Blood of the Old Kings by Sung-Il Kim Series: The Bleeding Empire #1
Published by Tor on October 10th 2024
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 368
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Source: NetGalley
Blood of the Old Kings begins an epic adventure in which three strangers journey through a vast Empire that uses the power of dead wizards to conquer and subdue, from award-winning author Sung-il Kim and translated by the highly-acclaimed Anton Hur.
Powered by the corpses of sorcerers, the Empire has conquered the world. It claims to have brought peace and stability to its conquered lands, but some see that peace for what it is—a lie—and will give everything in the fight against it.
Loran is desperate for revenge after the Empire killed her family, so much so that the swordswoman climbs the volcano where the legends say an ancient dragon slumbers and leaps in. She finds that the legends are true, and Loran leaves the mountain with a sword made of dragon’s fang and a great purpose before her.
Cain arrived in the Imperial Capital lost and orphaned, and it’s only thanks to the kindness of a stranger-turned-mentor that he survived on the city’s streets. When his friend is found murdered, he will leave no stone unturned to find those responsible, even if it means starting a war.
Arienne’s future has never been in question—born a sorcerer, she’ll be a Power Generator for the Empire upon her death. But when she starts to hear the voice of a powerful necromancer in her head, she realizes the only thing more terrifying than dying for the Empire is never getting to truly live in the first place.
When peace is a lie, there is power in truth—and as Loran, Cain, and Arienne hunt for answers in their own lives, any one of their small rebellions could be the stone that brings the Empire toppling down.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard that there are only so many unique ideas in the world and it’s impossible to come up with a completely original idea. Blood of the Old Kings, with its standout world-building, interesting characters, and unparalleled magic system, is proof that there are still new stories to tell.
I was immediately grabbed by the opening of Blood of the Old Kings, which features a woman, named Loran, looking for revenge against the Empire, who murdered her family and subjugated her homeland, by climbing into a volcano and forging a world-altering pact with a dragon. Loran is a character who has already lost everything and therefore has nothing to fear, which makes her fascinating to watch. And who doesn’t love an underdog story with a good fight against an evil empire? On the opposite end of the spectrum from Loran’s nigh on suicidal fight, is Arienne, a sorcerer, who, like all sorcerers, is doomed to become a power generator for the Empire for all eternity, and desperately wants to live. Somewhere in the middle of these two extremes falls the third narrator, Cain, who merely seeks to find out the truth of what happened to his murdered friend and to make her memory proud.
“Do not forget that it is to the Empire that you have lost your birthright.”
A lot of time in fantasy novels, the hopping between narrators can be pretty jarring and even cause pacing issues—that is not the case in Blood of the Old Kings. There is always something interesting going on with every single character. Plus, as one character took action, the ripple effects were felt by the other characters, who consequently made decisions based off of them. This made everything feel very connected and that every characters’ actions were significant, adding to the excitement and tension of the novel. It didn’t hurt that I was invested in all of the narrators. Though there isn’t a whole lot of time dedicated to exploring the intricacies of the characters’ pasts, author Sung Il-Kim does a fantastic job of doling out just enough information on all of the characters to keep them mysterious and potentially even more dangerous, while also keeping them relatable.
“The power generators were inscrutable things, and not wanting to become one even more desperately than not wanting to die, Arienne found herself here—in the small hours of the morning and following a strange, unknown voice, breaking the unbreakable rules.”*
I especially loved reading from the perspectives of both Loran and Arienne. Blood of the Old Kings makes both characters forces to be reckoned with, but in different ways. Neither woman is simply the stone cold badass bitch type that we see so often in media and popular culture—they are nuanced characters with different motivations, strengths, and weaknesses. It’s rare to have a complex female character in a fantasy novel that isn’t reduced to some trope, let alone two. And it’s even more wonderful to see these women fighting their own battles and in the case of Loran, spearheading her own revolution.
Though what initially attracted me to the book was the idea of sorcerers being turned into power generators, when I started reading Blood of the Old Kings, I really enjoyed the setting of the novel as well. In this world, there are dragons and sorcerers, sure, but there’s also carriages, machines powered by dead sorcerers, people enhanced by metal, and so on. I am not 100% sure if this magitek-esque filled world qualifies as a gaslamp fantasy, per se, but that’s the closest term I’ve found to encompass this world that blends magic, technology, and a more Victorian-esque feel. Throughout the entire novel, the ubiquity of the Empire is ever-present, feeling like a character in its own right. Characters must not only evade their armies, but the Academy of Sorcerers who will stop at nothing to keep their sorcerers confined within their walls, and the Ministry of Truth, who will surreptitiously take entire families, friends, and acquaintances on suspicion alone and make them disappear.
The one thing that I found a bit lacking in Blood of the Old Kings was the page allotment to certain events in the novel. There were several times in the novel when I found the narrative choice to spend so much time on certain events odd. I think these moments would have been better spent on other parts of the novel, such as character development and more nitty-gritty details about the fantastic world-building and magic system. I would have loved to have more detail on just about everything in Blood of the Old Kings because I loved the world and the characters so much. However, I do think that by sticking with giving more of an overview of the world, it not only allowed for the fast-pacing of the novel, but also maintained the air of mystery, which in turn, made me even more excited to read the next book and get some answers.
“Destiny may offer men and women who would be kings, but only the people may exalt them.”
I think it is worth noting that some readers may find the prose of the novel a little off-putting. That is not to say that the translation (the novel was originally written in Korean) isn’t well done—it is—but the prose itself is very direct and to the point (what the author refers to as “crisp prose” in his note at the end of the novel), and I think some readers may find the minimalist technique not to their taste. Personally, I enjoyed this style, as it kept the flow even and the action moving. Many times when reading a translated novel, it feels like something is missing or that the connection to the work isn’t quite what it should be, something I felt with The Witcher series, but that is not the case with Blood of the Old Kings. Many kudos to the translator, Anton Hur, who created such a smooth experience—I wouldn’t have even known it was a translated novel just by reading the work.
Blood of the Old Kings has so much to offer and is an incredibly promising start to a new trilogy. I am highly anticipating future installments in the series and will pick them up as soon as possible. If you’re looking for a gripping fantasy with captivating characters and a dark and unique magic system, look no further than Blood of the Old Kings.
*All quotes taken from an ARC and subject to change at time of publication.
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This sounds fascinating, and I didn’t realize it was a translated work. I’ll have to keep it in mind when the release date gets closer. Thanks for sharing!
For sure–I really enjoyed it! I hope you do too when you get to it. 😊