Tom Knighton's The Last Champion

Welcome to Day Two of Jimbo's Memorial Day Weekend Extravaganza. For the record, yes, I do know that Memorial Day is about remembering the fallen and not celebrating veterans (that's what Veterans' Day is for. Check with me in November about that.) but I can't find a book that was published by someone who fell in the line of duty while a member of the US Military. But if you know of one, let me know in the comments!

Today, we have T.L. Knighton who served as a US Navy Hospital Corpsman. That's what the Navy calls medics. He says he never really deployed anywhere, but he was in Chicago and that was scaryt. I call shenanigans though! I've totes been to Navy Pier and I loved it. The Ferris Wheel was nice, I got a gold necklace made and the cotton candy was good. We won't talk about how long ago that was. Let's just say FAO Schwarts and the Viacom Store were both still on the Magnificent Mile back then.


Anywho....


Today's review is The Last Champion by T.L. Knighton. I was really happen to crack this one open (even if I actually opened the Kindle file instead of actually cracking the book open) because I was in the mood for a really good epic fantasy after I thought the last book I read was epic fantasy but it wasn't. I never even dreamed of being disappointed once I cracked this open.

I hear a lot of people talking about not liking tropes. If you want to be an avant-garde lich-ra-choor snob that is your right, but I'd rather read something in the vein of what made the genre of the book I'm reading popular in the first place. I mean, populist fiction is what lasts. Shakespeare was a popular playwright whose stories sold out the Globe Theatre in London and most of what he did wasn't really all that original. It was just really well done.

So what trope did Mr. Knighton use for The Last Champion? I count at least three:

1.) The fallen kingdom/exiled prince
2.) The Prince's protector/trainer out to restore the kid to the throne
3.) The spoiled princess turned warrior

There are probably some other ones too and that's awesome. Things become tropes because they're good story elements. And actually, I just thought of two more but that would be spoiling. Seriously folks, there's lots of good stuff here.

Of course, a good use of a trope often involves putting a new spin on it, and Knighton uses one well here. Korr is the main character. He's the guy training the prince, not the prince himself. That seems opposite of what I would expect but trust me, it works. Korr is not only a good man and a strong warrior (he's not just issued the name Champion willy-nilly. He earned it) he's also a very nuanced and entertaining character.

Korr is the kind of guy most guys want to be but aren't. He's not only a good warrior and warrior-trainer, he's also a skilled carpenter. He's loyal and brave. He is literally The Last Champion of his country. Of course, he's also tempted by pretty ladies and may not be the purest at heart, but that's all part of the package. People are people and nobody's perfect.

He's also caught between two societies and I wonder how this will work out for him as the series goes along. Having been raised in one culture, he moved to another. At the beginning of the story he is forced to head back to where he is from, but he's not the same guy he used to be. He's kind of torn between cultures and roles. There is the role he wants to play, the role he thinks he is playing and the one he seems to be destined for. Any of these would make for a good story, but all of them added together is amazeballs awesome and leads to a lot of questions that really helped me get into the character. There's a lot of depth here. That much is obvious. We don't get to see all of it, but that's okay. There is more coming, I'm certain of it.

Although one of his friends comes close. I don't want to get too spoilery, but warrior/craftsmen are a rare and wonderful thing. It doesn't hurt when they have a bit of piety either. I like this guy. I can't wait to see where this character goes in the rest of the series because there's a lot of potential here.

Of course, every good fantasy story needs a good villain. I count at least two here. There is actually a possibility of a third character from The Last Champion rising in the next one but I'll have to see if I'm right there. I'm kind of wondering why Sir Doucheus Baggus hasn't been shortened by a head, but I guess I'll find out at some point because I will be reading further in the series once this event is over.

Of course, we all know I'm a fan of action and The Last Champion doesn't stint there. There's this fight, and that fight and maybe not as many explosions as I'm used to in a David Weber type space opera, but I find that an axe to the chest fills much of the same need and has it's own grotesque charm. (Hey, was that a Siskel and Ebert moment or what?) So I was most definitely happy with the level of violence in the book. Korr is a madman in combat, and while I'm not certain that all of his decisions were the right ones, they worked. At the end of the day, if it's stupid and it works, it's not stupid. And, ya know, I kind of wonder if Knighton is a closet Insane Clown Posse fan. I mean, I'm an open fan and he had me sitting there like “So, if I gotta chop, then I guess I gotta chop, if I chop then I gotta chop chop...”

And you all think I've lost my mind now...

The key is not letting you know how right you are.

Because you are right. Only you don't know it yet.

Ain't I a genius?

Actually though, the real genius here is Knighton himself. I've read far more epic fantasy than is technically necessary and this is one of the best conceived worlds I've seen. We've got the super-civilized side, the barbarian side, the guy stuck in the middle, the kid who needs help from both (I don't want to spoil too much here, but I definitely see shade of Daenerys Targaryen in Prince Davros) and so much more. There was some good fighting in The Last Champion but we have, in my opinion, yet to see the fecal matter truly hit the rotary air impeller.

Oh, and I didn't even mention Davros or Laurana or...

Ah nevermind. Just believe me when I tell you that there are lots of characters here that are very important to the plot that I haven't brought up because I am, at heart, a lazy reviewer who only thinks about the health of his poor little fingerses. Totes. I'll shut up now. Just buy the book already.

Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Freshly Built Cupboards

The Last Champion
T.L. Knighton
Self Published, No Year on Copyright Page

The Last Champion is available for purchase at the following link: