Written by Peta Hardiman
Intrigue, plotting, secretive druids, an evil crown prince, bards, a possible slow burn romance, and a whole lot of magic. That’s just a bit of what you can expect from Juliet Marillier’s latest book, The Harp of Kings! This is the first in the Warrior Bards series, and the latest in a long list of other titles, but Marillier has once again crafted something magical.
Eighteen-year-old Liobhan has an amazing voice and she’s an expert whistle player, but more than anything else, she is a fighter. With a burning ambition to be one of the legendary warriors at Swan Island, Liobhan and her brother Brocc are training on the island in a competition to join their ranks, when they’re drafted into a mission while still candidates.
Their skill as bards and prowess as warriors makes them the perfect choice to send undercover as travelling minstrels. The mission, should they choose to accept it, is to find a mysterious harp, which needs to be played at the upcoming coronation or else risk a revolt. Faced with court politics, family ties, tight-lipped druids, and a crown prince with a dark streak, and the unsettling realisation that the Otherworld might be meddling in the affairs of the kingdom, Liobhan is all of a sudden torn between doing the job and doing what’s right… but when nothing is at it seems, who do you trust?
“Magic is real. It may not come in just the way you want, or exactly when you want it, because it’s tricky and unpredictable and… difficult. And sometimes it’s hard to believe it’s possible. But what about those old stories? And the songs we sing every night? They are full of magic.”
Marillier is a storyteller, I have no other way of describing the way she writes, or the magic she manages to imbue her words with. If I’m being honest, The Harp of Kings is not my favourite of her books (that accolade goes to Cybelle’s Secret) but it still holds up alongside all her other novels. The world is a familiar one, especially if you’ve read any of her other novels – a historical fantasy world set alongside the mystic of the Otherworld, the fae world that borders the human one.
It’s a very traditional fairy-tale world, one that feels almost nostalgic with its rules; fairies hate iron, they don’t eat or drink anything that isn’t from the human world, and be prepared… because anything you ask for comes at a price. It’s a world I really enjoy spending time in, and so, I was a little disappointed that in this book, we didn’t get to spend too much time in the Otherworld. Not that the ‘human’ world is a bad place to spend time in – in fact, I’d say just as much effort went into crafting the politics and rules of the kingdom Liobhan and the others are immersed in; Erin.
In particular, the mythology surrounding the Harp is intriguing; the harp must be played at the coronation of any new ruler, and if no music comes from the harp, or if it’s not played at all, the people of Erin will not accept the new ruler. So, this central part of the novel is spent with our spies trying to locate the Harp so it can be played at the coronation of the crown prince at midsummer.
However, underlying this are a couple of points, one is that the prince seems an unfitting choice of leader. Brutish and unkind, he’s an incredibly unlikable character. And even though it seems that in large part, his cruelty is a farce employed to hide the fear he has surrounding becoming king, in my mind it did nothing to diminish the severity of the things he does over the course of the novel. To be honest, I don’t even feel like the kind of character you like to dislike. I love unlikable characters, particularly as antagonists, as they provide a lot of depth to stories, but in this case, he just felt like a jerk and didn’t have enough dimension to make it count for anything.
Liobhan and Dau are without a doubt my favourite characters in The Harp of Kings, and the development of the relationship in particular was really fun to read. Dau, in the beginning, was infuriating. He’s a POV character and an inherently sexist (I mean, it is historical fantasy) one to boot. He’s very much of the mindset that women can’t be better at things like fighting, and so spends a lot of time being annoyed at how proficient Liobhan is. Watching his internal dialogue gradually change from “she’s good for a girl” to simply “she’s just good” was amazing, especially as he fought it for so long. He’s also in possession of “heroic good looks” and a tragic backstory – so really, he’s everything you want in a fictional character. In particular, the tragic backstory element was brutal. As a novel, The Harp of Kings is categorised as adult with strong YA crossover potential, and it comes into play with Dau’s backstory – it’s not a nice one.
Dau is probably the highlight of the character in this story for me, because of the development he goes through, which is something that the others are missing a bit of. I understand it’s the first book in a series, so you can’t expect that much character development, but I would have preferred more than what we got. Brocc especially seemed to just do things at times for the hell of it. There were a few times throughout the book where I was just so lost with what was happening to him, because it was as if he was experiencing random leaps of development or time, but nothing was being shown, and no time was passing. Even Liobhan, who I love as a portrayal of a badass feminist warrior spy, didn’t experience as much development as you’d expect from the title character. She has a lot of potential though, and the decisions she did make felt logical to her character, so I’m hoping we get a lot more of her growth in the next book.
One thing that’s an absolute standout to me is the role of music throughout the book. It was somewhat expected, given the title of the book and the fact that the main characters are bards, but it was still a beautiful addition. Marillier writes a lot of the lyrics in the body of the book, and the way she describes the different instruments and the cadence of the music is just so magical… the music actually links in quite heavily with the magic in the world as well, so it’s magic in that sense as well. It was just such a stand-out part of the story for me. I feel like it’s what transformed the book from good to great, and some of the songs just pull on the heartstrings in the best kind of way.
All in all, The Harp of Kings has a lot of potential as the first book in a series. There was enough intrigue and drama to keep you going as a reader, particularly if you’re already familiar with Marillier’s worlds (although not essential) – but it definitely felt like the beginning of a story, one that’s still finding its feet in how it’s characters plan on growing and interacting with one another. It’s steeped in all this beautiful mythology, and I feel as if it will grow into something wonderful, but if not for a few things; the lyrical writing, and the beauty of the music and the world… it would have fallen short of what I’ve come to expect from Marillier.
I still wholeheartedly believe it’s worth picking up though. Just because some of it wasn’t what I expected, doesn’t mean I didn’t adore my time spent in this world. And if nothing else, there’s a very intriguing twist on a traditional fairy-tale element that I absolutely loved, and I am very much looking forward to discovering the implications of a few of the decisions made in this book in the next one.
“But I’ll be beside you, though gone from your sight, I’ll love you and guard you till we meet in the light.”
The Harp of Kings is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
Eighteen-year-old Liobhan is a powerful singer and an expert whistle player. Her brother has a voice to melt the hardest heart, and is a rare talent on the harp. They are both training for the elite warrior band on Swan Island when they are asked to join a mission that requires posing as travelling minstrels.
Their task is to find and retrieve a precious harp, an ancient symbol of kingship, which has mysteriously vanished. If the instrument is not played at the upcoming coronation, the candidate will not be accepted. Faced with plotting courtiers, secretive druids, an insightful storyteller and a boorish Crown Prince, Liobhan soon realises an Otherworld power may be meddling in the affairs of the kingdom. When ambition clashes with conscience, Liobha
