REVIEW: The Tainted Khan by Taran Matharu
Taran Matharu returns for the second instalment in his Soulbound Saga, The Tainted Khan. Picking up almost immediately from where Dragon Rider left off, The Tainted Khan is sure to be a hit for epic fantasy fans. It has magic, politics, a quest for freedom, and, most importantly, dragons. The Tainted Khan is only the second of Matharu’s novels I have read, and even though this is a new fantasy world, it is so easy to step into and get lost in the story. It feels like I’m reading an old favourite, even though I’m not, and I can’t wait for what Matharu has in store for the next Soulbound novel.
The reader continues to follow Jai, the last remaining son of Rohan, the former Great Khan. Jai is soulbound to a dragon, Winter, and he dreams that together they will free his people from the yoke of the cruel Sabine Empire. But Jai started The Tainted Khan lost in the grasslands of the Great Steppe and quickly ends up captured by a clan of outcasts, the Tainted, enemies of his people. Jai is not quite as naïve as he was in the first novel, but in the eyes of the Sithians who live in the Great Steppe, he is still a boy – untested and unlikely to be seen as fit to lead his own clan, let alone all of them. Jai is running out of time to prove himself; the Sabine legion is on the move, destroying everything in their path.
I enjoyed my time reading The Tainted Khan. But this isn’t a particularly dark book, even less so than Dragon Rider was. There are a few gory parts and some excellent fight scenes towards the end of the novel, but overall, this is very much an epic fantasy novel rather than a dark fantasy one. The focus of this book is not an escape from slavery or a journey against the odds; in The Tainted Khan, it is all about Jai developing his magical and leadership skills to lead his people. He doesn’t have the luxury of years to finesse these talents, which gives the reader an underlying sense of urgency as Jai treks through the Great Steppe. It did make The Tainted Khan read a little like a bridging novel, but that is true of many second books, and that doesn’t mean it was a bad read. It wasn’t as action-packed as its predecessor. Still, it has set the reader up for a cracking third book, especially after the unexpected cliffhanger that Matharu left the novel on.
As with all second books, the reader should have read Dragon Rider before picking this up, and there is no recap or summary at the beginning of The Tainted Khan. But the action for this novel takes place in a new geographical location, and most of the characters are new, so I think the events of the first novel are more relevant as character development and worldbuilding in general, rather than giving us information essential to understanding what is going on in The Tainted Khan. I thought Matharu’s pacing was superb, the chapters weren’t overly long, and even the slower sections of the novel didn’t feel like they were dragging. I also really enjoyed Matharu’s descriptions of the grasslands of the Great Steppe, its terrain, vegetation, animals, and how the people move through them. It all felt real, and I was immersed in that journey.
The Tainted Khan is a good character-driven epic fantasy, and I enjoy Taran Matharu’s writing style. It works well for me, and I am excited to see where he takes the story in the next Soulbound Saga novel. Thank you very much to Taran Matharu and the team at Harper Voyager for sending Grimdark Magazine an ARC of The Tainted Khan.
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