Kings of Paradise (Ash and Sand #1) by Richard Nell

"The World is hard, and cruel, and ruled by power. Power now understood and controlled men like you. Perhaps it's time that changed." -Kings of Paradise

Whenever I fall head over heels in love with a book I always have an abnormally hard time writing reviews for them. It’s like my brain stutters and refuses to articulate all of the emotions swirling around in my head, and Kings of Paradise by Richard Nell was that kind of story for me. So hopefully I won’t totally butcher this review and Kings of Paradise will get the praise it so rightly deserves.

Pros, Cons and Everything Else

Kings of Paradise centers around 3 main characters, Ruka (a god touched outcast who lives with his mother, Beyla), Kale (a rather unimportant prince) and Dala (also god touched, but her family abandoned her). The very first character we meet is Ruka and his change from innocent boy to vengeful, sort of villain was one of the most fascinating things I’ve ever read. Ruka is horrible, vicious and seemingly without emotion, yet I could still love him despite his choices. Ruka is also a big part of the reason why I don’t think this book is going to be a good read for everyone. There are pretty graphic scenes of cannibalism and torture throughout the storyline, but Ruka’s character participates more than the others.

"He saw the half-frozen corpse of a ground squirrel and stopped to watch, then noticed another of its kind dragging it, as if to bring it home.
"Mother, look, it's trying to help!" He pointed.
She followed his eyes, then looked away. "No, child. The winter dragged too long. It will eat its own to survive."
He looked again and felt the happy pride slip away. Then he tried to put this new knowledge from his mind, or accept it as only natural and not horrifying, but on both counts failed."

To balance out the extreme cold heartedness of Ruka, the next character we meet it Kale. Kale is everything Ruka isn’t. He was born on the other side of the world, is revered by society for being a prince, has always had plenty to eat, is lazy and he’s good looking. His story is a bit more on the classic, coming of age side. Kale joins his fathers army, meets a bunch of new people, discovers new things that boost his confidence and then he's flung out into the world. Kale is an easy character to like with an interesting story line that doesn't really get going until the end.

Then there’s my favorite character, Dala. Everything bad that could happen to Dala, does, and yet she just keeps going. Every single time she got the rug pulled out from under her, she just wiped off the blood, gave karma the finger, and soldiered on. Dala is the strong female character that I have been waiting for, a perfect blend of badass awesome and human understanding. She genuinely wants to make the world a better place and is willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish that.

"Or she could fail, now, here, and utterly. She could suffer as few women under God suffered with men who'd never had a woman, and later feed the wheat-fields with her corpse. But I will not fail."

But it’s not just the characters that make this book so good, the world building around them is just as fascinating. This book had the feel of Wheel of Time or Game of Thrones but without the dragging storyline and Richard Nell’s descriptions are a lot of fun to read.

"The girl's pale skin had gone white as wool - a stark contrast to the bright red blood that was now poured over her hair, streaking down her face and shoulders to drip and pool at her feet. The hall was silent, and the girl shook. Then she gagged and coughed, and finally vomited, perhaps at the shock of having her future stolen in an instant - all hope of love or children gone at an otherwise happy event - or perhaps just from the smell."

Conclusion

       I seriously loved every second of this book and plan on reading it again sometime soon. I wouldn't change a thing about it and can't wait to read the next book! The very beginning was a little bit confusing with all three of our characters having very different story lines, but after a few chapters it was easier to keep everything straight. If you enjoy epic fantasy and don't mind starting an unfinished series, this book is a must read!