54425079._sy475_The Hollows is gripped in unrest and on the brink of civil war as an insurgency of anarchists rise, and brother and sister vie for the throne in the second novel in the critically hailed Legacy of the Mercenary King series which Brandon Sanderson called “excellent.”

Michael Kingman thought he was going to die by the executioner’s axe, forever labeled as a traitor. Still alive, and under the protection of the Orbis Mercenary company, Michael and his family and friends are deeply involved in the seemingly rival conspiracies that are tearing The Hollows apart. With the death of the King, both the Corrupt Prince and his sister Serena are vying for the throne, while the Rebel Emperor is spreading lies amongst the people, and all of them want Michael dead. This is a story of betrayal, murder, and rebellion, and in this direct sequel to the debut novel The Kingdom of Liars, also some hope for justice.

For readers who love the intrigue and widening scope of epic fantasy like Sanderson’s Mistborn and Week’s The Black Prism, you will find your next must-read fantasy series.

Source Format Pages Publisher Genre Publication Date
Netgalley eARC 592 Gollancz Fantasy March 25th, 2021

This was fun! Sure, I did request the book and then discovered that it’s the second in a series and I had not read the first one. But thought, feck it, I can totally dig in and see how goes.

Imagine my achy-breaky heart bursting with joy when I saw that author had included a ‘Story So Far’ to kick off the sequel. ‘Story So Far’ is my favourite addition to sequels. Thank you authors who do this!

What can I say without spoiling this book and its predecessor?

While I felt like I was able to enjoy TTFQ without having any prior insight, I would be inclined to take a dive into the first book anyway. The author has a knack for building on momentum and I believe that the intricate world, characters and political and otherwise struggles are so vast that I hardly got the rounded be all- end all of it. In fact, TTFQ, once it started, felt like it was on a course for disaster for some of our characters with conflicts and mysteries piling up and with hardly any time to take a breath. One simply cannot stop reading because the loose ends are many and there shall be answers, dammit!

You know what? I’m going to admit this. I might as well… I am somewhat glad I failed to be aware of book 1. Without previously sampling the author’s style, the world and setting we’re in, the characters and the various elements, I feel like I personally gained a whole lot of ‘hot damn’ moments out of TTFQ. I simply didn’t know what to expect and boy, oh boy, was a figuratively slapped in the face with awe-inspiring revelations chapter by chapter.

You need to know that the characters are all of them intriguing, making you want to know more. They are entirely human and we’ll, maybe a bit more than just human *taps nose

You’ll want to know that the world and political intrigue and the, can I say, fractions that the author has created are entirely ripe and multiple and serve a purpose.

You’ll want to know that the story flows and rolls like an avalanche. Taking you to scenes and moments of stillness, grandeur, amusement, flourish, quiet comprehension.

The magic in this book, I wouldn’t probably call magic. It’s more like… Oh! I know how to explain and some of you will roll your eyes so hard at this, you’re risking an eyeball muscle strain. So… Seen Twilight movies? You know the way the vamps have powers there to either make you see things or feel things or create a protective shield? Yeah. That.

Anyway! Moving on.

The final thing I wish to mention. The thing that rounded the whole book up for me, made it beautiful, worthwhile, wholesome… The crux of it all: family. I wish I could explain how the book felt relevant in this. I’ll try. Have you ever experienced that moment when you realize that you’ve stepped over that invisible line that separated the vision you had of your close family through the eyes of a child, and now you see, maybe even without wanting to see it, admit it, that the people you always, hand on heart, thought were the fairest, most honest, never do wrong kind of people, are in fact, well, utterly full of shit and even though you still love them and would do anything for them, you will take anything they say with a pinch of salt and perhaps, sadly, respect them a little less? Well. The Two-Faced Queen made me think such thoughts.

Final- final thing you’ll want to know, is that this book, this series in fact I feel I can safely assume, has some of you’re favourite fantasy elements. Such as: assassins, serial killers, royalty, a fully formed society, revenge, redemption, lovelovelove (love is the root of all troubles, after all!), immortality, altogether faulty and far from perfect characters to battle for your favour…and … who knows what other mystical beasts 😉