Kings of the Wyld
by Nicholas Eames
Author's Description:
“Clay Cooper and his band were once the best of the best, the most feared and renowned crew of mercenaries this side of the Heartwyld.
Their glory days long past, the mercs have grown apart and grown old, fat, drunk, or a combination of the three. Then an ex-bandmate turns up at Clay's door with a plea for help -- the kind of mission that only the very brave or the very stupid would sign up for.
It's time to get the band back together.”
Their glory days long past, the mercs have grown apart and grown old, fat, drunk, or a combination of the three. Then an ex-bandmate turns up at Clay's door with a plea for help -- the kind of mission that only the very brave or the very stupid would sign up for.
It's time to get the band back together.”
My Review - Rating - 8/10
Kings of the Wyld is a pretty good fantasy book. It’s not the best I’ve ever read, but it does have good characters, a good concept, a good plot, and good writing - not great, not bad, but good. It’s concept is a spin on a classic swords-and-sorcery tale - a band of adventurers traipsing through the world, overcoming challenges on the way to finish their quest. The twist is that in this book, the adventurers are an old, out-of-shape, mercenary “band” that was legendary before it’s dissolution. The main characters are all good -they each have their unique personalities and add something to the group dynamic, they all have something that makes you sympathize with them, and the side characters are good too. If this story stands out in any area, it’s with the book’s villains. They all have genuine, understandable reasons for their actions - it’s not just because they’re evil or crazy. You can sympathize with, or even like them, and I love this moral ambiguity in the book. The book mixes dark and serious events with light (though R-rated) humor, which is funny but might detract from the book if you were expecting a more serious tale. The only part of the book I would criticize is the ending - it was a bit rushed, and it felt like a quick “happily ever after” which didn’t fit in with the rest of the book, Despite that, I felt the character’s emotions at different points in the story, I laughed a couple of times and chuckled a bunch, and I genuinely enjoyed the book, though it’s not a book I’ll remember in a year nor did it make any real impact on me. Overall I enjoyed the book, but I didn’t love it, and I think it’s a good diversion for anyone who likes fantasy, roleplay fantasy (like DnD), or MMORPGs (like Runescape,) since those are the things the book and its plot is most similar to.
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