Blog Tour: SONG OF THE ADOËL by Kevin King

 

SONG OF THE ADOËL

Kevin King

 

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GENRE:  YA Fantasy Adventure

 

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BLURB:

 

Raendel is one of the Adoël, the cursed people. Passed on to each generation, the curse drains his body of color, leaving his skin and hair a ghostly white. To protect himself from the commoners who fear what they don't understand, all of the Adoël live as servants to the royal family, using their unique skill with illusion magic to entertain bored nobility. Raendel is bound by traditions, but also by his own lack of self-confidence. Prince Kenan is the younger of two princes, frustrated by his gilded cage and the combat tutoring that feels pointless in a secure and peaceful kingdom. He dreams of adventure, of making a name for himself with heroic deeds. An unexpected assault from an ancient enemy sets the two on a quest that begins as pursuit of vengeance, but soon leads them into a struggle for survival that will teach them both that they are small pieces of a long, dark history. But even the smallest actions can change the fate of a kingdom.

 

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Excerpt One:

 

Raendel wove through the room with practiced ease, gliding between isolated clumps of noblemen scattered across the room, passing the time with idle gossip as they waited for the guest of honor to arrive. His gaze flicked along the way in front of him, choosing the path that would keep him farthest away from the guests. Most of them wore enough perfume to give him a headache from five yards away. The enhanced sense of smell shared by the Adoël only added to Raendel’s trepidation. All the nobles stank of pride. The smell of fear drifted in clouds, especially near visitors who had never seen one of the Adoël before. Raendel spent most of his day inside the castle, serving Prince Kenan.

 

His distinctive features would have drawn stares even without the stories. The name Adoël had been used to frighten children for generations.  Mothers would clutch their children as he passed in the street. Don’t go outside at night or the Adoël will get you. Don’t wander into the woods, the Adoël will catch you and suck the life out of you. Each passing generation believed the stories a bit more than their parents. To encounter an Adoël in person resurrected the terrors planted in the hearts of children now grown.

 

Whispers swirled in his wake. Ghost-child. Cursed. Tainted. Touched by the Necromancer. Raendel had heard them all before, but he still flinched with every sting.

 

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Please describe a pivotal scene in your story.

Without question, the most pivotal scene happens about a quarter of the way through the book. The kingdom’s anniversary celebration has started. Young Prince Kenan has slipped out into the town to enjoy the festivities and avoid chores. The nobles are gathered for a feast. The Adoël servant Raendel stands near the king to wait on him.

(Minor spoilers follow – description of a pivotal scene. But it happens early in the story, and shouldn’t come as a total surprise anyway. So embrace the danger, and read it anyway.)

Just as the celebration begins, the doors burst open and a small squad of mercenary soldiers charge in, followed by a Shadow-Weaver. A dark spirit, summoned from the underworld by a necromancer, the Shadow-Weaver wades through the crowd of nobles leaving a trail of bodies.

Two court mages lead the king out a back exit, with the Shadow-Weaver in pursuit. It kills one of the mages before the other manages to destroy it. Weakened by her struggle with the creature, the second mage is struck down by the necromancer himself.

The king flees into his chamber. He pulls out a sword that was mounted to the wall, but collapses before he can use it, dead of heart failure. The necromancer takes the sword from the fallen king and stabs him with it, frustrated that he is already dead. The assassin escapes, taking the sword with him.

This scene is pivotal because it is a catastrophic event for all the main characters, and many of the side characters. It sets in motion the chain of events that make up the core of the story, because it turns everyone’s life upside-down.

Prince Kenan has been training in combat magic for a time like this - to stop assassins. But he wasn’t there, because he was hiding from his chores and goofing off. After this scene his mother, the queen, orders him confined to his room and guarded, afraid that assassins will come for him too. Haunted by guilt and anger, he feels compelled to do something. So he sneaks out to pursue the assassin on his own.

Raendel witnesses the whole thing, but does nothing because he is afraid. He uses his illusion magic to hide himself. Afterward he feels guilty for doing nothing to protect the king. When his friend and master Prince Kenan sneaks out, Raendel goes after him, determined to make up for his failure to protect the king by bringing the prince back alive.

Queen Havilah, stunned by the sudden loss of her husband and betrayal by her own relatives, sinks into depression at the news that her youngest son has vanished. I don’t want to give too many spoilers, but I’ve had several readers tell me that she is their favorite character, possibly because of the depth of the struggle she has to go through triggered by the events in this scene. She suffers quite a bit before she finds her way back.

Besides being the inciting incident that changes the lives of the protagonists, this scene provides hints about the plans of the necromancer and the nature of the sword that he stole, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the Shadow-Weavers, which become crucial later in the story.

It’s one of the first scenes I crafted, written before the chapters that lead up to it, and is probably the closer to the original version than any other scene in the book. This scene and the climactic final fight are the two pillars that I built the plot around.

 

 

AUTHOR BIO:

 

Kevin works as a software developer in the Seattle area by day, and an author by night. He enjoys Renaissance Fairs, bookstores, fencing, and daydreaming. He has been reading fantasy from age six, and writing from age twenty-two. He loves exploring fantasy worlds, especially exploring human nature through fiction. Fantasy is his first love, but he also dabbles in sci-fi, creepy horror, and devastatingly sad dramas. He posts regular flash fiction stories to his Instagram account and website.

 

Website: www.kevinkingauthor.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevinkingauthor/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KevinKingAuthor

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/KevinKingAuthor

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