This started off really well, but it got really bogged down in the later part of the book. I think Lackey tried to cram too much in and got lost trying to make some things work.
The business of setting up a kingdom eventually forces someone to become king, and Valdemar‘s new king is gifted Companions through an alliance of gods. Then they must establish that Companions are good and fight some evil.
2/5 disappointing but not awful.