Reign of Madness: King's Dark Tidings, Book 2

What an amazing book! I loved the story, and the depth of the characters was fantastic! I can not wait for the next book to come out!!

Okay, deep breath. Reign of Madness was a superb sequel to Free the Darkness and I’m still riding the emotional high off the ending, so this review might be a little more of a fan-fest than usual. Kel Kade’s storytelling ability has exceeded all of my expectations, which I must admit were not that high before beginning the series. I’m always skeptical when I see books with many positive reviews that haven’t been mentioned by fellow Fantasy lovers. I figure someone else has to have read it if it were good, right? WRONG. This book- the series, really- is so much fun to read and I’ve not heard anyone else rave about it!As soon as I finished the first book, I downloaded Reign of Madness and went back about my business whilst ignoring people to the best of my ability. After all the action in FtD, RoM may seem slow by comparison. There’s considerably more dialogue between the characters, which is great because it allows the reader to get to know and love the new additions to the cast as well as serving the purpose of fleshing out the world, culture, and political climate. There were some parts where I briefly wished everyone would stop their yapping and pillage a town or kill some bandits. This book was almost a strategic info dump because it expounds so much on the “Outworld” as Rezkin so refers to the world outside of the fortress he was raised in. It fills in many of the gaps that were sort of noticeable in the first installment, and needed to be remedied for the plot to have merit and I think Kel Kade did an admirable job.The story was packed with emotion, which more or less made up for the serious lack of battles in the first half. The group of characters, now expanded to include Frisha’s cousins and several other nobles, is travelling to the King’s Tournament in Skutten, where great swordsmen and women from all lands gather to compete. Rezkin is trying to find answers, but clearly the most accomplished sword master in all the realms cannot forgo such an opportunity to further his own agendas. There’s a good deal of intrigue going on here and Rezkin is doing that thing where he doesn’t let his friends in on his secrets. Not all of them anyways, and perhaps not the most important of all- Frisha. That poor girl is left alone wondering what he could be doing, and while he doesn’t lie to her outright he lets her make assumptions and that is dangerous. This kind of thing leads to betrayal!!!! See Pierce Brown’s Red Rising trilogy for examples.All in all this was a great sequel but I feel I can’t quite give it full marks. The events had huge significance, but it felt like the whole thing was a preamble to the third book- one giant set up. I was also disappointed to find that “the Raven” was barely present at all during this book, especially after all his hard work dominating the criminal underworld. That too will likely play a very large role in the third book and I do look forward to seeing how all that plays out. Once again Nick Podehl did a great job on narration. So great in fact that I wished Rezkin would have pushed Shiela Jebai off the ship because she was a horror and her voice was equally obnoxious!

It’s pure, unadulterated power fantasy but with more heart than I could ever imagine. It is just so unbelievably refreshing to read a story of one who has pure power over everything but cares so deeply about everyone above himself that it creates a unique tension I have never experienced.

Intriguing story with good character development. Enjoying the series and looking forward to the next book to see how the story emerges

Book 2 of the King’s Dark Tidings is like the great movies of the 50’s and 60’s, those movies didn’t have computer generated graphics and special effects, what made them great was a good plot and great acting. Those actors had to sell their part and engage in meaningful dialogue with well developed characters. KDT has this in spades, well done Mr. Kade.

If you're reading reviews for "Reign of Madness," you've probably already read "Free the Darkness," the first book in the series.Well, this book is just as good as the first one. So if you enjoyed "Free the Darkness," stop reading and buy the book.Over Labor Day weekend I read the first book in 24 hours and enjoyed it so much I dove into the second one, which I also read in 24 hours. I couldn't put it down. The editing was solid. The author is not redefining the genre, but he is writing an enjoyable story. As I said in my review for "Free the Darkness," it's not "Lord of the Rings" or "Game of Thrones," but like the Fast and Furious franchise, it's a damn good ride.If I had to pick a theme for the story, it would be friendship. The main character, Rezkin, meets new friends and learns more about friendships, which is something he never had growing up. And many of the new characters were multi-dimensional enough to keep the story moving along.What I found disappointing were the female characters, especially Rezkin's relationship with his "Girl Friend," Frisha. In the second book, many of the female characters were one dimensional, including Frisha. Although Rezkin further developed as a charactor by learning about friendship, his relationship with Frisha is lacking. They share little alone time and Rezkin's feelings toward Frisha come across as more as if he is pursuing a marriage of convenience. I hope in book three the relationship becomes more personal and Rezkin begins to learn about love.Just with book one, my biggest complaint about the book is the abrupt ending. A better ending could have included a touching scene with Rezkin talking privately with Frisha.

Generally, when the main character is too strong, the author tries to make up the lack of satisfying progression with humor. There is some great humor in the series, but the string is a generally dark time. No, what rezkin lacked inn profession, Kel Kade made back up in progression of minor characters and further development from rezkin’s feelings after being exposed to society. I honestly would have never thought that this formula would work, as in books that come from the perspective of many different people, I tend to skip pages or entire stories just to get to the more interesting characters. But Kel Kade really did even out on how much progression each minor character got, and thus made their perspective more interesting since it feels like another good book that has ties to the main storyline. The development in rezkins ability of empathy is also a nice touch, since it shows how he went from stone hearted to starting to melt out. 10/5 stars if I could.

The first of these bike is really funny, there are so many misunderstandings and total lack of general understanding.This book is different, the hero has a mission and suddenly understands exactly how to achieve it, despite not understanding the rem friendship...Both books are really good fun, but neither are 'standard' fantasy books.The next one won't be either, I'm sure.I have been involved in a bit of an argument with other reviewers about whether or not these books are good. My point of view is that they aren't real fantasy books, they are comedy books in as fantasy setting. I've really enjoyed them, they are good fun. I also hate the kind of fantasy books that simply pander to the genetic tropes.If you can see how these books Nick those troops, you'll enjoy them. If you can't see past those tropes, then they will annoy the B'Jesus out of you.Be honest with yourself. ( they're great.. )

Loved it!!I have often found that book 2 of many trilogy's I've read to be a disappointment, and nothing more than a build up the third book. However Reign of Madness, for me, was a superior book to the first although the first was very good.Admittedly the first few chapters are slow to get going, but then the main characters are all stuck on a boat so not like there's a great deal to happen. After the first quarter of the book though the pace races along and the character development and storyline are great. There's perhaps less of a 'dark' side to Rezkin in this book in terms of his dealings with the criminal gangs and recruitment under him as with the first, though we do see a cunning and ruthless side still.The only downside as such for me, like many others, is the interaction of every female character - they all fall head over heels for Rezkin and all make plays for him irrespective of their station or role. Surely there can be strong / interesting female characters without them all having to swoon and go weak at the knees whenever they see Rezkin?! For me this is poor on the part of the author and why I can't give 5 stars.Aside from that I loved the book and can't wait for the 3rd book.

I really enjoyed this book as the follow up to our first introduction to Rezkin in Free the Darkness. Rezkin develops more as a character in this novel and you begin to see a bit more of a human side that was lacking in the first book, albeit that the darkness of his character still comes through.Having begun to build up an increasing number of Friends, Rezkin and his compatriots choose to attend the King's tournament. The first few chapters are slow in building up as the characters begin their journey, but things quickly begin to speed up as Rezkin's machinations fall into place.The story culminates in an interesting way and sets the scene nicely for the third book to be a real step up in scope from the this novel and the first.Overall, the only minor annoyance is the occasional typo, and the fact that every female character seems to fall in love with Rezkin immediately and this influences all of their interactions from then on. This does not detract too much from the story, however it is a slightly bizarre common thread between this book and the previous one that seems to serve no real purpose.I thoroughly recommend this book and look forward to reading the third.

At the age of 23 I found myself on board a plane(I am now 65 years young) bound for Czechoslovakia to start a job.With the prospect of a long and boring fight I bought my first book since childhood and I settled down to read my first fantasy book about dragons on planet called Pern that was me smitten to the hundreds of fantasy books since. McCaffrey The Crystal Singers and.Ships who sang. Gemmell The Drenai Series, Druss the Leggend Waylander . For the last few years I have struggled to find a Author with the spell binding effect of the afore mentioned Authors but I have found him at last Kel Kade Author off Free The Darkness The Reignf Madness (Kings Dark Tidings) both of them have had that spell binding effect that keeps you rivetted to then both till the very last page.Bring on the net one.

Hi everyone. I really hope you give this series a go. After finishing the first i immediatly brought this book and Kel Kade has done a fantastic job of keeping me hooked. Honestly, i don't find it as intense a read as some of my favourites. It's not on the level of blood song for example. But i would compare the series to riyria chronicles. A well written, well paced, highly enjoyable easy read with a great story line and plot development. And still a bit of humour splashed around here and there. I've used this series as a time filler waiting for other books to be released but i think it will join my favourites library and is definitly worth a re-read. Thanks.