The Forever Knight

This novella was writing 7 years after conclusion after the previous trilogy and was a planned bridge for a new trilogy. Unfortunately Marco is longer affiliated with DAW so is legally incapable of writing more. :/

The story follows Lukien, who's POV in the last two books were quite lacking. The story is told in first person which is a pretty fun change of pace. You get a lot more information about him that you didn't realize that you needed to know. He comes in contact with a girl named Cricket who doesn't remember anything about herself so they both go on a journey to find out and comes to love her as a daughter. I was really interested to find out who she is but once you find out it's like, “that's it?” Good for me the story has branched off and the major part of the story was a fight between two nations. One guy is using an undead monster, which was very imaginative in description, as a cheat code in killing his enemy. Lukien must then send the monster back to hell and also kill a few bad guys in the process.

The story at first lacked depth for me but then progressively got better and I'm glad he wrote it. I'm a big fan of Marco now and will be devouring his work asap.

The fourth Lukien novel John Marco has published, “The Forever Knight” is a break from the format and story of the previous books, giving new readers an excellent opportunity to dip into this saga. Cursed with immortality by the spirit living within his sword, Lukien begins this novel restless and aimless. He's a man who lives a life without consequence. When the ancient spirit in your sword can heal you of any wound, mortal or benign, what challenge is there in living?

Despite the teaser for this book, this book does not dwell on the Inhumans or Lukien's roll as their protector. With the usual grace of a fantasy novel, Lukien is cast out into the world on a quest, sword in hand and companion at his side. While the stated goal of the quest is to find answers to his companion, Cricket's, past, it's obvious what is really the objective - to find a purpose and challenge to satisfy an immortal knight.

In my mind, two things set this novel apart from many fantasy novels. The first was the decision to present this tale in the first person. For new readers especially, this can be daunting in second world fantasy, where there is no frame of reference for understanding the environment and cultures around the POV. Marco succeeds here by painting with broad strokes, sketching a world and people we can almost see, without lingering on the details that aren't relevant. Not a common choice, but the first person worked well for this story.

The second factor that set this novel apart from so many other epic fantasy novels these days was breadth. At 282 pages, it's a relatively light contender compared to other tomes available. I would continue to argue that this isn't a bad trend to see in books these days. Presenting readers with a single, well drafted adventure can be so much more satisfying than a collection of adventures sewn together for the sake of bulk.

In both efforts I think Marco succeeded with “The Forever Knight.” An entertaining adventure story that was extremely accessible for a first time reader, and a well written introduction to a new chapter in this character's journey.