A. C. Cobble’s Conspiracy (Wahrheit #1)
Description
The king is dead; and for the first time in over 600 years, there is no heir.
Five warring nations were brought together under one banner and held together by one king as the five provinces of the Kingdom of Wahrheit. 43 kings ruled in undisputed succession, but now the bloodline has ended. Grasping for power and the desire to not answer to another king, the heads of the five provinces begin eliminating possible candidates or the throne. Almost overnight, a spy, a quartermaster, and a captain find themselves helming a conspiracy to find someone qualified to take the throne, and to protect them from assassination long enough for them to be crowned.
As those few in the conspiracy know: without someone on Wahrheit’s throne, the kingdom will shatter and return to five nations. Five warring nations that will be crippled from division, infighting, and defending against neighboring countries that watch like carrion. Five weak nations that will be ripe for the taking by another power that has quietly, unsuspectingly, grown in the south.
Disclosure
I personally bought this book. There was no agreement with the author, publisher, or any third party that I would publish a review. The following review is unsolicited, unbiased, and all opinions are my own.
Review – Spoiler Free
I don’t rate many things quite this low, but the “It Was OK/ I Liked It” description of the 2.5 stars is really, very accurate to how I feel about Conspiracy.
There were quite a few characters that I really enjoyed and was eager to learn more about, but there were others who I didn’t want to read at all. There were chapters that hit the nail on the head with description and emotion, and there were chapters that waxed on for pages, when a few paragraphs would do better. The world of Wahrheit is wide and sprawling, but there is a lack of clarification with some areas (more points on the map would easily fix this – I’m always game for a good map). There are a lot of good quotes and well-written moments, but at times the writing is also gritty in an unenjoyable way (see the quotes below for an example of each). So for everything that I enjoyed with Conspiracy, there was the flip side of the coin to bring it back down.
What brought Conspiracy down most for me was it’s pacing and overall voice – which made it difficult for me to read, and I almost stopped it all together. The beginning is very heavy on world building and character development. In a fantasy, it’s wonderful to learn the lay of the lans, follow a bit of the politics, and understand the characters you’ll be following; but in a 500+ page book, all the words in there better be pulling their weiht, and in Wahrheit, they did not. More than a few times the text followed a thought trail until it looped back upon itself and I was left wondering why I just read all that just to know what I already knew. As the story ramps up, about 2/3 throught, there is less of this simply because the story needs to move faster. And despite this pacing flaw, Wahrheit has a great ending.
The first in a series, the end of Conspiracy wraps up enough threads to give some closure while leaving enough questions and complications open for readers to want to see what happens in book 2.
Overall, Conspiracy was OK. I enjoyed the plot and the ending, but getting there was a chore. While I would like to know the rest of the story in the other books, I’m not going to be spending my time on is any time soon. I would recommend Conspiracy to people who love sprawling, complex fantasy reads and are willing to trudge through the slow build. To reach the end.
Quote
A dragon knight. He had to be one. Ulrik had never seen one. No one in Hof had, but what else would you call a man covered in plate armor, holding an axe almost as long as two men, and who’d arrived on a dragon?
Conspiracy, A. C. Cobble
“Gerhard Fischer, at your service,” declared the nobleman, shaking and then tucking himself back inside of his trousers.
They were standing at the edge of the courtyard, relieving themselves, but all Ulrik could think of was the dragon behind them.
Conspiracy, A. C. Cobble
Ratings
- Quality of Writing – 2
- Plot – 3
- World Building – 3
- Characters – 3
- Ease of Reading – 2
- Pictures/ Illustrations – 3
- Overall Enjoyment – 2
- Final Rating – 2.5 (Actual: 2.6) – It Was OK/ Liked It
Want to learn more about the numbers I use for rating, and the qualities I’m thinking about when writing a book review? Check out my post How I Rate and Review.