Knight of the Dove by William Kooiker is the second stand-alone novel released by this author. The first book is titled Tower of Ruin. Where Tower of Ruin was a fairly linear story, Knight of the Dove shows marked growth by Mr. Kooiker as an author. Over the past couple of month I have been reading a fair amount of stand-alone novel and have relished not having to know anything about the world/characters prior to picking up the novel. That holds true with this novel as well, the reader does not need to know anything about the characters or the world to understand and enjoy this novel.

The plot of this book while still a little linear centers on the classic tale of redemption and finding one’s way in life. Events unfold in the life of Amaria that force her to make decisions she instantly regrets. She then seeks to run away from her problems. When she fins herself in a small town she is quickly thrust into making decisions she may again regret. The main plot of this book is the story of Amaria as she partakes in that journey of self discovery and redemption, however, Mr.Kooiker also has an additional sub-plot of two rival factions supporting different gods who are seeking to gain an influence in a city. Add to the fact that both of these gods are considered evil adds a certain spice to the mix. While the base of this story has certainly been written countless times in a variety of fantasy books, Mr. Kooiker manages to package the tale in one that seems new and fresh.

The characters in this book are nothing short of fantastic. I truly enjoyed each character. The main character is Amaria or better known as Knight of the Dove, is a very solid well-written character. From the beginning of the book I felt myself not only caring what happened to her, but also being invested in how it happened. Rarely does a character capture my attention that quickly. Another character is Ornan who I was equally invested in. The villains are equally as entertaining and one particular villain has enough of a ‘grey-ness’ about him that the reader may have some difficulty deciding if he is truly a ‘bad guy’ or if he is just being attacked by the other villain for no reason. It really adds a different dynamic to it. With all that said, I really feel that nothing I can say can do the characters in this book justice. They are very well written, each character has their own voice and motivation and above all else the characters all have flaws. They are not omnipotent characters who can not be hurt or killed. Amaria is a very memorable character and I sincerely hope to read more about her.

I do have two minor criticisms about this novel however.

The first is the beginning of the book feels odd. After reading this book I found out part of that reason is because a short story called ‘A Dove Before Dawn’ was used to start the book, then there is the normal prelude, then a prologue, followed by the rest of the story. To me, when I read it this way, it made the story feel a little jumbled. This affects the pacing of the novel and just leaves an overall feel of the beginning being mashed together. It doesn’t dramatically affect the overall novel, but enough so that I think it is worth noting.

Secondly, the character of Amaria has quite a bit of mystery surrounding her at various points in the book. Questions that are there but not answered and a few other things. However, at the end of the novel, many things are revealed about her. Personally, I would have liked to have ended this novel with those questions (or most of tem) still lingering. Leaving some mystery out there, at least to me, is a good thing.

Those two minor thing do not detract too noticeably from the book at all. The pacing and the prose are top notch. There is a certain ease to reading this novel. Mr. Kooiker does a very good job at giving the reader enough information to allow visualization of the scene, but not too much to where he bogs the reader down with useless details. As I mentioned above, the characters in this book are great and I can easily see myself reading many more books about them.

Overall, I think this is a very good addition to the fantasy genre. Seasoned fans of the fantasy genre will find many elements in this book that they will enjoy, however, fans looking to start reading fantasy books will also find this book enjoyable. That may be the true beauty of this novel, it fits many people in stead of a very small niche group. I can easily see myself recommending this novel to many people. If you are looking for a solid fantasy novel with great characters, look no further you have found it. I highly recommend this book.