The Fall of Kings reviewed by Harriet Klausner




Book Image   The Fall of Kings by Ellen Kushner & Delia Sherman  
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Bantam,
ISBN: 0553381849

Five hundred years ago, the Northern King led his mighty army buttressed by the fifteen powerful wizards to the Kingdom of the South for a marriage that obligated the two rival nations to merge into one country. As the years past, nobles wanting more power kill the king and his cadre of wizards. Replacing the monarchy with the Council of Lords, this select aristocracy rules the land without opposition for two centuries censoring any discussions about wizards or magic and anyone if caught would be found guilty of treason, the penalty is execution.

Perhaps it is complacency on the part of the council or just the simple thirst for knowledge, but for the first time in the two hundred year reign of the noble council, rumors abound that shortly the magic will return. The Council acts quickly to end any real or imagined threat to their power by the restoration of the monarchy. They send spies to the University to ascertain if anyone is committing sedition so that if the answer is yes they can eliminate the treat before it takes seed. The undercover investigation leads to History Professor Basis St. Cloud, a firm believer that the magic of the wizards was real and not a flimflam game to fool kings. He believes proof lies with finding the lost Book of the King's Wizards. The other potential troublemaker is a traitor to the nobles as he is one of their own, Thereon Campion, heir to the Duchy of Tremontaine. Are these two men the forerunners of a new age of reason based on a monarchy or just idle fools fated to die if remote evidence proves they are heretics? Either way neither one will find life remaining as they know it.

THE FALL OF KINGS looks like medieval Europe with a twist or two besides the obvious question whether magic once existed. For instance the nobles do not just eke out a Magna Carter from the king, but eliminate the monarchy by killing the ruler. In the king s place, the Council establishes a form of an oligopoly that applies censorship to insure no one even whispers words of wizardry or magic without dying. Still with this powerfully vivid background, the story line belongs to a deep three dimensional cast. The professor is not heroic material, but just a man of learning trying to prove his theory on wizards using magic and not trickery is genuine. He sort of reminds the audience of the scientists in Planet of the Apes seeking the truth though the opposition will do anything to silence them or in this case him. Teran is caught between two worlds as he is clearly a product of his times as part the nobility, but the monarchy, if he lives long enough, seems within his grasp or at least it seems so like King James just prior to Culloden. Finally, the nobles will do anything including kill innocents to remain in power. With that ensemble coming together in an epic story line, Ellen Kushner and Della Sherman eases the tension with political infighting at the university that reflects the greater society of a place in which no one, including the in-crowd, dare step out of their preordained role if they want to live. THE FALL OF KINGS is a triumphant fantasy that feels so real one must wonder whether this writing duo is social science professors at that Northern University.

Copyright © 2003Harriet Klausner All Rights Reserved.