Our King and His Court: A Tor.com Original by Rich Larson
My rating: 5/5 cats
Scipio’s knitted sweater all but swallows the boy’s skinny frame, but underneath it there are scars, rawpink and shiny, from what they did to him in the lab. Dry blood is flecked across his forehead from what Scipio did to them in return.
where has rich larson been all my life? this story is all good things: nonlinear storyline, day of the dead courtesans, dinosaur-bone-throne, post apocalyptic baddie with a flair for pageantry and creative punishments, an author who understands that you don’t always need to say a thing but when you do a thing, it’s best to do it decisively—it’s spectacular. the story sucked me deep inside—his world, its details, the tension and power of his storytelling—i loved it through and through. it’s violent and full of terrible things and people, so don’t come to it looking for a feelgood time, but if you have ever shipped Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones and daydreamed a honeymoon for them in bartertown, this might be their baby.
i liked it so much that when i discovered the author had a novel coming out in summer, Annex, i immediately put it on my to-read shelf even though i have ZERO interest in alien invasion stories. such is my faith in him.
however, if this story ever became more stories, or a novel, or a graphic novel, or a breakfast cereal, i would shell out for it without hesitation.
read it for yourself here:
https://www.tor.com/2018/03/21/our-ki…
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