Kirkus Reviews QR Code
THE KNIGHT PROPER by Adam Greven

THE KNIGHT PROPER

by Adam Greven

Pub Date: Aug. 9th, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-942645-26-9
Publisher: Quill

A father and daughter find themselves on opposing sides of an unwinnable war in Greven and Deller’s debut fantasy novel.

For the last 15 years, Castle Riesenstadt and the surrounding countryside have been besieged by undead hordes—part of an unrelenting conflict between a necromantic society of witches called the Trauergast and an order of knights called the Konig Protectorate. Although the Trauergast were once an integral part of the kingdom, iron-fisted knight-lord Renton Talmaris has been persecuting them, forcing them into hiding. Now, the exiles are mounting a rebellion under the leadership of their own powerful leader, Mela. Renton’s son, Edwin, is Mela’s father, and her mother was a necromancer whom Renton killed. Edwin is now imprisoned in his dad’s keep with no hope of release—that is, until a wily, cunning bard named Cassandra Lethellon breaks him out in the name of reuniting him with his estranged daughter. Edwin, beset on all sides by strange magic, former comrades, and a desperate populace, must do whatever he can to stop Mela’s war before vengeance steals her away from him for good. Over the course of this novel, Greven and Deller craft an intriguing world with an engaging central cast, and they present readers with a fast-paced story with some fun sequences. The tale might have benefited from deeper exploration of the setting’s history and of the story’s numerous supporting characters. Sometimes, the narration fashions itself almost like a screenplay, attempting to intercut images, internal monologue, and exposition in a jarring way, with relatively little nuance or expressiveness. This approach does, however, lend itself to the work’s many battle sequences, which offer high-octane action and gore that genre fans are sure to enjoy.

An often entertaining story of swords and sorcery with a dash of the macabre.