Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames

Reviewed by Ambrea

Clay Cooper spent years with his band, traveling across the continent, fighting monsters and waging wars, growing into one of the most feared and renowned mercenaries outside of the Heartwyld.  Now, he has a wife, a daughter, a comfortable home and a local job as watchman for his village—and he likes it that way.  Retirement, he’s found, suits him just fine.

But when Gabriel, his former bandmate, shows up at his door and asks for help, Clay decides it’s time for one last adventure.  Together, they’ll set off into the Heartwyld and face one dangerous situation after another as they try to find Moog, Matrick, and Ganelon and, finally, bring the band back together.

Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames is arguably one of the best books I read for 2017.  Sometimes ridiculous, sometimes gory, this novel is unexpectedly endearing and simultaneously adventurous.  It’s hilarious, heart-warming, and yet still action-packed.

I absolutely loved it.

When I first stumbled across Kings of the Wyld, I was immediately caught by the cover.  At first, I couldn’t quite reconcile the gritty, fantasy-esque cover image with the rock band motif.  I mean, “the boys are back in town”?  Really?

It just seemed so weird.  Mercenaries treated like rock stars?  It’s absurd, but it was just the right level of absurdity to draw me in to the story.  While it can grow a little tedious with the non-stop action, it’s full of odd creatures and fascinatingly complex characters; moreover, it’s a story that turns fantasy (as I have known it) on its head, especially where its heroes are concerned.

Clay and his band are not quite your typical heroes.  Granted, no one is perfect, but Moog, Gabriel, Matrick, and Ganelon are about as far from perfect as you can get.  Moog is a bit demented and terribly forgetful; Gabriel is a drunk whose life has spiraled out of control; Matrick is caught in a loveless marriage with a queen who wants him dead, not to mention he’s kind of a horrible person; and Ganelon—well, Ganelon has spent the last decade or two trapped in stone, but, before that, he was a stone-cold killer.

They are seriously flawed, but they kind of grow on you.  I mean, Gabriel, despite being a crappy husband and a not-so-great dad, is setting out to save his daughter, Rose, against all odds, and Clay is going to help him do it.  They’re fighting against age, personal demons, and time to save Rose.  While they may be a little more willing to break laws (and bones), they’re ultimately good people.

And, personally, I found I liked Clay the best.

He wasn’t the narrator, but much of the story is told from his perspective and he offered uncanny insight into the story.  Jaded and tough, gifted with a deadpan sense of humor, Clay was my favorite character by far.  (Moog, however, comes in at a close second.)  He was the driving force within the book, a steady voice, almost like the conscience of the story.

He has a dark past, but I admired him for his tenacity and loyalty.  Moreover, I couldn’t help but appreciate the way he loved his wife, Ginny, and his daughter, Talley.  Clay is a big brute of a man, as you read on the first page:  “[His] shadow, drawn out by the setting sun, skulked behind him like a dogged reminder of the man he used to be:  great and dark and more than a little monstrous.”

He was not a good man; in fact, he may not even be a very good man, even now.  But he cares about Ginny and Talley, and he’d do anything to protect them.  He respects Ginny, and he admires Talley.  If nothing else, I liked him for being a decent human being who cares about his family and doggedly follows his friends into battle to save another man’s daughter.