Returning to Alder, he is a flawed character and because of that following his story isn’t always easy. The details in these cultures comes across with easy, yet vivid, imagery through the use of folk-lore, background stories and rich descriptive writing. Each of the cultures have their own aesthetics to accompany them, despite being part of a larger whole in the Empire. We come to an understanding at the same time as Alder does the systems aren’t overly complex, but they all felt unique when compared to one another – a stroke of creativity that really lifts the novel when compared to its peers.

The heritages of several different cultures are explained to the reader as they are experienced by the lead character. At the heart of this world are different systems of magic, each one as interesting as the next. The setting in The Hand of the Sun King is fantasy with clear far-eastern influences throughout. While I found Wen Alder himself a character that was engaging to read about, it was the world building and how he lived and experienced this world that captivated me the most. His thirst for magic is his driving motivation throughout the story it is an arrogant desire that sets him on a path that doesn’t always turn in his favour. Alder grew in himself organically, he developed at a pace that matched the events of the novel. Not once did I feel events were misplaced or felt trite and the flow of the story felt all the more enhanced because of it. Certain events happen and, at the time, they may seems small or insignificant, yet more often than not, they feed back into major events in Alders life.

Often in stories there are events that happen which feel contrived – they happen because they have to happen in order for the story to progress – in The Hand of the Sun King, each life-shaping event feels completely natural. Alder is a character that shapes the world around him and is organically shaped by it in return. We’re shown the world in which he inhabits through his eyes and experiences and the events that develop his character throughout the story as it progresses. Wen Alder forges a path through life fraught with struggles between his mixed-race heritage that complicates his deeper desires to learn unrestricted magic which is bound by the very Gods themselves.Įssentially, The Hand of the Sun King is a chronological biographical study of Wen Alder, known also as Foolish Cur, throughout his young adult years. Torn between his Empire upbringing, through the prolific line of his Father and his Mothers Nayeni background. The Hand of the Sun King follows the story of Wen Alder in an autobiographical manner as he struggles with both his desire to learn magic and with where his heritage and loyalties lie. My thanks to publisher, Gollancz, for the approval and I hope that you find my review acceptable. I was approved to read an eArc of The Hand of the Sun King via NetGalley.

The hand of the sun king