John Gwynne

The world is broken... Corban wants nothing more than to be a warrior under King Brenin's rule - to protect and serve. But that day will come all too soon. And the price he pays will be in blood. Evnis has sacrificed - too much it seems. But what he wants - the power to rule -- will soon be in his grasp. And nothing will stop him once he has started on his path. Veradis is the newest member of the warband for the High Prince, Nathair. He is one of the most skilled swordsman to come out of his homeland, yet he is always under the shadow of his older brother. Nathair has ideas - and a lot of plans. Many of them don't involve his father, the High King Aquilus. Nor does he agree with his father's idea to summon his fellow kings to council. The Banished Lands has a violent past where armies of men and giants clashed in battle, but now giants are seen, the stones weep blood and giant wyrms are stirring. Those who can still read the signs see a threat far greater than the ancient wars. For if the Black Sun gains ascendancy, mankind's hopes and dreams will fall to dust... ...and it can never be made whole again. MALICE is a dark epic fantasy tale of blind greed, ambition, and betrayal.

Malice

Samantha Jackson

It was okay for a debut book. Good writing style. Many POVs. Characters with poor critical thinking skills. The main powerful character is a 14 year old boy. Only one female POV and she's mostly observing men doing things and not doing much herself. I don't feel connected/invested in the characters so I don't have a need to finish finish right away. The book did pick up around 60%.

Sephirra

Sometimes I feel like, I‘ve grown into a hard to please reader, because I smell plot twists from miles away and it’s rare that a book truly surprises me – not with John Gwynne, though. This man just says, “hold my beer, I’m gonna make you fear for every single character on every single page”. This, my fellow readers, is really, really good high fantasy. It has worldbuilding, heaps of it!, it does take a while to find your way in these worlds and for those with an attention span the average tiktok manages to break: if you don’t let characters grow, how are you supposed to care for them?

Growing characters is the one thing I mainly admire about Gwynne’s style of writing because we get to witness the growth from a barely thinking 10 year old into a world changing hero (or villain …) and we get to be there for every single step. I love watching these characters evolve, get back on their feet after setbacks and traumatic experiences and maybe I understand that some people just don’t have the patience for this kind of building up your storyline, that’s okay, too. But honestly, that’s on you.

Page by page Gwynne manages to unravel this massive ball of character threads, unveiling the so far maybe only hinted at connections between his characters and he never fails to convince me that I want to know what happens next. Which catastrophe is looming? What kind of revelation awaits me in the next chapter?

Another thing I truly enjoy in his books is the way he writes friendships, platonic relations and the bond formed between people fighting side by side. It’s not exactly found family as the romantasy readers love it, but somehow … more profound? I’ve come to enjoy this kind of relationship in books a lot more than the insta-friends type of stuff.

It does take me longer to read these books, but that might also be because I don’t want to miss a single thing, I’m back on the hunt for clues and finally, finally!, I’m excited for books again. This is such a cool feeling and John Gwynne is one of the most reliable authors in delivering this for me.

So, to cut this short: If you’re looking for fast-paced, romantasy style fantasy, you will not enjoy this. If you want proper worldbuilding, plotlines planned for more than a chapter ahead, character building over the lifetime of characters and Ken Follett style of connecting the dots step by step, then this is a must read.

I’m excited for the next book and also a little afraid. Exactly the way I like it.

Leonie

Sometimes I feel like, I‘ve grown into a hard to please reader, because I smell plot twists from miles away and it’s rare that a book truly surprises me – not with John Gwynne, though. This man just says, “hold my beer, I’m gonna make you fear for every single character on every single page”. This, my fellow readers, is really, really good high fantasy. It has worldbuilding, heaps of it!, it does take a while to find your way in these worlds and for those with an attention span the average tiktok manages to break: if you don’t let characters grow, how are you supposed to care for them?

Growing characters is the one thing I mainly admire about Gwynne’s style of writing because we get to witness the growth from a barely thinking 10 year old into a world changing hero (or villain …) and we get to be there for every single step. I love watching these characters evolve, get back on their feet after setbacks and traumatic experiences and maybe I understand that some people just don’t have the patience for this kind of building up your storyline, that’s okay, too. But honestly, that’s on you.

Page by page Gwynne manages to unravel this massive ball of character threads, unveiling the so far maybe only hinted at connections between his characters and he never fails to convince me that I want to know what happens next. Which catastrophe is looming? What kind of revelation awaits me in the next chapter?

Another thing I truly enjoy in his books is the way he writes friendships, platonic relations and the bond formed between people fighting side by side. It’s not exactly found family as the romantasy readers love it, but somehow … more profound? I’ve come to enjoy this kind of relationship in books a lot more than the insta-friends type of stuff.

It does take me longer to read these books, but that might also be because I don’t want to miss a single thing, I’m back on the hunt for clues and finally, finally!, I’m excited for books again. This is such a cool feeling and John Gwynne is one of the most reliable authors in delivering this for me.

 

So, to cut this short: If you’re looking for fast-paced, romantasy style fantasy, you will not enjoy this. If you want proper worldbuilding, plotlines planned for more than a chapter ahead, character building over the lifetime of characters and Ken Follett style of connecting the dots step by step, then this is a must read.

I’m excited for the next book and also a little afraid. Exactly the way I like it.

Savannah Winchell

DNF at 180
- you could not pay me to care about this plot or characters
- this feels super dated??? Like it should have been published in the eighties why are y’all so impressed?
- all the characters read the same
- why is the ratio of male to female main characters like 7 to 1?????

Young Corban watches enviously as boys become warriors under King Brenin's rule, learning the art of war. He yearns to wield his sword and spear to protect his king's realm. But that day will come all too soon. Only when he loses those he loves will he learn the true price of courage.

Celeste Richardson

4.5 stars, rounded up. (Half-star taken off for a slow start. But man, did that ever change.)

Move over, Martin, because Gwynne is here to steal yo’ girl.

The A Game of Thrones comparisons here are completely understandable. As in Martin’s series, there is a varied cast of characters from whose perspectives we witness this story unfold. There is no time travel here, no resurrection for those who die. Death is final, and it is an equal opportunity reaper, not caring how good or bad a person is, how likable, or how important. As with Martin’s work, no one is truly safe here. 

However, Gwynne has already surpassed Martin in my mind, even though I’ve thus far only read this, Gwynne’s first novel. (Side note: I do really like A Song of Ice and Fire. This is in no way me dissing Martin. So don’t yell at me.) Martin is a king of backstory and plot twists, but Gywnne was far more successful in crafting characters that I care about. They aren’t just well polished pieces on a chess board; they breathe. The love and are loved and fight and mourn and laugh and rage. These people are as real as ink and page can produce. Their physical appearances aren’t touched on much, but I was actually okay with that. The characters took on the features of people in my life who shared their personality traits, causing me to care even more about their well being.

I also really appreciated Gywnne’s choice of setting. The Banished Lands weren’t overwhelmingly large, and I enjoyed the smaller scope of the story because of decision. The effects of disagreements between kingdoms was more immediately felt than in a larger fictional land like Westeros. And the Scottish feel of the setting, of the society, of the names, was wonderful. It gave a weight to the story that some fantasy series that focus more on unique setting and societal norms tends to lack, in my opinion. The many kings of small neighboring kingdoms, the importance of and methods of warring, the names of both places and people, all whispered of Scotland as I read, but with enough differences to plant this solidly in the fantasy genre. As far as I know, there aren’t actually giants or wyrms or saber-toothed wolves in Scotland.

Something else than made an impression on me was the mythos of the Banished Lands. The creation myth, beginning with the God-War. Asroth, Elyon’s beloved first-created and captain of the Ben-Elim, sowed seeds of discord and split the heavenly host. When Asroth was defeated, he turned his hatred on Elyon’s new creation: man. He wreaked havoc and Elyon, in his rage, almost destroyed the world. The He realized what He had done and almost done, He grieved. In the aftermath, Elyon vanished, turning His back on all creation to mourn. The Ben-Elim still seek to protect it, out of love for their Creator, while their fallen brethren still work toward destruction. The Judeo-Christian influence here is overwhelming, and I loved contemplating the theology here. The parallels are fantastic; Elyon is even a Hebrew name for God, meaning “Most High.” I don’t believe that He has abandoned us, as I’ve felt His presence in my life, but I understand how His disappearance works better for the story Gwynne is telling here. The Bright Star/Black Sun prophecy was also a big draw for me, the Bright Star as savior and the Black Sun as antichrist. The idea of a Chosen One is a trope as old as storytelling itself, but it was deftly handled here, and gave me all kinds of theological and philosophical goodies to chew on as I read.

One other thing Gywnne did incredibly well was present a wide variety of relationships. We were given fantastic friendships, mortal enemies, beautifully close families, and their dysfunctional counterparts. We see kings interact with subjects, warriors interact with their leaders and each other, and mentors training younger generations. And best of all, we see some incredible kinship between man and beast. The animals in this book had so much personality, and their relationships with their humans was beautiful to behold. Family was so important in this story, whether that family was formed by blood or bond, and some of these animals were truly part of an amazing family.

I’ve read some truly stunning debut novels in the past, but the best of them are standalones, and sometimes it’s many years before the author puts out another book. If ever. And often that next book is a letdown after the masterpiece that was their first book. But rarely have I read a debut as fantastic as this one that was the first in a series. A series that I have it on good authority only improves with each successive book. I am undeniably impressed. Congratulations, Mr. Gwynne; you’ve earned yourself another fan.

For more of my reviews, as well as my own fiction and thoughts on life, check out my blog, Celestial Musings.

A buddy read with my cyber darlings, Petrik, Haïfa, and Mary, with Sarah lurking in the wings. :)

Caitlin Scott

3 stars, maybe 3.5. I did quite enjoy it but I didn't feel super invested, like whilst I quite enjyed reading it I could have quite easily put it down at virtually any point and not really have minded if I didn't go back to it. It is pretty slow paced and did kind of feel like it was mainly just setting up for future books. The characters were ok, they didn't blow me away. I quite liked the story even though it was quite slow. The ending was really good. Fighting was written really well. More magic please? 
I'm not sure if I'll read the 2nd book. Right now I feel like I would quite like to, but the books are quite long and slow-reading, so I feel like maybe it's better to read more books that I would read quicker instead. Idk, I have heard the next books are better, so maybe. 


SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS


GENERAL COMMENTS
- It is quite long and slow paced. Like I feel like many fantasy books would start not long before the end of this book. Like usually village boy is vibing in his village for a chapter or two, something goes really wrong (like the siege at the end of the book) and then our mc or crew escape, about to set out on our journey. But it wasn't super boring so that was fine just takes a bit of effort to get through. And it's quite cool that we get to see our mcs develop and train and also in the case of Veradis it allows us to see why he might end up on the side he ends up on etc. Having said that, it does definitely feel like the first book in a series, and sort of like a set-up book, like everything was just setting up for future plot rather than being too important in intself. It feels like we're really getting ready for this God War but relatively little to do with that actually happens yet. I wonder whether the pace will pick up in the next books or how they'll be different from this book, especially tonely. Tbf I did stop in the middle of this book to read a faster-paced, more romancy NA book cos I got a bit bored. 

- It is a typical fantasy book with lots of names and places that it can be hard to keep track of. Definitely refer to the map. I do think a character list would have been useful but I think there might be one in the 2nd book, and reading this as an ebook was actually really helpful because if I forgot who a character was I could just search there name and look at when they first came up. I wouldn't say this is a negative though, it's kind of what you want in a good big fantasy series, it's just maybe helpful to expect that going in. 

- I dont mind this, but I dont think it was terribly unique/ ground-breaking, it feels like fairly typical fantasy and at least this first book doesn't feel like it really adds much to the genre and it doesn't have any super unexpected plot twists or anything, although this might happen in later books. 

-Also kind of irrelevant but I don't think the title really fits, right, like if we're defining malice as something like the intent to do something wrong or harm someone. I feel like most of our main/PoV characters don't really fit this. Most of the harm they do is usually intended to protect other people. Corban, Veradis, Cywen, Kastell. Even Camlin I wouldn't reeeeally describe as malicious because that's not the reason behind his actions. Evnis for sure. And Nathair 100%. Plus less important characters like Rafe, Halfech, etc. I feel like maybe this title would work better for later books bcos quite a few of our characters are going to be set on revenge now I would imagine. 


STORYLINE/PLOT POINTS I REALLY LIKED IT
- Prolouge: good intro to a fantasy series, had me intrigued and wanting more, especially good to see some of the magicy stuff given that we didnt actually get thaat much of the fantasy stuff during the course of the book, other than giants, in fact we hardly had anything in Corban's pov. 

- The scene where Corban is wondering through the Baglun, the stuff with the wolven in the bog, and then the bleeding giant stone and the vision. 

- The hunt scene where Corban saves Storm. (And then most of the Storm storyline actually). 

- Midwinter where Corban faints and we get a Asrothy-feeling vision.

- Corban's duel with Raif. And then he turns to Brenin and says

- When Braith rescues Camlin, and Corban bargains to save Morrock, and then when Morrock goes to see Corban later. I like Morrock, I'm glad he's in our little group, and still alive lol. 

- The scene where Nathair goes to spy on the Lykos meeting, we meet Calidus, and Veradis jumps through fire and attempts to fight a giant in order to help him. 

- Veradis' pov, the battle against the giants on draigs

- Like all of Camlin's chapters, he was great. After they kill Dylan and his family and are then attacked by Dun Carreg people, in the cell in Dun Carreg, after being rescued by Braith and then trying to hide from the people trying to kill them, later when they kidnap Alona, Edana, and Cywen.

- Also most of Kastell's chapters tbh, especially at the start, and especially the battle ones, like the one where they're protecting the boat with the Gadrai and they get ambushed by giants and a wyrms, or at the start when they had first left Mikil and giants attacked to steal the hammer and then they were running from them for a while. 

- Also most of Cywen's chapters lol. Especially when she's being a badass and throwing knives at people. 

- The stroyline where Cywen goes on a ride with Edana, Alona etc and then they get ambushed, run away, are captured by Braith etc. Just from all povs that was really good. 

- The ending was super good, specifically the Dun Carreg side of things. That battle - amazing!! Cy was a badass as usual, seeing Gar properly fight was super cool, we finally get to see Evnis and his group - plus Nathair - reveal that theyre traitors, we get some good fighting with Corban. And pretty hard hitting and shocking - we get lots of character deaths (I like that Gwynne is not scared to kill of his characters), including Brenin, and the castle is taken. We also get this really cool line from Gar: "Time enough for words when my spirit has crossed the bridge of swords. Until then I shall let my blade speak for me." Then we get our escape sequence which is super tense and sneaky and well done as well. I wasn't quite as invested in the Veradis/Kastell ending but that was also pretty good. Again another really brutal battle which pretty much desimates our forces yet again. And did Kastell die!? I'm thinking he'll actually turn out to be alive in the next book but maybe not. That would suck - I like Kastell. Fucking Jael, fucking prick. This book actually weirdly did better at making me hate the "bad" guys than like the good characters, like I hate Jael and Nathair and Helfach and Connall, when we were fighting them (other than Nathair) I was like cheering us on. So yeah, I thought the ending was really well done, definitely the best part of the book. So I feel like maaaybe that bodes well for future books? Hopefully?


CHARACTERS
- So we get 2 main characters, Corban and Veradis, who we spend most of our time with and then several supporting PoV characters: Cywen, Camlin, Kastell, Evnis, and Ventos. Of the two main characters, for the first half I preferred Veradis, I think probably because Corban is quite a typical fantasy character, he's quite young and I think his storyline was the less interesting/eventful at the start. Veradis at the start is a little more interesting, also I really thought him and Nathair were going to end up being a thing but that never ended up happening lol. I also thought if that happened it would also add to reasons for him staying on side evil later on. And in his storyline we go to join a warband and we ahve the stuff with the Vin Thaluns, Lykos, Calidus, Alycon, etc and various battles with giants etc, plus we get to see all the stuff about Aquilus's aliance and the prophecy through his PoV. 

- But then in the second half I got a little bored of Veradis' pov, i think partially because we know more than he does, as it becomes more and more apparent to us that Nathair is the bad guy but obviously Veradis doesn't see this, which is a slightly frustrating situation. (This actually happens with a few things, for example we see through Cywens PoV that Thannon and Gwenith and Meical, we remeber the visions etc that Corban has while he seems to sort of forget them, we know stuff from the prophecy (e.g. kinslayer and kinavenger) and we become fairly sure that Corban is the Bright Star while Corban knows very little of any of that stuff). And also at the end his morals are getting a little more questionable, he's pretty chill with just letting Calidus and Alcyon do what they want even if it means Kastell and Maquin might die, arguing that he gave them enough of a warning - which is a very Nathairy way to think about things. I also found that I liked Corban's story more as things progressed, I think he becomes a more mature and likeable character, and more interesting things are happening in his story line, and it kind of starts to feel more like the main storyline once we start to have more and more reason to believe that Corban is the Bright Star. 
But really, my favorites were the supporting PoV characters. 

- Cywen. Maybe my overall favourite character. Our only female PoV character, which I did think was a bit of a shame, especially at the start when her pov seemed kind of unnecessary as we could have gotten most of the information from her chapters secondhand from Corban's chapters as they were for the most part in the same place. However, later this becomes less true, and we get more important stuff from her PoV, for example when she overhears the conversation with Meical, the ride with Queen Alona and then the ambush, her last chapter during the battle. Also she is super cool and badass so I'll forgive the fact that there aren't many other important female characters (although maybe more in book 2? Pretty please?). But yeah she's a bit of a smart-mouth, she's a badass with her knives and super brave and willing to stand up for stuff. I'm still confused about how to pronounce her name though tbh. XD

- Kastell. My favourite character at the start. I liked when we first met him how he was a little bit arrogant etc but Maquin told him this and he sorted his shit out. He's pretty cool, we have several battle scenes with him, he kills several giants, and he generally seems to be pretty friendly and get along with most of our other characters. The stuff with Jael was also quite intersting. If he's really dead that's super sad, but his chapter at the end was really good, I was so shocked. 

- Camlin. One of my favourite characters in the second half of the book. I liked the whole bandit/lawless man in the woods thing. I liked the interactions we had with Braith and how we see him from Cam's pov, especially just after Braith rescues him and he's suddenly stops being really nice and asks him if he betrayed them etc, then goes back to being nice, quite chilling and a super cool character in himself. His interactions with Brenin when he's captured are also quite interesting although I do think he's maybe a little - self righteous isn't quite the right word but something like that. And then I really liked his chapter when Cywen etc where kidnapped. I hope we get more of his pov in the next books (if i actually end up reading them lol).

- It was also interesiting to see from Evnis' PoV. Those chapters gave us some more fantasy stuff as there wasn't much in the rest of the book other than the giants. We had the magic book, the first wyrm we saw, talk of the cauldron, glamour. Plus I think he's a pretty good villain, seeing the stuff with Fain was good, and when he killed Uthan (?). 

- Dun Carreg side characters: There were quite a few of these that I liked: Brina, Heb, Craf, Ronan :(, Halion and Connall, Marrock, Pedrathan (?), Tull, Thannon, Qwenith, Gar. I iloved lots of these and they definitely made Corban's story better. Also I just realised we never found out why Halion and Conall sought sanctuary from Rhin. Huh.


WORLD AND FANTASY STUFF
- The world was a nice typical fantasy world, maybe set a little earlier time period wise than typical got-esque fantasy. The main fantasy aspect of the story we see a lot of is the giants, we have Alycon in several Veradis chapters and we also have quite a few battles with giants. We don't see very much of the elementals/earth magic which is mentioned from time to time, we see it with Calidus and Alycon, as well as some other giants in the battle near the end. There's also the Ben-Elim and whatever the evil version of those were called which we get brief glimpses of. I'm excited to see more of them, and the magic stuff, in later books. We also get some visions from Asroth which were pretty cool. It'll also be cool to go to Drassil at some point in the future and find out more about Corban and how Gar etc knew he was the Bright Star.


WRITING
- I though the writing was nice, pretty immersive. 

- As I think many people have said, Gwynne does write great battle sequences. Normally I find I can't picutre/keep track of what happens in fight scenes but I found Gwynne was really good at describing what was happening and so I struggled with this much less. And the battles are just very cool.

Alost

Mikael Thibodeau

Malice was offered to me as a present, insisting that Gwynne's penmanship and storytelling would please me. And they were right. Although, I must admit, I was highly skeptical and critical at first. 

My first "issue" was with the prose itself, where I believed it was being wordy just for the sake of it. But, a few chapters in, I found myself wanting this wordiness. It modulated the pacing in a way that was satisfying. And speaking of pace, Gwynne and his editorial team did a wonderful job at both pacing the story, and also creating a sense of urgency from certain passages – or the characters' exhaustion after a particularly tiring moment. It got my heart racing on multiple occasions. 

At the end of the day, this novel seemed an echo of A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin. And I don't mean in a bad way. Gwynne builds upon long-established tropes and makes it accessible to many, with his own unique cast of wonderful characters that –as readers – we love to follow, or love to hate. 

I'm looking forward to the rest of the series, and to read more from John Gwynne.

Francis Buggey

4.5 stars!!! review to come when i’m not emotional

Amira BEN

4.5 ⭐️
So first off, what an ending the last 10/15 chapters were intense.
Imo, I would say that the characterisation is the main strength of this book. Things started really slowly (like really) but I connected to the characters quickly and I was invested on seeing their development. It definitely made me continue on with the story.
Moreover, those characters were multilayered and therefore complex and I liked that. You cannot trust anyone and I had faith on the wrong persons lol. Anyway, it was interesting to see what path each characters would chose. Some didn't chose right and they are oblivious to it. 
I hope to learn more about the prophecy. It was interesting but I feel like we could get more information.
To conclude, it was a great start to a series. 
I hope to pick up the 2nd book real soon.
Ps: Kastell did not deserve this 😳

Annabel Kanters

I loved it! It had so many twist and turns. I loved the world building and can't wait to read the next book

Monae Reads

Standard stock fantasy, standard character archetypes, predictable to a fault. 
And the little showdown at the end did not make up for the 600 pages of snooze fest that came before it. 
I cared more about the animal companion than any of the characters, unfortunately not even that was flushed out( even with this being a first book in a series, it could have done better)
This has been the most detached reading experience I’ve had in a long time. The words went right into and out of my eyes. I switched to the audio for the last 40% and the words went in one ear and right out the other.

Luna

maybe i’ll figure out what’s going on and/or care about at least one character in book two??

Judy McClure

Been intimidated by the big books in this series. Worried I'd not be able to get into the series due to length etc. No fears! It's fabulous! Initially planned to read book one this month, book two next month and so on but nope am going straight into book two because I HAVE TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!!!!

Jenna Kathleen

It took me a while, but I really enjoyed the last 30% of the book. 

I went into Malice with plenty of warnings that it was going to take some effort to get into it but that it was all worth it in the end. Without people telling me this, I definitely would have given up on this book. I had to force myself to read the first half and then after the 50% mark, I started to care about some of the characters and wonder where the story was going. Suddenly, right arond the 70% mark, it was nearly impossible to put down. If my rating was based only on that last little bit, it would be a five-start read without question, but the pacing was just terrible.

Thank goodness for my friends over in FBR for getting me through it! Because of all of you, I am actually really excited to start on Valor. The ending set things up for a potentially great series that I am looking forward to getting into.

Tom Turner

A More Than Worthy Successor To David Gemmell

Words are going to fail me in describing how much I love this book! I've been a major fan of the works of David Gemmell, and ever since his tragicly early death in 2006 the world has been desperate for a worthy successor. I believe we have found such a man in John Gwynne. In this book he weaves incrediblly nuanced characters with awe inspiring world building and intricate action scenes and plotting. Sure, it is your big standard medieval fantasy world. But with all the other authors doing fantasy differently today, there is enough room for the more traditional stance. As you can probably tell, I love this book. I just hope it's follow ups don't let me down!

Nickie Mohler

Now I understand why everyone loves John Gwynne. I devoured this book! I loved it so much I just want to chuck my tbr for the month and continue on.
So many fantastic characters, but Corban and his sister are definitely my faves. I am excited for the next book!

This Iron Age fantasy novel sadly couldn't enthrall me, mostly due to my over-familiarity with the tropes used (lots of 80s/90s fantasy plus the movie Gladiator come to mind), combined with clumsy writing that often moved characters into certain positions for plot contrivance rather than any convincing motivation (as if they were cameras being pointed at a particular scene). The characters also seemed to be the most cookie-cutter batch of vanilla cliches ever (although, admittedly, cliches that usually work well).

Important: this is NOT Medieval fantasy, it's very clearly Iron Age fantasy. People use iron weapons and tools, and they're not even able to build with stone yet (which is why they mostly live in the abandoned ruins of ancient fortresses built by the giants). This is more inspired by the time during which England was a Roman colony (or a bit later), so we have a mostly Celtic-inspired society, and an Ancient-Rome-inspired society, blended with a wild mix of the other inspirations from that time: Eastern steppe warriors, some Norse myths (Jotunheim, giants), Arabian curved swords, Mediterranean sea raiders, random Hebrew words, (sadly incorrect) Gaelic ("ap" means "son of", not "daughter of", ferch would be correct), and so on. No knights, no chivalry, no feudalism, no manorialism: please everyone, let's stop mislabeling this as Medieval. (Nothing against the Iron Age, I do love this type of fantasy.)

Other things that make the setting cool: mysterious magic-using giants who used to have a more developed culture which has since fallen due to the "Scourging", evil white wyrms, giant lizard mounts, talking crows, entire valleys and peoples hidden within a magical glamor: that's all nice stuff I like. I also like the underlying philosophy/world view of valuing truthfulness, honor, kindness, mercy, etc. and - after having read a few too many dark tales - I really enjoyed that this book contains some really warmhearted characters who genuinely love each other. 

But there were some strong weaknesses, as well: the writing was often clumsy (e.g. around 50 names are introduced within the very first few pages instead of slowly over the course of the novel: it seems that whenever anyone enters the stage, we need to immediately be informed about the names of all of their relatives, and even the names of their pets and their relatives' relatives and their pets. I wouldn't have minded learning all of that as soon as it actually becomes relevant, and slowly so that I'll actually remember them, not all at once in a way that forces me to keep notes or be lost (there is no dramatis personae). 

What bugged me the most was plot contrivance: what characters will do often isn't congruent with their motivations, common sense or personality, but determined by what the plot plan demands happens next. Have a discussion you want the reader to know about between some characters that aren't POV characters? Just have another character randomly and inexplicably decide that a POV character is now their best friend, and then smuggle them into their home so they can listen to their parents' secret meetings. The plot requires a character to quickly ride away from an approaching army in the night? Just have them randomly wake up for no reason, and then decide to saddle their horse in the middle of the night and make ready because they suddenly thought "you know, why not saddle my horse, I've got nothing else to do and at least it keeps me active, and I'm sure the horse won't mind standing around bridled and saddled at night". That is not a valid reason, that's pure contrivance. A few instances of this would have been fine, but this happens ALL THE TIME. 

Another constant annoyance: characters acting as human cameras instead of doing things. POV characters just tend to stand around watching all aspects of a situation unfold, instead of running away immediately, or attacking immediately, or just *doing something* BEFORE it all goes wrong. No, e.g. a warrior told that he needs to RUN NOW, QUICKLY will instead stand and wait to see why he should maybe slowly start to consider running, first giving us a panoramic view of all the reasons he has to run, wait for more reasons to show up, and then a few more, and then finally, finally scramble when he's seen everything. IMHO, if you want to give us a more omnicient, panoramic view, or knowledge the POV characters don't have, why not simply introduce more (short, vignette) POVs, or use an omniscient narrator? Otherwise, that information just needs to be sacrificed. 

Characters keeping things secret for no reason. This is so egregious. For example (mild spoiler): (view spoiler)[an assassination attempt is made on a character. He finds clear, incontrovertible evidence on the bodies of his attackers which proves that only two people in the world could possibly have planned this attack: his uncle the king (who has no motive) or an evil relative (who has repeatedly threatened him with exactly that). Now this would mean that he'd only need to show his uncle the king the evidence he has to make him aware that Mr. Evil Relative tried to have him assassinated, and e.g. imprison him for this. (hide spoiler)] Instead, he realizes that there is nothing he could *possibly* do about this whole "he keeps trying to kill me" thing. 

Another character is caught in a besieged fortress that's running out of food. He knows of a secret, hidden exit through which people could escape the siege, or send messengers, or smuggle in the anxiously awaited soldiers that are about to arrive, or at least send someone to go get food. Does he tell his beloved lord about the secret exit that could save them all? Nope! Instead, he "suddenly remembers" it much later when the plot demands that he remembers, while the reader (at least this reader) has been grinding their teeth for several frustrating chapters waiting for him to finally think of it. 

Repeated unnecessary foreshadowing and telegraphed utterly unsurprising "twists". People told me to keep going. Wait for the incredible twist!! What in the world were they talking about: this book is utterly twist-free. Everything happens *exactly* as you expect it to happen. Everyone is exactly the person you expect them to be. Betrayals are telegraphed and sign-posted several times. Sometimes we know exactly from the prologue that someone is Bad News, and yet later it keeps getting hinted at again and again that perhaps, maybe, just perhaps they might be Bad News. I know! It was in the prologue! I'm not surprised. And the whole coming-of-age tale is also paint-by-numbers predictable. I've read it all so many times before. The Nathair storyline is taken straight from the movie (view spoiler)[Gladiator (just without the coliseum fighting stuff) (hide spoiler)]. The moment you recognize the character from the movie, you'll know exactly what will happen and what they will do, and it's all so obvious!

Bad strategy, bad tactics, bad sword/shield technique. The much-lauded action scenes! They were not always good, guys. People kept using inanely stupid stuff such as a shield wall against giant lizard mounts. What a shield wall is good for is making untrained peasants much more effective, and for defending against archery, what it's very bad at is giving highly trained professionals (as here!) the room to fight effectively, and *cavalry is its natural antidote* - giant lizard cavalry even more so! There was a fight in a packed feast hall where everyone was eating, full of tables and benches, and the first thing our dastardly intelligent villain commands his warband to do is "form a shield wall" (and it's very effective, like the ultimate Pokemon move). How? Where would there be space for that? 

And guess what the most awe-inspiring, effective and oft-employed sword-fighting technique is: spinning. Yes, you've heard me right, our fighters are pirouetting like ballerinas. 🤦‍♀️ I know that this looks cool in video games, but it's got nothing to do with real sword fights. I did appreciate the use of wooden practice swords instead of everyone training their whole lives with deadly sharp weapons being swung at them, so that's a little plus at least! 

Okay, saving grace: I genuinely felt something for these characters even though they often felt so puppeteered by the plot. I liked them, and there were some nail-biting scenes of tension (after the slow first 3/4). I really loved the character of Brina (the old healer): she cracked me up several times. While the writing was often quite clunky, occasionally, you'd suddenly find a really pretty passage or vivid description. The world is pretty cool, apart from all the "aye"s and incorrect measurements (e.g. he uses span when he means hand, resulting in ostensibly enormous horses, or perhaps everyone has super tiny hands in this world). I want to know what happens next despite myself. The author knows how to describe tense action scenes (if only he'd stop it with the spinning and the shield-wall-is-always-the-right-tactic-no-matter-what). Best thing so far: even the bad guys were still sympathetic and had understandable reasons for their actions. Also positive: zero sexual violence, not even mentioned or threatened - I personally like that in books. 

And maybe I'm just extra critical because I know the tropes so well and had started the book with so much hype: if you haven't had much contact with some books/movies of the 90s (David Gemmell, John Flanagan, Gladiator, the direwolves, etc. in Game of Thrones), this will probably feel much fresher to you, and you won't notice the seams so much. I had already bought the second book before having read the first (so confident was I in everyone's recommendations), which means I might read it, as well. Maybe the series will get better and annoy me less?

Chau Nguyen

3.95 

when i first started reading this book, i read the intro multiple times before going past it and carrying on with the rest of the story. I dont mind the large cast of characters we have in the book, some POV's, i wouldve liked more of, and there is one particular antagonist i could do without in the book..my issue with the book, i felt like some scenes were slow and unnecessary and had me thinking why does this have any importance to the overall plot? i found the last bit of the book had me anticipating what came next and ill be continuing on the series later on.

Aline Wirth

I mean, gods war, giants, dragons... Need I say more?
This is really a great start to what I think will be a great epic fantasy series . The first 25% was a bit slow but necessary to introduce the world and the many characters and kingdoms in it. Once you push through that the story comes together. Although there is multiple point of views and many characters after the initial introduction it was very easy to keep up with. The story starts as a simple good vs evil but becomes far more complex as the characters themselves evolve and gain more depth.

Anyaconda

Slow start, but after page 88 I flew through this. If you like Joe Abercrombie, Brandon Sanderson or Mark Lawrence you will like this! Chapter style is same as in GOT. We follow different characters on both sides.
Immediately will binge through book 2 and 3.

Malice

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