Book Review - THE RADIANT KING by David Dalglish

The Radiant King by David Dalglish
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Back Cover Blurb:
Radiance, the mysterious power of life and creation, is theirs to command. Death cannot claim them. For hundreds of years, the ever-living ruled with ease. Yet when the world is nearly broken beneath their reign, the humbled six swear a They will sit upon no thrones, wear no crowns, and no longer teach humanity the gifts of radiance.

But after centuries of peace, Eder rejects their vow, anoints himself Voice of Father, and spreads a new, cruel faith across the land.

Faron cannot allow such indiscretion. Returning from a self-imposed exile, he swears to crush Eder’s kingdom, and he will not do so alone—Sariel, their cold and calculating brother, knows all too well that an ever-living’s dominion is bound for brutality and destruction. But to overthrow a nation, they will need more than each other. They will need an army and a ruler who can take the throne their own vow forbids. And so, they pledge themselves to the fanatical Bastard Princess, a woman with incredible powers she insists were given to her by the goddess Leliel.

But Eder’s conquest is not what it seems, and it will take more than a holy war to stop an immortal who has heard the desperate plea of a god.


Review:
There are so many reasons why David Dalglish is one of my favorite authors. First of all, the guy is prolific as they come as he seems to always have at least one book publish every year (sometimes two). He also seems to get better and better with each successive series, which for anyone who has been in the writing game for any length of time knows, it's really hard to keep topping yourself. But I believe what I like best about him as an author is how no matter what type of fantasy he writes, his characters immediately suck me in and make me care about them. I want to reach through the book and strangle his villains and I want to reach in to embrace his protagonists. It's a tough thing to do to establish that instant connection, but for some reason I always am super invested in how everything plays out for these people.

THE RADIANT KING begins yet another new series for Dalglish and yes I'm here to say that once again I am totally immersed in this new world and story. Here we have six immortal siblings, I guess you might call them gods, who have meddled in the history of humans over the centuries, now engaged in a holy war that sees some pitted against each other. We've seen this before where one member of the family sees themselves as the true heir to whatever power they believe they deserve, and that is kind of the case in this one. But it's handled in a way that I haven't quite seen before. As events play out we begin to see what motivations are behind the actions of those wishing to claim what they see as their due and pardon the expression but, all holy hell breaks loose.

The fact that this is only book one in Dalglish's Astral Kingdoms series leaves me a bit dumbfounded quite frankly, as the action and intensity of this opening book reads like the final exciting climax of a great and thrilling epic. This is the way you start a series, with compelling characters, double-dealing, scheming, death-defying scenes of battle and dark magic... i mean, why doesn't every author drop their readers in a maelstrom of insanity like this right from the get-go? It's a wonderful formula that I'd like to see more of.

And as always, Dalglish creates a cool and unique magic system that works on so many levels. I'm in awe sometimes of how he continually comes up with such original concepts that upend the conventional magic that we usually see in your garden variety fantasy offering. I've learned that I will never be bored when reading one of his books as there is always something around the corner that I wasn't expecting and it always leaves me stupefied.

David Dalglish has delivered another phenomenal fantasy book that sets up one of the more intriguing storylines he's ever conceived in my opinion. This promises to be a thrilling series with lots of magical beasts, political strategy, adventure aplenty, and a highly dysfunctional family of immortals battling forces both from within and without. If you are looking for a fantasy that doesn't feel like the same old same old that you've read a hundred times before, you definitely want to pick up THE RADIANT KING by David Dalglish and let this story capture you in its web of intrigue and dark majestic glory. I simply loved this!

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