I really enjoyed this book with its unique magic system and the premise that some sorcerers are essentially batteries for power which runs their empire!

This is told in multiple POV, the main protagonists in the story. Caine the informal detective/spy, Arienne the runaway sorcerer and Loran, widow and mother on a revenge mission. Add in a mystical sword, a deal with a dragon, supernaturally gifted powers and brewing rebellion and you have an exciting epic fantasy that grips you from the start.

Whilst the story was definitely engaging, it did feel a wee bit flat in places but that may be caused by the translation losing some of the nuances from the original Korean.

There are a lot of big themes and issues dealt with in the book such as abandonment, unwanted power, Oppression/rebellion, revenge, grief and loss and finding your way to your best life.

This was a great book to introduce you to the world and there are another two books to come! I'm on a binge of fantasy reads by non Western/European centric authors at the moment and this is a new author to add to my list!

📚 Just finished this high fantasy read and… it was *fine*. Tropey in a fun way, with dragons, a unique magic system, and fast-paced action, but the characters didn’t quite stick with me.

We’ve got three POVs—Loran (wakes a volcano dragon 🐉), Cain (investigates a friend’s mysterious death 🕵️♂️), and Arienne (rebels against a creepy magic school 🏫). Cool concepts and world-building, but the plot felt a bit disjointed, and the emotional punch was missing.

It’s the first in a planned trilogy, though it reads more like a standalone. I’m curious enough to check out book two, but I wish this one had a bit more *oomph*. Maybe something got lost in translation?

✨ Overall: decent, not unforgettable. But hey, there's a dragon, so I'm not mad.

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This book was fine, tropey in a fun way but not something to remember much of a couple weeks after finishing. The characters weren't very memorable but I thought the action was good.

This is a fast paced, plot-driven, multiple POV high fantasy book with good world-building and a unique magic system, and a dragon.

The story starts off strong with Loran waking a dragon who lives inside a volcano. Then there is Cain, who wants to know how and why his best friend, a shop girl everyone liked, ended up drowned. And Arienne, who is fed up with the magic school she was forced to attend since childhood, where she isn't taught actual magic but rather how her lifeforce will literally power the empire, she goes to explore in the darker parts of the school and finds something ancient and powerful.

Since this is proposed to be the first book in a trilogy I expected a bit more oomph. Somehow this turned out to be your typical "let's overthrow the empire that's oppressing us" story with a unique magic system, but not enough backstory on the characters and not enough character arch towards the end of the story. I'm not saying the three main characters were bland, they propel their plot forward, but I missed something (unfortunately undefinable) that made me care for the characters.

As mentioned above, this is supposed to be the first book in a trilogy, but it reads very much like a standalone. There is no cliffhanger at the end of the story. Still, I am looking forward to the next book. I want to know how the author is going to spin this plot into a trilogy.

Last but not least, maybe the gripes I have with the book are due to the translation. Maybe the nuances to the characters and the plot got lost in translation.

It was a great fantasy for me, the plot was good, the characters were great, I do think it was a little rushed pacing wise but nothing that broken the book for me.

This was a reasonably interesting book. I liked the ideas and the themes, and I always love a dragon in a fantasy novel, but it just didn’t seem to deliver quite what I was promised in the end. I do wonder how much of the energy and vibes of this were potentially lost in translation, as this has good bones, but it seems to be lacking that something to push it into being one of the top fantasy books I’ve read this year.

I found the narrative style slightly hard to get on with. There are 3 alternating POVs that co-exist, but they are not part of the same plot thread for most of the book, so you end up having moments repeated to you from a different POV that you’ve just read about, rather than the development of the plot line you’re reading about at that time. Apparently this is part of a planned trilogy, but I’m a little confused as to where we go from this ending. I think this could’ve been a standalone if there was just an extra 100 pages if I’m totally honest.

Blood of the Old Kings has a lot of makings of an epic fantasy: a few POVs, people trying to overthrow an empire, battles, political intrigues, sorcerers, and, oh yeah, dragons.

We hit the ground running with each of the three main characters' introductory chapters. Cain is well-connected in the city and trying to use those connections to find out what caused the death of his mentor and closest friend. Arienne is disillusioned with the magical academy that she's grown up at, knowing that it's all to train her so that her corpse can continue to power the Empire, and is sneaking into the secret chambers of the academy and making a break for it. And Loran, well, Loran is waking a dragon and getting a magical sword, all in the name of vengeance for her family and taking back her homeland from the Empire. So, a lot going on from the first three chapters!

All three POVs were engaging and unique from one another - however, I'm not sure if the latter was because of unique voices or rather because each POV character had a distinct plot. This was, to me, a book focused more on plot than on characters, but I mean this in a kind of odd way. I don't feel like the characters were at all interchangeable and I feel like they did all drive their own plots - plot didn't just happen to them - but I don't feel that any of Cain, Arienne, or Loran really had personalities outside of their plotlines. They were distinct characters and had thought put into them, but I don't think they were particularly complex characters.

Another highlight for this book was the magic. Between Loran's use of her dragon-enchanted sword, Warmuth, and the Empire being powered by the corpses (!) of sorcerers (!!) as power generators, this was a very cool concept of magic.

I know this is the first book in a series, but I did like that it stands on its own - it doesn't end on a cliffhanger, you could read it as a standalone. It's great when books in a series have actual self-contained plots, although it's easy to see how this world can be further explored in sequels. So this is a plus for me! However, it did make Cain's plot feel a bit . . . pointless, compared to Loran and Arienne. It was very isolated, in its way, instead of the more grand plots of the other two POV characters.

Another part of the plot that didn't quite work for me was that I felt that it went from scene to scene so quickly, without any time to breathe. You could have definitely stretched Loran's plot over a couple of books with more development for her. Maybe I wouldn't feel that way if I saw what her plot in later books was going to be, but as it is, while I'm not against reading other books in this series, I also don't feel a huge draw to do so, since this was wrapped up pretty nicely.

If you're looking for a fast-paced high fantasy book with motivated characters, strong worldbuilding, a unique magic system, and a dragon, then look no further, and you'll probably have a fun time with this one!

3.5 stars.

Thank you to the publisher, Orbit, and to NetGalley for the ARC.

The concept is so intriguing and that first chapter had me absolutely hooked, but as the stories progressed it felt like something was missing - context or a backstory for all of the POV characters. I enjoyed the journey and the writing is beautiful, but I think I’d have enjoyed this more if I knew the character history going into it.