Book Review: "The King's Bastard" by Rowena Cory Daniells

Only seven minutes younger than Rolencia’s heir, Byren has never hungered for the throne. He laughs when a seer predicts that he will kill his twin. But the royal heir resents Byren’s growing popularity. Across the land the untamed magic of the gods wells up out of the earth’s heart. It sends exotic creatures to stalk the wintry nights and it twists men’s minds, granting them terrible visions. Those so touched are sent to the Abbey to control their gift, or die. At King Rolen’s court enemies plot to take his throne, even as secrets within his own household threaten to tear his family apart.
Political intrigue and magic combine in this explosive first book in an exciting new fantasy trilogy. - from Amazon.com

The King's Bastard is the first book of the King Rolen's Kin trilogy. Like most books, I picked it out originally because the cover art interested me. I mean, being a fan of sword & magic fantasy, then seeing this cover ... surely it had to be a good read. Reading the synopsis on the back of the book made me decide to get it, and the others in the series. 

The first book here introduces us to the characters we are going to be seeing, most of them being the four children of the current king of Rolencia, King Rolen. The oldest two, Lence and Byren, are twins, with Byren being 7 seconds later, thus Lence will inherit the throne. They are both grown to about twenty years of age, I would guess. The younger brother Fyn, is magically afflicted (called Affinity) and has been raised at the monks for Halycon. The youngest, and only girl, is Piro.

At the start of the story, Byren is confronted by a seer, and Fyn is as well, seemingly the same one, at approximately the same time. From there, Byren is trying his best to not let the seer's prophecy come true, as is Fyn. During this process, their 'cousin' Illien comes to Rolencia, and is accepted back into the family. Illien's father was years previously banished for ... oh, that's a long story. Either way. Illien is here now, and spreading dissention between Lence and Byren.

I don't want to ruin any details of the story. No spoilers here. Daniells has written the start of a decent story using what I feel is an old story line. The writing style I felt was a bit more for the Young Adult crowd, but still enjoyable and quickly read by adults. Looking forward to the next books, and novellas, in this series.