was bad, I'd be.... stuck until I finished the book for the review I promised to write.

At first, I was worried that it was the latter. The first characters you meet, the Duke of Harcia, his hot-headed heir and the hand-wringing spare, aren't terribly relatable. The noble, war-weary Duke is stuck between a rock (his heir with a short temper) and a hard place, the neighboring duchy of Clemen, ruled by Harald, a Prince John-style libertine. Harald enjoys debauching and heavily taxing the people without show more regard to economic consequence. His beautiful but arrogant lady wife wears jewel-covered velvet shoes. You get the picture.

And that's where my eye-rolling stopped. Because it's when we start meeting interesting, relatable characters and when the plot starts moving forward. Harald's bastard cousin Roric forcibly removes him from the Falcon Throne and the wheels start turning. Immediately thereafter, we meet characters like Molly the Innkeeper and Berardine, the Duchess of Ardenn. Characters start filling out. Conflicts occur.

Yes, there is lots and lots of blood in this book. And curse words. And it's slow to start. But once I got past page 68, I couldn't put the darn thing down. show less

So I trudged through this, I've read books by this author before and enjoyed them but this was a bit more grimdark, GRRMy and it did not suit. There was one character that I liked and by the end what happened to him wasn't good.

The story starts with a revolt winning and a bastard son taking over a duchy, dark magic and plots and a lot of evil people winning.

I have no urge to read further in this series. It reads well and it's craftful but I didn't care really by the end.

I had really mixed feelings about this book. The characters were very well done. The detail that the author used was incredible. It was generally a really, really well written book. On the other hand, it take a lot more than great characterizations and descriptions. It was really a 700 page setup book for the rest of the series. So much time was spent setting the scene that it was tiring, almost a chore. There was so much going on in power plays, but the physical action was much less. It is more political than action based. A lot of people are comparing it to Game of Thrones. I can see the resemblance. Several groups in different kingdoms, trying to assert dominance over each other. This is puppetry behind the scenes, good people in bad show more situations, bad people in good places. I just felt that it moved way too slow for me. Not a bad story, I just wished there was more excitement. show less

This book is an agonizing read,taking me two weeks to get through the first 200 pages. Not because it is poorly done (quite the opposite), but because it bores me. For someone who doesn't read the genre much, it would probably be a good book. But for me, I read a LOT of fantasy, and this novel brings nothing new to the genre. It's a story made of tropes, clichés, and archetypes. The minutiae differ, but I've read the story dozens, if not hundreds, of times. Also, I have one complaint: there are a group of people worth an accent, and the way Miller writes it seems rather forced and strained to me, incredibly jarring compared to the other characters. I won't be finishing this book.