Several years back, a certain bookseller named Melissa grabbed my arm and said, “Sarah!  You’ve got to read this!  Now!”  She handed me the galley for THE WARRIOR HEIR, and I put it on my to-be-read pile.  As usual, Melissa was dead-on.  From the moment I started WARRIOR HEIR, I knew this was an author I was going to be reading for a long time to come.  The HEIR books finished up last year, and it’s one of the best contemporary fantasy trilogies I can name.  When I heard Ms. Chima was trying her hand at high fantasy, I was very excited, but a little nervous.  High fantasy is one of those genres where the story either really works, or really doesn’t, and I’ve read my share of both sorts.  It’s always difficult when an author you love starts a new project, and you hope you’ll love it as much as her older work, but there’s a tiny trepidation in the back of your mind that you won’t.

Here’s the bottom line:  THE DEMON KING rocks.

High fantasy is often driven by plot, but at the end of the day, if you don’t fall in love with the main protagonists, it’s game over.  There’s certainly plenty of plot to be had here, from scheming wizards to political chicanery, from street lord wars to ethnic blood feuds, and there’s a rich thousand year history that serves as a glittering backdrop for it all.  While the worldbuilding is lovely, what really seals the deal are her main characters.  Han, a former thief, is trying to reform his criminal ways and take care of his mother and sister.  While riding with his friend Dancer, a clan boy, they encounter a group of wizards setting fire to the grassland.  They engage in a bit of a scuffle, and Han takes an amulet from charmcaster Micah Bayar, who is a bit like the Draco to Han’s Harry.  The amulet turns out to be more than just a family heirloom, as it exhibits terrifying power, and Han knows he must keep it out of the Bayars’ hands.

As Han struggles to figure out what to do with the amulet, the princess heir of the Fells, Raisa, is in the midst of her own personal turmoil.  Her mother, the Queen, is becoming more and more distant, making strange decisions on her behalf, and she is torn between Micah Bayar’s forbidden affections (the princess cannot marry a wizard) and the attention of her handsome friend Amon, who is a member of her personal guard.  As she lived for several years among her father’s clan, she feels cloistered and trapped inside the palace walls, and makes a concerted effort to find out what’s happening in her queendom behind the facade.  Raisa hopes to be like her legendary ancestor, Hanalea, who saved the world by slaying the Demon King.  Her coming of age ceremony looms, however, and that means a potential political marriage, which is a loathsome idea for her.

The novel follows the stories of Han and Raisa, usually swapping every other chapter between their points of view, and somehow Ms. Chima manages to weave their tales together in such a way that five hundred pages simply fly by.  Both Han and Raisa are on a journey to become the adults they are meant to be, and both must find out, often at a price, whom they can trust.  Along the way, Han and Raisa are surrounded by a host of secondary characters, from clansman to princes, and although the supporting cast is quite large, they all fit seamlessly into the framework, making the world of the seven realms seem all the more believable.  Raisa and Han are both in relationships of some romantic degree at various points in the story, and while mature themes are alluded to, there is no explicit content.  (That said, I believe this belongs in the young adult category; make of that what you will.)  My only complaint is that I’m going to have to wait another year for the next installment of this trilogy!  I am thrilled to have a new Chima series to recommend to my customers, and very grateful that both she and Hyperion books have put forth such a strong offering to the high fantasy lovers of the world.

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