The Demon King (Seven Realms Universe, #1) (The Seven Realms, #1)

by Cinda Williams Chima

The first book in an epic fantasy series from debut author Cinda Williams Chima. Adventure, magic, war and ambition conspire to throw together an unlikely group of companions in a struggle to save their world.

When 16-year-old Han Alister and his Clan friend Dancer encounter three underage wizards setting fire to the sacred mountain of Hanalea, he has no idea that this event will precipitate a cascade of disasters that will threaten everything he cares about.

Han takes an amulet from one of the wizards, Micah Bayar, to prevent him from using it against them. Only later does he learn that it has an evil history – it once belonged to the Demon King, the wizard who nearly destroyed the world a millennium ago. And the Bayars will stop at nothing to get it back.

Meanwhile, Princess Raisa ana'Marianna, the heir to the Gray Wolf throne of the Fells, has just spent three years of relative freedom with her father's family at Demonai Camp – riding, hunting, and working the famous Clan markets. Now court life in Fellsmarch pinches like a pair of too-small shoes.

Wars are raging to the south, and threaten to spread into the high country. After a long period of quiet, the power of the Wizard Council is once again growing. The people of the Fells are starving and close to rebellion. Now more than ever, there's a need for a strong queen.

But Raisa's mother Queen Marianna is weak and distracted by the handsome Gavan Bayar, High Wizard of the Fells. Raisa wants to be more than an ornament in a glittering cage. She aspires to be like Hanalea-the legendary warrior queen who killed the Demon King and saved the world. With the help of her friend, the cadet Amon Byrne, she navigates the treacherous Gray Wolf Court, hoping she can unravel the conspiracy coalescing around her before it's too late.

• ISBN13: 9780007321988
• Publish Date: 5 August 2010 (first published 19 November 2009)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: HarperVoyager
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 400
• Language: English
• URL: http://harpercollins.co.uk

Reviews

[tweetybugshouse]

This is a great set up to a series. I really enjoyed how Han and Raisa stories entwined together. I thought the addition of street gangs was unique to the story. I read this after i read the majority of the books in the Shattered Realm series as those are based in the same world. I felt like i was welcoming new characters and that i was able to really enjoy it as another part of that world.

The unique concept of wizard power being connected through the queens of the kingdom really made this story unique. I also think the twist at the end really surprised me, ya think i would of figured it out but i did not. Their are lots of little twists and turns and this book one is very much a set up for the series. It takes a long time to get to the meat at the end of the story but it really works out well for this book. I am throughly ready to pick up book two and continue on this adventure.

[bookperson]

DNF
Not my type of book really

Mrs. Chima, your my new best friend...I freakin loved this book! I honestly can't believe I waited this long to read it! While the book starts off kind of slow, its important for the set-up and background of the book. A book of heart-pounding action, wizards, magic, danger, and amazing character, this book is a must read!

I fell in love with the characters! Princess Raisa is a strong, independent, headstrong girl learning to be the best she can be. She a stubborn girl that isn't afraid to get her hands dirty! Amon....well he's a soldier and I must admit I am a sucker for a man in uniform ;) He's an extremely sweet, honorable, and respectful man who really cares for Raisa. Then there is Han...I'm not sure who I like better! Han has a reformed thief but not exactly a bad boy. He only did what he had to in order to take care of his family. he's a honorable thief...if that makes any sense. This book really delves into his past and I look forward to learning even more about him in the books to come. I must say, the big reveal at the end was surprising (well, who he came from that is).

I am a huge fan of alternating POV's so I absolutely loved this book for it. It really allows the reader to learn all about the characters. And even though it was 3rd person, it was so well written that you really could feel along with all the characters.

The world-building was excellent! I could picture everything about the world (the map helped) and I could really get into it!

The plot was extremely interesting! Between all the action and adventures, this book constantly keeps you on the edge of your seat and keeps your heart pumping!

Overall, this is a truly excellent book. It is ripe with action, love, political intrigue, twists, turns and betrayals. I definitely recommend this and can't wait to read the next two books!

[Ashley]

Actual rating is 4.5 stars.

Loved it!! It started out a little slow for me. It didn't grab me in straight away and I honestly thought of putting it down. But then it got good.. then it got AMAZING! I'm so glad I stuck with it!

[Rinn]

Also posted on my blog, Rinn Reads.

The Demon King had long been one of those fantasy books I was aware of, knew SO many people who raved about it, yet I pretty much ignored it. It sat on my ‘to read’ list for a while, despite sounding amazing, and despite endless wonderful praise from my bookish buddies. However, recently I’ve been trying to make more use of my local library. The library itself has very little, but since I can order books from anywhere in the county for free and pick them up from there, I’ve been grabbing ten books at a time, scouring through the library catalogue and cross-referencing with my Goodreads ‘to read’ shelf. The Demon King happened to be available, and so, by this twist of fate, I ended up reading it much sooner than I probably would have otherwise.

Let me just say: I am so, SO thankful for the county library inter-loan system. I devoured this 500 page fantasy novel in two days. I read it during my commute, not looking up once, and would have happily stayed on the bus and gone round in circles all day just reading if, you know, I hadn’t had to go to work… Inconvenient, much?

The Demon King centres around several characters. First, there’s Han Alister, also known to the Clans as Hunts Alone, or to the people of Fellsmarch as Cuffs Alister, streetlord of Ragmarket. Han is the son of a laundress who has turned to petty crime in order to provide for his family, but he also has connections with the Clans outside the city – the Clans being tribespeople who have connections with the land. Second, we have Princess Raisa, princess heir to the throne of the Fells (MATRIARCHY YES), who isn’t content with her position. I really liked Raisa – instead of being a spoiled brat who wasn’t happy with her lot, she was shown as someone who perhaps just wanted to live a simpler life, but was also kept in the dark about how her people were treated, and how they saw their monarch. She aspired to be a warrior queen, and was basically so determined and always prepared to do whatever it took. Other characters include Amon Byrne, Raisa’s childhood friend and son of the Captain of the Guard, and Micah Bayar, son of the High Wizard and a Draco Malfoy type character that you might want to slap across the face once or twice.

I have to admit, any plot twists or events that were meant to be shocking did not work – everything was quite obvious. But this did not spoil the magic for me. I was just so enamoured by Fellsmarch, the Clans, Raisa and Han’s separate missions and just about everything else that was going on to care. I feel like The Demon King is a fantasy novel that would work for both fantasy lovers, and those who aren’t sure about the genre – it’s not overly complicated, but it also evokes those classic elements of the genre. There’s no other way of saying this: it gave me the warm fuzzies.

This book had just the right amount of magic and swordplay for me, and I cannot WAIT to move on to book two. So, The Demon King isn’t a huge epic Tolkien-esque fantasy, where the world is crafted perfectly from the bare bones, with hundreds of years of history and made up languages and just about every family tree from peasant to royalty. But it is a magically crafted novel that allowed me to escape into this fantasy world, forgetting everything around me, and sometimes that’s all you need.

[Silvara]

Check out my other reviews, discussions and link ups at Fantasy of the Silver Dragon.

I loved Raisa. She's smart and stubborn, she wants to be a good queen one day. And when she realized that things are being kept from her that she needs to know, so she can BE a good queen, she goes out and starts finding answers. She may not always have the best ideas on how to do things, and some of the scrapes she gets into could have been avoided if she had been less headstrong. But over-all, I really liked her as a character. And I really like her and Amon together.

I liked Han just as much as I liked Raisa. I guessed some of the mystery around his silver cuffs, but I didn't have a clue about the scope and his past. I liked how he tried to take care of his mother and sister, as well as his interactions with the clan.

I didn't like either of the wizards at all. But they were well-done bad characters. The progression of the reveals about just how bad the wizards are, was perfect. I also liked that there were more than just the main two, and that we got to see how the magic works. At least enough that it was understandable, and didn't leave you lost as to how everyone fits into the world. I love when magic has actual rules that need to be followed, I'm hoping for more details on it in the next book.

The world seems to be really well done. It's fleshed out enough that it feels like a real place, without being an info dump. All the characters feel real as well, none of them are cardboard.

This review was originally posted on Fantasy of the Silver Dragon

[Amber]

THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD YOU GUYS I MIGHT JUST WRITE THIS ENTIRE REVIEW WITH MY CAPS LOCK ON AND WITHOUT ANY PUNCTUATION THAT IS HOW MUCH I LOVED THIS BOOK DO YOU THINK YOU COULD HANDLE AN ENTIRE REVIEW OF ME SHRIEKING I DONT KNOW DO TELL

*breathes*

So. The Demon King. I fucking loved it. There are so many things about this book that I adored, and it’s really difficult to break it down into bits for you and I don’t think I can remain calm. You have been warned.

FIRST THINGS FIRST: Princess Raisa. She is a motherfucking QUEEN. Firstly, she is courageous and thoughtful and awe-inspiring, and she’s also a feminist and she really wants what’s best for her people. I can’t wait until she becomes queen as she undoubtedly will later on in the series because she deserves this. So much. Secondly, she’s also really confident, but not overly so. She knows that she is desired and that anyone should be honoured to marry her, and she also knows that she’s pretty awesome. I love how much she cared about the people of her Realms, and I can’t wait until she gets to make some changes. She makes a couple of changes in this book, but she’s about to set the world on fire I KNOW IT.

From Raisa, we get gems like this:

“I’m the blooded princess heir of the Fells. Any prince or noble in the entire Seven Realms should be thrilled to marry me. No questions asked.”

If a lady should do this, Raisa wondered, should a man do the same? Is he required to?

The other main character is Han Alister, also known as Cuffs, also known as Hunts Alone. He’s an ex-streetlord of the Raggers and he’s also been adopted by the clans. He’s not my favourite (BECAUSE RAISA) but I did love his chapters, which is a good thing because The Demon King is evenly split between his and Raisa’s (plus a couple of random POVs scattered throughout) points of view. I ADORED Han’s random acts of badassery, such as:

“This place could burn down, you know. Maybe even with you inside. That’d be a shame.”

Because that is the most me line to ever me.

The characters in The Demon King did feel a little young. Understandable, since they start out at fifteen years old. I’m REALLY looking forward to seeing Han and Raisa grow as people and stuff and spoilers.

I’ve seen a couple of reviews that say that The Demon King is slow in the beginning, but I’m going to have to disagree with you all there *viciously shakes head* because I got sucked in pretty much right away, and if you’re an avid fantasy fan I think you’ll feel the same way. The Demon King is the perfect starter to a new series, and it does a wonderful job of introducing the world and the characters and the mythology and everything without being info-dumpy or pushy.

I’m now marathoning this series as we speak (or as you read, rather) because I can’t get enough of it. PRINCESS RAISA 5EVA.

[alisoninbookland]

The beginning is VERY slow moving. Seriously the first 150 pages or so were almost painfully slow. Thankfully things got better once Han and Raisa finally met up.

There was some real depth to the characters which was nice. Raisa doesn’t want to get married anytime soon. She just wants to be a good royal. She hears how the people are being treated by her guard and goes out to see the situation herself. Raisa’s marriage prospects are obviously very important because she will be queen but I appreciated that romance wasn’t the main focus of the story.

Han turned out to be an interesting character as well. He is a former criminal trying to reform. You see how badly he wants out of the criminal life but you also see how difficult it is to escape from it. He makes mistakes but in the end his heart is in the right place.

Even side characters like Micah and Amon were interesting. I don’t think Micah is completely evil. I think he’s being drug along with a plan he doesn’t agree with and doesn’t know how to get out of the situation. Amon isn’t simply the childhood friend turned love interest. He’s a good friend with no magic powers that is bound magically to protect the royal blood line. All of that has the potential to be very engaging as the series continues.

One of the things I love about huge fantasy stories like this is how the story is so detailed and everything goes together perfectly. The Demon King did not disappoint in that respect. There were little hints about things from the beginning of the book foreshadowing what was to come. The politics were very interesting. The royals, the wizards, and the clans were all competing for attention in the book so sometimes it was difficult to keep up with all the political drama and who wanted what. It made for a fascinating story though. The last 50 pages everything came together beautifully.

The bottom line? Quite enjoyable. I think the length and denseness of the book held me back from completely loving it.

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[tellemonstar]

Review to come.

[KitsuneBae]

I could have been generous with my rating but this book was just too slow. x.x