When a book is hailed as the next Game of Thrones, that makes people sit up and pay attention. The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons is the latest book to try to fill the Game of Thrones-shaped gap in our lives, with middling success. Kihrin has always been little more than a beggar and a thief on the streets of the City. After a heist gone wrong, he is kidnapped and learns that he is the secret heir to a powerful royal family. It turns out that Kihrin is also the subject of a prophecy that says that he will either save the world, or destroy it. Thus he is thrust into a world of shape-shifting demons, dragons who kill for good music, a brotherhood of assassins, death cults bringing the dead back to life, gods walking among humans, and much more.
If this sounds interesting, it is – the main obstacle for readers with this book is that the good story is buried under a convoluted story structure, confusingly similar names and nicknames for characters, body swapping, and time travel. Plus, the book is over 500 pages long. On the other hand, the writing is complex and clever, the world-building is solid, some of the side characters are intriguing, and the story is engaging if you can get past the structure issues. Even with all the problems I listed above, there was still enough substance to keep me reading, and it did remind me of the political machinations and fantasy genre-bending of Game of Thrones. Lastly, a word of warning: this series has rightly been compared to Game of Thrones, and it also has Game of Thrones-level sex and adult content. If The Ruin of Kings catches your fancy, you can read on for Kihrin’s continuing adventures in the next book, The Name of All Things, which came out last month.
Review by Shannon Wood
Adult Services Librarian
Nordonia Hills Branch Library
