Free the Darkness: King's Dark Tidings, Book 1

This is one of my favorites of all time. Def in my top 3 fantasy books. I have kindle and audiobook copies and I can’t recommend either enough. Narrator does a fantastic job. I listen or re-read at least once a year!This book has great characters, plot, mystery, world building, writing, etc. The story manages to balance it all beautifully and keeps you immersed in this world and in Rezkin’s journey. I will say none of the rest of the series captures the humor of this first book but they do not disappoint.

I picked this book up on a whim and even though it has glaring flaws I am still giving it a 4/5 because the book held my interest despite the fact that I can recognize the flaws. I have included what I thought these flaws were and why I thought they did not override the strength of the book as a whole. People may feel differently but I still think it was a great read and worth the time. Can't wait for the third book in the series.1) The main character is perfect. Literally. He is the best in every subject known to man and incredibly attractive to the point where every female in the book throws themselves at him. HOWEVER, he is raised in an environment with little to no human interaction aside from his lessons and suffers from a lot of misunderstandings as he meets people and gets to know the world around him. Often times his perspective on a conversation is completely different than the person he is talking to because he does not have basic emotional knowledge to understand how they expect him to be feeling. This particular trait makes it easier to look past his perfection because the reader is amused at the misunderstandings he feels and also a little hopeful as he begins to learn basic emotional connection albeit slowly.2) The females in the story all throw themselves at Rezkin. Although this can get annoying, it does not in anyway signify that the female characters do not have their own distinct traits. Every female in the book is starkly different from the next and they each have their own faults and strengths.3) The first book does not seem to have much of a goal aside from Rezkin struggling to find what his purpose is and what he is meant to do after being so heavily trained for his entire life. For people that were disappointed in this I would suggest reading the second book because Rezkin find himself heavily mixed up in the political machinations of his country and a direction for his purpose is found/4)This isn't really a flaw but it should be pointed out regardless. The fight scenes are beautifully written. If nothing else can be said for this book it is that I am always given a crystal clear picture of what is happening during the fights. The author does not struggle with writing action in the least.

This is one of my favorite books of all time!With a storyline and world that are so in depth you can picture every last detail, only topped by the characters themselves.On par with David Gem smells best, and he's my favorite author of all time...

Good storytelling here, with bit of humor and lots of action. The only character that gets a full development is the main character, but that's OK - this is just the first in a series. The premise is probably the best part - super assassin trained almost from birth, treated brutally, experiences no human kindness, trained to exhibit social skills but it is all an act, as he has no direct knowledge of human society. But most importantly - he's utterly obedient and utterly unaware of his ultimate purpose. This is required, because his final instructions, told to him by his last, dying master, get somewhat garbled and that's the basis of most of the humor in the book. So instead of protecting and honoring his "king," he's to protect and honor his "friends." The problem is he doesn't know what a "friend" IS, but he heads out in the world and tries to fulfill his "mission" as best he can. Unfortunately for him, the outside world does not operate according to rules he understands, and it all gets a bit...complicated. And funny.I really liked this book, but there are a couple of places where I had to suspend disbelief a bit more than I liked. While I can believe that the main character is superb at acting socialized, while being a cold blooded killer in reality, he really isn't cold blooded enough to pull off this plot device. Secondly, he runs into trouble based on the fact that, unbeknownst to him, he is a complete hunk, and every young woman who meets him melts in his presence, leaving him constantly confused. That makes for great humor - but, after a while you get the impression that all females are shallow and in truth the female characters get very little development. That said, this could easily be rectified in later episodes.Oh - and if you simply can't stand bad editing, don't get this book. It is horrendous. Spelling errors from page one on.There's a lot more to the plot than I've described here, by the way. And it's all told well. I'll most certainly be picking up the next book in the series.

Phenomenal start to a great series. While the action is great the character development (over the entire series) is what keeps you around!

Kel Lade ist brilliantDieses Buch fesselt von der ersten Seite an, du könnte es nicht aus der Hand legen. Der held, exzellent ausgearbeitet, jemand den man erst kennen lernt beim lesen. Auch der plot, ich gehe hier nicht ins Detail. Das sollte man selber entdecken.Ich für meinen Teil werde bei Band weiterlesen.Und es gibt Gott sei dank.insgesamt fünf Bücher über diesen ungewöhnlichen Helden.

Very enjoyable series, lots of twists & turns for the characters! Very entertaining!

This book is a masterpiece, I would put it alongside some of the greatest stories written in the last 10 years, Kel Kade has the storytelling of a Brandon Sanderson and the ability of involving you in an ever-changing story in such a deep and profound way.I read all 5 of the books, in about 2 weeks, with a few 18+ hours reading on weekends.I simply cannot recommend it enough, it is, brilliant.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the world that had been created, the characters (I too spent the book batting my eyelashes at Rezkin), and the progression of the plot which unfolds gradually from an intriguing beginning. The dialogue is excellent. I would have liked a bit more description of terrain, cities, surroundings generally, however that is just a personal preference. I particularly enjoyed sharing Rezkin’s growing understanding of who he is, as we see things through his eyes. I was emotionally involved with the characters and I was impressed with the author’s skill as he had me chuckling with delight on a few occasions.The author was let down by his proof-reader, who missed (and should have corrected) the following errors of language:‘foreboding fortress’ should be ‘forbidding fortress’ (‘foreboding’ is a noun)‘worn both openly and secreted’ should be ‘work both openly and secretly’‘Never did he consider not returning’ should be more accurately expressed as ‘He had not considered that he might not return’‘All the dread and struggles … had finally pooled together’ better expressed as ‘All the dread and struggles … had finally coalesced’‘like a viper he sprung back’ should be ‘like a viper he sprang back’‘T-shaped corridor juncture’ should be ‘corridor junction’‘No-one had seen fit to tell him what that purpose was’ should be ‘tell him what that purpose had been’‘not to mention he did not have a broom’ should be ‘not to mention the fact that he did not have a broom’‘Thusly, he decided to enter’ should be ‘Therefore he decided to enter’‘the man acted pleasant enough’ should be ‘the man acted pleasantly enough’ (‘pleasantly’ is an adverb, describing a verb)‘Rezkin imaged that all of those patrons’ should be ‘Rezkin imagined that all of those patrons’‘The men startled’ should be ‘The men were startled’ or ‘The men started’‘You had already proven yourself’ should be ‘You had already proved yourself’ (‘proven’ is a legal term declaring guilt)‘Benni shrunk into himself’ should be ‘Benni shrank into himself’‘no compunctions with’ should be ‘no compunction with’‘cause undo upset’ should be ‘cause undue upset’‘claim the upper hand from’ should be ‘claim the upper hand over’‘snatched the parchment from the man’s wary hand’ should be ‘unwary hand’‘was comprised of three rooms’ should be simply ‘comprised three rooms’‘I need you prepared to take his place’ should be ‘I need you to be prepared to take his place’‘your father has forfeit his life’ should be ‘your father has forfeited his life’‘it was accomplished easy enough’ should be ‘it was accomplished easily enough’ (‘easily’ is an adverb describing a verb)‘the deckhands all fit into one berth’ should be ‘the deckhands all fitted into one berth’‘Rezkin slinked through the dark’ should be ‘slunk through the dark’‘to not only carry their rider’ should be ‘not only to carry their rider’ (best not to split the infinitive in two)similarly ‘I want you to always be with me’ should be ‘I want you always to be with me’ or ‘I want you to be with me always (best not to split the infinitive in two)ditto ‘come to at least trust’ should be ‘at least come to trust’ or ‘come at least to trust’‘how proper he had acted’ should be ‘how properly he had acted’ (‘properly’ is an adverb)similarly ‘how gracious and noble he behaved’ should be ‘how graciously and nobly he behaved’‘something of interest must lay up there’ should be ‘something of interest must lie up here’ or ‘must have lain up there’‘Rezkin allowed himself into the apartment’ should be ‘Rezkin let himself into the apartment’‘the General lead the way to the dining room’ should be ‘the General led the way to the dining room’

J'ai beaucoup aimé comment l'auteur sait montrer qu'une situation, des sentiments, des paroles peuvent être interprétés très différemment en fonction du contexte.Nous découvrons un jeune homme qui a des capacités incroyables, un maître assassin, qui a cependant un esprit pur et ingénu pour avoir été tenu à l'écart de la société pendant son éducation. Son interprétation du monde résulte de quiproquos et parfois, je n'ai pas pu retenir un éclat de rire.C'est très bien vu, amusant, et dépaysant. Je passe vite au tome 2 !