The King's Tournament

By John Yeo Jr.

Ever since the King's wife and daughter were murdered by goblins, Windcastle had become a less enchanted place to live. Elves, centaurs, fairies and all other non-human denizens had been exiled, and the strength of the military have become the sole priority of the crown. Hope for peace shines when the King announces a grand tournament to celebrate the end of hostilities with neighboring countries. Eight contenders will be randomly chosen to participate. Nobles, aristocrats, peasants, non-humans, lunatics and murderers are all welcome to volunteer. The winner will be granted a fortune in gold, a royal pardon for all past crimes, and a seat on the royal court. Naturally, this attracts the greedy, the desperate and the lost. But there is a hidden agenda to this tournament, manipulated by the very evil that destroyed the King's family. A rogue, a gorgon, a lusty centaur woman, a barbarian, a deformed lunatic, a professional henchman, a disgraced aristocrat and a beautiful slave girl will have to survive traps, surprises and each other to solve this mystery before an entire kingdom is incinerated...and they only have three days to do it.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1717107281
• ISBN13: 9781717107282
• Release Date: January 2017
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 290 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Who shall win? The readers, of course!

4.5* stars. Summary: From the whimsical land of Windcastle to the quirky characters that inhabit it, and the suspense of the trials, this is a great fantasy novel from an indie author that I will be recommending to anyone who will listen. Full review: The king's tournament was a wild ride! At first it was a little difficult to keep track of all the characters/participants as they were introduced per chapter before the beginning of the tournament, but once they were together on the tournament site, things got a lot clearer and it was much easier to keep track of everyone— no matter how long they lasted through the tournament's trials. At times, the dialogue and exposition felt a little stiff, but by the next page, or even next paragraph, things smoothed out and flowed beautifully. There were some things I had guessed that might happen, and a few of my hunches were correct, but not so many as to make The King's Tournament boring or predictable in any way. The entire novel kept me at the edge of my seat, wanting— no, needing- the next page! Even when I had a theory. The fantasy setting of Windcastle was fantastic. I love the different races inhabiting the land; whether they were humans, elves, goblins, or centaurs, they all had their own lore as a race and quirks as individual characters. While I'm not sure how it could happen in the story, I do hope that there will be a second novel set here, as I want to hear so much more from and about the characters that survived the tournament. I happen to know the author personally, having patronized his fantastic comic book/game store, and have no problem pestering him for more stories set in Windcastle, as I consider him a friend. He told me that this was one of his favorite bedtime stories, and I have to admit, I stayed up a little longer than I should've to read just one more—or ten more—pages.