Book Review - Return of the Knights by Gregory Kontaxis
Sophie Delamere, Queen of Knightdorn is under threat from the most notorious war master these lands have seen. To make matters worse, they are related. Warren and his Ghosts have their eyes on the kingdom and will stop at nothing until all lands are under his rule. With a seemingly endless supplies of warriors and beasts, Warren is ready to make his move to become King to all, but if they come willingly, they will not be harmed.
Very little can save them from a fate wrapped in servitude, until Seventeen-year-old Elliot, a self-proclaimed knight taught by one of the grand masters walks into Sophie’s life and offers his protection. Sophie is sceptical, as the grand masters have been thought long dead, and knighthood outlawed many years ago, but eventually she takes a chance on the young lad and four others to carry messages of war, and requests for aid to her allies. Strong willed Elliot is determined to help the kingdom whatever the cost. He will fight tooth and nail to protect the queen and save her lands from destruction.
Trapped in a game of dangerous politics Elliot and his chosen few will need to work together to save them all.
Return of the Knights was an enjoyable debut that homes in on some of our favourite classic fantasy tropes. While it doesn’t stray outside of those lines and the story felt rather safe in my opinion, it does accomplish exactly what it sets out to do. There were however a few things I really liked in this story and are worth mentioning. The history and backstory that unfolds through conversations while our crew are travelling was really cool, and the classic fantasy creatures that graced the story at times that made this world feel like it has much more to give. The criticisms I hold for this one centre mainly around the prose and story telling style, but we will get into those later.
Let’s start with the positives, there has been a lot of thought and work put into having these characters feel like they are apart of something much bigger than themselves. As Elliot and his entourage travel the lands seeking aid from Warren and his armies, we learn a lot about the history around a campfire. The main protagonist is very young, and he only really knows what has been handed down to him via his master. During these snippets of conversation and history we find out that maybe he hasn’t been told everything in truth. From these conversations and revelations, we can see his thoughts and feelings change about the world around him and future decisions to be made. There was one story in particular that had me utterly captivated and I didn’t want anyone, the characters or people in my real life to interrupt me while that was going on.
Through these stories and this travel the world also opened up to include so much more than the group of humans we were following. This world is full to the brim with ancient fantasy creatures such as centaurs, elves, and dwarves; you name it, this book has got it. Learning about these creatures and different walks of life was a really cool way to world build and gives the reader something to look forward to expanding in future instalments. Which brings me to the criticisms.
The prose and structure of the story felt somewhat uninspired. The prose was a little dry, and formal. The way people interacted as a result felt forced and lacked the personality of the individual characters. The formality also led to over explanations of certain things happening throughout the book and there were sequences that felt more tell that show. I will also mention that the plot felt very linear and logical, which is not necessarily a bad thing if that it what you are looking for, (and as I mentioned, the book doesn’t fail to achieve what it sets out to do). However, there is very little side stepping of the main quest, which could have been used to build up other characters and elements of the world in my opinion.
I do want to reiterate; this was an enjoyable book! There was certainly enough in here for me to want to see where the story goes and I’m looking forward to seeing how the author develops his craft.
