THE RUIN OF KINGS

THE CULLING FIELDS is an epic fantasy with a richly developed non-European setting: The Borgias meets David Eddings’s Belgariad in an Asian-inspired backdrop.

THE CULLING FIELDS by Jenn Lyons is perhaps the most ambitious debut epic fantasy of the last decade. By taking every trope ever thrown at fantasy and twisting them all on their head, Lyons has written the most complex novel I’ve ever had the pleasure of representing. I do not say this lightly, but if you took the narrative formations of Terry Pratchett and Patrick Rothfuss, mixed in the incredible world building of Brandon Sanderson, you might get something close to what THE CULLING FIELDS brings to the table.

Kihrin discovers this the hard way when he witnesses a prince’s treason and is later claimed against his will as the long-lost scion of the same royal house. Far from a happily ever after, Kihrin is forced to dodge lies, power plays, and his sadistic family while he tries to uncover why his new father finds him more valuable alive than dead. He discovers the storybooks have lied about a lot of things: dragons, demons, gods, prophecies, true love, and how the hero always wins.

Then again, maybe he’s not the hero, for Kihrin is not destined to save the empire.
He’s destined to destroy it.


Jenn Lyons is a video game developer based out of Atlanta.