“Serpents in the Kingdom of Light” by Farzad F. Mirza

Serpents in the Kingdom of Light

Farzad F. Mirza
Cloaked Press, LLC (2026)
ISBN: 978-1952796685
Reviewed by Paul Knobloch for Reader Views (09/2026)

Farzad F. Mirza’s Serpents in the Kingdom of Light is a dark fantasy inspired by Persian mythology and the Shahnameh. Its narrator, Fareydun, is the illegitimate son of King Mehdas and half-brother of Zohak, the newly crowned ruler of Taizan. When Zohak murders Fareydun’s mother and orders the fourteen-year-old boy killed, Fareydun escapes the capital city of Azaran with Mazdayar, his father’s former guard captain. Mazdayar becomes his protector, surrogate father, and combat instructor. Fareydun grows into a skilled warrior, but his grief hardens into an obsession: he intends to kill Zohak, no matter how many people suffer along the way.

Fareydun and Mazdayar eventually recruit Xerxes, a former Persian Immortal, and assemble a band of mercenaries composed largely of people injured by Zohak’s rule. Among them are Khosrow, a disgraced soldier; Nowzar, a dispossessed farmer; the young thieves Yasir and Yasamin; and Shava, a frighteningly violent sellsword. Fareydun attacks Zohak’s soldiers and tribute caravans, gradually transforming his private vendetta into an insurgency. When he discovers that Zohak is planning to overthrow Jamshed, the King of Persia, Fareydun infiltrates the treasury at Susa and meets Jamshed’s daughter, Princess Arnavaz. He also discovers a serpent-shaped rhyton containing the spirit of Ahriman, who has used Zohak to bewitch Jamshed.

Fareydun repeatedly insists that he is using darkness to defeat something worse, but Mirza steadily dismantles that justification. The more Fareydun pursues revenge, the more he resembles his brother. He brutalizes captives, excuses the deaths of civilians, and treats his followers as expendable instruments. Ahriman recognizes this susceptibility and begins tempting him with visions of victory. Fareydun’s moral decline gives the novel its strongest material because the conflict is never simply good against evil. The important battle occurs inside Fareydun, who must decide whether defeating a monster is worth becoming one himself.

The novel’s mid-section includes rebellions, betrayals, magical artifacts, assassins, undead armies, and battles across the Persian Empire. The plot gets rather busy, and the banter among Fareydun and his mercenaries occasionally has a conspicuously modern sound, which can undermine the historical atmosphere. Nevertheless, the action remains easy to visualize, and the Persian setting distinguishes the book from the familiar pseudo-medieval European world of so much fantasy.

Fareydun’s failures have devastating consequences. Several tragic losses finally force Fareydun to confront the harm he has caused. Revenge is no longer his only purpose. He begins accepting responsibility for the people who regard him as their rightful king, while his growing relationship with Arnavaz gives him another reason to change.

The final battle brings the novel’s fantasy spectacle and moral concerns together effectively without losing sight of Fareydun’s transformation. Serpents in the Kingdom of Light occasionally becomes crowded, but its emotional structure remains strong. Mirza uses an epic adventure to examine revenge, guilt, leadership, and the possibility of moral change, while drawing upon a mythological tradition rarely represented in English-language fantasy. Fareydun does not become worthy simply by confronting Zohak. He becomes worthy when he understands that kingship is not a prize bestowed upon the victor, but an obligation to everyone who survives.