“History,’ Mari muttered, as if she’d overheard his thoughts. ‘Why do we need to know what happened before we were born?’ ‘So hopefully we get smarter and don’t make the same mistakes again.”
The Fells kingdom, one of the Seven Realm kingdoms, is one plagued by an ancient history of war and feuds between the clans, wizards and Valefolk. Long ago a wizard, now known as the Demon King, fell in love with a warrior queen of the Fells, named Hanalea; he craved power and kidnapped Hanalea to be his wife. He fought with the other wizards and the strong magic they released erupted the world into chaos; including massive earthquakes and terrible storms until the clans, who are practiced in earth magic, restored peace. The Demon King was killed by Hanalea and from then on new laws were set in place so that nothing like that would ever happen again in Cinda Williams Chima’s book The Demon King.
Raisa ana’Marianna is the princess heir to the Grey Wolf throne in the Fells. Raisa, only 15 years of age, has been preparing to take the throne for years; on her 16th nameday (birthday) she will officially be eligible for marriage. However, she isn’t too excited about finding a prince. All Raisa has ever wanted was to be like the legendary warrior queen, Hanalea, known for saving the Fells kingdom. Unfortunately, her mother, Queen Marianna, has secret plans of a suitor for Raisa that crosses ancient laws. Raisa, being the stubborn girl she is, has different plans that involve helping her kingdom without a prince by her side.
Han Alister, once a thief, struggles to make a living for himself, his mother and his sister in the city slums of the Fells. He has only one possession of value, thick silver cuffs around his wrists with strange markings that are clearly magical. They grow as he grows and never has Han been able to get them off.
One day out in the woods Han and his friend Dancer run into three young wizards, the leader being Micah Bayar the son of an important wizard, that have set fire to the woods. They overpower the wizards by aiming arrows at their hearts and force Micah to hand over his amulet, a magical piece wizard use to store and use magic. The amulet, once belonging to the Demon King, is a powerful piece that the Bayars will stop at nothing to get back. They might just ruin Han’s life in doing so.
As these two character’s lives collide with each other in unexpected ways, the kingdom of the Fells and all of the Seven Realms are in for yet another history lesson. A truly stunning book with plot twists, amazing characters and undeniably exciting action, this is definitely a page-turner that will keep you reading until the very end. The story has a very developed plot that makes for a solid story line as as readers get tangled up in Han and Raisa’s lives. A rather long book with around 500 pages it seems like it will never end and readers will wonder how Chima could possibly imagine and write so much, yet still keep readers entertained and wanting to read more.
The book includes many strong themes such as good vs. evil, power vs. powerless, truth vs. lies and choice vs. fate that keep readers questioning the motives of each character. A timeless story that all readers will enjoy it is definitely one to put on your “to-read” list.