PALE KINGS - Micah Yongo

 



Neythan is a young assassin who has been summoned to Súnam. He assumes that he will be asked to help find an enemy but he winds up confronting his past. An ancient scroll that he's long carried with him is somehow quite important to what is about to come.

The Five Lands have been at peace for some time but a new, nameless enemy is at the borders and they appear to have supernatural powers. These "Lost Gods" threaten the peace and Neythan may be the only one who holds the key to stopping them, but he has to learn about the powers he holds and there may not be time.

As with the first book in the series, I really like the African tone to the story and the use of a mythology that I'm otherwise unfamiliar with. For this alone I give good marks because I like being challenged with new ideas and concepts and mythologies.

But also like the first book, I felt that this moved too slowly for me. A story with powerful lost gods and an assassin with a heretofore lost ability should be a page-turning exciting read, but it's not. Neythan gets caught up in reflection which slows down the action, which has this reader saying, "Get on with it!"

The story and the action do pick up some just after half-way through, but for the most part, I was already checked out from really being involved. However, this is one of the rare books (pair of books, actually) that I'm putting in my re-read collection of books.  There is enough here that appeals to me that I can't help but wonder if I read this again I'll enjoy it more as I'll already have the familiarity with the setting and culture and can focus more on the story.  The balance here is hard to maintain on one reading.

But for now, based on one reading, this only strikes me as an average read.

Looking for a good book? Pale Kings by Micah Yongo has some interesting concepts but the story moves too slowly to be truly engaging.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars

* * * * * *

Pale Kings

author: Micah Yongo

series: Lost Gods #2

publisher: Angry Robot

ISBN: 0857667858

paperback, 368 pages

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MURDLE VOLUME 1 - G. T. Karber

Image
 I enjoy puzzles of many different varieties. I had not heard of 'Murdle' before this but essentially this is a combination of the game of Clue and a Sherlock Holmes micro story. With suspects, possible murder weapons, potential locations, and/or motives plus some very brief hints, readers are meant to combine the logic of what's know with deductive reasoning to identify the killer (or killers?) in 100 different mystery word puzzles. I will admit right off the bat that I did not do all 100.  I didn't even do half of these, but I did so some random sampling through all the categories (Elementary, Occult Medium, Hard Boiled, and Impossible). I did not get any correct in the Impossible category (of course not ... they were impossible!) and only one correct in the Hard Boiled (of five). The Elementary puzzles were, as expected, pretty easy and the Hard Boiled only a little bit more difficult. Each mini mystery comes with a grid printed in the book to help the reader-detecti
Read more

VINYL RESTING PLACE - Olivia Blacke

Image
 Juni Jessup and her two sister, Tansy and Maggie, have gone into business together in their hometown of Cedar River, Texas, opening a combination record store and coffee shop. Vinyl LPs are making a comeback after all, despite critics thinking the medium was dead.  But speaking of 'dead' ... finding a dead body in the supply closet just as they are looking to have a grand opening is not part of the plan.  Juni's life gets more complicated when their uncle, Calvin, already a suspect in the murder, disappears. And the police officer leading the investigation is Juni's EX-boyfriend (who passive-aggressively keeps putting himself back into her life). Convinced that her uncle would never murder anyone, Juni sets out to prove his innocence - which isn't easy since he's making himself look guilty - because Calvin is family and family is EVERYthing to Juni. As readers of my blog know, I'm not a big fan of most cozy mysteries, but the setting caught my eye and my in
Read more

THE RAVEN THIEF - Gigi Pandian

Image
 With Tempest Raj now a member of the company, Secret Staircase Construction (a company who, as their title suggests, builds mystery-themed, secret rooms inside homes) has finished their first job. Their client now wants to celebrate to kick off her new beginning - new home and new life now that she's divorced from her cheating ex-husband, famous mystery author Corbin Colt. First up, a mock séance to remove any trace of Corbin from the property, led by Tempest's friend, Sanjay.   But during that séance, while all those gathered sat in a dark room holding hands, Corbin's dead body crashes the party, falling across the table in front of everyone. There were eight people in the room, and they were all holding hands, but all the evidence points to one of them being the murderer.  Suspicions point to Ash, Tempest's grandfather, because he was the only one with Corbin's blood on him. Of course, as a doctor, he was also the only one who checked on the body - wherein he acq
Read more