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The Kingdom of Liars

(The Legacy of the Mercenary Kings #1)

Nick Martell (Goodreads Author)

3.69 · Rating details · 861 ratings · 342 reviews

In this brilliant debut fantasy, a story of secrets, rebellion, and murder are shattering the Hollows, where magic costs memory to use, and only the son of the kingdom’s despised traitor holds the truth.

Michael is branded a traitor as a child because of the murder of the king’s nine-year-old son, by his father David Kingman. Ten years later on Michael lives a hardscrabble ...more

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Hardcover, 596 pages

Published June 23rd 2020 by Gallery / Saga Press (first published May 20th 2020)

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Mar 02, 2020 Petrik rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arcs-and-review-copies

ARC provided by the publisher—Saga Press—in exchange for an honest review.

The Kingdom of Liars is a solid debut that’s quite challenging to get through at first, but the second half offers rewarding experience to those who read the novel to its completion.

Similar to many cases with debuts by an unknown author in the past, my interest to read The Kingdom of Liars, the first book in The Legacy of The Mercenary Kings series by Nick Martell, was sparked due to the gorgeous cover art by Bastien Lecou ...more

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Feb 22, 2020 Lisa rated it liked it

Shelves: net-galley

My thanks to Gallery/Saga press, Netgalley and the author Nick Martell.
I did give up on this book. I was not jiving with any characters. Also, guns. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy shooting. That's how I was raised. Paper targets, and Tin cans! But, I truly don't like it when guns cross over into fantasy. Sure, I'll admit that I adore epic and grimdark fantasy. Still, as soon as guns are introduced I cringe. I'm just a sucker for swords and all. I love trebouchets. Yeah, that is likely the wrong spe ...more

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Mar 16, 2020 James Tivendale rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: freecopy, fantasy

I received an uncorrected proof copy of The Kingdom of Liars in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank Nick Martell and Gollancz for the opportunity.

The Kingdom of Liars, the first entry in The Legacy of the Mercenary King series, is the tale of Michael Kingman. He relays his story to us regarding the events that led him to be on trial as a King Killer, which he rather melodramatically refers to as "the greatest story ever told." Ten years prior to this, Michael's father was also t I received an uncorrected proof copy of The Kingdom of Liars in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank Nick Martell and Gollancz for the opportunity.

The Kingdom of Liars, the first entry in The Legacy of the Mercenary King series, is the tale of Michael Kingman. He relays his story to us regarding the events that led him to be on trial as a King Killer, which he rather melodramatically refers to as "the greatest story ever told." Ten years prior to this, Michael's father was also tried for regicide and he was executed. He murdered a Prince who was the son of the King that Michael is accused of assassinating. We find out much more about these events throughout the narrative and if/how they are related.

The Kingdom of Liars is told from Michael's first-person point of view perspective. We get to witness the city of Hollow as it is described by the narrator. As a Kingman - who have for generations acted as Right-Hand Men for the monarchs - Michael has the weight of his family's name and legacy on his shoulders. This has been made even more complicated as his family were branded traitors following his father's actions. Michael currently lives a mundane, dull existence. When not looking after his brain-addled mother he cons Low Nobels for whatever profit he can. Towards the beginning of The Kingdom of Liars, Michael crosses paths with two unique and eccentric individuals. An alcoholic yet extremely influential High Noble and a mysterious magic-wielding mercenary. He is offered opportunities to help his family live a stress-free life, and a possibility to investigate the details of his father's crime to see if he was innocent. Family and Legacy are the most important things to a Kingman.

The magic scheme presented here seemed pretty unique and interesting to learn about. Magic users are referred to as Fabricators. These skills tend to be found in the Royal or the Noble classes. There are many different types including combat, reinforcer, lightning, light, dark, shadow etc... The cost of using these powers is that the wielder will forfeit certain memories. Many magic users keep journals for this reason. Mages who overindulge can become Forgotten. These are zombie-like beings who are hollow shells of their former selves. Although he is uninitiated with his magical abilities, Michael himself has moments when he can't remember certain details or recall someone who insists that he knows them.

The time of the monarchy is shaky at best here as there is an open rebellion taking place in Hollow. Political unrest is rife. The Queen-in-Waiting is notably absent from court and the Corrupt Prince lives up to his name and has made it no secret he wishes to succeed his father. There are many factions, ranks and organisations in the city such as advocators, ravens, wardens, skeletons, and also mercenaries who are a law to themselves. The world-building is good and Hollow is well-crafted. I'd like to visit more of the world in the following entries as other cities are only briefly mentioned.

The Kingdom of Liars is a pretty impressive debut release. It's an exciting, action-focused fantasy thriller with intriguing mystery elements included too. Some of the characters were really well realised and great to find out more about. A few, however, don't seem adequately fleshed out, but hopefully, this will change going forwards. The finale is stunning and I raced through the last eighty or so pages at a manic could-not-put-the-book-down pace. I didn't predict the outcome, twists, or resolutions at all which is always a plus. It was only during the final few pages that I realised why the series is called The Legacy of the Mercenary King. At the ending, it's fully revealed who the heroes and the villains are and I'm interested in what will happen next. There are some grand possibilities for this as a series and fine foundations have been set. The Kingdom of Liars isn't perfect, a lot of what is here you'd have read before but it is an enjoyable take on the genre and I flew through the 600 pages in a handful of days. Martell is an author whose career I'll be watching. ...more

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Apr 04, 2020 Hamad rated it liked it

Shelves: 2020-reads, fantasy, adult-books, arcs, e-books, good-covers

This Review ✍️ Blog 📖 Twitter 🐦 Instagram 📷

“We’re all selfish monsters— the only difference is some of us are more honest about it than others.”

I think my review will be short, My friend Chan wrote a review that perfectly sums up my thoughts and feelings about this book and I think she did it better than I can so feel free to check it out here.

Sometimes I am drawn to a book because of the nice cover, sometimes the synopsis and rarely by the blurb. This book had all 3 elements and ...more

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May 06, 2020 Niki Hawkes - The Obsessive Bookseller rated it liked it

Shelves: arcs

[2.5/5 stars] Kingdom of Liars had some good ideas and a wicked cool atmosphere, but the story itself lacked a bit of logical structure and flow.

The atmosphere created, with a shattered moon that periodically rained down on the city, combined well with both the contrasting lifestyles of the different casts of people and the general air of magic and mayhem, was superb! Easily my favorite element of the story. Even during parts I wasn’t totally sure I was onboard with, I kept reading to see what t ...more

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Jan 05, 2020 Nils | nilsreviewsit rated it really liked it · review of another edition

‘Dying wasn’t new to me. I had an understanding that it would come for us all one day; all that differed was the time. It was oddly comforting in a way. It was the only time nobles, Royals, and commoners were the same. We all walked into the darkness in the end, meeting whatever waited for us. There were some days that I thought it would be the only time in my life I would be at peace.’

The Kingdom of Liars is the upcoming debut by Nick Martell. This is one book that certainly starts off with a b ‘Dying wasn’t new to me. I had an understanding that it would come for us all one day; all that differed was the time. It was oddly comforting in a way. It was the only time nobles, Royals, and commoners were the same. We all walked into the darkness in the end, meeting whatever waited for us. There were some days that I thought it would be the only time in my life I would be at peace.’

The Kingdom of Liars is the upcoming debut by Nick Martell. This is one book that certainly starts off with a bang as the story begins with Michael Kingman, our main protagonist, on trial for the murder of the King. What a way to start a story! I mean if that doesn’t hook a reader in, I don’t know what will! As the narrative unfolds we slowly begin to discover what has brought Michael to this point, we learn about his family’s reputation as traitors, and we are presented with a world where magic comes at a terrible cost.

From the opening chapter we are thrown into the middle of events. Much has happened in the land of Hollow; a once thriving place where a variety of citizens could live prosperously is now teetering on ruination. An all out rebellion is hatching, caused by the oppressive High Nobles and the Royalty’s rule, turning the people against them. At the centre of it all lies the Kingman family; protectors of the royal line, a once highly respected influential Noble name, that is now a disgrace. Michael’s father had been executed for the murder of the King’s son, and Michael seems to be following in his father’s wake. All is not as it seems though, and in a world where history can be forgotten and retold, can Michael uncover the truth to save not only himself from execution but also save his family’s legacy?

Now, I’m quite fond of books that blend genres, I think they can add an abundance of depth to a story. So I found myself highly impressed by the way Martell blended fantasy with the crime/thriller genre; it made for such a compelling story. This was much in the fashion of RJ Barker in his Wounded Kingdom trilogy; Martell even uses a first person narration, as Barker did too, and I think this worked perfectly to
thoroughly immerse the reader into the world and mystery. Throughout, we follow Michael as he picks up pieces to the puzzle surrounding his father’s supposed treason. We are right with him, making conclusions of our own, and facing a few jaw dropping twists along the way. This is a book that develops at break-neck speed, and leaves you continuously wanting more.

Honestly though, it did take me a while to warm to Michael. At first I found his character to be overly naive, even for his age, and he had a cocky air about him which, for me personally, made him slightly frustrating. Michael was a con artist; he’s shown cheating nobles in order to earn coin, having lost his families wealth after the execution of his father, this acts as his small scale revenge. During these beginning chapters, I found Michael was slightly over emotive at times, and rather impulsive. However as the story takes a dark turn, and Michael finally starts to see the bigger picture, when he realises that every action he takes could cost his family dearly, and when he recognises that he is the con artist who is being conned, well that’s when we see Michael naturally grow and truly shine. Martell, really won me over with Michael’s character arc, because by the end, I wholly admired him.
~
‘We’re all selfish monsters—the only difference is some of us are more honest about it than others.’
~
The Kingdom of Liars also includes a varied cast of characters, and I really enjoyed the way Martell built them all up; for good or ill he allowed each of them to come to life. The ones that most stood out to me were Kai, who was a blind, high noble friend to Michael, then there was Michael’s mother, who suffered memory loss, akin to Alzheimer’s disease, and notably many other characters represented different races and class. I feel this is definitely a novel that illustrates the dangers of privileged elitism, prejudices, and an overbearing government, which gravely mirrors some of the issues we still face today.

I also believe one of the significant strengths of this novel lies in the magic system. In the first few chapters Martell throws us into the deep end as we are presented with a host of magic users, with very little explanation as to what their powers entailed. Again, I found this so compelling, I wanted to know so much more, and as the story developed, this was surely delivered. To briefly explain, within the book there are characters who are known as light, air, fire and even metal Fabricators, who wield their specific power. I don’t wish to divulge too much here, so what I’ll just say is that I was most impressed with the consequence each character faced should they over use their power. You see, uncontrolled use of Fabrications, or overuse could potentially lead to becoming a Forgotten: this is where piece by piece your memory is either partially or wholly wiped. Consequently, the central theme in the book is that of memories, and leaving a legacy which can never be erased; but what I loved the most was the concept of surviving in a world where even your own memories are fleeting and not to be trusted. How do you ever know what the truth is?

So, at its heart The Kingdom of Liars is a tale of family, loyalty and leaving a legacy that none shall forget. This is certainly a book that you won’t be able to put down, and will linger with you long after you’ve read the last page.

ARC provided by Gollancz in exchange for an honest review. All quotes used are taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication. The Kingdom of Liars is out 7th May 2020.
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Mar 08, 2021 William Gwynne rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, fantasy, audible

Before I get into my review, here is a link to my relatively new booktube, where my brother and I discuss all things books. The Brothers Gwynne

Nick Martell has formed a tale of engaging political intrigue, with compelling characters, and a smooth narrative voice. I listened to this on Audible, and the story was brilliantly performed by Joe Jameson, who I will definitely be looking out for in the future.

So, overall I really enjoyed this. It is a cyclical story, so we start at the end, in which ma ...more

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Mar 19, 2020 Chelsea Humphrey rated it liked it

Shelves: from-publisher, netgalley

I'm between 3-3.5 stars on this one, due to the painfully slow first half followed by an incredible second act. While I do not claim to be the resident expert on fantasy novels of any kind, I feel like I have read enough at this point to have a general understanding of the various tropes and sub-genres that are popular. That said, I initially requested this book for 2 reasons: 1) I'm really enjoying reading more adult fantasy than YA fantasy this year and 2) Brandon Sanderson blurbed it, so DUH. ...more

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Aug 30, 2020 Deborah Obida rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: adult, fantasy

Buddy read with Mary Ann

Kingdom of Liars is a hard book to rate, I like it but I doubt I'll continue the series, I wasn't blown away.

This book follows Michael Kingman who is on trial for killing the king, he's either eighteen or twenty, the author kept going back and forth between the two ages. The book is written in Michael's first person POV, he narrated what happened to him and how he got to be in that position.

But sometimes it’s important to remember that you are mortal and that some goo ...more

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Apr 21, 2020 Athena (OneReadingNurse) rated it liked it

Title: Kingdom of Liars

Author: Nick Martell

Pub: Simon & Schuster

Length: 608p

Release: May 5th 2020 (I thought there was a new date but it is available on Amazon now)

Rating & Recommend: ⭐⭐⭐ maybe

Thank you to Bookish First and Simon & Schuster for my ARC of The Kingdom of Liars by Nick Martell. Book was claimed in exchange for an honest review and all opinions are my own!

So there is obviously a lot going on in the book, and it is a whopper at 608 pages. The book is told in first person, as Michae ...more

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Mar 09, 2020 Dave rated it really liked it

Shelves: netgalley-books, fantasy-all, fantasy-epic-fantasy-high, x-netgalley-2020-read, read-have

Martells’ “Kingdom Of Liars” is the first novel in a planned epic fantasy series, “Legacy of the Mercenary Kings.” It is a complex fantasy featuring a feudal court, a vicious rebellion, magical powers (fabrications), and court intrigue. The world-building is terrific, offering the reader a glimpse of a small corner of the universe, the Hollows, which despite the name which might lead you to think of forests and streams, is a feudal city of lords and ladies and a desperate underclass keyed up to Martells’ “Kingdom Of Liars” is the first novel in a planned epic fantasy series, “Legacy of the Mercenary Kings.” It is a complex fantasy featuring a feudal court, a vicious rebellion, magical powers (fabrications), and court intrigue. The world-building is terrific, offering the reader a glimpse of a small corner of the universe, the Hollows, which despite the name which might lead you to think of forests and streams, is a feudal city of lords and ladies and a desperate underclass keyed up to rebellion. Except for a brief journey into the forest to slay a wyvern, a legendary two-footed dragon-like creature with a deadly barbed tail, all the action takes place in the city. There are various “keeps” and castles and cathedrals and mercenaries to keep the populace in line. And, there is an ancient moon in the sky breaking apart with its haunted pieces falling to the city, often causing havoc.

The “magic” really takes a backseat to the story here and that’s unfortunate because it’s a fascinating part of this world and should take a more central place in future volumes in the series. The “magic” is called “fabrications,” consisting of light fabrications, dark fabrications, metal fabrications and more. These powers are hereditary and almost solely possessed by the nobles. There is of course a cost to their use and perhaps this is why they are rarely used in the story.

The cost of using fabrications is memory loss. The consequence is that the royals and the nobles all suffer from memory gaps, gaps they try to fill in with stories, with truth, with decrees. It is not evident till far into the book that the use of fabrications has led to confusion and mystery and people who sometimes don’t remember each other.It isn’t until late in the story that the reader realizes how big an issue the reliability-of truth becomes.

This is particularly true when one finally understands that the main character from whose point of view the story is told, Michael Kingman, is very much an unreliable narrator. This is so, both because of the filling in of memory gaps, and his youthful coming-of-age. Michael Kingman is not the powerful warrior that usually is the main character in these fantasy gigs. Rather, he is an unlikely hero, who is unsure if himself, childlike, whiney, and easily manipulated. But, it is probably that he is just coming into his own skin, a nervous teenager growing up finally ten years after his father is tried and executed for murdering the king’s son. And now as our story begins Michael himself following in his father’s footsteps is in trial for murdering the king.

The Kingmans are a noble family, set to be juxtaposed to the Royals themselves, a counterweight to keep them in check. They are supposed to be loyal and the king’s confidants. But Michael, who is now a petty thief in the streets, has grown up these long years with the brand of traitor. He doesn’t know if he should join the rebellion or prove what he believes is his father’s innocence.

There are so many great dramatic elements here. However, as an epic fantasy read, it just misses being great and is a bit uneven. It would’ve helped to know better at the start what was at stake and where things were going. The story takes the reader in many different pathways of courtly intrigue and one often lost sight of where things were heading and why things were important. But fantasy works these days are very complex, no simple quests for the holy grail, no simple mission to throw a ring in a pit of fire in a world where it’s always clear who is good and who is evil. ...more

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May 07, 2020 Mogsy (MMOGC) rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, magic, netgalley, arcs-and-galleys, review-copy

4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2020/05/12/...

It’s probably no surprise that The Kingdom of Liars was one of my most highly anticipated releases of 2020, with a premise that promises magic, intrigue, and adventure. Although the novel does falter slightly at times, as debuts often do, I’m pleased to report that it exceeded my expectations and I found it to be an excellent and compelling read.

The protagonist of the story is Michael Kingman, son of the most notorious tra 4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2020/05/12/...

It’s probably no surprise that The Kingdom of Liars was one of my most highly anticipated releases of 2020, with a premise that promises magic, intrigue, and adventure. Although the novel does falter slightly at times, as debuts often do, I’m pleased to report that it exceeded my expectations and I found it to be an excellent and compelling read.

The protagonist of the story is Michael Kingman, son of the most notorious traitor the Hollows has ever seen. But while David Kingman was put to death for murdering the child prince nearly a decade ago, his wife and children are still suffering for his sins, scorned and mistrusted by their noble peers. Still, how far does the apple really fall from the tree? As the novel begins, Michael is being held prisoner, awaiting his trial and execution. His purported crime? For killing the king.

The story then flashes back to recent events as Michael begins to recount the harrowing journey which led to his arrest and current situation. It all started on the eve of the Endless Waltz, a long-standing tradition among Hollow nobility to present themselves and prove their worth. But for Michael, the event becomes an opportunity to rejoin high society and restore his family name. After all, the last ten years have been difficult the Kingmans. Michael himself barely survives off the money he makes as a petty con artist, while his sister Gwen works at the asylum, caring for their mind-addled mother. So when Michael is offered a well-paying job to be a chaperone for a heavy drinking, free-wheeling high noble named Charles Domet, he is forced to accept.

The older nobleman, however, is nothing like Michael expected. A talented Fabricator and adept at using magic, Domet agrees to teach Michael to develop his own fledgling skills while also sharing a secret piece of information our protagonist had long hoped for but never dared to believe—that his father, David Kingman, had been innocent and framed for his crime.

Over the years, I’ve read a great number of books involving unreliable narrators, but this one might be one of the most intriguing ways of handling the concept that I’ve ever seen. For one thing, have you ever thought about why this novel is called The Kingdom of Liars? Well, let’s put things this way—can you really trust someone to speak the truth, if they don’t remember it? Because that’s the crux behind the whole system of magic in the world of the Hollow. To use it costs memories, which means all experienced Fabricators have a way to help them remember the important details of their lives. However, our main character Michael Kingman’s abilities are just emerging, and with no telling when or how often he’s used his abilities, all we know is there are big gaps in his memories where he can’t recall certain details or remember someone who insists they’ve met before.

Not gonna lie, at times this made Michael and incredible frustrating protagonist. He bungles his way through his life, doing certain things while knowing full well he lacks the pertinent information to make good decisions. He’s also impulsive and easily manipulated, which made it difficult to sympathize with him when he inevitable does or says something stupid to get himself in trouble. That said, there’s a significant portion of this that is clearly done by design, and once we moved into the later parts of the story, that was when I gained a better understanding and appreciation for what author Nick Martell was trying to achieve with his character development.

The technical aspects of the novel were also impressive, if a bit raw. In many ways, The Kingdom of Liars reminded me very much of the early works by Brandon Sanderson, such as Elantris or Mistborn—just a tad unpolished and slightly rough around the edges, but the story and the concepts themselves are solid. Take the world-building, for example. Several major details shine through, most notably the idea of a crumbling moon whose pieces sometimes fall to earth and wreak havoc on the Hollow, but the larger picture still needs fleshing out, such as of how the society works or more clarification on the Fabrication system. There are also minor issues with the writing such as an overreliance on epic fantasy tropes, with the obvious one being the protagonist sharing his life story in flashback. And while Martell is cognizant enough of showing not telling, he often falls back on familiar clichés to do so, like the old hand-on-the-back-of-the-head/neck action to convey embarrassment or discomfort (a very anime thing to do, which is why I took notice of the several times this cropped up in the text).

But did any of these issues seriously affect my enjoyment or overall experience? Heck no. Most of the ones I pointed out aren’t so much complaints but rather observations or minor hiccups that need to be ironed out, and I have no doubt that they will with some time and experience. Nick Martell is poised to become a promising and inspiring powerhouse in the fantasy genre, and I look forward to reading more of his work for years to come. ...more

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Feb 18, 2020 James Islington rated it it was amazing

More a quick recommendation than a proper review, but this is another debut I’ve enjoyed recently! I initially gave The Kingdom of Liars a shot because the core concept (memory as a cost for using magic) sounded fascinating, and while that didn’t play out exactly as I expected—it’s a more a danger for those who overuse their magic, rather than an everyday cost—it’s still used to good effect, and the smartly plotted story was more than enough to keep me engaged. There’s great worldbuilding, chara ...more

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May 13, 2020 Gavin rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

Nick Martell's The Kingdom of Liars was an OK fantasy debut that recovered from a slow start to become an enjoyable tale despite its flaws. The story had a decent mix of action, intrigue, and mystery and the fantasy world and magic created by Matrell were fairly cool and interesting despite still feeling a little underdeveloped and vague.

This is the first fantasy debut I've tried in over two years after my batch of 2017 and 2018 fantasy debut attempts turned out to be so awful they killed my fa Nick Martell's The Kingdom of Liars was an OK fantasy debut that recovered from a slow start to become an enjoyable tale despite its flaws. The story had a decent mix of action, intrigue, and mystery and the fantasy world and magic created by Matrell were fairly cool and interesting despite still feeling a little underdeveloped and vague.

This is the first fantasy debut I've tried in over two years after my batch of 2017 and 2018 fantasy debut attempts turned out to be so awful they killed my faith in the major fantasy publishers ability to spot new talent that was worth my time and money. I was in the mood for something fresh which is the reason I decided to give a recent debut a go. Kingdom of Liars ended up being my pick for a whole host of reasons. The first is the title, The Kingdom of Liars, it is cool and hints the story will be one that is packed full of intrigue and twists and turns. The second was the fact that both the UK and the US covers are fairly eye-catching and appealing. So far so good for the marketing department! The blurb was so-so but not unappealing. What helped tip the scales and made this book my whim pick was the fact that it popped up in the Audible new release list at the perfect time and the fact that my eye was caught by the fact that it was published by Gollancz. I've not read a ton of new fantasy authors from Gollancz since my switch to audio more than a decade back because Gollancz have been one of the shittiest publishers for getting their books to the audio market. Hopefully the fact that this popped up is a sign they are changing their ways and making more of an effort. 15-20 years ago Gollancz was my go-to publisher for fantasy debut books as I felt they had an eye for picking out stuff that was both fresh in ideas and high in quality so I was eager to see if that was still the case all these years later. Plus my book disastrous books from 2017 and 2018 were mostly from Orbit and Tor so it seemed smart to give another publisher a chance to impress me.

Did Kingdom of Liars live up to the promise of its cool title and pretty covers? Probably not but it was a decent read in the end and I felt like it was worth the time and money I spent on it. The story suffered from a slow start. It took me a while to warm to Michael Kingsman and a fair amount of time to make sense of the world Martell created and to get a grasp of who all the characters were in the early stages. Once I did get to grips with that stuff I found it easier to get sucked into the story and invested in the characters as people I was interested in reading about.

The premise of the story was good. This was a first person POV story and the tale we got was that of Michael Kingsman. Michael is the son of the most notorious traitor in the history of the city state of Hollow. His father murdered one of the Kings children. It was a betrayal of epic proportions as the King's most trusted friend and advisor murdered one of his young children! The King did not take the betrayal well and branded the whole Kingsman family with the traitor brand. Michael and his brother and sister grew up in with this burden upon them and it shaped the people they became. Michael is obsessed with clearing his family name and restoring himself and his siblings to the glory he feels he is due as a right due to his family's glorious legacy. It all goes wrong and the tale kicks off with Michael telling the story of how he came to be awaiting trial for killing the King! The old "protagonist telling a tale while awaiting execution" trope of a bit overdone and cliche for sure but I think Martell just about managed to make it work as this story was engaging enough once it got past the slow start.

It is hard to assess the worldbuilding. Both the world and magic were super cool and interesting but both felt a little underutilized and underdeveloped due to Martell's inability to make them more than cool, but very vague, elements within the story. The world was cool though! It had a bunch of moons and one was shattered and raining bits down on the planet. As if that was not cool enough the fragments of moon were highly valued and even came with cryptic but cool messages. The chatty lunar fragments played only a tiny role in this first book in the series but they held more than enough promise that I'm intrigued! The Hollow Court was filled with intrigue and a fairly interesting place despite having a few flaws in the logic that it was supposed to be built upon (for example the King, despite all his power, has trouble executing a few of his blatantly obvious enemies but the sadistic prince kills people all the time for shits and giggles and no one bats and eyelid. How does that make any sense?). Little beyond the walls of Hollow City was explored in this tale but we got a few hints that Hollow City was just one of many city states and that powerful independent mercenary companies were also power players in the region. It hinted that there could be fun external intrigue to be had on top of the fun internal intrigue we got in this first book. Again it all felt a bit vague and underdeveloped but there is no denying it was all interesting and cool. The magic was decent as well. In Hollow City the magic we got was that of fabrications. The magic, like most things was vaguely explained, but pretty intriguing. As far as I could tell the fabrications worked a lot like superpowers. We got people who could heal from wounds, people who could zap people with electricity, people who could manipulate light and darkness, people who could use some sort of metal magic to give themselves super strength and a bunch of other fun powers. I quite liked it even if nothing was really explained about how the magic actually worked. As an added twist the fabrication magic did come with a cost. The magic stole peoples memories so people who used too much power or who had poor training ended up destroying all their memories! It was a fun way to work the old amnesia trope into the story. I felt the potential was only hinted at rather than exploited with this aspect of the story but what we did get was still pretty enjoyable and the hints are there that things could get even more interesting in the sequels. On top of that it was mentioned that fabrications were only one of many types of magic used in this fantasy worlds and that other cities might have their own unique types of magic. The other part of the worldbuilding worth mentioning was the fact that this is flintlock fantasy. Guns were just starting to rival magic and that was causing the social issues one might expect considering the High Nobility of Hollow City has used their magic as the power to back their rule as magic is a thing that only the nobility seems to possess in this world. It it is another win for elitist inbreeding programs lol!

I think the biggest issue I had with this tale was Michael as a character and the general obsession with class and legacy that was intrinsic in the world and society Martell created. It took me ages to warm to Michael because he came across as a whiny elitist who spent all his time crying and whinging about the fact that his father tainted his great family name and cheated him and his siblings of the glory and acclaim they all deserved as their privileged due just for being born members of the Kingsman family. I honestly wanted to reach into the story and slap the fool every time he clawed for validation in the eyes of the people he claimed to hate. It was so annoying that I was tempted to DNF this in the first 20% to 25% of the story. I'm glad I pushed through as I think once the tale settled down a bit I managed to warm a bit to Michael and was able to root for him as he sought to clear his fathers name.

While I was reading this one I was constantly reminded of moments and things that made me think of Mark Lawrence and Sebastian de Castell's books. The world felt like something straight out of a Lawrence book and the story had that feel to it as well. The characters and writing reminded me a lot of what we got in de Castell's Greatcoats series. It took me a while to see it but by the end I was struck by how similar Michael was as a character to Falcio from Greatcoats. He is a mostly likeable guy with some notable flaws that is trying to redeem the name of his family and restore their tarnished legacy to its old glory. Just like Falcio, Micheal means well but is a complete idiot who makes piss poor decisions and misses blatantly obvious clues and just blunders around from one event to the next doing more damage than good to the poor fools that call him a friend. Why they called him friend was anyone's guess. He was not a bad guy but he did nothing but take from the poor fools in his life and offered little in return. Despite that it was hard to dislike him, legacy obsession and elitist attitude aside, as he mostly meant well and did seem to care for his friends but was just too stupid to realize the stuff he did was going to end up hurting them. The other element of the story that reminded me of de Castell was the writing. A lot of the happenings in the tale felt a bit contrived. Need someone to save the day by popping up out of nowhere? You have it! Need a twist out of nowhere? Lets villain or friend flip a character to fit the needs of the story! I know this is true for most tales but for some reason it was just not smoothly done by Martell so it stood out. I felt the exact same way while reading Greatcoats! Despite that it is not like Martell was a poor writer or storyteller. He spun a pretty engaging tale once it got going and I was definitely sucked into the story from time to time.

All in all this was a decent fantasy debut. It had a slow start and a bunch of flaws but was still entertaining and fun and held the promise that things could be better developed in the sequels. I'll definitely pick up the next book in this series.

Rating: 3.5 stars. I'm rounding up to 4 stars because despite all the flaws I've mentioned as a flat 3 star rating feels way to harsh for what we got in this book!

Audio Note: Joe Jameson did a good job with the audio. He is a decent narrator. Always takes me a bit of time to get used to him but once I do I enjoy his performance.

...more

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Jan 22, 2020 Jeremy Szal rated it it was amazing

Shelves: blurbed, 2020, fantasy

In my blurb for this book, I called it, "a richly rewarding fantasy that seethes with mysteries, fused with a mindscrew of a magic system". At the risk of becoming a self-quoting tosser: it really is that good.

You won't find dragons and oaths and tales of heroism here, not in the traditional sense. Here, the storytelling revolves around the idea that using magic makes you suffer from memory loss. As a result, the central narrative revolves around people lying and deceiving and misleading people ...more

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May 11, 2020 TS Chan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc-review-copy

ARC received from the publisher, Saga Press, in exchange for an honest review.

Kingdom of Liars was one of the most hyped up debuts in 2020, and I believe it's partly due to Sanderson's blurb. While I'm not disputing what Sanderson said about this book, the enjoyment I derived from reading it was a whole lot more mixed than his blurb would suggest.

I'm not going to describe the book's plot as the synopsis was comprehensive enough without revealing too much. The balance of plot and characterisation ARC received from the publisher, Saga Press, in exchange for an honest review.

Kingdom of Liars was one of the most hyped up debuts in 2020, and I believe it's partly due to Sanderson's blurb. While I'm not disputing what Sanderson said about this book, the enjoyment I derived from reading it was a whole lot more mixed than his blurb would suggest.

I'm not going to describe the book's plot as the synopsis was comprehensive enough without revealing too much. The balance of plot and characterisation was done quite well for a debut. However, it did take me almost half of the book before I felt fully engaged. This is partly because Michael Kingman, the main protagonist, was quite an aggravating character. As much as I sympathised with his plight - admittedly what happened to him and his family following his father's execution as murderer and traitor was horrible - he came across a whiny brat who was the architect of his own problems through his many stupid decisions. Fortunately, his characterisation did not stay this way throughout the entire book. Michael's development and his investigation into what really happened on the night of his father's downfall kept the story quite compelling till the very end.

At the end of the day though, I still wasn't as invested in Michael's story as I hoped to be. I found most of the characters to either be not that likeable nor memorable. The title of the book was also very appropriate because it was so hard to tell who was telling the truth. Then there was the promising worldbuilding that felt a tad half-baked at this point in time. The shattered moon and memory being the price of using magic were all fascinating ideas but not explored as much as I would like it to be. I supposed that it was fair for the author to prefer to keep the focus on Michael's character development given that this is not a stand-alone and the worldbuilding could be expanded in the later books. I do have doubts that I will continue with this series as the plot was adequately wrapped up in Kingdom of Liars, but I'm not sufficiently attached to the characters. All that said, this book could work (and I've seen that it did) for other readers who may not feel as I did for the characters.

You can order the book from: Book Depository (Free shipping) | Bookshop.org (Support Independent Bookstores) | Amazon UK | Amazon US ...more

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Feb 06, 2020 Abi (The Knights Who Say Book) rated it did not like it

Shelves: fantasy, arcs, young-adult, spies-thieves-and-assassins, series-i-won-t-be-continuing

I wanted to give up 3% into my eArc of this book based on the bad writing, but I didn’t want an unfinished book dragging down my Netgalley record, so I persevered in the hopes that it would get better. It didn’t.

The characters are not fleshed out. There are quite a few of them—not more than a book could handle, mind you, so that’s not really an excuse—and none of them get enough focus for me to actually care about them. Michael is constantly telling you how much he cares about his friends and ho I wanted to give up 3% into my eArc of this book based on the bad writing, but I didn’t want an unfinished book dragging down my Netgalley record, so I persevered in the hopes that it would get better. It didn’t.

The characters are not fleshed out. There are quite a few of them—not more than a book could handle, mind you, so that’s not really an excuse—and none of them get enough focus for me to actually care about them. Michael is constantly telling you how much he cares about his friends and how taking care of them is all he cares about, but there’s only two scenes total that have any genuine sense of camaraderie or warmth. Otherwise, all you have to go on is his word as the narrator, or the stiff, hackneyed dialogue between him and these “friends.”

I did not prefer Michael to the other characters. Now, the story is cognizant of the fact that he’s kind of whiny and makes stupid decisions. He’s probably supposed to develop over time. But combined with the irritating writing style, I was never able to get invested in his development or enjoy reading about him. He is not fun or fascinating to dislike. He’s just annoying, and it’s not because he’s an “unlikeable character,” it’s because he’s badly written.

The writing style is to blame for everything. The dialogue falls short of either realism or cleverness. There’s nothing enjoyable about it or the descriptions of the setting. Actions are choppy and disconnected, dialogue is vaguely disjointed, and Michael’s reasoning never makes any sense.

My G-d, this book hates reasoning. It hates explaining things. It hates setting up literally anything in advance. Worldbuilding is done on the fly as things happen, never mentioned in advance (which is especially bad in a story with a central mystery, because you have no way to pick up clues when you don’t know basic things about how the magic works). And backstory is given on the fly too. If Michael has an enemy, for example, you find that out when he happens to run into that enemy, and not a moment before. It reads like a first draft, like nothing has been set up in advance because the author didn’t know this stuff either until he wrote it down just now.

This book needs another round of rewriting. It has, to be charitable, a few interesting worldbuilding concepts, and maybe one and a half good plot twists. With better writing, it could be more than a one star read. But as it stands now, I had to force myself through every chapter of this book, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. ...more

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Mar 05, 2020 Nick Martell added it · (Review from the author)

First off, let me say right off the bat that I’m biased. I wrote THE KINGDOM OF LIARS primarily during my last two years of college. I sold the novel in January 2018. And now, about two and half years later, the book will finally be available for everyone to read.

When I wrote THE KINGDOM OF LIARS, my goal was to tell the story of what would happen if a legendary family had a morally questionable child that crumbled under the pressure of emulating his ancestors. Because hasn’t anyone ever wonder ...more

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Apr 29, 2020 Celeste rated it liked it

Shelves: disappointing, fantasy

Actual rating: 2.5 stars

I tried so hard to like this book. The premise was really promising. A magic system that feeds on memories? That’s a fascinating concept! But the magic was barely explored or explained in any meaningful way. And while this is billed as an adult fantasy, it felt so young adult in tone that I felt suckered into reading something I hadn’t actually agreed to. The setting was vague in its description to the point that I had a hard time putting myself into the action. The suppo ...more

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May 05, 2020 Angelica marked it as to-read

I mean, if Brandon Sanderson blurbed it, right?

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Apr 29, 2020 *Thea 'Wookiee'sMama' Wilson* rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I can honestly say that this is great debut fantasy novel that keep me hooked from beginning to end. The action was non-stop and the characters were realistic, flawed and interesting to get to know. The world building was decent and will obviously grow given time as the series grows. The only flaws I could find were the lack of detail on the magic system and the outside rebellion that was only touched upon but not really explained, saying that it is early days in the series and I am sure these w ...more

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May 02, 2020 FanFiAddict rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

Rating: 9.0/10

Thanks to the publisher and author for an advance reading copy of The Kingdom of Liars for review consideration. This did not influence my thoughts or opinions.

The Kingdom of Liars is an ingenious and stunning debut fantasy novel. A magic system with harsh consequences, an intriguing array of characters, and world-building that begs for its own stand-alone novel make this a must-read for 2020.

This novel has been on my “need-to-read” list for some time and I am so glad that I finall Rating: 9.0/10

Thanks to the publisher and author for an advance reading copy of The Kingdom of Liars for review consideration. This did not influence my thoughts or opinions.

The Kingdom of Liars is an ingenious and stunning debut fantasy novel. A magic system with harsh consequences, an intriguing array of characters, and world-building that begs for its own stand-alone novel make this a must-read for 2020.

This novel has been on my “need-to-read” list for some time and I am so glad that I finally had the time to sit down and just devour it.

The main thing that really drew me in were the covers themselves, which are absolutely stunning. The US edition was done by Bastien Lecouffe-Deharme (US versions of Mark Lawrence’s Book of the Ancestory Trilogy, Jon Skovron’s The Empire of Storms Trilogy, among others) and the UK edition done by none other than Richard Anderson (Nicholas Eames’ The Band, Brian Staveley’s The Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, Victor Milán’s Dinosaur Lords series, among many others). I’m pretty sure I’ve noted how much of a cover snob I am, especially for anything from these two (2) artists. It is almost a guarantee that I’ll get a copy to add to my ever-growing shelves, but 9/10 I’ll give it a read, too.

Though there is always hesitation with fairly chunky debut novels, I threw caution to the wind when going into this one due to the Sanderson and Islington blurbs. Funny thing is (and get your tomatoes ready), I’ve never read a novel by either of these authors (I’M SORRY, HONEST), but I know how much of a following both have and how loyal their fanbases are so to take them at their word is a pretty good bet. To say the bet paid off is an understatement.

Michael Kingman is a bit of an enigma to say the least. He is very difficult to read, root for, and all of the other things you look for in a typical fantasy protagonist; but as the novel progresses, you find yourself in his corner more often than not. If I had to compare him to another character in fantasy, it would probably be Jorg Ancrath from Lawrence’s Broken Empire, but a little less grim, dark, and murdery. Morally grey with a mindset on righting a wrong, and not really caring who gets hurt in the process; stopping at nothing to get answers to questions that have tortured him most of his life and attempting to salvage his family’s name.

I also really enjoyed the world-building and magic system. The city of Hollow is just brimming with intrigue and I wish there was a map to go and explore in the book (maybe in Book 2, Gollancz?). On top of that, you have a fractured moon that drops pieces fairly consistently, leading to alarm within the populace that there will, one day soon, be no Hollow in existence. Not sure if that is a nod to Majora’s Mask, but well done. Back when I had Nick on my podcast, I asked about where he came up with the idea of magic costing memories and he stated that our memories are the worst thing we could stand to lose. And when you stop to think about it, it is a harsh truth. Think about anyone who has had to go through or seen someone go through the stages of long-term amnesia or even Alzheimer's. I can remember my grandmother in the last couple of years of her life dealing with the disease and how crushing it was when she had no recognition of who I was.

All in all, I absolutely loved this novel and I cannot wait to continue this series. Nick is officially an auto-read for me. ...more

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Mar 04, 2020 Logan rated it really liked it

Shelves: series-to-continue

A fantasy debut full of twists, mystery and reveals. Honestly, this book was very unpredictable for me; I really didn't know where things would end up and it had me guessing right up until the very end. The plot twists were my favorite part of this book.
The magic reminded me a bit of Brandon Sanderson with its unique naming system and the very real cost of magic use. The idea of memories was explored a lot in this book and I found this theme to be extremely interesting. I haven't read many books ...more

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Jun 07, 2020 Andreas rated it really liked it

This quite prominent Moon on the cover has been breaking apart since forever. The parts sometimes rain down on Michael Kingman’s city “Hollow” where all of this doorstopper of a novel is situated. The Kingman family has protected the city since its founding, functioning as a check-and-balance for the king’s power. Michael’s father has been executed because he murdered the King’s son. Michael and his siblings have been branded as traitors, and they barely survived the following riots.

Ten years la This quite prominent Moon on the cover has been breaking apart since forever. The parts sometimes rain down on Michael Kingman’s city “Hollow” where all of this doorstopper of a novel is situated. The Kingman family has protected the city since its founding, functioning as a check-and-balance for the king’s power. Michael’s father has been executed because he murdered the King’s son. Michael and his siblings have been branded as traitors, and they barely survived the following riots.

Ten years later, Michael hates everything that looks like nobility, and he works as a conman tricking country noble bumbkins from their money. This starts a long winded tale through saving his friends, his family including his mad mother, restoring his name, trying to remember.

It comes up quite early on, that his memories were failing – a side effect of using magic in this world. Only that Michael has never learned, which kind of magic he could wield.

He enters the “Endless Waltz”, a long tradition of Hollow nobility to present their youngsters and marry them off, in order to restore his name and prove that his father was not guilty.

On his desperate way, he meets a drunken madman, an extraordinary deadly Mercenary-sorcerer, a sexy police-girl, and old-new friends that he didn’t remember.

Up to some 40% of this novel, I had to fight the slow turning pages – I found it interesting but way too slow. Only then did it take off, starting with fantasy tropes like a huge library and a full blown, living dragon. The mystery entangled Michael ever more and went into hyperdrive for the whole second part of the novel.

I loved the closed setting and the diversity, liveness of the city Hollow, its contrast between the dark, drug-addicted slums, the shady asylum, the better situated residential homes, and the shiny nobility households. Most characters had their own motives, and played them well according to their characters – there were no damsels in mistress, but strong women driving, bribing, enchanting Michael.

I’m a sucker for unreliable narrators – and Michael fits well into this whole society of liars filling lost memories with their own versions of the truth. He is a likeable hero, because what he does is based on his main motto “Family looks after family” which he extends to friends. His complex social network with conman-friends, siblings, and new friends ground Michael’s stupid decisions and heroic actions.

As the start of a series, I give the novel some leeway in exposition, but nearly half the novel was too much, too slow for a balanced pacing, especially compared to the reckless speed in the later half.

The last one hundred pages found a lot of unexpected and excellent plot twists, and opened up the setting for further exploration in the next volume of the Legacy of the Mercenary King series. Which I will certainly read. This volume, I recommend with the caveat to be patient and endure the first half – the reward lies in the second half. ...more

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Feb 25, 2020 Andria Potter rated it liked it

Heavy in politics, lots of rebellions, death, and intrigue. After a while I lost interest though that's through no fault of the books. Michael Kingman is a fascinating character and I will be seeing where this story goes later on. DNF at 54%. ...more

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Dec 26, 2019 Ellie Manning rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy

A wonderful fantasy novel, by debut author Nick Martell, that I couldn't put down!

Michael Kingman, branded a traitor for the crimes of his father, has a family legacy to live up to and a past to confront to do it. In a world where the nobility can use magic at the price of their memories, Michael must face the political corruption of the High Nobility of the Hollows in order to find the truth about his family, and himself. But who's memories can he trust, if not his own?

Pub date 05/05/20. ...more

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Jun 24, 2020 Suzanne rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley, fantasy, wheel20

Michael is the son of a traitor, and he lives basically by his wits. He also seems to lie a lot, mostly filling in gaps in his memory. Those gaps are interesting to us as the reader, because the magic system in this world is one of the things that can create them - using magic steals memories.

When Michael is recruited to find out more about his father's crime, it is of course something he is interested in.

I enjoyed this book. I had some Goodreads friends that got frustrated with the main charac ...more

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Jun 22, 2020 Shannon rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-lafayette, series, fantasy, advanced-reader-copy, netgalley, 2020-books

I was really excited to get my hands on this one, and I really enjoyed reading it! I think it's a very solid book one, and it definitely left me curious as to what is going to happen in the next book. I hope I don't have to wait too long! I read a lot of reviews saying that the beginning dragged a bit, but I didn't think so. I thought the beginning was interesting, and I liked seeing the world slowly come to life and learning more about it. The end was unputdownable, though! Super exciting stuff ...more

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May 06, 2020 Amber rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2020grreadingchallenge, netgalley-reviews

I received a complimentary copy of this eBook ARC from the author, publisher, and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Michael Kingman and his family have been branded traitors by the King after their father killed the King's son Davey Hollow. Determined to clear their family name, Michael takes a job from the mysterious high noble Charles Domet to be his personal companion and to participate in the Endless Waltz in order to join his country's high society of Hollow again. Can he survive t ...more

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Mar 01, 2020 Metaphorosis rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, 2020-rev

2 stars, Metaphorosis Reviews

Summary
Michael Kingman is the son of a traitor, but also the descendant of a family that made the kingdom what it is. Trying to find a place in society, he stumbles onto a mystery that may explain much about his executed father.

Review
I generally ignore blurbs, but every now and then, if it's from an author I like, one catches my attention. Sometimes, that's a mistake. I picked up Nick Martell's The Kingdom of Liars mostly for its interesting premise that magic costs ...more

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About Nick Martell

Nick Martell

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Nick Martell was born in Ontario, Canada before moving to the United States at age 7. After graduating high school on Long Island, he majored in Creative Writing at Pennysylvania’s Susquehanna University. He started writing novels regularly in fifth grade, and his debut novel, The Kingdom of Liars, sold when he was 23 years old. Currently, he lives outside Allentown. Follow Nick on Twitter, @macma ...more