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Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
In Morven T.H. Borthwick’s The Blood That Remains, Jack Root survives King Edmund Vane’s defeat when Richard Fell seizes Westerden. During his family’s flight, Jack learns that Edmund was his father, making his sisters Alice and Eleanor hidden heirs to the fallen royal house. The fugitives find sanctuary in Dunmarch with the slain king’s sister, Queen Agnes, who governs the northern mountains beside Vardrethar, an enormous flightless dragon. Yet Richard knows that Edmund’s children remain alive, making Agnes’s protection increasingly precarious as the rival houses prepare for war. Jack begins the difficult work of preparing for a crown, while Alice pursues dreams that appear connected to an ancient danger. Their future may depend upon alliances beyond Dunmarch, where Queen Amara Valeine of Avarenne gathers armies against Torzhur-Kael invaders occupying the eastern kingdom of Soreth.
Morven T.H. Borthwick’s The Blood That Remains is an incredible epic fantasy, with a royal world as ambitious as it is magnificent. Jack, Edmund’s son, is remarkably resourceful, entering Westerden in disguise to reach Fell’s marshal. I love Alice, his scholarly sister, who insists upon accompanying miners into the feared Weeping Crag when their discoveries might protect her family. The world-building is massive, particularly the royal hierarchy governing kingdoms beyond Dunmarch. For example, Caerwyn’s king retains his crown as Amara’s Vassalarch, pledging soldiers to defend Soreth. Still, it’s the near-cinematic landscapes that steal the scenes, from Greyward’s towers piercing clouds above bridges spanning mountain chasms to Vareshan’s sunlit plain, where armies descend beneath its walls. Beautifully written and bold, readers who enjoy royal families caught inside warring kingdoms will adore this first book of The Reckoning of Crowns series.
