The first installment of an epic fantasy trilogy, “Blood of the Old Kings” unfolds in a world where an empire maintains its power through necromancy, the exploitation of magic from deceased sorcerers. The dynamic and plot-driven novel was written by acclaimed Korean author Sung-il Kim, who focuses on science fiction, fantasy, and Lovecraftian horror. It is translated by Anton Hur, a Korean author and translator who has worked on several notable books, including the NYT bestselling “Beyond the Story: 10-Year Record of BTS” and Bora Chung’s “Cursed Bunny.”
At the heart of the story are three unlikely heroes: Arienne, a young woman born with magical abilities who discovers an unexpected ally in the voice of a long-dead sorcerer; Cain, a young man intent on finding who murdered his mentor and why; and Loran, a middle-aged, widowed warrior who seeks aid from an ancient, enchained dragon. Set against a backdrop of dark magic, political intrigue, and ancient legends, these heroes confront the empire and reshape their world.
The setting is surprisingly familiar, reminiscent of typical Western heroic fantasies like Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn saga (particularly The Wax & Wayne series) — except, Kim’s opening lead character is a middle-aged mother. I talked to Kim and Hur about the translation of “Blood of the Old Kings,” which I found to be compulsively readable with a light tone and rich world-building that doesn’t get bogged down in endless descriptions.
Not Your Average “Korean” Fantasy
Let’s get this out of the way: This is not a “Korean” fantasy. Though the novel was originally written in Korean, Hur emphasizes that the story is not set in Korea, does not have Koreans, and is set on a completely different planet in a completely different world.
While that may seem obvious — after all, no one thinks the world of “Game of Thrones” is set on Earth (it is, in fact, not) or in an English-speaking civilization just because the series is written in English — it is worth noting. If you’re expecting a “Korean” fantasy, which in Korea is generally considered wuxia (i.e., martial arts) novels and films set in a non-specific medieval Chinese background, you’ll be sorely disappointed.
What I found particularly interesting was how there are almost no physical descriptions of skin color and races of any characters, save for a northerner who has white hair and light blue eyes. When I read fantasy — and really, any books — it’s just ingrained in me that the main characters in books are always white unless someone tells me otherwise. I wondered if it was because Kim is Korean and originally wrote for a Korean audience and just assumed that everybody was Asian or Korean-looking.
Instead, Kim explained that in Korea, the fantasy genre implies a Western background. As for Kim’s characters, he acknowledged that to most Korean people, race doesn’t really come into play like it does in American or British media because they don’t have much experience with it.
“I understand that is very important for people living there, but we really don’t talk much about it,” he added, saying that one of the sensitivity readers appreciated the lack of descriptions because it allowed her to imagine Loran as a Black woman like herself. “I think changing the characters’ skin colors or hair colors and making them less descriptive … was a good choice.”
Generalizing the Cultural Memory of Colonization
Though there are no specific mentions of Korea’s colonization by Japan, you can’t possibly miss the references to that collective memory and experience of imperialism in “Blood of Old Kings.”
Much of how the Empire treats the people of defeated countries mirrors how the Japanese treated Korean citizens during its occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945. The Japanese waged war on Korean culture, banned the teaching of Korean language and history, and forced Korean citizens into the Japanese army as well as into sexual slavery. In a similar vein, the Empire takes magical children from all over the conquered lands, prohibits the teaching of their own people’s spells and faiths, and forces these children into using their magic to uphold and fuel the Empire as actual power generators — even beyond death.
“I don’t pretend to be an expert or a scholar or colonization, but I think all Koreans, and I believe all colonized peoples know … and they simply get it when you describe just a part of it,” Kim said, adding that he wasn’t really sure how the whole book would be read by people without those experiences. “I wanted to generalize the cultural memory and use the feelings that I and everybody has over here and imbue that into the main characters. I didn’t write it to represent the colonial experience, but the emotions and their reactions come from it.”
It is this lived experience of the Empire that is one of my favorite aspects of the book. Just as there were many ways the Korean people either defied, colluded with, or endured the Japanese occupation, so, too, do the people in this world.
The three main characters each represent a different way to react to the Empire: rebellion, assimilation, and desertion. Loran actively works toward revolution, Cain tries to assimilate as much as possible, and Arienne just wants to flee and disappear somewhere. As the story progresses, they all come into their own power, and their understanding of what is the right course of action are very different.
Fascinating Archetypes of Leadership
“Blood of Old Kings” provides many examples of different kinds of leadership as people try to make the best of their circumstances. Cain leads through cultivating and maintaining relationships and an elaborate system of giving and owing favors. His mentor Fiona leads by uniting people through generosity. Loran is the reluctant leader, pushed into a role she does not want. There’s a prince who plots and leads from hiding, a sorcerer king who leads by intimidation, fear, and force, and there is also the Empire that doesn’t so much lead as subjugates.
“The whole book is about how people live with what they are given, and how they take control and how they do it,” said Kim about his characters. “They are all stories about kings. Even Arienne is trying to grab hold of her own destiny. And so, yes, I had to show many other examples, other counterexamples. And the Empire is also showing a way to lead the world, right? And that can be argued that it’s a good thing.”
For Hur, he found how Loran, Cain, and Arienne dealt with their big, difficult decisions to be so brilliantly shown. “Sometimes leadership is about making a decision where you don’t have all the information, and when you only have your own moral compass to go by. What are the consequences of that, and what happens is not always necessarily good, but what other choice do you have?”
Fast-paced, Action-packed Adventure
The problem many people have with the fantasy genre is that often, the books spend a good portion world-building and because many are epics, the pacing can be ponderous and slow. In that respect, “Blood of the Old Kings” is a breath of fresh air. Though the book is incredibly cinematic — what Hur calls “visually spectacular” — the pacing is quick and the story full of relatable characters stuck in horrible situations.
Even though the pace is incredibly speedy, the characters are actually very patient. A lot of times they acknowledge that the problem cannot be fixed right away — that they can only fix part of it. So much of the American mindset, and much of our media, seem to be focused on the quick or perfect, all-encompassing fix, even if it might cause more problems later or stall progress now. We often value the headstrong lead demanding change right away, when often, it’s not plausible or probable.
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Kim explained he wanted to ensure that the Empire was immovable. “It had to be facts of life. All empires feel like that, because, how do you topple the Roman Empire?” he said. Obviously, the Roman Empire eventually shrank, but it happened “gradually and not by some explosive, single explosive action. They decay. The world changes. The colonies change. You do have to be patient, but you still have to do something.”
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