Kingmaker, Kingbreaker

Kingmaker, Kingbreaker is a series of adult fantasy novels by Australian author Karen Miller about the lives of an unlikely fisherman and a prince. Kingmaker, Kingbreaker follows the life of Asher and his friend Prince Gar.

Plot overview

In internal chronological order, not chronology of published dates

Blight of Mages

Society unknowing on the brink of collapse. Will Barl and Morgan be the saviors of all they love or the destroyers? And who will save them if they cannot save themselves? Rise to primacy together from two very different paths, constant questions of morality and just how much can be justified by saying the ends justified the means. A rift torn between two lovers resulting in societal chaos. A mass exodus, a hope with a new people in a new home, but at what cost? A whirlwind of mostly completed things at the end and a lone sacrifice making atonement to care for the future.

Innocent Mage

At 20 years old, Asher of Restharven sets out upon a quest that is to last one year exactly. He wishes to earn enough money to buy a boat for himself and his father to share so they can cast aside his abusive older brothers and make sure they're both properly cared for. Through seeming chance he is thrown into the path of a magickless and unusual prince, who values his lack of awe greeting such a reveared personage such as he and gains employ in the prince's household. He quickly becomes the prince's right-hand man. But there are dark prophecies paralleling Asher and Gar's joined journeys, and only a select secret organization hold the secrets heavily in their hearts. Thus Asher and Gar are cautiously shepherded toward a prophetic doom they must not be informed of. And an ancient darkness has slipped through the wall to secret itself away inside a man held in high regard and trust.

Awakened Mage

Starting immediately after the first book, Asher and Gar are in for worse than they can imagine. The royal family dead sparing only untried barely trained Gar, who came into his magic so miraculously. A little too miraculously as at turns out, and the taint Morg placed in him withers away and his magic vanishes. Asher is asked for two major sacrifices. He must break Barl's first law and do the Weathermagic, which will cost him in blood and strength. But for the good of the kingdom, he will step up and take his best friend's place, knowing that they will both die if they ever get caught. Meanwhile Morg continues trying to destroy the wall, leading up to the final confrontation.

Prequels

• A Blight of Mages (2011)

Barl Linden, a young and highly talented artesian Mage lacks the noble blood to fulfill her dreams and destiny. Resented by her fellow workers for her effortless skills she makes enemies quickly. Her high temper and heartfelt want for just treatment in an inherently unjust system have her storming away from employers and dragging her loving brother along in her wake. Remmie is Barl's twin and her equal in power, but his domestic ambitions set him at odds with her revolutionist ambitions. Remmie just wants a quiet life as a teacher where his willful sister will stop trying to singlehandedly take on the world and change it to suit her belief of right and wrong. Remmie accepts the order of the world and accepts the futility of Barl's struggle.

After yet another discordant separation from her current employer, Barl sneaks away in the night so her brother won't stop her from chasing her dreams and making a fool of herself again. She dreams of attending the college and storms it intent upon forcing them to admit her by virtue if her powers alone. She is denied and furiously lashes out with magic against the man who sought to force her from his chamber. The affair is taken to the ruling body concerning matters of magic - nobles all. One councilor, Morgan Danfey, takes an immediate liking to Barl and feels an irrational desire to protect her. He manages to convince the council that simply binding her powers and having her watched is enough punishment instead of enacting a death penalty. He then spirits her away to his estates to figure out how to woo her while not getting caught at it because a man of his station should not look to one so low born.

Critical reception

Critics have reviewed the series generally favorably, praising Miller's emotive and exciting writing style, but have faulted it to some extent for its sometimes long, drawn-out breaks in activity.^[1]

Series

• The Innocent Mage (2005)
• Innocence Lost (2005) (The Awakened Mage in North America and United Kingdom)

After the events of the Kingmaker, Kingbreaker Series - The Fisherman's Children Series

• The Prodigal Mage (2009)
• The Reluctant Mage (2010)

References