Home Books Genres Recommendations About Me

King's Dark Tidings - Fanart

Art done by Chris McGrath

King's Dark Tidings - Review

Link to the author's (K. Kade) personal website

Book 1: Free the Darkness

Book 2: Reign of Madness

Book 3: Legends of Ahn

Book 4: Kingdoms and Chaos

Book 5: Dragons and Demons

Book 6: Knight of Shadows

Blurb: (From Book 1) Raised and trained in complete seclusion at a secret fortress on the edge of the northern wilds of the Kingdom of Ashai, a young warrior called Rezkin is unexpectedly thrust into the outworld when a terrible battle destroys all that he knows. With no understanding of his life’s purpose and armed with masterful weapons mysteriously bequeathed to him by a dead king, the young warrior relentlessly pursues his only lead. A single elite warrior escaped during the battle and may have knowledge of who Rezkin is and who is responsible for the slaughter at the young man’s home.

Rezkin must travel across Ashai to find the one man who may hold the clues to his very existence. His last orders, spoken on the lips of his dying Master, were to "Kill with conscience" and "Protect and honor your friends." Living in isolation from the outworld under a strict regimen of training and education, the young warrior has no understanding of a conscience or friends. Determined to adhere to his last orders, Rezkin extends his protection to an unlikely assortment of individuals he meets along the way, often leading to humorous and poignant incidents.

As if pursuing an elite warrior across a kingdom, figuring out who he is and why everyone he knows is dead, and attempting to find these so-called friends and protect them is not enough, strange things are happening in the kingdom. New dangers begin to arise that threaten not only Rezkin and his friends, but possibly everyone in Ashai.

Review: Ever wondered what happens if a story begins with the a protagonist that's straight out of end-game Wuxia? In other words, completely and utterly brokenly overpowered. Then this book fits that to a tee. Rezkin is dope, and the simple typical medieval world setting lets him shine. The standardardness doesn't make the setting bad either, just standard. It's not all rainbows for this series though, and I've got to admit that some of it is a bit trashy. The writing isn't fantastic and the third book was frankly a tad below mediocre. I'm still an advocate for the series as a whole though, and think that quickly sells itself on what it is.

Edit: I have now finished book 6. All the positives for the story still hold, and I do enjoy reading it, but the quality of the writing has dropped again. I am now on the fence for recommending this series.