Majesty of Stone is the debut offering of author Christopher Kolven, kicking off the Everlight series. A stylistic blend that can be described as science-fantasy, Majesty of Stone tells a tale of rivalry, between nations, between technologies, and most importantly, between people bound by blood and purpose! 

The first thing that will leap out the reader picking up Majesty of Stone is the unique world in which Kolven sets his debut. Under the oversight of the “Ever Seer”, four nations are separated by impregnable barriers. Each nation has evolved into its own culture, magic system, and technologies in adaptation of their own strengths and the gifts bestowed upon them by the Ever Seer. These nations are bound by strict decrees under pain of death, or worse, the nation’s annihilation. 

The rivalries are not limited to those between the divided nations. Within the Ember Nation, one of the four warring factions, preceding events have split the nation into two sub-kingdoms, each vying for dominance of the Ember nation. To present a united front against the other nations, two sisters, each with entirely different upbringings must contest to become the new queen of the Ember nation. Princess Siphelle Amair is brought up to rule, the queendom her blooded birthright. But a lack of ember (the core material of the Ember Nation’s elemental magic) holds Siphelle back from overcoming her sister. In contrast, Princess Fiametta Ducrow, from the darker side of the Ember Nation has plenty of ember to fuel her elemental training, but she has never much cared to be queen, yet is thrust to compete against Siphelle, wholly unprepared for the rigors of ruling a nation in perpetual conflict, both internally and against the other nations. 

Along with Siphelle and Fia, the third POV character anchoring the narrative in Majesty of Stone is Commander Colton Levoux. A plucky-but-down-on-his-luck commander in the militarized Dyre Nation, he is embroiled in some good ol’ fashioned military techno-espionage when he stumbles upon a plot to weaken the Dyre Nation against the invading Ember Nation. 

Majesty of Stone brings rivalry and contest front and center in most of its setpieces. Whether its Siphelle and Fia’s inheritance struggles, their individual relationships with their regal parents, estranged from each other after the subdivision of the Ember Nation, or the international rivalries in service to the Ever-Seer. The deity who has all but disappeared for an age still compels nations to bow to their decree via divine servants, the Ever-Seer shows darker inclinations, belying the title of Everlight. 

While I enjoyed the freshness of Kolven’s worldbuilding and the discrete cultures developing their own systems to buff their own strengths and combat the strengths of the other nations, I felt that the core narrative in Majesty of Stone struggled to keep me hooked. It is clear that the author wants his readers to be emotionally invested in Siphelle and Fia’s story, devoting two-thirds of the POV content to their conflict, but the push and pull of sibling rivalry and imperial duty veered too much into shallow YA territory, with familiar tropes and lackluster character sketches for each of the sisters and the supporting cast in their chapters. The magic system centering around “ember” also felt extremely worn out and trite, especially when the author doesn’t dig into the workings of the magic system and leaves it almost as a placeholder magic macguffin. 

Instead, I rather enjoyed Colton’s sections and looked forward to his portions of Majesty of Stone. I am a sucker for good ol’ intrigue and sleuthing in my fantasy, and Kolven was setting up the pieces for a juicy story of military techno-espionage relying on Colton’s smarts and daring to get to the crux of the matter. Unfortunately, Colton’s story treads back into familiar fantasy tropes. Even so, I enjoyed Kolven’s big action setpieces. His ability to weave in and out of large battle scenes while still focusing on Colton’s narrow perspective goes beyond Kolven’s newbie author status. 

In the interest in developing the sibling conflict, Kolven used up precious wordcount which could have been useful to develop the other nations and their role in the overarching conflict. With only a few nods and clues, perhaps he will delve into broader impacts and dive deeper into the worldbuilding in later sequels. I wish we got more Colton and more worldbuilding in Majesty of Stone. 

With a strong premise and a solid core tenet, Majesty of Stone had a firm foundation to build a great story. However, uneven pacing, shallow systems and predictable character arcs hold the first entry in the Everlight series from truly reaching new heights.