Blood of the Four by Christopher Golden and Tim LebbonBlood of the Four by Christopher Golden & Tim Lebbon

Blood of the Four by Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon fantasy book reviewMagic is an elusive and dangerous thing in the kingdom of Quandis, forbidden to all except a few select priests who spend their lives preparing to handle the ancient magic, and even then inhale only a few smoky tendrils of the powerful magic. Princess Phela thrives on sneaking through hidden passages of the castle, seeking to overhear others’ information and secrets. When Phela hears her mother, the queen, confessing (in a drug-induced haze) to her lover Linos Kallistrate that she, the queen, has been exploring the far depths of the castle seeking out the magic of the Four, who are the gods of Quandis, she’s appalled at the heresy, but eager to find a way to use this secret to further her own ambitions.

Meanwhile, among the Bajumen ― the hereditary slaves of Quandis marked by their deep blue eyes and serpentine brands ― Blane is seeking the only way out of slavery by becoming a novice in the priesthood of the Four … where he promptly begins seeking out the forbidden magic for his own purpose of freeing the Bajumen people from their oppression. His sister Daria, long thought murdered by her master, actually survived the attempt and, her telltale blue eyes somehow fortuitously changed to grey by her near-drowning and her brand hidden by coral scars, is now a powerful naval admiral. And Demos Kallistrate, a young nobleman engaged to Phela’s younger sister, experiences his family’s horrendous downfall. Is it due to his father’s illicit relationship with the queen?

Blood of the Four (2018), an epic stand-alone fantasy novel by Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon, focuses on the highest and lowest inhabitants of the realm of Quandis, telling the tale of the turbulence that hits this kingdom from multiple points of view. The story has several interesting elements, including power struggles in the royal family, slaves fighting for freedom, and conspiracies galore. It’s distinctly reminiscent of A Game of Thrones in some ways.

Unfortunately this fantasy novel is a DNF (Did Not Finish) for me, though I did do some skimming through the rest of the book to satisfy my curiosity about the plot. Blood of the Four is, if not grimdark, then standing within spitting distance of it. With near-unrelenting brutality, detailed violence, explicit sex (including group sex), multiple gruesome murders and assassinations, plenty of F-bombs, and magic with a seriously nasty edge to it, it’s aggressively not my thing. To be fair, there are some threads of hope, and some sympathetic characters to offset the many unpleasant ones. And the violence arguably isn’t as gratuitous as it is in A Game of Thrones, but there was certainly more than enough of it for my taste.

Judging from that amount I read, my sense is that if I hadn’t found the storytelling too off-putting for my taste, I would have rated it 3.5 to 4 stars, but I don’t feel like I read enough of it to give it an official rating. Epic fantasy fans who aren’t put off by hard R-rated novels may enjoy Blood of the Four.

Published March 6, 2018. The acclaimed authors of The Map of Moments and The Secret Journeys of Jack London join creative forces once more in this epic, standalone novel—an exciting dark fantasy of gods and mortals, fools and heroes, saviors and destroyers with a brilliant beam of hope at its core–that should more than appeal to readers of N.K. Jemisin and Brandon Sanderson. In the great kingdom of Quandis, everyone is a slave. Some are slaves to the gods. Most are slaves to everyone else. Blessed by the gods with lives of comfort and splendor, the royal elite routinely perform their duties, yet some chafe at their role. A young woman of stunning ambition, Princess Phela refuses to allow a few obstacles—including her mother the queen and her brother, the heir apparent—stand in the way of claiming ultimate power and glory for herself. Far below the royals are the Bajuman. Poor and oppressed, members of this wretched caste have but two paths out of servitude: the priesthood . . . or death. Because magic has been kept at bay in Quandis, royals and Bajuman have lived together in an uneasy peace for centuries. But Princess Phela’s desire for power will disrupt the realm’s order, setting into motion a series of events that will end with her becoming a goddess in her own right . . . or ultimately destroying Quandis and all its inhabitants.

Author

  • Tadiana Jones

    TADIANA JONES, on our staff since July 2015, is an intellectual property lawyer with a BA in English. She inherited her love of classic and hard SF from her father and her love of fantasy and fairy tales from her mother. She lives with her husband and four children in a small town near the mountains in Utah. Tadiana juggles her career, her family, and her love for reading, travel and art, only occasionally dropping balls. She likes complex and layered stories and characters with hidden depths. Favorite authors include Lois McMaster Bujold, Brandon Sanderson, Robin McKinley, Connie Willis, Isaac Asimov, Larry Niven, Megan Whalen Turner, Patricia McKillip, Mary Stewart, Ilona Andrews, and Susanna Clarke.