Liam & Rokha from “A Draw of Kings” by Patrick W. Carr

Wow.  That’s what I was thinking as I finished A Draw of Kings.  The third in a trilogy, it had me completely enthralled.  The first book was great, so I worried through the second wondering if it would wane but the story only got better and better, leading to an exciting finale in this one.  As expected with a fantasy trilogy, there was the inevitable epic battle towards the end but the events played out in a unique way and memorable way.

Like with the other stories, this one switched between the perspectives of several characters- Errol, Adora, and Martin.  With King Rodran’s death at the end of book 2 (The Hero’s Lot), the evil duke Weir making power plays, and the impending invasion of Merakhi forces, the three embark on separate journeys each leading them to a key piece necessary for solidifying the Kingdom again.  Errol seeks to bring back The book, the records of their Kingdom’s history and religion.  Martin is lead to find Karele’s father, and sets out with him, Cruk, and Luis.  Adora heads out with Liam and Rohka to the Shadow lands to negotiate terms of an alliance.  With so much going on, the story never lags and keeps you reading at a fast pace to find out what will happen next to these great characters.

Everything about the book was entertaining and I highly recommend it, but make sure you read A Cast of Stones (#1) and The Hero’s Lot (#2) first as each story builds on the previous one.  If you love epic fantasy it’s a must read, but even if you don’t, I think this is one of those rare series that’s written in such a way that makes it universally appealing.

So, now on to the characters!  While not main characters, the two I’d like to focus on this time around are Liam & Rohka.

Liam

Liam plays a bigger role in this book than he had before, but we still never get to read from his perspective.  Instead, as a part of Adora’s journey we get to know him better through her perspective of him.  She watches him take risks as he battles ferrels- unholy spawns with super-human strength, and questions some of his decisions.  This is the first time we see that Liam is not perfect, and may have one character flaw in his obsession with fighting the spawn.  As he’s always confident, always in control, Adora is probably the only person bold enough to question him, and determined enough to hold to her own council against his advice.  Of course, whether Adora is right in this or not is to be determined, Liam, of course, is never wrong.  Always the golden boy!  ;)

The "R" on Liam's clothes stands for Rodran, I thought it fit since he's a captain of the Watch (the King's elite guards).

Rohka

As Adora travels with Rohka their friend ship grows.  We get to witness some real buddy-flick moments and I loved it.  There are several scenes where they fight together as well as more tender moments that help grow their friendship.  Rohka is the beautiful, strong, warrior type, often described as having hawk-like eyes and raven hair.  She’s the kind of girl you always want on your side!

To be honest had a hard time visualizing her for my sketch, and I’m not sure I’ve got her down yet, how do you capture such a strong spirit?  I had previously sketched her, but felt that rendition was perhaps too severe.  This one, maybe too soft?  I think I lost a bit of the vitality in her eyes when I inked it.  Anyway it’s just one rendition, my drawings are never the end all of how characters could look.  I like to think of them as possibilities.  What do you think?  If you’ve read any of the books in this series I’d love to read your thoughts on the characters!

I know this was a lengthy post, thanks for stopping by!

-Monica

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher.