YEAR OF THE FOUR EMPERORS

An empire devolves into a war of succession in Khan’s debut fantasy novel.

The Emperor of Kristianborg has been assassinated in his own bed. There will be few tears shed for the tyrannical Severus Valentinian, but even so, his death sends ripples of anxiety throughout the realm. It seems that Severus never named an heir before his death, and now his four sons—each the child of a different consort in the Imperial Harem—are all vying for the throne. There’s the gluttonous, well-connected Commodus; the handsome, cultured Leo; the politically savvy Andronikos; and the bookish but determined Zeno. Each of them has a wily mother’s guidance behind the scenes. Zeno’s mother, Eleonora, is particularly ambitious, having lifted herself from the minor ranks of nobility with the single-minded desire to bring glory to her line. The would-be heirs will have to win the favor not only of Council or Archons, but also of the powerful Yeneceri—the slave army known as the deadliest fighters in the land. Meanwhile, outside the borders of the empire, the Kingdom of the Vampir is stirring, waiting to bring Kristianborg under the shadow of its blood-drinking faith. Do Zeno and his mother have what it takes to outmaneuver the others in time to protect the empire from a horde of vampires? Khan’s pulpy prose creates some fun and thrilling moments, as here where the Vampirs send their undead cavalry against the Kristianborg army: “Their cloaks swayed in the wind, and their faces could not be recognized by even those with the best eyesight. It appeared as if they were faceless warriors with the skeletal outline of bones evident through their cloaks, and they wielded terrifying weapons.” The character development is shallow, however, and the world is hastily drawn. The novel features a grab-bag of distracting references to history and other works, such as characters named Harald Hadrada and Vercingetorix, and a dynasty called Van Helsing. Khan is clearly going for a Game of Thrones-esque epic, but this is a pale, wooden reflection.

An ambitious but clunky fantasy epic.