The Kinshield Legacy
A mysterious stone tablet with five magical gems has sat abandoned in a cave for two hundred years. The kingdom is in ruins, with only warrant knights to keep the peace. But then, the gems in the tablet, one by one, disappear.
Warrant knight Gavin Kinshield is a man of many secrets. He's the one deciphering the runes in the tablet. Unless he can find a suitable replacement, he'll be Thendylath's next king. All he really wants is the letter written by his ancestor Ronor Kinshield, champion to King Arek, confessing the truth of how the king perished... a letter he must earn by tracking down a common thief.
But when Gavin saves a woman's life, what should have been a simple task draws him face-to-face with his nightmarish past... and the truth of King Arek's demise.
K. C. May
K. C. May grew up in the mid-western USA and in Hawaii, and earned a B.A. in Russian from Florida State University. After a year in Taiwan teaching English and studying Mandarin Chinese, she lived in the Arizona desert where she founded a Rottweiler rescue organization and worked as a computer programmer and technical writer. Her interests include karate, backpacking, motorcycle riding, dog training, and computer gaming.
The Kinshield Saga
The Kinshield Saga consists of four primary books, and includes one additional book that complement the series but is not considered mandatory reads. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
Reviews and Comments
Fairly typical of the fantasy genre, but an enjoyable, fast-moving read with plenty of action and adventure. The plot is simple and straightforward, without a lot of embellishment, but the protagonists are believable and engaging. The book opens with a scene guaranteed to make you want to read more. The reluctant hero stays reluctant, and his nobility outweighs his lowborn crassness, inspiring a somewhat gratuitous loyalty in those who follow him and his cause. I found the antagonist a little flat; for a man planning to take over the kingdom, his actions seem small and petty in scope and give no view of how he sees his future. As another reviewer mentioned, the occasional crass comments from the male characters could have been omitted. They did nothing for the story and, in fact, detracted from the overall pace of the tale. Aside from that, I found May's style to be engaging and humorous, and I look forward to reading the next book in the series.