Review of Kings or Pawns (Steps of Power: The Kings Book I)

JJ Sherwood is a new author, which was something a bit outside of my reading comfort zone and I decided for good or bad I needed my literary boundaries to be pushed. Kings or Pawns is Sherwood's first novel in the Steps of Power series, but is it a good start to a series and her career as an author? I tried to view this novel in two ways: on its own merits and if it sets up a story I want to continue reading. Within those areas I focused on storytelling and world building.

Kings or Pawns starts off with a battle between the Elven General Likun and the rebel general Saebellus. The battle itself is a marginal win for the general and does a good job setting up that the antagonist (Sebellus) is a more than capable foe. The story then shifts to the new elven king, Hairem, who is untested and young. The monarchy is weak by the designs of the council, whose machinations at best seem to improve their own lots and not the kingdom. King Heiram wants to do better, however doing better is not always perfect and that is the root of the plot.

I will avoid any spoilers barring minor examples from Kings or Pawns as I believe you should experience the novel yourself. You may agree with me, you might not... I'd rather offer encouragement or warning than tell you what to do. Likewise Sherwood lays a lot of groundwork for not only the endpoints for this novel, but the set up for future novels in Steps of Power. It would be disrespectful for a review to ruin her work as an author while spoiling the experience for a potential reader.

Storytelling

JJ Sherwood is a new author and writing a high fantasy series. I was curious to see how she handled story depth, high concepts and tying it all together. As the novel progressed she took a while to find her voice and establish her characters, what came quicker to me was the ambitious plotting she was doing. Things she was writing did matter across the span of Kings or Pawns and there was not a lot of dead air in the novel. Likewise her storytelling is firmly meant for adult readers, which I appreciated. Nothing felt egregious, the violence, sex and mirth felt genuine and not shocking or forced.

The first eight chapters of Kings or Pawns could have been a little tighter from character development but plot elements start clicking into place which helped cadence and footing as a writer and the novel took off less than two handfuls of chapters in. What is apparent in Sherwood's story telling is that she wastes little information in conveying her plot. You will know it is important, but not always why. She does a very good job of tying together information but not telegraphing what these elements mean. The plot elements were not always what I anticipated, which I very much enjoyed. The last thing I want is predictability and she delivers some excellent plot elements that not only resolve Kings or Pawns but deftly set up the subsequent novels.

An element of Sherwood's story telling I greatly enjoyed was that you were dropped into the middle of events on the continent of Sevrigel. Had she started at the beginning of the story, it would not have mired down the plot. She does a good job of providing the information of past events as you require them as a reader. There remain tantalizing tidbits of information that she inserts into the plot. For example there is discussion about Asmodius, what is the deal with the assassins weird proclivities and why did the True Blood Elves really leave?

An impression I had in Sherwood's storytelling is that role playing games were an inspiration for the the plot. Doing some legwork the author is very much into gaming and cosplay, so this does not seem like a radical assumption on my part. The reference to Asmodius pointed me in that direction initially. Likewise encounters with monsters, a demon, references to dragons all give an RPG fantasy element and not as much of a literary element. I viewed this as an entirely good thing and provided a different texture to a high fantasy novel.

Where I think sometimes the RPG inspired narrative ran into minor difficulties was that some of the text felt more like something a dungeon master would say and rather than a descriptive text in a novel. Hairem's carriage ride to an estate early in the novel had that kind of feel. There might have been an opportunity to flesh out some of the transition parts of the novel to describe the world she has built. More text about the city of Elvorium would have been good, I felt that perhaps a little too much was left to the imagination.

This might have been a slight detriment to the novel, particularly early on, there were a few early parts that would have been at home around the gaming table but could have used more polish for a novel. The carriage ride and dinner scene Hairem has early on felt that way to me. It felt like a dungeon master describing a scene in a session and I think it could have been used as a vehicle to better describe the city of Elvorium for example.

Early on in Kings or Pawns, I think there was a struggle to differentiate the initial characters for both points of view and actions. Navon, Heiram and Likun all have similarities that I think would have been better served by having more delineation between them earlier. Sometimes the dialogue and points of view became a bit blurred between the characters. Likewise I felt sometimes in action sequences that it was a little hard to keep track of what the characters were doing. There were several times I had to re-read passages to make sure I understood the details of what was happening, which broke up the reading flow.

That said, one of my favorite characters which is present from the start is the mute handmaiden Alvena. She is a very well-crafted (and truth be told was my favorite) character in the novel. As the plot progresses Sherwood does find better footing with her characters as events help differentiate them and their points of view. Likewise, as new characters are introduced there is a firmer line between them. In this case Sherwood does a good job of not over informing the reader and slowing the pace of the plot.

The quality of writing decidedly improves across the span of Gods or Kings, but what is evident is that Sherwood's best writing qualities shine through with thoughtful plotting. She does an exemplary job tying plot elements together in Kings or Pawns and kicking forward elements for future novels. Things happen for a reason and she does not telegraph the plot twists. When these twists hit they make sense are very well played out. I had a few ideas about the overall plot and any of them would have been decent directions to take Kings or Pawns. I was surprised and she chose a very nuanced plot and supported it with a deftly crafted plot. It was not at all what I expected and that took the novel up a notch for me. This kind of foundation is something either authors have or they do not. She does have it and that thoughtfulness is echoed through the world build in the novel.

World Building

The world Sherwood builds has a past and she conveys the right amount of information explaining past events that are important to the story. There are certainly nuggets left here or there in the novel I would have genuinely liked to read more about, but that may come in later novels or not. Either case they add nice details to her world. Her deft wrapping of history into the novel, as the reader requires it, helps maintain a good pace within Kings or Pawns. This is no small feat as it is not an 800 page opus whose weight could stun an ox. The use of history to drive the plot was a really great choice and one of the things I genuinely appreciate about her world building and writing.

Sherwood takes the time to give information about the languages and pronunciation of words. I think a little more detail on the elven people might have been a good addition even if it were sentence such as the Darivalian are elves of the frozen north who are considered to be stoic and horrible poets. This small bit of information would have helped explain the elven culture and differentiate them with a greater ease and provided the reader some guidance on how to see the major race of the novel. The map of Sevrigel it is drawn by the author herself and is one of the better maps I have seen in any fantasy novel. It has a feel of an RPG map and I appreciated that. These are great indicators that the world she is writing about has been thought through and as the novel progresses this becomes very apparent.

Kings or Pawns primarily focuses on the elves of the world... and there are a lot of them. As noted above there are many types of elves and Sherwood drops information about them as you go along. More interestingly is there are several other groups of elves that are on the outside looking in. Which is a tantalizing thing and potentially very interesting if that is important in later novels. The elves that are outlined are with fairly solid lines. The Darivalian are like wood elves, save they have an ice and water aspect to them. Likewise the elves of Elvorium would be like Roman high elves, they are the center of the elven world and know it... and their culture permeates across the other elves. It is refreshing to see Sherwood present elves not as some single entity but rather a collection of elven races that have different elements to them.

A great take on there being many kinds of elves and how a long lived race might view itself is a conversation between the captain of the guard Erallus and an adventuring type elf named Itirel. The captain of the guard notes that Itirel bears strong resemblance to a Noc'olarian hero and is convinced that is the case. Itirel notes that perhaps all Noc'olarian elves look alike to the captain and that he simply has not met many of them. That is not quite the same as denying the captain was correct and an appreciable nuance.

Other races are in Sherwood's setting of Sevrigel. Humans are the noteable other race though their appearances are infrequent but their culture is discussed more. While elves are pretty and everyone else is less so is a long held fantasy standard, Sherwood has one of the better takes as she keeps that POV from the view of the elves and it is less haughty and more matter of fact. What is normally a race not covered in any fantasy novel centaurs are also involved in the plot and I thought Sherwood did a good job making sure they were not humans with four legs. Sherwood does not go into greater depths than she has to about the other races. I was okay with that as it would not have added to the plot and hopefully these gaps represent direction for later novels.

The magic in Kings or Pawns is evident, but there is not a lot of detail in how it works or whom can practice such arts. Several characters have the skill and it is implied at least some magic can be learned. Likewise even characters that have magical ability do not necessarily have a depth of knowledge in the field. While I would have liked to understand how magic works the perspective in the novel is that some people have it and barring necromancy it seems accepted and a way of the world. That I think matches up with the RPG feel the setting has.

The overall feel of the world Sherwood has built is that it is one inspired from RPG campaigns, which I think worked in her favor. I think a lot of game inspired fiction falls flat or has some expectations the limit an author's narrative or world building. Sherwood avoids these traps and I think sets off on a different course than other RPG inspired novels. I would say this moves her in a direction like Steven Eriksen or Raymond Feist who build very successful franchises from their RPG experiences.

Where I think Sherwood differentiates herself is that her world is deep and detailed to a point where someone else could have their own adventures in it as there is a feeling that there is a lot of space for other people to play in it and interact with the novel's characters only if the group really wanted to. It feels accessible and I score a lot of points for an RPG inspired novel for that.

Barring wanting a sliver more of upfront information in the glossary, my only quibble about the world building was the use inconsistent measurements. Metric and standard are both used in the novel which should be one or the other. This is a pretty small thing to pick at and just a minor oversight. One small cog in a giant machine of world building.

The Final Grade

In Kings or Pawns JJ Sherwood shows more than a little promise as a fantasy author. While there are some narrative elements that could have used a touch more polish and smoothing out she tells a good story and her writing gets stronger as the novel progresses. Her narrative is layered on top of a very tight plot. She ties together her plot elements and in turn throws them forward to the next novel in Steps of Power. The plot is built upon a world that is very well thought out and has a deep history of its own.

JJ Sherwood shows a lot of promise in Kings or Pawns, particularly in things that cannot be learned and that is organizing plot and world creation. She does a good job of telling what you need to know and when in regards to the world itself. Perhaps more pages dedicated to establishing characters and making them more distinct earlier would have been beneficial.

From a gaming angle, I think Kings or Pawns is not only an excellent example of building a literary high fantasy world, it is one a group could play in outside the boundaries of the story Sherwood is telling. It will be very interesting to see more of it fleshed out as the series progresses thus providing a bigger stage for a gaming group. Though even what we are shown, there is plenty for a group to grab a hold of and adventure.

Kings or Pawns is a great read by itself as the novel is satisfyingly concluded, but it also shows promise that the Steps of Power series will be a fun read. Sherwood uses a deft hand to take the plot elements from this novel and carry them forward to the next. I was left wanting more from this promising new author who has earned a spot on my bookshelf.

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As a disclosure, the author JJ Sherwood provided me with a review copy of the novel Kings or Pawns. This in no way shifted my review one way or the other, I heap praise or scorn as warranted. Thankfully in this case it was the former and not the later.

Additionally I am a long time reviewer on RPG.net (well above a hundred reviews since the late-ish 90's), I have changed handles to align with other writing I do.