After meeting Cinda Williams Chima at the recent SCBWI conference in L.A., I was embarrassed to realize that it had taken me almost a year to get around to reading one of her books. I had attended a workshop she gave in Ohio last year and put her books on my to-read list then, and had never managed to find the time. So I remedied the situation immediately - and solved the problem of what to do on the flight back from L.A. in one fell swoop - by downloading The Demon King onto my iPod. I was torn between which of her two acclaimed series to start with, but the Seven Realms received much stronger ratings re the audiobook narrator. I know that's probably not a great basis for choosing a book, but in the end I wasn't disappointed. The narrator of the book was great despite an inability to pronounce the word "plait" correctly!
The book is a masterful achievement in world-building and setting the scene for a detailed epic fantasy tale. The author does a masterful job of introducing a large cast of characters and settings without confusing the reader. I managed to stay engaged with all the different characters and their stories, despite the fact that I often find this difficult within the epic fantasy genre. Chima also does a great job of creating the history and demon lore that is necessary to the story and again it's riveting rather than boring or confusing. I enjoyed listening to this story as an audiobook and letting it wash over me, but I'm sure reading the text version would be equally engaging. (When I'm on a long flight, sometimes I just have to close my eyes and listen.)
I will definitely be picking up the rest of this series and may even revert to reading the actual text versions although I must say I really did like the narrator for Book 1. This book leaves a lot of questions up in the air and puts the chess pieces in place for the next segment of the adventure, but I still had a strong sense of closure as well as anticipation. In other words, despite being the first in a longer series I wasn't annoyed or disappointed at having too many threads of the story left hanging. Really great fantasy story.
The book is a masterful achievement in world-building and setting the scene for a detailed epic fantasy tale. The author does a masterful job of introducing a large cast of characters and settings without confusing the reader. I managed to stay engaged with all the different characters and their stories, despite the fact that I often find this difficult within the epic fantasy genre. Chima also does a great job of creating the history and demon lore that is necessary to the story and again it's riveting rather than boring or confusing. I enjoyed listening to this story as an audiobook and letting it wash over me, but I'm sure reading the text version would be equally engaging. (When I'm on a long flight, sometimes I just have to close my eyes and listen.)
I will definitely be picking up the rest of this series and may even revert to reading the actual text versions although I must say I really did like the narrator for Book 1. This book leaves a lot of questions up in the air and puts the chess pieces in place for the next segment of the adventure, but I still had a strong sense of closure as well as anticipation. In other words, despite being the first in a longer series I wasn't annoyed or disappointed at having too many threads of the story left hanging. Really great fantasy story.
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