Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Blood of the Old Kings by Sung-Il Kim Narrator: Eunice Wong, Major Curda, Suzy Jackson
Published by MacMillan Audio, Tor on October 8, 2024
Genres: Science Fiction Fantasy
Pages: 320
Length: 9 hours, 45 minutes
Format: Audiobook, eARC
Source: NetGalley
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Powered by the corpses of sorcerers, the Empire has conquered the world. It claims to have brought peace and stability to its conquered lands, but some see that peace for what it is—a lie—and will give everything in the fight against it.
Loran is desperate for revenge after the Empire killed her family, so much so that the swordswoman climbs the volcano where the legends say an ancient dragon slumbers and leaps in. She finds that the legends are true, and Loran leaves the mountain with a sword made of dragon’s fang and a great purpose before her.
Cain arrived in the Imperial Capital lost and orphaned, and it’s only thanks to the kindness of a stranger-turned-mentor that he survived on the city’s streets. When his friend is found murdered, he will leave no stone unturned to find those responsible, even if it means starting a war.
Arienne’s future has never been in question—born a sorcerer, she’ll be a Power Generator for the Empire upon her death. But when she starts to hear the voice of a powerful necromancer in her head, she realizes the only thing more terrifying than dying for the Empire is never getting to truly live in the first place.
Blood of the Old Kings is a Korean novel translated to English. As I’ve found with other writers from other countries there is a distinct type of storytelling/flow that wasn’t specifically what I’m used to in American novels but might be more prevalent in Korean ones. I don’t think if you didn’t know the original was in Korean, you would be able to tell in the translation as it was smooth. I just want to mention the cover is fantastic and 3/4 of the reason I picked the book up .
The story is experienced through three different characters. Each with their own arc in the story that impacts the others at some point. Through them the reader explores different parts of this Feudal world and some of the magic in it. With a foe powered by powerful magic that is harnessed from sorcerers after they die to run mechanical chariots, tanks and sometimes city killing machines.
Loren has gone into the volcano where the last dragon is held prisoner to make a bargain. She will bond with him and go after the people who captured and occupy her land. She will attempt to drive out the people who killed her husband and daughter and so doing become King of Arland. The effects of her bargain are subtle at first but as the story goes on the reader gets to explore how her transformation is changing her and how a former teacher of the sword could become king of a nation.
“A sword needs a scabbard, as fury needs restraint.”
Cain lives in a large city in the heart of the empire. He came there as a child when his parents were going to be killed for being part of a rebellion. Left in a strange city with no family, he has become the person other refugees and lower members of society come to when they have a mystery to solve. Now he is trying to solve the murder of a friend, the woman that first helped him when we came to the city. But, there is danger around every corner and Cain quickly finds that whatever she was caught up in might just get him killed too. As he uncovers a plot in the city, he sees how it is tied to the Princess who would become King of Arland and has to decide who he helps, the people in the city he has lived in most his life or the country of his birth.
Arienne was taken from Arland as a child to go to the sorcerer school. It used to be a place where they were trained in spells and magic. The school is no longer that, it is more of a holding pen and brainwashing camp to keep people with magic because when they die they are turned into generators for the Empire to power cities and the war machines. She is doing the unthinkable; she is escaping the school and stealing one of the generators. If she is caught they won’t wait for her to die, they will turn her into a generator now, which seems like a fate worse than death. The voice of the generator she stole is in her head and while he might have a use for her now and promises of teaching her magic, he has an agenda of his own as well.
“Have you already forgotten what I said about that book? Think of who it was that wrote it. The wretch Lysandros, as befits an agent of the Empire, conquers through lies.”
Arienne scoffed. “This book doesn’t read like lies. I’d say the author’s tone is very sincere.”
“Nobody conquers the world with insincere lies.”
Overall this is a pretty interesting fantasy story. I liked the characters and the journeys they are on, that are all transforming them into something more. Loren was one of my favorites as she accidentally inspires a broken nation to rise up against their oppressors. I do wish that a few of the battles had a little more detail to them but I think if you aren’t a huge fantasy reader those will actually flow better for you. This read like the first book in a series, with the opportunity in future books to explore more nations and more stories of the primary characters. However, it ends in such a way that this could also be a standalone and left to the readers imagination the world the characters build after.  In Korean, this is a planned trilogy so I assume if it does well in the US we will see two more books in this world.
“Destiny may offer men and women who would be kings, but only the people may exalt them.”
Narration:
All three PoVs have a very district voice. Suzy Jackson is one of my favorite narrators for characters that are 16-25, She made Arienne’s voice stand out in this narration capturing the strength and the unsurity the character has about her journey. Eunice Wong as Loren was able to make be feel for the mother who lost everything and the future King that wants better for her people. She was able to capture the essence of what I thought Loren character represented. Major Curda as Cain gave a really good performance as well. He is still so young in this tail and he was able to capture both his youth and the experience of his hard knock life in a major city of the Empire. All narrators brought the characters to life and performed their parts with clear diction and cadences that helped the story flow even when the PoVs changed. I was able to listen at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
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My nephew loves reading Korean fiction; I’ll have to tell him about this book. 😀
I am pretty new to it but this was a really good translation so I will have to look at some of the others that were done by Anton Hur
Yesss I do feel that a lot of Asian authors have such a different writing flow. I adore Haruki Murakami (he is from Japan).
Oh nice. I’m trying to branch out a little into writings from other countries. I will have to look into him as well.
The cover is beautiful and I am glad you enjoyed it so much. It’s fascinating to read more books translated, I wish they did that more! Great review!
I’m sure there are some great authors out there who have interesting stories. I hope to find some others.