Review: The Henchmen of Zenda by KJ Charles

Title: The Henchmen of Zenda

Author: KJ Charles

Publisher: Self-Published

Length: 196 Pages

Category: Historical, Action/Adventure

At a Glance: The Henchmen of Zenda is a wild romp, from beginning to end, and those who love their action/adventure novels will fall in love with Jasper and Rupert.

Reviewed By: Sammy

Blurb: Jasper Detchard is a disgraced British officer, now selling his blade to the highest bidder. Currently that’s Michael Elphberg, half-brother to the King of Ruritania. Michael wants the throne for himself, and Jasper is one of the scoundrels he hires to help him take it. But when Michael makes his move, things don’t go entirely to plan—and the penalty for treason is death.

Rupert of Hentzau is Michael’s newest addition to his sinister band of henchmen. Charming, lethal, and intolerably handsome, Rupert is out for his own ends—which seem to include getting Jasper into bed. But Jasper needs to work out what Rupert’s really up to amid a maelstrom of plots, swordfights, scheming, impersonation, desire, betrayal, and murder.

Nobody can be trusted. Everyone has a secret. And love is the worst mistake you can make.

A retelling of the swashbuckling classic The Prisoner of Zenda from a very different point of view.

Review: If you’re too young to recall, or perhaps are not aware of, all the fantastic swashbuckling films that were produced by Hollywood in the mid-1900s, then stepping into this book, The Henchmen of Zenda by KJ Charles, will be a fantastic introduction to a scripted version of those iconic films. Since this book is loosely based on another novel which was also turned into film, it’s rather fitting that I begin this review by stating unequivocally how the author’s adept and impressive ability to paint pictures with words made this novel really sing. Stepping back into time with these characters, where men lived by the strength of their sword arm and their rakish, often sarcastic parlay, was just pure fun.

Our narrator, Jasper Detchard, is a sword-for-hire and he’s not picky about his clients. Having briefly tried to be socially acceptable at a younger age, his penchant for finding trouble and preferring the bed of a man over a woman landed him in one tight situation after another, and once led him to prison. Rescued by a woman who would become a friend, if a high class conniving whore can be called such, it is this same female who brings him to his current stint with the bastard brother of the king-in-waiting, and what amounts to being blackmailed into being his bodyguard/assassin. The brother wants the crown and will do anything or kill anyone who stands in the way of that ambition. The current king is in poor health and if he could, he would give it to the brother, particularly since the current heir apparent is a whoring, drunken despot who should never rule. However, due to this land being inordinately enamored of its red-headed kingly ancestry, the darker haired bastard son doesn’t stand a chance of inheriting the monarchy. What follows is a twisted, madcap adventure that takes Jasper into some incredibly dangerous situations and brings him face-to-face with the first man he might grudgingly admit to liking, Rupert. The only real question that remains in this fast-paced story is, will Jasper finally let down his guard and open his heart enough to admit Rupert is the henchman of his dreams?

I have admittedly given you just a taste of what this novel offers in terms of humor, intrigue and good old sexual tension. Reading this story is like taking a step back in time to an era where a novel was more than sex on the page or watered down dialogue coupled with lots of emotional angst. This was pure and simple fun with fast paced events that pulls the reader deeper and deeper into court intrigue, kidnapping and good old fashioned word play. No relationship was sacred or guaranteed to be genuine—everyone had an endgame, and it mainly focused on saving their own skins first. The Henchmen of Zenda is a wild romp, from beginning to end, and those who love their action/adventure novels will fall in love with Jasper and Rupert.

You can buy The Henchmen of Zenda here:
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