Even though the writing style seemed overly simplistic, The Bastard King was exactly what I haven't been getting enough of lately: good old unpretentious fantasy. The kind where things are not described in detail. Almost everything was left up to my imagination, from the way people looked to the way the castles and countryside looked. Important traits were mentioned but nothing was overdone.
In fact it seemed a little underdone in some places, and all I really mean by that is the sentence structure was a bit annoying- there were lots of very short, simple, dry sentences. Sometimes I cared, but a lot of times I didn't because I had become so submerged into the story.
It's not a very complicated plot either, and there's just enough intrigue to make it interesting. The way things were introduced slowly made it work for me. Lanius is our main protagonist, the son of the king by his seventh illegitimate wife (big scandal there, don't worry about it). He becomes king in time, but eventually is thrown to the side by our other main protagonist, Grus. The two of them rule pseudo-jointly.
This is book one, of how many, I'm not sure, but the series is called the Scepter of Mercy. Basically at some point down the road, Lanius and Grus are going to reclaim this Scepter of Mercy, which was stolen four hundred years ago, for their kingdom. That eventual event is only hinted at, so I'm not entirely sure where this whole saga is going.
I do know that I want book two.
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