Fantasy Fiction Must-Read!
I am always in awe of writers who create fully realized extraordinary worlds in which to tell their tales. Canadian author P.L. Stuart achieved this with his bestselling independent debut fantasy novel, A Drowned Kingdom. He made an interesting choice by making his protagonist a deeply flawed human who must evolve to survive. Many readers will have a hard time liking Othrun, an arrogant, vain, self-righteous, and sanctimonious nineteen-year-old who thinks he knows everything about what’s best for his people. Still, if you read the following books in this series, The Last of the Atalanteans, Lord and King, and A Lion’s Pride (I had the privilege of editing Books 3 and 4), you will witness the evolution of Othrun, and your feelings about him will change continually, which is what makes these books so engaging. Plus, there are many other fantastic characters with whom you will fall in love, including formidable and fierce women.
P.L. Stuart wanted to write an epic high fantasy reminiscent of his favourite fantasy authors: J.R.R. Tolkien, G.R.R. Martin, T.H. White, Bernard Cornwell, N.K. Jemisin, John Gwynne, and Janny Wurts. He also wanted to write a book with its origin story as his version of the legend of Atlantis.
Perhaps most importantly, P.L. wanted “to write a series examining significant and timely themes like racism, misogyny, colonialism, etc. He wanted that series to centre around a person who came from privilege and prejudice and to examine how (if) such a person could change. He wanted to explore the journey of someone becoming “woke”—that is to say, aware, alert, and engaged in social justice issues like racism, after being the opposite. What better context to look at this than having the potentially “woke” person as a spoiled, privileged, obstinate nobleman at the very pinnacle of society?”
Stuart is a phenomenal storyteller and world-builder, a master who has created one of the most compelling, multifaceted fictional characters ever in the vainglorious Othrun, King of Eastrealm. Reading a multiple-book series is a significant commitment. However, suppose you love a fully realized unique world, a complex protagonist, challenging, exciting antagonists, realistic battle scenes, mystery, magic, and fabulous love scenes. In that case, Stuart’s pulse-pounding books are for you!
I’ve read the book twice and admit I’m biased, but A Lion’s Pride is an integral book in The Drowned Kingdom series. It revisits crucial plot points so you won’t be lost and is accompanied by appendices. It covers a lot of ground, jumps several years in the timeline, and leaves us with a killer cliffhanger that will keep you on the edge of your seat while you wait for A Pack of Wolves. I won’t share spoilers here, but I will say that Chapter Eight contains one of the steamiest sex scenes I’ve ever read! I love it when the mages put Othrun in his place, and you’ll enjoy that, too. A Lion’s Pride is a tome, at around 600 pages, but if you’ve read the other books in the series, it’s a captivating, breath-stopping, ROARING good read! If you enjoy the works of G.R.R. Martin, Will Wight, Janny Wurts or Patrick Rothfuss, add The Drowned Kingdom series to your must-read list.
Synopsis of A Lion’s Pride
“Wound a lion’s pride, and you will feel their claws.
When Plas, defiant King of Ipithyia, insults Wely, proud King of Lynchun, Wely needs no further provocation for invading the realm of his long-time enemy. As Wely’s lord of battle, Othrun of Eastrealm is charged to destroy Plas and conquer Ipithyia. This despite Othrun winning a hard-earned peace with Plas by sparing him from death years before.
But other ambitious warlords vie to seize Ipithyia for themselves. Othrun faces bitter combat on multiple fronts, intrigue, and the mysterious powers of Eltnish mages like Queen Lysi. Who still has to secure Othrun’s love and her own plans for conquest squarely in her sights. Othrun will require the aid of his own mage, the enigmatic Viwa, to combat his foes who can deploy mages of their own.
For Othrun’s mysterious spiritual guide appears to have deserted him. Othrun is forced to rely more and more on pagan magic – magic he is supposed to disavow as heresy - rather than his Single God.
Othrun’s armies are led by heroes who seem destined to become legends, such as Othrun’s son the Younger, Ingersa, Glathan, Thurol, Yedwol, Eld, Centi, and the fiery and skilled yet untested She-Wolf of Carthlughe, Hiris, also known as the Haughty Princess. Yet even all those great warriors won’t be enough to ensure triumph. And Othrun will need to prevent temptation, doubt, and his mercurial nature, putting his once-staunch faith and his allegiances in jeopardy.
But before Othrun can grapple with all these challenges, he must confront dark secrets that could not only destroy his shaky beliefs but also destroy Othrun himself.”
Author Bio
P.L. Stuart was born in Toronto, Canada, and holds a university degree in English, specializing in Medieval Literature. He is an assistant editor for Before We Go Blog (https://beforewegoblog.com/) and one of the hosts of PAGE CHEWING on YouTube. The Drowned Kingdom Saga, an epic fantasy series, chronicles flawed and bigoted Prince Othrun’s journey towards change and his rise to power in a new world after the downfall of his homeland, which is based on Plato’s lost realm of Atlantis. The bestselling A Drowned Kingdom is mentioned in the esteemed Kirkus Magazine’s 2021 Indie Issue among “Four Great Examples of the Genre” of fantasy and won the 2022 Picky Bookworm Award for Best Indie Book Based on Mythology. Bestselling author Bernard Cornwell featured A Drowned Kingdom in his Reading Club on www.bernardcornwell.net. The latest book in The Drowned Kingdom series is A Lion’s Pride (Book 4), with A Pack of Wolves (Book 5 of a 7-book series) coming in the spring of 2025.
“This is a deep, often sophisticated examination of human flaws and philosophies set in conflict, with one human being’s ambitions at war with the fabric of his personality. The delivery is engaging, energetic, unabashed, and often keenly suspenseful, told in a striking and original voice.” ~ Bestselling Author, Janny Wurts
P.L. Stuart lives in Ontario with his wife, Debbie.
Connect with P.L. Stuart on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), and YouTube.