Review: A Draw of Kings (Blog Tour)

A Draw of Kings (Sword and Staff, 3) by Patrick W. Carr, February 18, 2014. 464 pages. Published by Bethany House Publishing. Source. Chapter by Chapter Blog Tours.

Their journey to Merakh should have made Errol and his companions heroes of the realm. Instead, much is changed on their return. In the wake of the king’s death, Duke Weir is ruling the country–and his intentions are to marry Adora to bring an heir.
With Errol and the others imprisoned and the identity of the rightful heir to the throne still hidden in secrecy, Illustra is on the verge of civil war–and at growing risk from the armies of Merakh and Morgol.
A dangerous mission to free Errol succeeds, but the dangers facing the kingdom are mounting with every passing moment. The barrier has fallen, ferals are swarming toward the land, and their enemies draw near. Will the revelation of Illustra’s next true king come in time or will all be lost?

First Sentence:

Deep within, Adora continued to harbor the possibility that her uncle, King Rodran, might still live, but the pallid faces of those on the ship, especially Errol's, refuted all hope.

While I enjoyed the writing and world building of A Draw of Kings, I wish I had been more familiar with the world and how things got to where they are in the third installment of the series. So, while there are many good qualities to Patrick Carr's book, make sure you read all of them to avoid the confusion I felt.

So, even though I really enjoyed reading A Draw of Kings, like I enjoyed the story, plot, and author's writing, there were a couple times that I just did not care for the characters. I felt a disconnect with each of them because I, guess, just wasn't invested in what happened to them since; although, the further I read the more I invested I became (guess it just took me some time to warm up to them).

The two things I really enjoyed about A Draw of Kings would have to be the world-building and how the story played out at the end. I thought Patrick Carr did a great job weaving the the darkness of the opposition and their quest to destroy Illustra with that of the heroes' quest to regain the barrier that protected them for years. It was just so interesting to see the differences between both sides, and, seeing the way things played out was quite interesting because one step either way would have changed things tremendously.
     Based on what I read in the third installment, I would recommend this to fans of high fantasy because there are so many things to enjoy between the actual story and the writing.

While I enjoyed reading A Draw of Kings, there is one reason I did not enjoy it as much as I hoped I would have. That being that I felt like I was missing so much to the whole story-line by jumping in at the third book. There were so many things I wanted to know, like, what happened leading right into the first chapter and how the previous plot-lines got the story to this point.
     Sure, there were a few tidbits thrown in from the previous two books, but it really made no sense because it doesn't give the full story of what happened and how it affected the various characters. So, again, this is an enjoyable book, but I definitely recommend reading all the installments before tackling this one.

Final Verdict: A Draw of Kings- Good world building and writing make this an interesting read for fantasy readers.

A Draw of Kings earns 3.5 griffins out of 5

You can follow the rest of the blog tour-> HERE <- a="">

About the Author:

Patrick Carr was born on an Air Force base in West Germany at the height of the cold war. He has been told this was not his fault. As an Air Force brat, he experienced a change in locale every three years until his father retired to Tennessee. Patrick saw more of the world on his own through a varied and somewhat eclectic education and work history. He graduated from Georgia Tech in 1984 and has worked as a draftsman at a nuclear plant, did design work for the Air Force, worked for a printing company, and consulted as an engineer. Patrick’s day gig for the last five years has been teaching high school math in Nashville, TN. He currently makes his home in Nashville with his wonderfully patient wife, Mary, and four sons he thinks are amazing: Patrick, Connor, Daniel, and Ethan. Sometime in the future he would like to be a jazz pianist. Patrick thinks writing about himself in the third person is kind of weird.

You can haunt Patrick Carr at-
Goodreads | Website |

You can purchase A Draw of Kings, as well, as the first two books, A Cast of Stones and A Hero's Lot, at-
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | The Book Depository | IndieBound


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This book was received in exchange for an honest review.