Title: The Demon King (Seven Realms, #1)
Author: Cinda Williams Chima
Publisher: Hyperion
Year: 2010
528 pages
I almost stopped reading early on because the writing was so awkward. Example:
Using a stick, he lifted the amulet by its chain. It dangled, spinning hypnotically in the sunlight, a green translucent stone cunningly carved into a snarl of serpents with ruby eyes. The staff was topped with a brilliant round-cut diamond larger than he'd ever seen, and the snake's eyes were blood red rubies (18-19).
Well, which is it? A stone? A stone topped with a diamond? A stone topped with a diamond plus inset rubies? Isn't "ruby eyes" pretty much the same as eyes that are "blood red rubies"? Are there many serpents, or one snake? And what is this "staff" of which you speak? This is all made worse by the cover illustration, which shows one snake with a ruby eye, no translucency to the green stone, no diamond, no staff, and a metal setting. Fortunately, it picked up after that, though there are certainly tracts that cry out for basic editing.
The first volume introduces the protagonists and sets them on their courses. There are some enjoyable reveals (both in the story's frame and historical) and believable villains. This might turn out to be a quest narrative, but since Han acquires a pretty good Magic Thingie by page 18, the journey may be one of discovery rather than acquisition.
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