King Maker (Angry Robot) [Mass Market Paperback]

I bought this book.

King Arthur in modern day, gang-ridden Indianapolis, this book promises, and the Arthurian legend is evident in King Maker by Maurice Broaddus. The book opens with the short, dark tale of Luther, gang leader and father to an infant, King James White. Not long after betraying King's mother with another woman Luther is shot, betrayed by his right hand man.
With that, we're told in the tone of a Shakespearean tragedy, the story moves on to King, who is in fact the One True King (albeit rather far from England). Except that despite King's role as the lead he's actually in the book very little.
In fact that's where this whole book stalled for me. Broaddus can clearly write circles around other people, but in this book he writes in circles that have hollow middles. Almost all the focus is on character building, tension building and weaving in the minute details of the re-written mythos. But for a large part of the book nothing happens.
Also, Broaddus spends an exorbitant amount of time building up characters who are ultimately side characters. This leads to next to no connection with King himself and a sense of confusion when major events to happen, or major players are killed. Because the emphasis is on everyone being gray (all the bad guys have a reason for their bad, either playing a role or being crushed by a poor life) is so overwhelming that no one comes out as a compelling or valiant hero.
Fate and legend are powerful aspects of the tale, as is the desolation and hopelessness of life way below the poverty line. Not to mention the clever metamorphosis of fiends into zombies and the very interesting use of fae and otherworldly creatures in the most unusual of modern settings. Once Broaddus does get things moving King Maker gets very good, richly thematic and enticingly original.
But in the end this book on its own is too slow for most urban fantasy fans. Luckily readers won't have to see it end here, and can hope things pick up in book two (King's Justice due March 2011).

The invisible baggage attached to King Maker Book One by Maurice Broaddus cannot be ignored. It's impossible to approach a new version of the timeless tale of King Arthur without asking, "Do we really need this version?" I'm pleased to report that Maurice Broaddus provides many compelling answers to this question, answers which led me to conclude with a resounding yes.

Broaddus sets his tale among the very real rundown slums of west-side Indianapolis. The homeless huddle under streets that Hoosier natives can point to on a map, but would rarely drive through by choice after dark. While reading this book, I've stumbled upon mixed online comments regarding this choice--why not New York or Los Angeles or some other, more recognizable ghetto? I applaud the decision, and not just because I recognize the area he writes about (and clearly, so does he). By refusing to relocate his tale, he reminds the reader that poverty knows no geography. The poor are as equally trapped in Los Angeles as Pittsburgh. To massacre Shakespeare: A gang shooting in any other city would be as dangerous.

With every sentence, Broaddus traps the reader in the slums with his characters. He paints a bleak picture of warring gang members born without a chance, stuck in a school system that's given up on them. We see kids raised by drug dealers and hookers whose only options are to escape through drugs or to "rise up" through the gang system, only to discover, too late, the lies inherent in those promises.

This is the world of King James White. We begin with the betrayal and fall of his father. Frm there, we're quickly introduced to the gang and residents of Breton Court and their rival, the crew at the Phoenix apartments. We meet their leaders, Night and Dred, their lieutenants, and the various peddlers, pushers and police caught in the middle. By the time King answers his call to destiny and assembles his posse of "knights" at the modern "round table" (an all-night greasy diner), you can think of few places in greater need of a hero than the modern-day slums of Indianapolis.

The strengths of the novel put a spotlight on what many will consider its weaknesses. King Maker tells a sweeping tale with no less than 20 important characters. In hot, tragic splashes of episodic vignettes, we meet them all, we learn their story. We visit long enough to understand their motivation; we experience their pain and entrapment. In many cases, we learn their fate, and then we move on.

Readers who prefer a more intimate tale, who expect to spend time with our hero King as he broods, ponders and finally accepts his destiny, may be frustrated with this "hit and run" approach. I had my favorite characters: the homeless Merle, King, his girl Lady G. the oddly delightful bigoted police officer Lee and his black partner, the eternally patient and understanding detective Octavia.

Other readers will find much to love and may prefer the company of the ogre twins Machaela and Marshall, or the mysterious and lethal Omarosa, or others, but the result is the same. Your favorites are sharing screen time (page time?) with a large ensemble. Even King occupies less than a quarter of the novel.

I must also admit some frustration with the contrivance of renaming the classic heroes with recognizable variations. Did Guinevere have to be named Lady G, Merlin the Magician "Merle", along with the similarly dubbed Luther, Lott, and Wayne? But to Broaddus' credit, he owns the contrivance, and over time, makes the reader see these characters as individuals beyond their archtypes.

This is a world where gangsters kill and mutilate at the first hint of a neighborhood snitch. Where bumbling flunkies meet merciless death in graphic and bloody ways that may traumatize witnesses--that would be the reader. This is a world where the downtrodden pedestrian ducks gunfire on a daily basis, and runs the other way to avoid witnessing an assault.When King and his crew confront the trolls, demons, and dragons, you can absolutely believe an apartment building can be assaulted in broad daylight by a horde of supernatural beasts, and that no one is going to question or even notice the more fantastic elements.

Though not everything works exactly as you might expect, King Maker is a triumph. The book works much better than any jaded reader who has "seen it all before" should have any reason to expect. So while I started Book 1 with doubts, I find myself anxiously awaiting the release of Book 2.

-R.J.

KING MAKER: The Kights of Brenton Court Vol. 1 by Maurice Broaddus opens by introducing us to Luther, gang leader and father of King James White, who lives in the ghetto or slums, if you will, of Indianapolis. We soon witness the betrayal and fall of Luther. There are many "side" characters (I lost count), whose stories I found at times hard to read. Living in the hood does that, as there are many stories that can be told. One in particular was of a gangster who mutilates a witness when he felt he was about to be snitched on. In addition there are graphic details of bloody conflicts, zombies and twins who are cannibalistic enforcers that had me flipping the pages as a way to hurry and get past that scene and others.

This is Volume 1, so I suspect we will learn more about King James, as I didn't get the connection of him to most of the characters. King was the side character in place of the main character in my view. If he had even narrated the story, in place of popping up now and then, it would have made more sense to me.

For fans of urban fantasy, Mr. Broaddus delivers.

Reviewed by Linda Chavis
for The RAWSISTAZ(TM) Reviewers