Though it lacks the violence characteristic of Joe Abercrombie and Richard K. Morgan, the sheer nihilism of Mr. Kearney's Monarchies of God makes it unquestionably one of the most darkly riveting series of epic fantasy I've ever read. Originally published in five, modestly sized volumes, it has been reprinted in a two part omnibus edition which sucks the reader down into a world modelled on Renaissance Europe rendered in all its gritty glory.
On the continent of Normannia, peace has been, until recently, more or less maintained through a loose alliance of five kingdoms knitted together by political ties and by a common religion which, since its rise some six centuries earlier, has grown in pomp and power. But now two events have shattered the peace and thrown Normannia into chaos. The first of these is external. The Merduk armies, the military force of a distant sultanate resembling the Ottoman empire, has poured into Normannia and shattered one of the continent's greatest cities. The ripple effects from this disaster leads to the second, internal event, the panicking of the Ramusian (read Christian) church which has decided to fight this existential threat by rounding up the continent's magic users and throwing them into mass pyres in a systematic attempt to exterminate the Dweomer, or magical talent, from the continent. But this burning does nothing to improve Ramusian fortunes which worsen when, in reaction to the rumored death of the Pope, a power-hungry cardinal is raised to the church's highest office, a promotion which divides the five kingdoms into two camps, one siding with the new pope and the other siding with the old, the blind Macrobius, who has been saved from the Merduk invasion by Corfe, a young soldier who believes his wife dead at Merduk hands.
In this intense and multi-faceted tale, the narrative primarily focuses on two main protagonists. Richard Hawkwood is a sea captain who returns to Normannia from a recent voyage only to find the Ramusian purge in full swing. Disgusted by this display of zealous ignorance, captain Hawkwood accepts a commission from his king to sail a powerful nobleman and his entourage west, away from Normannia and towards a fabled continent upon which the nobleman, Murad, intends to establish a colony. Neither Hawkwood nor Murad realize, though, that the expedition has been packed with fleeing magicians who are hoping for a new start away from the purges. Meanwhile, Corfe, the aforementioned soldier, shattered by the loss of his wife, delivers Macrobius from peril before going some way to assuaging his guilt for fleeing the Merduk invasion by mounting a spirited defense at Ormann Dyke, now the primary fortress standing between the Merduk armies and penetration into the heart of Normannia. But when even Ormann Dyke falls, Corfe has to flee again, this time back to his native kingdom where, in rallying the defenses there, he takes the first few tentative steps towards his destiny as a hero of legend.
Hawkwood And The Kings is possessed by an incredible, frenetic darkness. The action here has the fast-paced franticness of a headlong flight from a nightmare, faces only captured in flashes as the characters try to stay ahead of their impending doom. But while this rampant chaos lends the tale an awesome energy, it also exacts a price. Mr. Kearney's cast of characters runs well into the dozens and many of these play prominent roles in the story. Trying to keep track of them all while absorbing the world and its conflicts proved, at least for me, daunting. But this lack of context is the only major oversight in a volume -- the first of two -- which packs a serious punch, both in its action and its historical allusions. The magicians as stand-ins for the witches burned by Christian churchmen? Brilliant and devastating. The Merduk-Ramusian conflict as a stand-in for the Ottomans versus the Byzantines? Potent and well-drawn. Wrap all this up in a thin layer of the harshness of life for the average soul living under feudalism and you have both historical critique and white-hot action packaged into a single gift of literature that won't soon be forgotten. Grim and difficult at times, but well worth the patience it demands. (4/5 Stars)
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