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Warlords And Wastrels by Julia Knight
Mar. 2nd, 2016 11:12 pmThe Blurb On The Back:
Two siblings.
Vocho and Kacha may be known for the finest swordplay in the city of Reyes, but they’ve found themselves backed into a corner too often for their liking.
Divided by loyalty.
Finally reinstated into the Duellists guild, they are tasked with bringing a prisoner to justice – Kacha’s old flame Egimont. However the more they discover of Egimont’s dark dealings, the more Kacha’s loyalties are divided. Soon she must choose a side – the prelate or the king, her brother or her ex-lover.
Their fate is balanced on a knife edge.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
The last in Julia Knight’s DUELLISTS TRILOGY brings Kacha and Vocho’s story to a close in an emotionally satisfying way that shows how both characters and their relationship have grown over the three books. Although Knight brings back some loved characters and closes out their plotlines, the big weakness of this book is Petri because while his descent into despair and the actions that come from it are broadly believable, I didn’t believe in his emotions towards Kacha, especially given the events in the previous book. Given that this is his central motivation for much of his story, it did stop me from buying into the plotline. To some extent, Kacha help to balance this out – I particularly believed in her guilt and how that comes to paralyse her and I really enjoyed how that forces Vocho to grow up and start behaving more responsibly – but it didn’t totally get me over the issue. That’s a shame because the world building (and especially Knight’s magic system) are great and I would love to see her do a 5 book series so that she got the space and time to bring everything together. Ultimately, this is an okay conclusion to an entertaining trilogy and I will definitely read what Knight does next.
Vocho and Kacha may be known for the finest swordplay in the city of Reyes, but they’ve found themselves backed into a corner too often for their liking.
Finally reinstated into the Duellists guild, they are tasked with bringing a prisoner to justice – Kacha’s old flame Egimont. However the more they discover of Egimont’s dark dealings, the more Kacha’s loyalties are divided. Soon she must choose a side – the prelate or the king, her brother or her ex-lover.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
The last in Julia Knight’s DUELLISTS TRILOGY brings Kacha and Vocho’s story to a close in an emotionally satisfying way that shows how both characters and their relationship have grown over the three books. Although Knight brings back some loved characters and closes out their plotlines, the big weakness of this book is Petri because while his descent into despair and the actions that come from it are broadly believable, I didn’t believe in his emotions towards Kacha, especially given the events in the previous book. Given that this is his central motivation for much of his story, it did stop me from buying into the plotline. To some extent, Kacha help to balance this out – I particularly believed in her guilt and how that comes to paralyse her and I really enjoyed how that forces Vocho to grow up and start behaving more responsibly – but it didn’t totally get me over the issue. That’s a shame because the world building (and especially Knight’s magic system) are great and I would love to see her do a 5 book series so that she got the space and time to bring everything together. Ultimately, this is an okay conclusion to an entertaining trilogy and I will definitely read what Knight does next.
