The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan – Review

Published: February 22, 2022

Publisher: Orbit Books

Series: Empire of the Wolf #1

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 432 (Hardcover)

My Rating: 5.0/5.0

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
The Justice of Kings, the first in a new epic fantasy trilogy, follows the tale of Sir Konrad Vonvalt, an Emperor’s Justice – a detective, judge and executioner all in one. As he unravels a web of secrets and lies, Vonvalt discovers a plot that might destroy his order once and for all – and bring down the entire Empire.

As an Emperor’s Justice, Sir Konrad Vonvalt always has the last word. His duty is to uphold the law of the empire using whatever tools he has at his disposal: whether it’s his blade, the arcane secrets passed down from Justice to Justice, or his wealth of knowledge of the laws of the empire. But usually his reputation as one of the most revered—and hated—Justices is enough to get most any job done.

When Vonvalt investigates the murder of a noblewoman, he finds his authority being challenged like never before. As the simple case becomes more complex and convoluted, he begins to pull at the threads that unravel a conspiracy that could see an end to all Justices, and a beginning to lawless chaos across the empire.

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The Justice of Kings was an absolute banger of a book, which is fabulous because I love adding new series and awesome new authors to my reading list. The only problem is that now I have to wait for the sequel! 

The narrative took me by surprise since the synopsis makes it sound like it would be completely about Sir Konrad Vonvalt, a King’s Justice. And while it does focus on him quite a bit, it’s actually told by his scribe and apprentice in her memoir many years later, thus lending the story an additional layer of perspective. It’s always a little fun to wonder if the narrator is reliably telling the story and if not, how the author will use that later in the story.

So, this fine tale of a crumbling empire starts off with Sir Konrad, his scribe Helena, and his assistant Bressinger, traveling to one of the most remote areas of the empire to enforce the King’s Justice. At the village of Rill they part ways with Patria Claver, who was rather incensed at how casually Vonvalt handled the issue of heresy within the village. While this may seem a minor detail at first, the Patria becomes a much larger problem later in the story thanks to his religious zeal and the turmoil within the empire’s factions.

After the introduction to our cast of characters and Vonvalt’s role and unique powers as one of the Justice’s, we move along to the heart of the story – the murder of a noblewoman. This is no simple murder, but rather a web of conspiracies that goes far beyond what I could have imagined starting out. In all honesty, this is one of the best mysteries I’ve read in ages and the fact that it’s technically fantasy (one of those great genre hybrids I love) makes it EVEN BETTER. I had a great time formulating my own ideas about the who and why of it all, but oh man, when the reveals start coming they don’t stop coming! And the action sequences are so awesome! And the magical bits are really just icing on the cake – Vonvalt is basically a necromancer and can speak with the recently deceased to question them. 

With Helena telling the story we also get a bit of her own analysis on the other characters and we get to follow her as she makes some incredibly important life choices. At first she’s growing restless and resentful of her position as a scribe and feels that she isn’t really doing what she wants to. This is incredibly ungrateful and selfish coming from someone who was essentially rescued from poverty and probably an early death and given an incredible education and the opportunity to become a Justice in several years, but it’s also quite realistic coming from a young person who feels trapped by responsibility. I personally loved Helena even though she could be frustrating at times.

This is definitely going on my list of best books of the year and I’ll be eagerly awaiting the sequel! I love how deeply complex the world feels and the implication that Exciting Things are going to happen in the future – who can say no to the sheer drama of a crumbling empire?