THE KING'S BLOODHOUND

In this fantasy, a halfling tracker must overcome his self-doubts to save a kingdom in turmoil.

Rinad, a halfling, is searching for a lost squire named Stroud. Rinad has a distinctive personal history. His skills in tracking down lost items earned the attention of Sheriff Ridgemont, who took him on as a Royal Huntsman. Soon, the sheriff’smen nicknamed Rinad the Bloodhound, but he now feels like an imposter and failure since he’s unable to find one lost squire—either the boy himself or his body. Strange goings-on are afoot in the land lately: Rinad believes Stroud may have been pushed from a cliff; the sheriff cannot get an audience with a neighboring king despite threats of war; and a once-beloved baron seems to have become a fugitive and is feared by the very people who used to sing his praises. As Rinad and his friends travel the land in search of their quarry and the sheriff looks further into the misdeeds of Baron Castaro, it is clear that evil has taken root in the kingdom. It may take all of the halfling’s and his allies’ might, plus the aid of Rinad’s patron goddess, to defeat their enemies. In this ambitious novel, Sauls presents a tale in which an intrepid hero struggles with his own internal demons as well as sinister figures in his homeland. In addition, the story provides plenty of striking scenes in which readers get to know the captivating characters. Unfortunately, the narrative lacks a strong sense of time and place. While years are mentioned at the beginning of some chapters and several places have names, the story delivers few vivid descriptions of the kingdom and the era. The worldbuilding remains a bit fuzzy throughout the book. It may also be difficult for readers to take seriously a villain who uses “um” in several of his lines when he first appears—for example, “You’d make a lovely, um, corpse.”

An intriguing but uneven fantasy filled with halflings, murder, and secret plots.