Match Book
The Ruin of Kings
Jenn Lyons
2019 · Fantasy
How it reads
The Ruin of Kings is fantasy (epic fantasy, specifically), and its dominant mood is dark. It goes to difficult places and doesn't look away. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.
It's set in an invented world, in no single period, told in the first person by several narrators. Its central concerns are identity, power and politics and family. In weight it's heavy and literary — denser, more serious, and more demanding of you.
It opens a series. It ends on a cliffhanger, so have the next book ready. It's a long book, and a real commitment. It's moderately known: read by plenty of people, but not a household name.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something dark
- you want something to chew on
- you like disappearing into an invented world
Maybe not if…
- you need something cosy, heartwarming or funny
- you hate waiting for a sequel
- you want something you can finish this weekend
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- fantasy
- Author gender
- female
- Author experience
- early career
- Setting: place
- fictional world
- Setting: time
- timeless or multiple
- Mood / feeling
- dark
- Pace
- moderate
- Tone / weight
- heavy and literary
- Length
- long
- Narrative style
- first person, several narrators
- Publication era
- recent
- Popularity
- moderately known
- Series vs standalone
- first in a series
- Themes
- identity, power and politics, family
- Ending style
- cliffhanger
What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.
Books with a similar reading
The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.
A Dance with DragonsGeorge R.R. MartinShares: fantasy, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, epic fantasy
The Hundred Thousand KingdomsN. K. JemisinShares: fantasy, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace
The Price of SpringDaniel AbrahamShares: fantasy, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, epic fantasy- The Traitor Baru CormorantSeth DickinsonShares: fantasy, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace
Gardens of the MoonSteven EriksonShares: fantasy, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace
The Dragonbone ChairTad WilliamsShares: fantasy, heavy and literary tone, epic fantasy, moderate pace
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