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The Henchmen of Zenda Paperback – May 8, 2018

by KJ Charles (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 600 ratings
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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.
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  1. Print length
    196 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    May 8, 2018
  4. Dimensions
    5.25 x 0.49 x 8 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    191268800X
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1912688005
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"a rollicking adventure romp of the best sort; full of flashing blades,tight breeches, nefarious plots, scheming villainy and snarky dialoguebut with a subplot that confers depth and insight into the charactersand their motivations. It's funny, sexy and clever and I loved everyminute of it."
--All About Romance

"The always-reliable K.J. Charles outdoes herself with The Henchmen of Zenda...there is swashbuckling, double and triple crossing, intrigue, a moat, a castle, smart women, and hot sex. What's not to like?"--Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

"I read this book in two sittings, poised on the edge of my seat and laughing almost atevery page. ... a story with murder, treason, double and triplecrosses, where characters change allegiances every few chapters, whereall the players have their own motives, and the reader is leftbreathless, wondering what in the hell could possibly happen next."
--The Book Corps

"a joyful romp, poking fun at the conventions of the genre, completely unashamed. I couldn't stop grinning while reading."
--Book Me Up!

"a wonderful adventure romance in the veins of Dumas's The ThreeMusketeers but queer. ... full of court intrigue and treason and swordfighting and an engaging romance."
--Ellie Reads

About the Author

KJ Charles is an editor and RITA-nominated author. She lives in London with her husband, two kids, an out-of-control garden and a cat of absolute night. She writes mostly historical queer romance, some paranormal. Smut, skulduggery, and swashbuckling may occur.Follow on Twitter at @kj_charles, join the KJ Charles Chat group on Facebook, or check out kjcharleswriter.com for book info and many posts on reading, writing and editing.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ KJC Books (May 8, 2018)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 196 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 191268800X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1912688005
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.49 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 600 ratings

About the author

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KJ Charles

KJ Charles

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KJ Charles is a recovering editor and RITA-nominated author. She lives in London with her husband, two kids, an out-of-control garden and a cat of absolute night. She writes mostly historical: queer romance, paranormal, fantasy, mystery. Shenanigans may occur. High body count.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
600 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Maureen
5.0 out of 5 stars The Henchmen of Zenda
Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2018
Verified Purchase
The Henchmen of Zenda was written by KJ Charles. This m/m adventure story is an homage to The Prisoner of Zenda, a minor classic from the Victorian era. Now, I have never read The Prisoner of Zenda before, but Charles is one of my favorite authors, so this was a must-buy for me.

Jasper Detchard is an English mercenary who finds himself in the small European country of Ruritania. The king’s half-brother wants to claim the throne for himself, so he is assembling a band of men to help him achieve his goal.

Between all the political machinations and double crossing, Jasper manages to catch the attention of Rupert of Hentzau, a fellow mercenary. This isn’t a romance novel by any stretch of the imagination, but somewhere along the way, Jasper and Rupert realize that they share a mutual attraction. The only question is whether they will both survive in these uncertain times long enough to do something about it.

This is a rollicking adventure! Jasper is a candid narrator with a wicked sense of humor. He’s mostly objective, but he does purposefully withhold information from the reader, only to reveal it when he feels it’s an opportune time. The book is fairly fast paced; even in the duller moments when they’re waiting for Something Big to happen, there’s always some sort of scheming going on in the background.

I would recommend The Henchmen of Zenda. I don’t think you have to read Prisoner of Zenda in order to appreciate this book; I never felt at a disadvantage because I haven’t read it. This book is a delightful guilty pleasure, and I certainly hope Charles writes more like it in the future!
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ancientreader
4.0 out of 5 stars Really really fun all the way through, except for this one thing ...
Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2018
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Sooooo ... right up until the end, I would have given this book five stars. KJC's at the top of her game here -- the story's full of humor and, my goodness, can this woman ever write hugely appealing characters with blazing sexual tension between them. Also: blazing resolution of sexual tension. *fans self* I had so much fun reading this, and if the author were anyone other than KJC I wouldn't have withheld a star, so bear that in mind. I'm comparing KJC with KJC here, and IMO she's in a league by herself.

Anyway, **romance.** There's the rub. Every so often I get the feeling that this author's trying to tick boxes for character diversity and diversity of relationship types. Which, let me be clear, I have absolutely no problem with -- I applaud her for doing it. The trouble here is that (I suspect) she was trying to tick the "aromantic relationship" box, but the narrative undermines her intentions because it's inherently romantic in every sense of that word. Jasper insists that he doesn't see the point of romantic love, it only causes problems, etc. etc. etc., but his behavior is that of someone falling in romantic love in spite of himself, and without delivering any spoilers I will say that both he and Rupert (a) behave gallantly; (b) appear to be transformed, at least with respect to each other, in exactly the ways that romance fans expect our heroes to be transformed. I have no trouble buying a romantic love that doesn't entail monogamy, but a couple of things we learn about Jasper and Rupert's future relationship just don't ring true for me after everything else the narrative and characterization have conveyed. To be clear, KJC definitely wrote this as a happy ending for the characters as she intended them, and you will not finish this book brokenhearted and feeling like the rug has been pulled out from under you! I just ... don't think she wrote exactly what she thinks she wrote, if you see what I mean.
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theamazingcatherine
5.0 out of 5 stars This is wonderful fun
Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2018
Verified Purchase
It reminds me of the Flashman books, with a deeply cynical, somewhat amoral POV character not entirely devoid of finer feeling.... In this case, Detchard might be a ruthless old intriguer but he'll do a lot for a good friend, and that drags him into ever more complicated tangles. (He notes near the end that if you're a triple agent, it's a good idea to take notes.)

Rudolph Rassendyll doesn't come off well in this version. Antoinette and Flavia are *brilliant*. (My only regret with Charles' writing is that she doesn't include a lot of female characters. These two were wonderful.) I enjoyed how the relationship between Detchard and Hentzau - seasoned experience vs charming piss and vinegar, with some softer moments that fit believably into the characters created by Hope.

There's swashbuckling, intrigue, loving friendship, romance (or possibly another form of loving friendship), and everybody I liked got a happy ending... Good stuff!
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JRD
3.0 out of 5 stars More adventure than romance story
Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2018
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I really like KJ Charles but this book was a little too all over for me and not a traditional romance. But even though it wasn’t a true HEA, the main character still seemed to live the kind of life that left him satisfied - and that’s not shabby by any stretch of the imagination.
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Top reviews from other countries

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morganarosana
3.0 out of 5 stars Será que eu gostei?
Reviewed in Brazil on April 6, 2024
Verified Purchase
Não sei ainda se eu gostei ainda,
tenho que pensar,mas com certeza foi o que menos gostei da KJ, não há muito romance de verdade, e como não conheço a história original acho que não sei opinar.
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Sofia Boquist
5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely good
Reviewed in Sweden on May 11, 2023
Verified Purchase
“And so we road on, talking for all the world as though we were not two murderers in the process of committing treason at a funeral.”

I enjoyed reading this book a lot, it was short but action packed. This was a book that didn’t need to be long, the author knew that so she kept the book short (god bless her). This was not your typical romance, I don’t even know if you can call it a romance (at least not from my standards) since that wasn’t really the main goal of the book and I can’t really say that the two characters was in some kind of relationship. It was mostly sex and after some time they began caring for each other, but there was never anything official between the two. But the book was good nonetheless.
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars So much fun!
Reviewed in Canada on December 7, 2018
Verified Purchase
Fleshed out characters! Wicked fun plot! Queer peeps! Danger and daring-do! This tale delivered everything I could ever want and things I didn't even know I wanted! Gonna go read the authors next book now!
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Kat
5.0 out of 5 stars What a lovely read!
Reviewed in Germany on January 9, 2020
Verified Purchase
Really loved that book. Wonderful characters, and written in a wonderful sarcastic voice. Also loved the ending.
Thank you for that book! I will read it again and again and again.
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Sayoni B.
5.0 out of 5 stars Totally utterly love
Reviewed in India on June 18, 2019
Verified Purchase
This book is such fun and so fantastic and such a fabulous tribute to a cult classic.
I read this first several months ago, and every now and then I go back to it and re-read bits of it.
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