Welcome to the Blog + Review Tour for Squire of Truth by Jill Williamson, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours! I'm so excited for this series! Medieval fantasy? Yes, please! Thanks to JustRead & the publisher for my arc of the book.
About the Book
Title: Squire of Truth
Series: Blood of Kings: Legends #1
Author: Jill Williamson
Publisher: Sunrise Publishing
Release Date: January 7, 2025
Genre: Medieval Fantasy
Cole Tanniyn, squire to the soon-to-be king, has journeyed far from his days as a stray stable boy in a distant mountain village. Haunted by the echoes of past failures on the battlefield, he seeks solace in music, hoping to find belonging among fellow musicians. His quest leads him to Mistel Wepp, a spirited songstress determined to forge her own path on stage.
For too long, Mistel has been bound by a past of confinement and control. Now on her own, she toils tirelessly to make her mark, but the struggle to earn a living in a world that fails to appreciate her talents proves exhausting. When she connects Cole with the future king and discovers he's a skilled lutist, she sees an opportunity to change her future.
When a heinous crime leaves Mistel’s roommate dead, she turns to Cole for help. Despite his inexperience as an investigator, Cole vows to uncover the truth. Together, they delve into the dark alleys of Armonguard, uncovering a sinister web of secrets and sorcery that threatens the kingdom. As their journey unfolds, their shared love of music catches the attention of the king, who commissions them to compose a song for his upcoming wedding, offering a glimpse of normalcy amid adversity. Can Cole and Mistel prevail against enemies wielding dark magic? Or will they become the next casualties in a deadly game of power?
Blood of Kings: Legends
Book 1: Squire of Truth
Book 2: Lord of Winter
Book 3: Lady of Shadows
Book:4: Heir of Light
PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Sunrise Publishing | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookBub
More Books in This Series
Q & A
1. What is the hardest part of creating an entirely new world/kingdom: the characters, the land, the names, etc?
The hardest part of creating a new storyworld is how to make it different from all the existing fantasy storyworlds that are already out there. Too often fantasy storyworlds all feel like clones in some way of Lewis’s Narnia or Tolkien’s Middle Earth. Many of us fantasy novelists loved those stories and were inspired and influenced by them, yet we still want to create something fresh and interesting. So it can be tricky to create a world that feels unique to readers.
2. How do you unite faith and magic in ya CF fantasy?
There are lots of different ways to unite faith and magic in Christian fiction. Magic can be gifts or talents bestowed by God to be used for His purposes and aligned with His will. Magic can function as a metaphor for spiritual gifts, such as healing, discernment, or prophecy, emphasizing reliance on God rather than self. Magic can be used as a metaphor to show their faith and trust in God. The more they grapple with doubt, fear, pride, etc, the weaker their magic. The more they rely on God, the stronger their magic.
Magic can also establish moral boundaries between good and evil, light and darkness. Some stories have good magic and dark magic. And this is the type of magic I used in the storyworld from the Blood of Kings Legends series. There is a magic given to the line of kings from God. And then there is a magic that mankind learned to do on their own that is dangerous. That’s not to say that a character cannot use God’s magic selfishly or unethically. I like to show my heroes make mistakes with magic too, because that just feels realistic. People are flawed, even when we’re doing our best to rely on God, we sometimes make mistakes.
3. What's it like partnering with someone (more than one someone) for a story? How are you able to combine ideas to make a cohesive story?
Writing with a team has been a ton of fun but also challenging at times. Everything is better when you work with a team. It might not feel like as smooth of a process because as writers, we’re used to working alone and doing things our way. But when more than one person is involved in something, you get a lot more ideas. That’s what makes writers rooms so important and successful in writing television shows. It’s a group effort, and that usually makes for better storytelling.
All that to say, we got to meet in person for several days to plan the first four novels in the series, and that was so helpful. It was a challenge to figure out how to structure these stories in a way that they logically flowed from one to another and that when characters appeared in each other’s stories, each author portrayed them in the same way. And when we needed to, we would hop onto Zoom and have another meeting. Also, I’m writing a parallel series that happens alongside the Blood of Kings legends stories, so I used those earlier manuscripts to help with timelines. And we plan to meet on Zoom again to talk about future books and how we will end the series. It’s important to figure that out in advance so that we can plan things along the way.
About the Author
Jill Williamson writes fantasy and science fiction for teens and adults. She grew up in Alaska, staying up and reading by the summer daylight that wouldn't go away. This led to a love of books and writing, and her debut novel, By Darkness Hid, won several awards and was named a Best Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror novel of 2009 by VOYA magazine. She loves giving writing workshops and blogs for teen writers at www.GoTeenWriters.com, which has been named as one of Writer’s Digest’s “101 Best Websites for Writers.” She now lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two children.
Connect with Jill by visiting jillwilliamson.com to follow her on social media or subscribe to email newsletter updates.
Tour Giveaway
(1) winner will receive a print copy of Squire of Truth & a $10 Gift Card to the Sunrise Shop!
Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight January 13, 2025 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on January 20, 2025. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.
Giveaway is subject to JustRead Publicity Tours Giveaway Policies.
Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!
