The River Kings' Road: A Novel of Ithelas

This is a great epic novel full of magic and chivalry. There is a war between Oakharn and Langmyr, and many have died doing battle. Sir Galefrid of Bull's March in Oakharn travel to the town of Willowfield in Langmyr with his wife and his son. They attend church and were attacked. The only survivor of the family was the infant son Wistan. The local people are attacked and the Mercenary Knight Brys Tarnell agrees to take care of the infant. Wistan is the brother to Lefric who wants to rule the kingdom. Leferic finds out that the infant is alive and hires a cruel, evil witch who has no feelings for mankind to kill the infant. She spreads evil throughout the land and is able to kill people instantly with the bloodmist. Brys enlists the help of a young woman Ododsse to take care of the infant. She has a child of her own, and she gets attached to Wistan. The child was injured in the massacre and she fears for his life. The evil witch has another agenda to take care of. She finds out that the Knight Sir Kelland who is a Knight of the Sun and his faithful companion Bitharn are in the area. He has always been an enemy to her and she wants to get rid of him. Does the child and Kelland live? Does the war end? I guess you will have to read the book to find out. The book is a fantastic medieval adventure. I was rooting for the infant throughout the whole story. The characters were believable and the transitions between scenes were smooth. There were a lot of characters introduced in the book, and I was able feel their emotions. There was magic, conflict, jealousy and love throughout the whole story. I cannot wait to read the sequel Heaven's Needle. I was given a free copy for my honest review and I was not compensated in anyway for my review.

I picked this up while browsing and had a hard time putting it down.The story at first appears to be standard for the fantasy genre but it has some nice twists throughout.Halfway through the book after a certain event I won't mention and spoil, I was thinking "What now?" as the story seemed to come to an abrupt end but it slowly unravels into a wonderful, believable story thats true to life with all its unpredictability. The characters are flawed and because of that very believable. No one is all good or all bad and they all harbor regrets and doubts throughout their respective journeys. Odesse seems to be the main character though there are several that get plenty of face time throughout the book. She is likeable and believeable and caught up in things much bigger than herself. Brys is a newly knighted Mercenary who struggles with doing the right thing or looking after his own desires and ambitions. Bitharn and Kelland are a large part of the story and struggle with their desire for each other despite spiritual vows that Kelland took. The desire and tension between them is obvious and touching. Leferic, though obviously the bad guy is struggling to be a truly bad guy and is somehow likeable in spite of all his scheming. I love books that make the characters seem real and Liane Merciel does a wonderful job of making the reader care and feel for the characters in the book. I am looking forward to the rest of the series as I think Liane Merciel is just getting started and even with this impressive debut, I expect the rest of the series to only improve upon the world she created.

"The River Kings' Road" is a well-written and enjoyable epic/heroic fantasy novel. I look forward to reading the next novel in the series. The pacing was very good, and I had a hard time putting the book down because I wanted to know what happened next. The world-building was also very good, and the author built believable cultures and characters. The complex characters were interesting and engaging. They varied from cynically practical to naively good-hearted. Each character was faced with the hard choice of following selfish desires or showing sacrificial love. Several had to decide if the ends justified the means. I liked how the novel played these choices out in realistic ways. There were several point-of-view characters, but I didn't have any trouble following them and found all of the characters equally interesting. Since the novel completed Odosse's desire/fulfillment journey, I'd actually consider her the focal character of this novel, and her choices played a pivotal role. I suspect Sir Kelland will be the pivotal character of the next novel based on several hints at the end of this one. There was no sex and no bad language. The magic was primarily of the "god-granted power" (i.e. paladin) kind. Overall, I'd recommend this novel as well-written, clean reading. I received this novel as a review copy from the publisher. Reviewed by Debbie of Genre Reviews (genrereviews. blogspot. com)

The year is 1217. There is a feuding war going on between the kingdoms of Oakharn and Langmyr. Brys Tarnell is a mercenary. He was part of Sir Galefrid of Bulls' March entourage. An ambush was waiting for Sir Galefrid outside the church, they were praying in. Brys was not in the church. On his way out of town, Brys is handed a baby. The baby is Wistan, who is heir to the throne. Odosse and her newborn son, Aubry are all alone. When Brys comes upon them promising safety, Odosse agrees to become nurse maid to Wistan. Sir Kelland Knight of the Sun. Bitharn is Sir Kelland friend and companion. She is deadly with a bow and arrow. What Sir Kelland doesn't know is that Bitharn loves him. Leferic is the brother of Sir Galefrid's. He already has dreams of power and glory now that his brother is dead. The only person who could crush Leferic's dreams is Wistan. It is going to be a long journey on The River Kings' Road. The River Kings' Road is author, Liane Merciel's debut novel. This book is a mixture of Lord of the Rings for the adventure, The Sword and the Stone for the theme, and The Riyria Revelations series for the great story line and characters. I have to admit through I really enjoyed all of the characters; my favorite parts of this book were when Brys and Odosse were featured. From the first page to the last page, this book grabbed me. There was not a dull moment to be found in this book. All of the characters interacted well with each other. The River Kings' Road is one book you will be recommending to your friends, over and over again.

Reminiscent of George RR Martin's series "A Song of Ice and Fire", this book brings to life a myriad of realistic, like-able characters in a medieval, war-torn setting. This books depends a little more heavily on magic than Martin's series, but does so without making light of the character's struggles, or making the story less interesting. The creation of the setting and history of the realm is well done, and makes me want to read more about it, and the characters introduced in the book.