ARC Review: The Sun King's Noon, by Briar Niran

 

King Richard of Ardenia knows fear well. The veil is his kingdom's only defence against Gloamvarn—a neighbouring realm of monsters—and it is crumbling.
In a bid to gather allies for the coming war, Richard throws open his court for a grand Summer Ball. As he navigates political wiles and new threats, it becomes hard to hold steady. Harder still, when bitter arguments erupt between him and his devoted knight.
Meanwhile, a long-buried secret threatens to shatter his family and court, and through it all, the Gloam King waits with a smile.

​Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Briar Niran's The Sun King's Noon is the excellent sequel to The Sun King's Dawn (HERE you can read my review). This second book in the quadrilogy doesn't hold back its punches, continuing the tale of asexual king Richard and his struggles both as monarch of a realm in peril and as a man who finds love for the first time and needs to navigate his feelings. As in the first book, his sex-repulsion features heavily and it's handled deftly, detailling the strong feelings of alienation and the first fluttering beats of a romance that he feels he can't have, duty-bound and unwilling to deny affection to his knight. This is done beautifully and delicately, and it's lovely to see such a nuanced exploration of achillean asexuality in a fantasy novel.

For his part, the knight Kaelen also has some maturing to do, and his journey is worth reading. This continues to be a series about strong relationships, both familial and friendship. Richard learns to open up a bit, to seek counsel more, to heed advice; but he's still strong-willed and used to load everything up on his shoulders, with mixed results. He's a flawed character, but they all are: flawed and incredibly human. The complex web of human relationships is further entangled by the introduction of many new characters as Richard reaches for allies against the threat to his kingdom.

The worldbuilding expands with new kingdoms and people, showing complex traditions and still drawing from our own folklore in a way that is fresh and interesting. The looming threat gives urgency to everything, but there are still some lulls of introspection, quiet moments that are very poignant. One particular moment in the second half of the book, a conversation between Richard and a thief, is especially beautiful and brought tears to my eyes.

The villain gets something of a backseat in this book, still appearing in all his menacing self, but not so overtly present as in the first book. This allows for a tighter focus, and for some really spectacular moments towards the end, a much-needed conversation, and a nail-biting finale.

The Sun King's Noon is a great sequel.

✨ 5 stars

 

ARC Review: The Sun King's Dawn, by Briar Niran

 

Burdened with an inability to desire others, King Richard of Ardenia still finds peace in his unruly siblings, his loyal circle, and even in his young knight, Sir Kaelen, whose yearning stares he has spent years ignoring. But when Richard rides to a borderland village to investigate eerie happenings, all peace shatters. The veil containing Gloamvarn, a neighbouring realm filled with fell beasts and unimaginable horrors, is cracking. Sooner or later, it will fall.
As Richard hunts for a way to safeguard his kingdom, Kaelen stays close, a constant, protective presence that stirs a strange tenderness Richard doesn’t dare name. For the monsters have a new ruler. And the tyrant hungers not only for Ardenia. But its king, too.

Thank you to the author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Briar Niran's The Sun King's Dawn is a gorgeous achillean romantasy with the slowest of burns, first volume of a quartet, featuring an asexual king and his loyal knight. Told exclusively from the point of view of the king, the novel is a deft exploration of sex-repulsed asexuality and of how alienating it feels to live in a world where everyone expresses their love through carnality. At the same time, it's a novel about finding out one's own way to express love.

King Richard is a beautiful protagonist, complex in his grief and in his belief to be defective. He fiercely loves his siblings, and puts their well-being over his own more than a few times. His loyal knight shines bright with fealty and honor and with the kind of all-encompassing love that the bards sing about, but to the king it's anathema, and source of endless embarrassment and disgust, despite holding deep affection and trust for the knight. This creates a very interesting dynamic that promises to become much more intricate as the series goes on, without the need to somehow "fix" the King.

The worldbuilding and writing might be deemed simple, but they hold up very well, creating the perfect backdrop for the story. This is a secondary world with many creatures from our legends and a basic magical system, but the way it all blends is quite nicely done; the kingdom of the vampire-like creatures especially comes to mind, and there's some really horrifying moments linked to the overall threat of the book, a coming corruption of the flesh. In that regard, threat of sexual violence is also present, but handled expertly in a sensitive manner.

The main villain is perfectly villainous and quite disgusting in his pursuit, while his motivations may at first feel at least partly justified. We feel Richard's despair and horror as the book goes on and the villain's leery overtures become more and more explicit and terrifying. The rest of the cast holds up very well; Richard's three siblings are all well developed, and especially his kid sister is a delight.

The Sun King's Dawn is a perfect first installment.

✨ 5 stars