Blood of the Old Kings by Sung-Il Kim

Book Review

Elloise Hopkins

The Empire killed her family and only one thing drives Loran now: the desire for vengeance. In pursuit of a legend, she climbed the volcano, and now awakens inside, face to face with the many-eyed dragon she has sought, its claw pinning her down. She came to ask the dragon for help, and Loran has not come all this way to be turned down. She may not be of noble blood, but she will make a deal with the dragon this day. 

In the Imperial City, Cain knows he is being followed, and his pursuers do not appear to be locals. That is not his only problem. His friend, Fienna, has vanished, right when she had something important to tell him. Are the two connected? Cain has to turn from hunted to hunter to find out who is following him, and exactly what they want from him.

And in the Imperial Academy, Arienne is a student at the Division of Sorcery, though not a very successful one even in her sixth year of tuition. Arienne knows what awaits her–a future as a slave to magic, even after her death. So Arienne plans to break the strictest of all the rules. She will enter the underground power chamber and escape the academy.

Blood of the Old Kings kicks off a new series entitled The Bleeding Empire, and indeed the greater story is about the Empire’s iron hold on the people and its use of formidable magics to power the city and its fighting forces. Eventually our three narrative threads draw closer as Arienne starts to master her magic. Cain pursues the truth of his friend’s disappearance, and Loran faces up to the Empire’s might.

As a fantasy story, it draws on genre tropes and delivers a quick-moving narrative with enough modern, grim elements (necromancy being a prime example) to inject a little shock and awe when required. The worldbuilding is somewhat lacking, and events often jump forward, leaving the characters lacking time to reel and reflect in the aftermath of key moments. This book has been translated from its original language, and it reads as a little stilted, perhaps lacking nuances and detail as a result. There is a lot of good here, it just needs the reader’s added imagination and commitment to bring balance.