I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from MC Book Tours. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The King Who Disappeared
by Hank Quense
Published by Strange Worlds Publishing on April 15, 2019
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 352
Format: Kindle
Source: MC Book Tours
Goodreads
Get Your Copy at: Amazon
Bohan, a king, is at war with Jerado, an evil wizard who controls four neighboring kingdoms. Bohan, his wizard, Ansgar, and his guards are trapped in a cave by Jerado who magically seals the cave. Ansgar casts a sleep spell on all of them. It will last until the cave is unsealed.
More than 200 years later, an earthquake unseals the cave and frees Bohan. While catching up on history, he learns Jerado is still alive and rules the country as dictator. Bohan learns this from a sympathetic constable named Leticia. After talking to Bohan and his guards, she recognizes him from school lessons as the King Who Disappeared. Bohan determines to go to the capital, Dun Hythe, and gain revenge. Leticia promises to go with him to find out what happened to her father who was arrested and disappeared.
Jerado learns that Bohan is still alive and headed to confront him. He tells Lithgow, his son, and Flavia, his daughter about Bohan. Lithgow is the War Minister and Flavia the Minister of the Interior. They hate each other and each plans to succeed their father when he retires.
Jerado orders Lithgow to use his soldiers to block and kill Bohan. Flavia, who also has troops, decides to kill Bohan before Lithgow can. Bohan and his guards, all heroes, brush past Flavia’s soldiers and route Lithgow’s. Jerado now orders Lithgow’s troops to seal all the city’s gates and search everyone entering the city.
Meanwhile the citizens in Dun Hythe are suffering from Jerado’s rule and from Flavia’s imposition of lower wages to raise profits for the many businesses she controls. The wage restrictions impact on the Godmother’s bottom line. She is the head of a crime family who controls all vice in the city. She is also the head of the two largest and most powerful labor guilds, the teamsters and the dock workers. With Flavia’s wage restrictions in place the citizenry does have any money to have fun in the Godmother’s saloons or gambling halls. Also the workers don’t make enough money to feed their families.
Jerado’s Treasurer, Maurice, learns a few of Jerado’s family secrets. He knows how Flavia embezzles vast amounts of money from the contracts she gives out. Maurice learns about Bohan and the attempts to kill him. These and a few other secrets ensure his early death if Jerado ever finds out what he knows. Maurice meets with the Godmother and they agree to help each other for their mutual protection.
Now close to Dun Hythe, Leticia agrees to enter the city and scout it out. Hopefully she can find a way for Bohan to enter the city. She also wants to meet with the Godmother because her father was once a high-ranking official in the dock workers guild. Leticia hopes the Godmother can find out where her father is.
Within the city, rumors swirl about the reappearance of the King Who Disappeared. The Godmother ignores the rumors and is stunned to learn from Leticia that Bohan is really alive and outside the city. After a lively discussion, The Godmother agrees to smuggle Bohan into the city in return for a guarantee from Bohan for protection for her business.
Bohan and his mates enter the city by boat in the middle of the night and meet with the Godmother and Maurice who tells Bohan the layout of the palace and how to sneak into it. To make a distraction, the Godmother will call a city-wide general strike to coincide with Bohan’s attack on Jerado.
Bohan and Ansgar sneak into the palace at night with Maurice in the lead. Leaving Maurice behind, they advance into the living quarters and confront Jerado. A confusing battle ensues as the two wizards throw spells at each other. Using Ansgar’s spell as a distraction, Bohan gets close enough to Jerado to use his sword on the wizard thus gaining revenge.
With Jerado out of the way, Bohan arrests Lithgow and Flavia, proclaims himself king and agrees to work with the Godmother, orders a wage increase for all the workers.
Everyone is happy except Jerado’s children who must perform menial work for the rest of their lives.
Can Bohan defeat Jerado?
The King Who Disappeared by Hank Quense is an entertaining fantasy novel that is set in the 1300s and then the 1500s later. Not only is this novel funny but it has a unique set of characters. Those characters and the storyline are what kept me going.
What I like:
- The concept behind the book is a good one, and I loved it a lot.
- Mr. Quense did a great job of making this whole world believable.
- All Bohan wants to do is be with the person he loves without being ridiculed for loving an elf and not have to rule. He goes out after Jerado to make the country right.
- Jerado is a different kind of bad guy, and he has the perfect attitude for a villain. He’s just messed up.
- The different species that inhabit this world are pretty awesome.
- Mr. Quense has a lot of different plots mixed into this story, and I loved it a lot. Especially with Bohan and his bodyguards.
- I loved the character called The Godmother. She was hilarious, and I liked her background and her organization as well.
What I don’t like:
I didn’t like Jerado’s son and daughter. They are terrible with their constant bickering, and they were so annoying, but we needed them. Let’s hope that karma finds them.
Five Star
The King Who Disappeared by Hank Quense is an exhilarating book that has a lot going on. However, I didn’t feel like I was overwhelmed. I am giving it a five-star rating and recommending it to anyone that likes a fantasy novel.
Tour Organized by:
To find all the tour information click the banner at the top of the page.
Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of The King Who Disappeared by Hank Quense. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway.
Until the next time,
Happy Reading!
About Hank Quense
Hank Quense writes humorous and satiric sci-fi and fantasy stories.
He also writes and lectures about fiction writing and self-publishing. He has published 19 books and 50 short stories along with dozens of articles. He often lectures on fiction writing and publishing and has a series of guides covering the basics on each subject.
He and his wife, Pat, usually vacation in another galaxy or parallel universe. They also time travel occasionally when Hank is searching for new story ideas.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge
- 2019 New Release Challenge
Karen, I enjoyed your review and your thoughts on the characters. You’re right about bad characters we don’t like in a book, sometimes they are necessary. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and for being a part of the author’s tour.
Hi Karen
I’m happy to see you enjoyed reading my story. I had fun developing Jerado’s kids and making them as nasty as possible.
I’m glad you enjoyed reading the story. Jerado’s kids are rather nasty, aren’t they?
They really are.
Very interesting.