Review - The Forever Knight (A Novel of the Bronze Knight) by John Marco

The Forever Knight [US] [UK] is John Marco's return to fantasy writing after a number of years break. A couple of those years were not self-imposed, which makes the release of this book that much more rewarding.

This book is a follow-up novel to the epic trilogy of The Bronze Knight or The Inhumans or Lukien Trilogy.** The Forever Knight continues the journey of our hero, Lukien, but in first person this time as opposed to third person used in the trilogy.

**I have to mention that I love that the trilogy goes by so many different names. I think The Inhumans is the intended one, but it's such a cool mystic about the series that it can go by any of them.

It's interesting that the author chose to use first person in this new series and I think overall it was a good decision. First person is much more intimate and lets you get to know the character that much better. In this one, Lukien is a bit more crude and hard-headed and we didn't get this part of him in the main trilogy because we weren't in his head. Now that's not to say that this is a different Lukien, one not true to form in the trilogy, it's a very realistic portrayal of a character we knew, but didn't know this well.

While I don't think there was a point of view in the trilogy that I didn't enjoy, I even commented that in the second book, The Devil's Armor, I didn't even miss Lukien's limited page count point of view all that much because I was so fascinated by the other characters. Having said that, it was really a pleasure to read one pov that is the main character. You know the plot will move along and there will be plenty of action, which you won't be disappointed with. 

I struggled for a rating with this book because while I highly enjoyed it, it's just about impossible to overcome how much I enjoyed the Lukien trilogy. And that makes sense because we're talking 300 pages versus about 2400. However, I am looking forward to where Marco will take Lukien next in Walker Between Worlds and may have to reassess my rating once this new series of books is through.

John Marco is back to form, writing intelligent and thought-provoking fantasy that I can't get enough of. Also, note that The Forever Knight can be read without reading the trilogy as it's a self-contained story, but I highly recommend the Lukien/Bronze Knight/Inhumans trilogy because it's full of awesome.

4 out of 5 Stars (highly recommended)

Lukien Trilogy (read in red)
1) The Eyes of God (review)
2) The Devil's Armor (review)
3) The Sword of Angels (review)

Stand-alone:
- The Forever Knight
- Walker Between Worlds (Forthcoming)

A Book Haul From Two Johns

I just got my copy of The Human Division by John Scalzi, so of course that means I'll be posting the weekly episodes here from this point forward. If you're wondering what I'm referring to, The Human Division has been serialized - each "episode" or chapter comes out every week through April (Here's the schedule). At the end of that time, it will be published as the book you can see above. (Also, if it's unclear that I'm joking about posting the episodes, I'm joking.)

I think the claim is funny that it's a new and innovative format that's being "experiment[ed]" with. Because books have never been serialized ever...not even Scalzi's own first two novels, oh wait. I guess I have to give them that it's not a thing that's done as often anymore, so I guess it's an experiment to see if it still works, which I'm sure it will. Scalzi's just a fun author no matter how you read him.

As to the other John, I'm extremely excited about this one:

Front Cover

John Marco took a break for a little while, partially on purpose and partially because his editor didn't read his manuscript for a couple years. I'm very excited to see him back in the game. This book continues the story of the Bronze Knight, which began in the trilogy, The Eyes of God, The Devil's Armor, and The Sword of Angels.

Marco's work in progress at the moment is blowing my mind with awesome too. It's titled The Bloody Chorus, which already has me sold, but you gotta read some of the description and the six sentences he posted. It's brilliant, I can tell already. Like I said, I'm very happy he's back.

John Marco's Really Awesome Giveaway

This is too cool not to pass up posting about, even with my limited bar studying time left.

John Marco is running a giveaway of sorts in preparation for the release of his newest book coming out in November, The Forever Knight. He's giving away first edition hardcover copies of the second book in his Lukien trilogy, The Devil's Armor. I'll let the man himself explain the giveaway:

Anyone who purchases a copy of either the first Lukien book, The Eyes of God, or the third book, The Sword of Angels, will get one of these first edition hardbacks for free.  All you need to do is send me a receipt from a reputable book seller.  It doesn't matter what format you buy--paperback, Kindle, Nook, whatever. As long as the book was purchased today or afterwards, you're in--at least until I run out of books to giveaway.  Just send/forward a copy of your receipt to me at johnmarco@aol.com.  The rest is completely free--the book, the shipping, and the author's messy signature.

So, all you have to do is buy one of those books, no matter the format, send him your receipt, and he'll send you a nice, pretty signed hardcover while supplies last. That's a pretty good deal if you ask me.

These are easily some of my favorite covers.