King of Ashes
Series: Book One of The Firemane Saga
Author: Raymond E Feist
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
Buy From: Amazon, B&N
King of Ashes: Firemane Saga 1
This is the cover from online shops, but my library had the King of Ashes hard cover that looked like this:
No children are harmed in the taking of this photo, she has always been fascinated with the clothes dryer. It’s like a mini limbo rock/ climbing obstacle course for a tiny person, so she does it like multiple times a day. It’s not expensive, I guess we weren’t too fussed about letting her do her thing there. She does remind me of a certain spy named Celaena, always going around tight spaces. It does take the shine off my book cover though.
I prefer my King of Ashes book cover, it is simple and it’s in hard cover.
The First Look
The map for World of Garn, featuring five major kingdoms. The story starts with the death of one: Kingdom of Ithrace. The ruling family slaughtered, save for a child. There is no mystery in that, it’s like watching a movie where you see things in all perspective. King of Ashes has three separate story line, slowly merging into a place. First we have Hatu, no secret to us readers who he actually is. Then we have Declan, whose story seemed out of place at first. Then we have the enemy: Church of the One, made strong by Lodavico. Lodavico is King of Sandura, who was the main instigator behind the end of the Firemane line.
Nothing special in terms of the story.
Characters
This is where Raymond Feist excel, his characters have conflict and a wealth of history. It is like he had given birth of them prior to King of Ashes. Hatu reminds me of Jimmy the Hand, his Riftwar series. No doubt that he was better trained and had more desperation to succeed, but sneaky and quite good in planning. Then we have Declan, who I liken as Pug in personality when he was younger. They are not exactly same, both shaped by events in their time line, but similar in certain ways.
Then the Baron Daylon, seeming hero like Prince Arutha in the early days of the series. Righteous yet not afraid to get his hands dirty, the current ‘hero’ of the story, as we might. Hatu and Declan are maturing into their roles, but Baron Daylon is nearing the end of his life. Being in a big war, Daylon dreads for another one, but knows that it is coming. The whole King of Ashes is a story of wars and kingdoms.
Story
But wait, there’s more!
Doesn’t take a seasoned reader to know that this is not all. Beneath the surface, there is a legend about the Firemanes. Suddenly, magic is at play. Hatu will be playing a bigger role in the later books, but no doubt that Feist is grooming him for something more important than being a king though. Let’s be frank here, Hatu eventually finds out in this book itself, that he has always been different. Only problem is, no one actually knows how the world is depending on him being alive.
Verdict
I am biased, I would always read Raymond Feist, yet this is in its early days. If you are a fan like me (the genre or the author) by all means. I think I will like the series, kind of like where this books is going. Surely there will be twists and turns, that is the beauty of the author’s skill anyway.
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