The Knightpunk Code: A Superhero Origin High Fantasy Mashup

by Kory Shen

In a land ruled by armor, the iron man is king.

Jakson the thief holds no love for the throne. His half-brother, the crown prince, hates him. His father, the king, refuses to acknowledge him. He is at home on the streets as a trickster and rogue.

Yet he dreams of knighthood. For armor is power, and the king's knights wield the strongest steel.

A desperate gamble leads Jakson to an otherworldly artifact: armor from another age. His discovery propels him into a deadly game of knights, a game of treachery, violence, and corruption.

Threats arise from beyond the kingdom and from within. Allies emerge from companions old and new. War is coming, but Jakson's true fight is not on the battlefield.

For when knights lie and champions steal, who will trust the honor of a rogue?

Jon Snow is Iron Man in this high tech, high fantasy mashup. Contains emerging sweet harem themes, which means more Robert Jordan, less Terry Goodkind.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy

424 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 7, 2019

About the author

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www.koryshen.com

I'm a long-time fan of fantasy, anime, and video games with a special interest in the growing genres of LitRPG and GameLit. In 2018, I left an unsatisfying industry and started writing fiction novels to see if I could reach people in my own way. Whether you're tired, hurting, or just searching for the next good tale, I hope my stories can make you smile and forget your worries for a little while longer.

Reviews

[Pablo García · Rating 2 out of 5]

It seems that the author was inspired by R.R. Martin's "Game of Thrones", Star Wars, etc. to write this Fantasy novel series. The thing is, there is too much bloodshed, wanton violence, carnage and mass-murder of women and children. I have a feeling that this author has no ethical values, or at least in this book series shows serious sociopathic/psychopathic tendencies. I have always believed that you write what you think (how you are, how you view life, etc.) If a person is instinctual and violent, they will write about that in their books and stories. In the end, you write what you feel "most comfortable about". Then again, to create a whole other fantasy world, to have human sex-trafficking, genocidal murder of women and children (left and right and throughout this whole first book), shows you that the author does not differentiate our current "reality" (full of war, human slavery, organized crime, corruption, etc.) with what the author's imagination can come up with (a copy of our current world reality). I mean, the possibilities of another world a fantasy one are limitless, but to focus only on a hell-like place, to actually create another hell-on-Earth shows very little to no imagination at all.
There are huge plot holes in this one. The magical/mecha/ultra-iron-man armor that the main character bought for a kiss (from a Maiden) and some coins, is unreal and has no real basis (scientific/Sci-Fi or Fantasy) for a medieval/totalitarian/monarchical place like this one. That and the main character "Jakson", bastard son of a King, never really had any martial arts training, education, etc. to be the "Mary-Sue-Iron-Man" of this Fantasy novel series. At least in the Marvel Comics' Iron Man was incredibly wealthy and probably the biggest genius in that fantasy universe, while Jakson was more of an "Oliver" type of pick-pocket, orphan/rufian/gang-member/etc. that never seems to fail or do anything wrong (except the thievery and murder). So, Jakson, in this hell-like-fantasy novel series stands out like red-wine stain on a new white and pristine tablecloth.
There really is no main theme to this story. Jakson wants the "approval" and "recognition" that he never received from his tyrannical King Dad and that gets him into a lot of life-risking wrong-choices. There is a really extremely bad (dark-side) to this story, but there is no "true and real" good side, so this "imbalance" (lack of balance in the story) makes it more of a horror-than a fantasy-adventure story.
I do not like stories or authors that think that because they place "steam-punk" or in this case "Knight-Punk" on the title of their "fantasy-hell-like-place story" that it is actually a story that contains those elements or belongs to that genre. It is a false-flag (false advertisement) and should not be tolerated. Especially if there are no explanations (science/logic-rational/ideas) that back up the futuristic Iron Man armors found in this hell-hole-world.
The story has no maps, no inside illustrations, no warnings on the cover or the inside about the extreme violence, carnage, enslavement of women, children, humanoid species of this other-hell-like-other-world. The story is organized, has an introduction, a body and a conclusion, but there is really no world building (explanations of the systems that govern this hell-like other world: Political, Economic, Social, Religious, etc. etc. etc.) The character descriptions also lack details, especially of the main characters (height, weight, age, likes/dislikes, personality traits, etc.)

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

“‘You’re taking about principals? Look, the only principles you need are to stab a man when he’s not looking and to run when he is.’ Vimm made a face and threw up his hands. “

“The Knightpunk Code” is a relatively clean but still sassy high fantasy story told by Kory Shen with both a super hero and dark fantasy twist. As stated, this story, unlike Shen’s superhero story, has no noted actual adult content. However, as might be expected from the author of “Red Light Hero”, the story is told from an alpha male view point character and has a good portion consisting of his interactions with various beautiful women….not necessarily a bad thing, but I’d wonder if a lady reader would enjoy the story? Regardless, as a heterosexual male reader, I found those bits fun and engaging, of course. The heroines are fun and engaging enough, keeping both the protagonist and the reader wondering what they will do and what will happen next.

While the super hero influence is fairly obvious and well done (I.e. iron man in a high fantasy world), I’d wager the other influence is Mistborn. The prot and his band of narry do wells seem reminiscent of a certain crew of thieves and rebels in that work, though here the tone seems more light and comical for the most part than Sanderson’s somewhat epic writing.

The tone and plot are interesting - for most of the book, there is a lot of violence done, without to many people being hurt. Miraculously when it would make sense for the prot and prots foes to have dramatically died, they are revealed to only be unconscious…now *spoilers* obviously there is eventually more injuiries and death, almost to excessive GOT levels but …*end spoilers* the incidents where huge fires and worse only result in knocking a foe out seem reminiscent of comic books to, so it keeps up the genre mashup.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story. It was fairly fast paced and I was continually wondering what would happen next. While I’d personally doubt that this story would appeal to everyone, I felt for myself it deserved 4 out of 5 daemon possessed magical armors.

Will there be a sequel? Only time will tell.

[Raymond Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magitech what fun!!

Love the story premise and the characters. Seems as if high tech fell and magic arose. The MC is fun and energetic as well as believable. His cohorts are very well thought out. This has the makings of a fine and fun series. Can't wait for the next one.

[Jason Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

A page turner

Really enjoyed the read, could not put it down. I encourage you to give it a look if you are looking for something familiar but unique.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't have high expectations of this book, given the title, but I figured it might be entertaining.

That turns out to be exactly how this played out, at least for me. I did find the portrayal of the MC a bit inconsistent; he seemed to repeatedly freeze in combat situations which seemed at odds with his training and experience. Anyway, a diverting read, and if there is any continuity from this book I'll be interested in checking it out.

[Roberto Flores · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lacking direction.

Main character shows no growth of any cohesive decision making. Goes from knightly honor to family loyalty just to make a scene work. Supporting characters are shown as over powered yet constantly run out of juice and everyone just gets knocked out. This is a book outline not a story.

[Josh Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good start

Like the characters and the mix of magic and tech looking forward to more would like the next book of this story

[Greg Linden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting characters, nice combat sequences. good read