The Chronicles of King Rolen’s King Book 3 “The Usurper”

Wow! Having gotten of to a tentative start (in my eyes) with the The Kings B******and developed strongly in the Uncrowned King the series’ third book is worth of being made into a stomping film, without losing any of the moral quandaries, elements of distance, or humanity that made it’s predecessors fascinating. It also has a gloriously swashbuckling ending, definitely in level 13 fencing territory.*

But I wouldn’t want to blow the gaff. The book follows on from the predecessor in that it continues to develop the world the characters exist in and how the dynamics of the different country’s (see prior reviews for details) run as they all approach crisis points. Rolencia is in the grip of an invading force against which the rightful king (Byren) needs to remove and take his treacherous** cousin from the throne. Merofynia’s king is aging and Duke Palatyne (formerly a mere warlord from and outlying Spar) is planning to take both power and the Kingsdaughter, despite her wishes and those of Piro, Rolencia’s Kingsdaughter who disguised as her maid (read the second book to find why!) and finally the Ostron Isle is also facing a power struggle as the elector approaches his death and the merchant families circle like sharks*** scenting blood.

Once again the characters develop. Byren is the rightful king but doesn’t like to be, and his image has been destroyed in neighbouring nations by Duke Palatyne (History is written by the victor) making his restoration to power difficult, particularly as he has to persuade the Spar Warlords to follow him when he has no army or kingdom to his name.

Fyn, Byren’s younger brother is meanwhile put into a situation where he has to ask a rogue mage for help, despite having been taught that non-abbey affinity is evil and dangerous. He also has to cope both with the group of Pirates who are acting as both his body-guards and captors and with his own affinity ability’s.

Piro, meanwhile, has to thwart Duke Palatyne without revealing her own identity or developing affinity skills, all the while under the eye of Lord Dunstany who initially took her as a servant.
As aforementioned, all parties have to wrestle their conscious and make tough decisions, rather then “The Enemy is EVIL, get him” mindset shown often shown. Admittedly, the enemy aren’t fluffy and likeable, with a policy of “hostile or not, a peasant can’t stab us in the back if he’s missing his right hand, can he?” forcing Byren to decide between his importance as ruler of the country and the livelihoods of the people in it.

For posing questions like the last and combining it with excellent action sequence uninterrupted by the overwhelming introspection I described in its predecessors, The Usurper makes a truly great read. Whilst it would probably stand alone, to learn the reasoning behind the characters viewpoints it would be best to go back and read the others and watch them develop, from youths in a fairly simple kingdom to players on the world stage, making hard choices and choosing what they believe in a world where very little is as it seams.

If these sounds of interest to you and you get the book, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
All the best!

*For the uninitiated, fencing grading runs up to level 9 where you can teach a class by yourself. Level 13 is suggested to be “Princess Bride” or “Zorro” level and involves jumping of things swinging from the chandeliers and other theatrics .
** And I mean treacherous. Grima Wormtongue could take lessons from this one, and he’s good-looking to boot!
*** I won’t insult vultures, they’re smart creatures. Squabbling, yes but not scheming or treacherous. Disney owes them an apology!