The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima

The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima(Cover picture courtesy of the author’s website.)

One day Han Alister catches three young wizard setting fire to the sacred mountain of Hanalea. Han takes an amulet away from Micah Bayar, son of the High Wizard, to ensure the boy won’t use it against him. The amulet once belonged to the Demon King, who nearly destroyed the world a millennium ago. With a magical piece so powerful at stake, Han knows that the Bayars will stop at nothing to get it back.

Meanwhile, Princess Raisa ana’Marianna has her own battle to fight. She’s just returned to court after three years of riding and hunting with her father’s family. Raisa aspires to be like Hanalea, the legendary warrior queen who killed the Demon King and saved the world. But it seems that her mother has other plans for her—plans that include a suitor who goes against everything the Queendom stands for.

The Seven Realms will tremble when the lives of Han and Raisa collide in this stunning page-turner from best-selling author Cinda Williams Chima.

I’ve had my eye on this book pretty much since it came out.  It intrigued me to a point because it had potential to be a great book but I just never really got around to reading it.  Then I found it in the used section of my local bookstore and decided to give it a go.  Why not?  It could be pretty good.  The blurb certainly had potential.

First off, is this the best fantasy novel I’ve read, like ever?  No, it doesn’t rank in the top 10 of all time if I’m honest but it definitely has a place in the top 20.  Considering I’ve averaged 200 books read per year (and a significant amount of them being fantasy) that’s still pretty good.  The Demon King won’t absolutely blow your mind, but I think most people will enjoy it.

My favourite thing about The Demon King was the world-building.  Cinda Williams Chima doesn’t immediately try to tell you everything about the seven realms.  No, instead she lets the characters reveal the background a little more organically.  Raisa (the princess), for example, often tries to discover more about the history of the Fells so she can be a better ruler when she assumes the throne.  Han Alister (Hunts Alone), on the other hand, helps us learn more about the history of the tension between wizards and the Clan who make the magical amulets after the rise of the Demon King.  I like how instead of going for the traditional Medieval European castle-filled fantasy, The Demon King is more of a mixture of cultures.  There are a lot of elements of Native American cultures as well as more Eastern values present in Fellsmarch, the capital.  You even learn that in the southern kingdoms there are more traditionally Medieval European values when it comes to the church’s control over women.

Not everyone will like the characters, but I couldn’t help cheering for Raisa and Han.  I cheered for Han because I loved the whole reformed-thief/streetlord angle as he tried to stay on the straight and narrow.  Alas, fate would not really let him and it costs him dearly.  Raisa is probably my favourite character in the whole novel.  She doesn’t want to be this perfect princess who is stifled by her mother but at the same time she knows how to fake the social graces.  So many rebellious princesses in stories can’t even do that, but Raisa knows when to fight and when to back down and play her role.  Unlike a lot of YA protagonists, Raisa also knows how to act fairly well.  She can lie convincingly, what a novel concept!

The plot was the weak point of The Demon King.  It was pretty slow in the beginning but there were times when the pace was ridiculously fast.  It sort of jumped all over the place which isn’t really what you want in a novel.  I don’t mind the occasional jump, but generally speaking I like a smooth transition to the climax as the author slowly ramps up the tension.  That doesn’t really happen in The Demon King.

At the end of the day I usually judge books on whether I want to read the rest of the series/trilogy or not.  It just so happens that I do want to read The Exiled Queen.  Badly.  There was quite a cliffhanger at the end and I have a feeling that the second book is going to be even better than The Demon King, especially with that huge reveal at the end.  As I said in my introduction to the novel, this is not the greatest fantasy book you’ll ever read.  It probably won’t rank in the top 10.  At the same time, it is a worthwhile read and I can’t wait to see where the series goes.

I give this book 3.5/5 stars.

Amazon     Barnes and Noble     Goodreads

Thank You to the Following Authors and Publishers

For my reading challenge prizes I initiated an open call for author donations.  They could be ebook or paperback, one book or multiple books, traditionally published or self-published.  I just needed donations so I could have a prize pack for the year end draw for The Mad Reviewer Reading & Reviewing Challenge of 2013.  I was shocked by the end of the call because I then had 76 prize packs to hand out.  So a lot of thanks are in order.

Here are the awesome authors that have generously provided my readers with prizes.  Special thanks are in order for the ten very awesome people who donated either large prize packs or paperbacks (or both).  All names are linked to the sites where you can check out the books of these great authors and where more than one book was donated I’ve indicated in the bold brackets and listed the books below the author’s name.

(Below all of the names listed is another special little surprise for the authors that donated their books to my challenge.)

Diantha Jones/A. Star (6 ebooks)

  • Book One: Prophecy of the Most Beautiful
  • Book Two: Prophecy of the Setting Sunrise
  • Book Three: Prophecy of Solstice’s End
  • Novella 2.5: Solar, Defeated
  • Novella 3.5: Hero, Cursed  (not yet released but will be added upon release)
  • Invasion by A. Star

Jemima Pett (3 paperbacks)

  • The Princelings of the East
  • The Princelings and the Pirates
  • The Princelings and the Lost City

J. F. Ridgley (2 paperbacks)

  • Vows of Revenge
  • Threatened Loyalties

S.H. Roddey (one paperback)

  • Lost in the Shadows

Riley Graham (one paperback)

  • Accidents & Incidents

E-Lit Books (3 ebooks)

  • A Touch of Darkness by Tina Moss and Yelena Casale
  • The Art of Being Rebekkah by Karoline Barrett
  • The Seduction of Miriam Cross by W. A. Tyson

Zachary Bonelli (2 ebooks)

  • The Winter by A. Ka
  • Voyage Embarkation by Zachary Bonelli

Alana Woods (2 ebooks)

  • Imbroglio
  • Automaton

Paula Hrbacek (2 ebooks)

  • On Higher Ground
  • Stars Shine After Dark

Jami Gray (2 ebooks)

Happy 2nd Blog Birthday!

Happy 2nd Birthday

Two years ago on January 13, I officially launched The Mad Reviewer into the world.  When I say that I’ve been blogging for two years it feels pretty crazy.  It doesn’t feel like that long, to be honest.  It doesn’t seem like all that long ago I had no idea what a pingback was and thought spam was a semi-edible form of meat.  Looking back at how little I knew, it’s amazing that on my 2nd blog birthday I have 665 followers.  You guys are awesome for sticking with me.

So what have I learned about blogging in two years?  A lot of technical stuff, to be sure, but also a lot about people and the book community as a whole.  Here are just some of the things I’ve learned:

Calvin Homework

1.  Teenagers are lazy.  Like, really lazy.

This is a complete generalization (and as we all know, all generalizations are false) but you would not believe how many times I’ve deleted comments from teenagers that say “Can u send me a summarie of the bok?”  I know that my article on The Hunger Games and Ancient Rome is really popular because The Hunger Games is an uber-popular novel study book.  I get comments like that all the time on that article.  But I also get dozens of comments on my reviews of Alex Rider books to the same tune.  Honestly, people?  Reading a novel study book won’t kill you.  Literally millions of children and teens have done it before you and millions of children and teens will do it after you and still survive.  Just read the damn book.

Hard Work

2.  Most self-published authors are awesome.

Throughout the year when I’ve made announcements on the status of my review request system I’ve been shocked at the kind comments directed toward me.  I know so many indie authors follow this blog not only because of the content but because they’re also hoping for a review from me when I reopen my requests.  It’s flattering that people are willing to wait like that, but it’s also nice that they support my decision to keep requests closed because of my health.

Not only are self-published authors (for the most part) kind, they are also some of the hardest working writers out there.  For example, awesome/slightly crazy author Diantha Jones is planning on releasing at least 3 books this year.  She’s hoping to also release a fourth.  There are pretty much no traditionally published authors that attempt this crazy schedule and guess what?  Her books are at the very least on par with traditionally published novels, usually surpassing them.  And Diantha isn’t the only self-published author that works on an insane schedule like this.  Even though I’ve criticized you guys in the past, let me say that this year I’ve learned to have a lot of respect for self-published authors.  You guys work hard.

Reader Changes

3.  WordPress loves making arbitrary changes that only annoy users.

Don’t get me wrong here: I love WordPress for the most part.  It has awesome themes, decent technical support and a really user-friendly platform.  Yet some changes this year have made me facepalm to no end.  The first change I hated was the hideous thick blue taskbar in the ‘My Stats’ section.  It’s less functional than the slim black one they use everywhere else.

But the most annoying change is the change to the reader.  I know not all of you use WordPress so bear with me here.  The reader used to be a great way to look at all the blogs I follow in a nice list.  If I clicked on a title to go to a post it took me there immediately and I could read the post on that blog.  Yet now if you click on a title in the reader it takes you to an idiotic, slow-loading pop up that forces you to make yet another click to go to the actual post.  Of course you could read the post in the reader if you don’t care at all about formatting or pictures, but it just so happens that I do.  So now I make two clicks where I used to make one.  Great job, WordPress.

Carrie Pictures 2013 075

4.  NetGalley is one of the best things that happened to book blogging.

In case you don’t know, NetGalley is an online catalog where publishers can list titles they would like reviewed.  You make a profile, request a review copy and if you’re accepted you can download an ebook in a variety of formats.  In return for the free ebook, all you have to do is provide an honest review of it and send it to the publisher through NetGalley as well as post it on your review site.

The thing about NetGalley is that although it seems like a remote process, I’ve had contact with so many authors and publishers through it.  Thanks to NetGalley, I learned that a certain review in which I absolutely gushed about a book (a rare thing for me) made the author cry when her editor showed it to her.  You don’t usually hear stuff like that if an author stumbles across your review on your blog.  It’s stories like that that make book blogging worth it and NetGalley has facilitated so many other opportunities for me in the book community.  Why, just a few days after Christmas I got some swag from Wayzgoose Press as a way to say thank you for reviewing our books.  The three wineglass charms pictured above are of the three books I reviewed for that press.

Loyal Followers

5.  My readers are pretty loyal.

This is one of the things I love most about blogging: you guys, my readers.  I love how I have a community of regular commentors that have some awesome discussions.  I love knowing that when I post a review I’m pretty likely to get at least one comment and, failing that, will get several ‘likes’ from people.  That shows that people don’t only read my rants or articles, they read the day-to-day stuff like reviews and that means a lot to me.  I like ranting and researching for an article on occasion but reading books and writing reviews takes the most time.  Seeing that people read them is validating.

Your Blog Post Recommendation Thread

I’ve done a couple recommendation threads, both for books and blogs but this is my first blog post recommendation thread.  Basically, it works like this: Have you read a good blog post lately?  If yes, post a comment with a link to that post and a brief description saying why it’s a good post.  It doesn’t even have to be about books.

The only rules?

1.  No recommending your own posts.

2.  Play nice with others.

See?  It’s easy.  Here’s my recommendation:

Blaming the “Victim” of Chronic Illness

This is a great post explaining how victim-blaming harms those of us in chronic pain.  We’re constantly being told we need to exercise more, eat right, stop complaining, stop thinking about the pain that doesn’t leave us, try [x] obscure treatment, stop taking painkillers, etc.  If you’ve ever wanted to get into the mindset of someone with chronic pain or have ever wondered why no one with chronic pain talks about it, this is the post for you.

 

An Update on Future Review Requests

As much as I hate to admit it, my chronic pain is not getting any better.  It’s getting worse just as I’m simultaneously taking on more work and trying to improve my overall health.  As a consequence, I’m going to have to drop some things from my blog if I’m going to keep going.

Readers won’t see any significant changes in the quality or quantity of content here on The Mad Reviewer.  That’s the good news.  The bad news for authors is that while I’m going to continue to process the review requests I accepted nearly a year ago I likely won’t be taking any new requests until late 2014 or early 2015.

I can’t tell you how awful I feel about promising authors 2-3 month waiting times back in May 2013 and still not having a review for them.  It’s compounding my already enormous frustration with my body because of the things I’ve had to give up.  That’s why this year I’m going to try my best to spend at least 30 minutes of my daily reading time on the review requested books I’ve accepted.  Hopefully that will clear things up in a couple of months, but sometimes my body has other plans.

I know a lot of authors follow me here on The Mad Reviewer, sometimes in the hope of seeing my review requests open again.  All I can say is that I hope you guys stick with me for a little while longer.  Things here on the blog are going to get better, even if my body doesn’t.