Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution by Mike Duncan

Genre(s): Biography, Nonfiction, History

Release: 8/24/21

Format/Length: Paperback + Audiobook/502 Pages, 17 hours 20 minutes

What historical periods are covered?

The American and French Revolutions, the Napoleonic Era, Bourbon Restoration and July Revolution of 1830

Book summary excerpt...

Few in history can match the revolutionary career of the Marquis de Lafayette. Over fifty incredible years at the heart of the Age of Revolution, he fought courageously on both sides of the Atlantic. He was a soldier, statesman, idealist, philanthropist, and abolitionist.

As a teenager, Lafayette ran away from France to join the American Revolution. Returning home a national hero, he helped launch the French Revolution... Lafayette sparred with Napoleon, joined an underground conspiracy to overthrow King Louis XVIII, and became an international symbol of liberty...

His remarkable life is the story of where we come from, and an inspiration to defend the ideals he held dear.

POSITIVES

• Duncan displays an even better eye for the story and pacing than he did in (the quite good) Storm Before the Storm, delivering effective end-of-chapter teases and never lingering too long on inconsequential minutiae.

• Reads like narrative nonfiction or a podcast script (an area where Duncan has tons of experience, which helps the audiobook to shine with his performance).

Provides a balanced portrayal that never flirts with becoming a hagiography. Duncan highlights both sides of Lafayette, who was at times a "champion of the people" while still having a complicated and evolving relationship with major issues of the day like slavery.

If we are to judge people by what they do rather than who they are, we must look at all they do. Lafayette easily expressed disgust with the absurd hypocrisies of the Old World, but he still struggled to see the absurd hypocrisies of the New World. - Pg. 101

• Much like Thomas Asbridge's The Greatest Knight about William Marshal, our main character was his day's Forrest Gump. This mf'er was everywhere and in everything! He's involved in several major events in both America and France, rubbing elbows with George Washington and Napoleon and everyone in-between, allowing us to explore a wide range of history throughout his life from two different sides of the Atlantic. Basically, it's epic af.

• Does an excellent job highlighting the challenges faced when the rubber meets the road re: ideologies and ideals. Lafayette and his idea of liberty had a much easier time swimming in the political currents in America, whereas his time in France saw him as too liberal for the conservatives and too conservative for the Jacobins, leading to fascinating and complicated scenarios.

NEUTRAL

While providing a whistlestop tour of events like The American and French Revolutions, you won't get a detailed breakdown of those, but you will know enough to be dangerous and have the confidence to tackle deeper dives. For example, my next French history reads will be The Revolutionary Temper by Robert Darnton, A New World Begins by Jeremy D. Popkin and Napoleon by Andrew Roberts, which will hopefully give me the level of detail I'm now craving after this brisk romp. (shout out to Sicko Camila who helped me curate this list of further reading)

NEGATIVES
Even though we spend so much time with Lafayette, there still remains some distance between us and him. Perhaps this needed more and/or longer quotes from his personal letters (if available) to create a better connection.

AUDIOBOOK NOTE

As noted, this is read by Duncan, who has decades of podcasting experience under his belt, which made my immersion read of this a tremendous experience.

RATING
4.75 stars! Highly recommend.

Let's try something new! At the end of every month, our Discord server's "Reviews and Wraps" channel is full of folk sharing the books they'd read for the month. Why not get together and chat about it on a video call?! Video not required, but I'd love for the subscribers to test this out and see how it goes. If it rocks we'll do it on the last Sunday of every month (until the NFL starts up and we'll adjust from there).

We're holding this live chat today (Sunday, 6/29/25) at 5pm EST on Google Meet: here's the link! I'll drop the link in the main chat when it's time as well. Hope to see you there!

Today I'm thrilled to announce that Kist Reads, my publishing imprint with Bindery, has officially acquired its first book: THE DEVIL'S RULES by Shona Moyse!

This banger was submitted to my imprint during Bindery's PitchFest (when unagented authors can submit their work to us) in April and of all the wonderful manuscripts I sampled, this is The One that hooked me from beginning to end. I read it on my phone over the course of three days, and I hate reading on my phone! It had a magnetism that wouldn't let me stay away for long.

THE DEVIL'S RULES is a high-stakes, female-led, adult fantasy heist. To give you a sample of what you're in for, here's how Moyse described it in her pitch:

Myria Cadessa is a confidence trickster, thief, and favoured protegee of the lord of Carintheum’s criminal underworld. After the biggest score of her career, she and her crew are on the way up – until their master steals the treasure from their hands and the magic from their bones, and turns them over to the law.

Years later, Myria is free and ready to settle the score. Break her friends out of jail? A pleasure. Steal back everything her erstwhile leader took? And then some. She'll just need to trick the king of all tricksters, with the prefecture on her heels and not a spark of magic to her name. It’s the most audacious crime she’s ever attempted, but she led her crew to ruin once. She’ll make it right at any cost.

Felix Aurelias should have died a hero. Instead, his final battle shatters his powers and ends the privileged life he's always known. His new post in the prefecture might just bore him to death. Then, a routine job takes an unexpected turn, and leaves him working with the very woman he should be arresting – the infamous Myria Cadessa. It’s a taste of the thrill he thought he’d never have again. Only problem is, he needs to claim for Carintheum the very treasure he’s helping her steal… and the empire doesn’t accept split loyalties.

To the victor, the spoils. To the loser, a coffin; and if they're lucky, they'll be dead before they go inside it. But where there’s a wit, there’s a way.

Moyse also included that THE DEVIL'S RULES would be "appealing to readers who enjoyed M.J. Kuhn's Among Thieves or M.A. Carrick's The Mask of Mirrors. And more generally she compared it to "a female-led Lies of Locke Lamora, or Six of Crows for an adult audience".

There's still plenty to do over the next year plus before this sees publication and I'll be including this community as much as I can, including providing chapter samples, advanced reader copies, participation in publishing decisions and interviews with Moyse. You will see everything before everyone else, which makes you better than them obviously :D

I want to thank every single one of you for being here as this quite literally would not be possible without you. A significant chunk of the subscription revenue is being poured into the imprint, ensuring we can make fair acquisition offers and provide all the resources necessary to go from the manuscript to the bookstore shelf.

We're not going to be one-and-done either; I'm continuing to pour through manuscript submissions to find the next gem. Again, thank you for being here and making all of this possible, I can't wait to share more with you in the coming days!

ANJI KILLS A KING by EVAN LEIKAM

The Fantasy Sickos Book Club - June Pick

Genre(s): Grimdark Fantasy Adventure

Release: 5/13/25

Format/Length: Paperback (Advanced Reader Copy) + Audiobook/352 Pages, 10 Hours 36 Minutes

Is it a series or standalone?

Series, book 1 in “The Rising Tide”

What's the setting?

A fantasy world set in a kingdom called Yem ruled by King Rolandrian, including an adventure through various cities and areas of wilderness.

What's the plot?

It’s right in the title. Anji is a palace servant who kills a king and dips. She’s chased by a group of mercenaries (The Menagerie). She encounters the Hawk, and it’s their tenuous relationship that carries the bulk of the book.

Is it character-driven or plot-driven?

A mix that leans character-driven.

What's the pace?

Mostly fast-paced to various degrees. Things kick off quick and mostly keep momentum throughout.

POSITIVES

Pleasing writing style that sets the scene quickly and gets to the good stuff. Prose is nicely balanced and impressive.
Pacing is go, go, go.
Complicated, morally gray characters that may not be traditionally likable, but are interesting.
Great interplay between Anji and Hawk, with their authentic dialogue carrying the periods between the action.
Establishes the world quickly, avoids big info dumps, and keeps the focus tight on the main characters while doling out manageable pieces of the worldbuilding over the duration.
Solid cast of interesting villains who have cool masks, which is cool.
Not a lot of names to remember and the names are easy to remember.
Action scenes are well-executed.
Meaningful commentary on addiction.
Plenty of room to grow the world in later installations.
Effectively sets up enough interest in the next book in the series.

NEGATIVES
Could have set up to the world at large more. The choice to leave it sparse in the beginning was effective, but I wanted more by the end.
Pacing could’ve slowed a touch in certain spots to accommodate for the previous point.
Decent twists/evolutions but too often plot threads culminated in predictable outcomes.
Anji’s decision-making is sometimes flawed without clear explanations to justify it, despite being in her head via the third-person limited POV.

AUDIOBOOK NOTE

I "immersion read" this (physical+audio) and I can't recommend the audiobook enough! Moira Quirk is brilliant once again, turning in an excellent performance that strengthened the overall experience. I don't usually go audio-only for fantasy books as my brain will actively leak worldbuilding and characters, but for this I probably could have due to the straightforward nature and the greatness of Quirk.

FINAL THOUGHTS & RATING…
Anji Kills a King is an impressive debut novel, and I agree with those in the book club that while not there yet, Leikam has the potential to deliver a future five-star book. This grabs you by the scruff of the neck and takes you on a whirlwind ride. Overall, I had a blast with it despite some minor flaws. 3.75 stars, would recommend!