Empires of Edomia by J.M. Kind

 

(oversized pb; 2024: fourth book in the Edomia series; aka Empires of Edomia: Tales from the Edomian Mythos (Book 4). Followed by the forthcoming Warriors of Edomia.)

 

From the back cover

“All that glitters is not qualicite in the legendary queendom of Quavex: The long-standing Daughter of the City of fabled Taugwadeth is rocked to its foundations by a crisis of regal succession and the threat of war between shadowy adversaries who see the power vacuum as a means to their own self-serving ends. And what’s to stop their sinister agenda when the ancient legacy of the enlightened Goddess-worshipping matriarchy hands by a thread in this city on a mountain where privilege now outweighs simple justice, and once-pure, well-meaning religion has itself become a tool of greed?

 

“Meanwhile, a beautiful slave’s virtue is jealously guarded by a wealthy merchant who intends to sacrifice the girl to gain favor from the old gods; a lowly monk, ignorant of his parentage and past, becomes a pawn in his superiors’ schemes for political advantage; a once-and-would-be queen struggles to recall her duty and her desinty in a foreign land where she and her family are being hunted by fanatical inquisitors; and a group of young refugees from late-20^th century Earth hide in plain sight, trying to blend in with their neighbors in this strangely-backward alien civilization. Together, all of them may hold the key to the fate and future of Edomia.”

 

Review

Kind returns to Edomia for the fourth time with Empires, which blends the first book’s neologism-and-action-heavy first quarter with the streamlined writing of Rogues of Edomia, third entry in the series. (It should be noted that Empire is less dense with new Edomia-centric vocabulary than Edomia: A Fantasy Adventure, and that Kind’s writing provides vivid context and footnotes for the neologisms.)

All the elements that make up an Edomian work are here: high-adventure fantasy; a feminist/LGBT+ friendly tone (which includes R-rated sexuality); sometimes loquacious and fierce characters who embody and reinforce its free-love-clashing-with-brutal-religiosity-and-kakistocracy tones, including an abbreviated, rough male-on-male rape scene. All of this comes together in another ambitious, engaging, immersive and character-intricate work from Kind (who also writes under other names in other genres).

Empires, like its predecessor Edomian books, is highly recommended for fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1977 encyclopedic Silmarillion, George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones series and those who appreciate complex-ilk, erudite, Old School fantasy that doesn’t shy away from necessary-to-the-work sexuality, politics and action/brutality. Followed by the forthcoming Warriors of Edomia.