Twelve Kings in Sharakhai Paperback – July 12, 2016

I've been a fan of Bradley P. Beaulieu's for awhile (enjoyed his "Lays of Anuskaya" series) and am happy he found a new publisher. I heard good things about this particular book before I read it, and I was not disappointed.The book is familiar, in a way, because it contains a lot of familiar elements: a pit fighter, rulers deemed by many in the population to be tyrannical, a resistance movement, searching ancient texts for information, a character who doesn't know about her mother's past (and hence, her own family background), etc. But, I think Beaulieu puts an interesting spin on these. The setting has been described as similar to a city that would've been on the Silk Road (if we were comparing to actual human history). I can see this, most definitely. Many of the character names are Turkish-sounding, but the desert sands are reminiscent of other parts of the Middle East. It works nicely, I think.At any rate, it's NOT pseudo-medieval Europe, so the setting is a nice change of pace. (It's also refreshing that female characters have freedom to go about their lives, run businesses, etc., that gender stereotypes typically abounding in pseudo-Middle Eastern fantasy settings are not mindlessly repeated here. As an example, the Kings of the title have female bodyguards, the heroine -- Ceda -- lives with a male best friend (Emre) to whom she is not married and is not shunned for improper behavior, etc.The pit fighter, Ceda, is a woman, but I feel like some thought was put into how she would succeed against opponents who were larger and/or physically stronger. She adapts well to a lot of situations, she is confident and capable, but sometimes her actions do not have the intended effects. In an attempt to get revenge against someone who did wrong against Emre's family, she inadvertently strains her relationship with Emre, for example. We learn a lot about Ceda's and Emre's relationship in flashback scenes. I'm not always a fan of flashback scenes, but I think they work here. Information is revealed bit by bit and everything is relevant, not just to Ceda's character but to the movement of the plot of this book and the overall series arc. Emre is not as compelling for me, early on, as Ceda is, but as we learn more about him during the course of the book, I am more interested in him. I can't help but wonder if he is getting in over his head, with some of the things he does. Ceda has often come to his aid and that may be less likely to happen as time goes on, we will have to see what becomes of him as he starts to make his own way in the world.What I really like is that the characters are not perfect, that things are not black and white, and that there are a lot of sides to every issue in this book. For example, Ceda starts the book determined to continue her mother's quest to rid Sharakhai of its Kings. But she is not enthusiastic about the tactics of some members of the resistance, even though they share her goal. We read about the daily lives of people in Sharakhai and think, "this is not so bad," but then we remember retribution visited on the daughters of the people when one of the kings' daughters (their bodyguards mentioned earlier) is killed, or about how people are chosen as sacrifices, so to speak, for the asirim (mysterious beings who roam the streets of Sharakhai one night every six weeks). And thus you are reminded some of the reasons why people might hate the Kings. These different perspectives and sides set up possibilities for shifting loyalties, trust issues, etc.The writing is polished, but I have come to expect that from Beaulieu. The style of the book is such that I was drawn in quickly. I started this book when I was using a sheet mask on my face one night, and I kept finding excuses to use more sheet masks over the next few nights (even though I didn't have much time) so I could read more. The book is not entirely action scenes, which is fine. (It sort of gives a bigger impact to the action scenes that do exist.) There's a bit of court intrigue, a bit of (secretive) scholarly research, a bit of prophecy (but not slavish adherence to something written a long time ago -- more trying to interpret flashes of scenes or visions), -- in short, many of the things that drew me to reading fantasy in the first place.I'm definitely looking forward to the next volume. I want to see how a particular event at the end of volume one changes Ceda's feelings about her mission -- does it cement her determination to complete her mother's quest, does she have mixed feelings, are there going to be consequences for her and/or for the city and the Kings?

Twelve Kings in Sharakai is the beginning of a new series by Bradley and the second series of his that I will read. I really enjoyed this series from start to finish. It has all the promises of being a great series. One thing that made this series stand out was how different it was from his first series.Twelve Kings in Sharakai follows Ceda, a young woman who is hellbent on bringing her mother's killers too justice. Those killers just happen to be the Twelve Kings, kings who have been bestowed the powers of gods by the desert gods. The overall best aspect of this novel so far has been the world building. It is quite evident that Bradley put a lot of thought into this world. Everything had a purpose and a connection, it was all just utterly fascinating. After finishing this book, I just wanted to start the next one.I had one issue with this book and that was with the characters. Now don't get me wrong, Ceda is an amazing protagonist. She is strong, determined, driven, and spunky. However this novel is multi POV and one of the POVs is Emre a childhood friend of Ceda. His chapters, for me, didn't really add anything to the story. Also the relationship between him and Ceda was not sitting well with me. There are two other POVs in Twelve Kings, both of which are ten times more intriguing then Emre.Twelve Kings in Sharakai is just the beginning of what is a six book series. Bradley has done a terrific job laying some foundation and I cannot wait to continue on this journey.

Having listened to the audiobook put me at an instant advantage, because I never needed to find out how to pronounce Çeda. I would have stumbled over the name like an idiot every time I saw it in print. (It’s pronounced Chay-da, for those interested.)Çeda is an awesome character and I really liked hearing her story. She is a woman living in the slums of Sharakhai, the great desert city, making her way day to day by fighting anonymously in the fighting pits, and running errands (of the sensitive and probably not legal kind) and delivering packages (of the almost definitely not legal kind) for the pit master. One night, a holy night, she is running one such errand and sees the Kings of Sharakhai. The very kings she’s sworn vengeance against since they executed her mother when she was young. This leads her on a journey of self-discovery, full of riddles about her past, her parentage, and the Kings themselves.The book starts out with a scene in the pits with Çeda just laying the smackdown on her opponent, a man probably twice her size, which then segues nicely into a love scene that was unexpected but well written and not out of place at all. This scene was a really fantastic attention grabber for me, because not only do I enjoy the occasional well written sex scene, but I really enjoy a female lead who is believable in her actions and motivations, and I thought that this was a good example of that. Çeda is the type that (usually) does what she wants and apologizes for it later. I can relate to her in this way, and so it was very easy for me to root for her and hope she succeeded in her endeavors.The world of this book, the desert, the slums, and the overall city of Sharakhai was so rich and well built that I could imagine it really well, and that is always awesome. There’s so much intrigue in this world. The story is full of mysteries to be solved and that is entirely well executed, between flashbacks and present day, Çeda uses a book that her mother left her and some help from her friends to unravel the truth of her past and the truth about the Kings. Her journey takes her right into the heart of her worst enemies, and Çeda, being the resourceful gutter wren that she is, thwarts their efforts to ruin her day (also, kill her).Parts of the book made me legitimately emotional, as I wondered what would happen to Çeda or to Emre, or to both of them. I really, really liked Emre as a character as well, and I wanted the whole world for him. The relationship between them felt like best friends at times and so much more at other times, and the way it was written really had me hoping for the happiest of endings for both of them, whether together or not, best friends or more. It’s things like these that keep me reading books into the wee hours. Listening to, in this case, but it was still one of *those* books. The ones that make dust just get in my eyes because it can’t possibly be emotions because I don’t get misty about books (except that I do. I totally do).The narrator, Sarah Coomes, did a fantastic job, and 25 hours felt like it just flew right by. I’m really, really picky about female narrators, as I’ve found out more recently with some experimentation, but this one really nailed this presentation. There are some accents here that I would think are legitimately difficult to pull off, but she managed, at least she totally managed in my eyes (or ears? lolololokay okay, I’ll stop :P) I will definitely listen to more of this series narrated by her!This was a fantastic book, and I can’t wait to listen to some more of this trilogy!

While still in early part of that book, the author has done a fantastic job of creating a phenomenal world, with lots of intrigue to go around. Also on the plus side, this story has lots of room to go, being 12 volumes in all....some I am eager to finish book one and move on from there.....

This book starts with the heroine Ceda [pronounced “Shay-da”] fighting a bout in the arena, the fighting pits of Sharakai. She is a professional pit fighter, hiding her identity behind the mask of the “White Wolf” and all the while secretly plotting against the twelve Kings ruling Sharakai, who are responsible for her mother’s execution. Her quest has been slow going for years, for the kings were granted immortality by the gods and they rule Sharakai with an iron fist, being backed by the Blade Maidens, progeny of the kings acting as an elite fighting squad in their defense, and the army of Silver Spears. And worst for Ceda: since the kings were the victors who wrote history, so it’s hard for Ceda to find anything about how the kings could be killed.Her efforts are finally supported by a secret delivery gone wrong: Ceda and her childhood friend Emre are shading for the pit-owner from time to time and one of these transfers brings them in contact with “The Moonless Host”, a rebel group, and give Ceda a first and important clue about what is happening in den shadows of the city and how to proceed on her path of revenge.This is a huge story, even if it is just the first book of the series, so of course, I left out a lot. There are a lot of flashbacks to show the critical moments of Ceda’s life and it says something about the author’s ability that they are never annoying or disturbing the flow of events. The same goes for the changes of POVs that widen the scope of the story instead of interrupting the rhythm. Things, people and agendas aren’t what they seem and it’s hard to detect what is what and who is who. Even though I realized the secret about Ceda her mother was hiding rather early on, there were enough startling and unexpected twists and turns to keep me on my toes.I loved the not too familiar setting of the story: Sharakai is a desert city right out of “Arabian Nights”, but with women not being secluded, but accepted warriors. You can feel the heat, the sand everywhere, and smell the scent of the deadly flowers out on the Killing Fields. I also loved the mystery surrounding the kings and their deadliest weapon, a host of scary undead, who are said to have sacrificed themselves to help the kings hundreds of years ago to save the city from attacking tribes. As I said: history was written by the [still living] victors and as Ceda slowly unravels parts of the truth, it’s horrifying. And a great idea. The author had lots of great ideas here, be it for the plot and overall mystery, the politics and machinations or the characters. I love it that there are no clear-cut villains or heroes. People are very human here, even the undead ones and that makes the story so intense and gripping. Since this is the beginning of a series with a lot of background to understand, the first half or so of the book is a bit slow, but not boring, and then things have accelerated in a way that held my glued to the pages.

Bradley is clearly an experienced and capable writer. He introduces his main protagonist – an orphan with a terrible backstory – and little by little, we understand exactly who she is and why she is so driven. Çeda is a really interesting character – initially, she seems yet another sword-waving heroine, who manages to somehow overcome normal female behaviour to give us an unlikely-yet-equally-badass-protag that is rapidly becoming the norm in fantasy novels. I do get a tad exasperated at times by the ease with which these girls get access to expensive weaponry and the training to go with it – but, hey, this is fantasy, right?However, Bradley then devotes a large chunk of this long novel – nearly 600 pages long, though it doesn’t feel like it – to showing us exactly how she has got to where she is. And a hard old road it’s been… Alongside Çeda’s amazing journey, we also follow the fortunes of the young street kid who befriended her and was her partner in mischief for most of their childhood. Emre doesn’t have Çeda’s reckless streak and often feels inadequate that his instinct is to back off just when she surges forward to get stuck in. Though as far as I can see, his is the more intelligent move… He is also on a journey throughout the book, which is mostly dual narrative, charting the different paths these young people take in a brutal society forged by the demands of the desert.Bradley’s world is intricate, vivid and engrossing. I love the layers of society and power he has built against this unforgiving backdrop – and the magical elements are woven in with skill to provide plenty of impact when we finally get to learn what exactly is going on during the holy night of Beht Zha’ir. While there are frequent flashbacks, I didn’t find them jarring, as they helped us to understand the motivation of our two main protagonists, who I became very fond of throughout the book and am looking forward to getting reacquainted with in With Blood upon the Sand. If you enjoy quality epic fantasy set in the heat and drama of a desert backdrop, then this one comes highly recommended.9/10

All too predictable to the point of being boring and that what isn't boringly predictable too complicated to make one curious for the following tale. Especially the salvation "queen" spoiler.

Really interesting book, well written. Read it in two sittings.