Reckless Ambitions (The Medford Family Chronicles Book 1)

“The beloved, highly respected, and automatically obeyed Palamaran Emperor John Cardillion III suddenly has died without naming a successor. He has four very powerful sons, An Arch Cleric, a Fighter, a Wizard and a Merchant Prince (aka thief), who are eager to slay each other and claim their father’s Ruby Throne. Earl Thomas Medford, the former Emperor’s best friend and Commander of the Imperial Guard, has to decide which royal brother to support for the throne and marry his deliciously gorgeous only daughter too. Earl Medford intends to either avert or win a bloody and vicious civil war. “

- Book synopsis

To say the least, Reckless Ambitions is a very complicated novel, peppered with court intrigue, Dungeons and Dragons influences, and a cast a characters worthy of a Robert Jordan novel.  We get a brief interlude at the beginning, which shows us how Thomas Medford meets and saves the future Emperor John Cardillon III and assists him in taking the throne.  Fast forward to Cardillon’s death.  The empire is in chaos and the Emperor’s four sons are schmeing for the throne.  Caught in the middle, are the commoners, and Earl Medford, who is seemingly only interested in staving off civil war.  As the book progresses however, the reader is left to wonder how altruistic his intentions really are.  Early on, it becomes evident that he plans to use his daughter in an effort to retain power after the new Emperor is crowned.

If the mayhem inspired by the succession wasn’t enough, a boat load of Elves fleeting the persecution of their homeland arrive in Paladon City.  The elves provide two of the more interesting characters in the story, Numerian, the leader of the long eared refugees, and his daughter, a mage and gifted psionic, named Serina.  Despite the richness of these characters, the arrival of the elves reads as little more than a plot device.  It’s the hope of this reviewer, that they will get a little more elaboration in successive novels.  Other notable characters of interest are Christina Medford, daughter of the earl, and political chess piece, Nick Armand, an up and coming member of the Imperial guard, Abigail Theosar, friend and confidante to Christina and last but not least, Professor Enalon a dowdy illusionist blessed with the rare gift of psionics, who oddly enough comes off as the pivotal point later in the story, but little more than a footnote early on.

Reckless Ambitions shows considerable promise, but could have done with a bit more editing prior to publication.  Much of the writing comes off as weak due to sentence structure that could have done with a bit more action and a little less description of the actions being performed.  The Dungeons and Dragons meets Game of Thrones framework the author adheres to, reads a bit confining and could be confusing to readers not versed in those works.  The magic system, in particular, seems entirely derived from D&D.  Other than the frequent use of psionics, little or no information is given to the reader on the mechanics of it, which causes the work to fall a little flat. Although the D&D system offers an existing structure for the author to pull from, it does read as a bit confining, making the novel feel derivative at times.  Ried also falls back on contemporary slang and historical quotes, which seem out of place in the medieval fantasy setting.

All in all, it’s evident that John Paul Ried is very passionate about the work and the series it derives from, which is attractive in its own way.  The series shows promise given that the later volumes are given a little more editorial review before publication.  The first book is satisfying but may fall flat with lovers of more conventional high fantasy or pulp fantasy.  For most, I would recommend reading the first chapter before making a decision, because this is a work that you will ever fall in love with in the first few pages, or have little or no interest in due to the constant intrigue, political wrangling and gaming influences.  One huge disappointment, were the squabbling brothers who had little depth, and were given extremist personalities.  Ried gives the viewer instant reasons to dislike them, suggesting that Medford is the only real option for the ruby throne of Paladon City.  I would have enjoyed a bit more depth to those characters to make it a real choice.

Reckless Ambitions is available from Amazon and select retailers.

Reckless Ambitions

For other titles from Az Publishing Services, visit their website:

AZ Publishing Services

For more information about the world of the Medford Chronicles or John Paul Ried, the author, visit his site:  Palamaran Adventures 

Geek-o-Rama received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts, comments and opinions are those of the individual reviewer.