Published: December 1, 2020
Publisher: BenGalley.com
Series: The Scalussen Chronicles #1
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 664 (Paperback)
My Rating: 5.0/5.0
Synopsis:
Revenge loves company.
Mithrid Fenn wants nothing to do with magick. Magick is a curse word, banned by the vast Arka Empire and punishable by death. Its purging has finally brought peace to war-torn Emaneska. Only a stubborn rebellion, led by the warlord Outlaw King, raids and pillages the empire’s northern fringes.
To cliff-brat Mithrid, this is an age of tranquility and childhood games. That is until an illegal spellbook washes up on her shores, and she finds herself thrust into a war she never knew existed.
Now hunted by daemons and mages, she is dragged inexorably north to Scalussen and its rebels fighting doggedly to preserve a memory of freedom. Mithrid holds no such ideals. She fights for revenge and nothing nobler. If spilling blood means helping the Outlaw King, then so be it. Even if it means all-out war.
The Forever King is the first book in a new trilogy – The Scalussen Chronicles – set in the dark and nordic world of The Emaneska Series. A breathless and emotional tale of revenge that crisscrosses a vast world, The Forever King is an epic fantasy ideal for fans of Joe Abercrombie, Steven Erikson and Mark Lawrence.
I was desperately in need of another audiobook to listen to and quite frankly this just sounded amazing. And it was! Fair warning, it is the beginning of a new series set in a world that Ben Galley has already established quite well in the completed Emaneska series. It is set years after that series (as far as I can determine) and follows new and old characters alike. It didn’t dampen my enjoyment whatsoever and I’m definitely going back to read the four books in the Emaneska series soon.
The Forever King follows Mithrid Fenn, a young girl who’s village was slaughtered when she and some young friends stumbled across a spell book in ship wreckage. Magic is outlawed in her kingdom and soldiers were sent to murder them and clean up the mess. She and several others from the village are taken north to Scalussen and the man they call the Forever King. He is one of the last Written – a type of mage who’s spellbook is inked into their skin – and is determined to bring down Emperor Malvus. Fardan, the Forever King, needs every available soldier he can get even if they need to be trained and if they have magic, then all the better.
Mithrid is an understandably hostile character at first, trusting no one since soldier came and murdered her father and much of the rest of her village. She’s hesitant to trust Fardan and his allies because she’s heard nothing but terrible things about them her whole life and it just seems to good to be true. Surely, a place where you can freely come and go and be well fed can’t possibly exist? Despite this, she’s rather easy to root for and I wanted to see her succeed! Fardan is a man of immense power who doesn’t really want the infamous moniker of the Forever King. What a weight! He’s powerful, but also temperamental and it’s made very clear that he has never been nor ever will be perfect. It’s good to see a reasonably fallible yet likable leader. There are numerous secondary characters that move the story along and may become more important as things go along. I love all the different magical races, plus intelligent dragons make just about any story even cooler.
The world building in this book is stellar. There’s tons of cool magical races, talking dragons, the epicness of the Written’s magic, demon princes, and piles of lore. It’s so well thought out and is brought to life brilliantly, especially in the audiobook format. I was rather taken by surprise when I ended up loving this. I didn’t expect to dislike it, it’s just a little unexpected (and great!) when a new favorite comes out of nowhere! I’m over here impatiently waiting to see when the audiobook for the sequel, Heavy Lies the Crown becomes available since the narration is done so well. I admit, I might be tempted to just pick up the print edition so I can find out what happens!
I think this could easily become a new favorite series/fantasy world. Scalussen and Emaneska seem to have so much to offer and I can’t wait to dig into the prequel series starting with The Written and see where the whole story begins.
Powder & Page 