Publisher: Orbit/Little Brown Audio (Audiobook – 26 August 2025)
Series: Age of Wrath – Book Two
Length: 19 hours and 33 minutes
My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
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Acclaimed fantasy author Anthony Ryan continues to explore an epic fantasy world of warriors, scholars and monsters with his outstanding new novel, Born of an Iron Storm, the impressive second entry in his Age of Wrath series.
In recent years, one of my favourite fantasy authors has been veteran writer Anthony Ryan. Known for several intriguing and varied series, I become a fan of Ryan a few years ago when I started reading The Covenant of Steel series. Following a young bandit turned scribe, who finds himself taking on many roles in his chronicled adventures, including that of knight, spy, rebel and heretical traitor, this amazing series was a really impressive example of fantasy fiction, and I had an incredible time with The Pariah (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2021), The Martyr (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2022), and The Traitor (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2023), all of which were five-star reads.
Due to how much I loved these amazing novels, I was very excited last year when Ryan released the first book in the Age of Wrath series, which served as a sequel to the Covenant of Steel books. The first Age of Wrath novel, A Tide of Black Steel, is set a couple of decades after the events of The Traitor and builds on some of the events of the first series, while also featuring its own unique story. I really enjoyed A Tide of Black Steel, which veered away from the chronicle style of the previous trilogy, and instead set out a Norse saga inspired tale of adventure and war. Just like the Covenant of Steel novels, A Tide of Black Steel got a full five-star rating from me, and it was one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2024. As such, I have been very eager to get my hands on this sequel, which was one of my most anticipated books of 2025, and Ryan once again did not disappoint.
War and treachery have come to the sprawling island nation of Ascarlia, as the long-lost nation of Nihlvar begins an invasion centuries in the making. The once powerful Sister Queens of Ascarlai lie dead at the hands of one of their own, the deranged Sister Lore, and their capital of Skar Magnol has been captured by Nihlvarian forces. With their massive fleet in Skar Magnol’s harbour, and the forces of Ascarlia scattered, the Nihlvarian victory looks assured, and soon their eye turns to the wealthy port city of Olversahl and the lands of Albermaine beyond.
However, there are some who chose to resist the Nihlvarian threat. In Skar Magnol, the young scholar Elvine finds herself trapped as an unwilling accomplice to Sister Lore. To survive, she must play along with her queen’s twisted designs, while setting her own rebellious schemes into motion. At the same time, loyal Ascarlian war leader Thera has survived the first skirmish against the Nihlvarian in the Outer Islands and finds herself leading a mismatched fleet against the invaders. However, facing overwhelming odds, Thera must seek allies wherever she can, while the burdens of leadership lay heavy upon her, as if she fails, all Ascarlia falls.
As war rages in Ascarlia, other fights for survival occur across the sea. Following his discovery of the Vaults of the Altvar, Thera’s brother Felnir has been promised a kingdom, and voyages to a hidden land filled with blood and suffering. If he wishes to rule, Felnir will have to fight for the loyalty of his new people, while discovering the ancient secrets of those who came before him. At the same time, in Nihlvar, the captured Ascarlian Ruhlin and his friends have escaped from captivity and are now fugitives from the Nihlvarian ruler, the Vortigurn. If he wishes to keep himself and his comrades alive, Ruhlin needs to learn to control his inner monster and escape the bonds of prophecy, but dark secrets and beings have their eyes on him.
As war continues to spread like fire, Elvine, Thera, Felnir and Ruhlin must all fight their own desperate battles to survive and find their place in this new world. But with treachery and hard choices all around, can these four unlikely heroes survive the wrath of the Vortigurn, or will their ambitions, fears and doubts tear them apart?
Anthony Ryan continues to showcase why he is one of the leading modern authors of fantasy fiction with this incredible and impressive novel. Serving as an outstanding second entry in the Age of Wrath series, Born of an Iron Storm brilliantly continued Ryan’s complex, multilayered narrative, while taking the series in some exciting new adventures. A classic fantasy tale filled with great characters, complex worldbuilding and intense, nautical action, Born of an Iron Storm was an epic read which gets a full five-star rating from me.
I felt that Born of an Iron Storm had an awesome overall narrative to it, as Ryan continued his elaborate series in strong fashion. Once again split between the returning point-of-view characters from A Tide of Black Steel, you are essentially treated to four separate storylines, each with their own unique focus, setting and style. This includes the intrigue laden storyline around Elvine as she attempts to survive the chaos surrounding the coup at Skar Magnol, which results in a compelling, espionage focused narrative. Elvine’s story goes hand-in-hand with Thera’s storyline, which sees this protagonist attempt to raise an army to defend Ascarlia and retake the capital. Thera’s chapters were some of the more action-heavy in the book, with a ton of great naval combat sequences, and it was fascinating to see this character grow into a leadership position. Aside from Elvine and Thera, there was also the fantastic narrative around Felnir, who sets out to claim a new land as king by taking down a group of religious fanatics whose origins mirror that of the Nihlvarians. Finally, escaped slave and occasional monster Ruhlin finds himself and his new comrades being hunted through Nihlvar and must seek an alliance with the land’s original inhabitants to survive.
Unlike the first book in the series, which saw several of the storylines cross over regularly, all four distinctive character plotlines remained mostly separate in Born of an Iron Storm, with only a few points of interaction in the Elvine and Thera narratives occurring. This essentially meant that each of the narratives developed in a vacuum and were allowed to play out at their own pace. Not only do these separate narratives stand out on their own merits but they come together nicely to form an intricate and addictive overarching narrative, as the alternating character-driven tales came to parallel each other extremely well. All four of these distinctive narratives started off a lot quicker in Born of an Iron Storm than they did in the previous book, which allowed the reader to effectively get drawn into each character’s journeys as their storylines proceed. Each storyline went in some intriguing directions, and the disparate adventures resulted in quite an exciting novel. Ryan ensured that there were some exciting moments and compelling character interactions in each character’s respective chapters, and there was a great focus on action and war in this second Age of Wrath book. Indeed, there were a few chapters that saw all four protagonists essentially fighting their own separate battles at the same time, with near simultaneous naval conflicts, sieges, pitched battles and forest ambushes. Ryan ends each action and adventure laden narrative of Born of an Iron Storm on a very compelling note, with a few interesting twists and reveals hitting the two plotlines set outside of Ascarlia. It also leaves the overall narrative of the series in a great place for the third, and presumably final, book, and I am extremely keen to see what happens to each protagonist in the next thrilling instalment.
I deeply enjoyed how Born of an Iron Storm came together, and it works well as the second entry in this epic series. Ryan utilises many of the same style elements of A Tide of Black Steel, with the Viking-inspired setting and focus on multiple character adventures working particularly well to present an overall layered narrative with a lot of moving parts to it. The author’s switch from the first-person chronicle style in the previous Covenant of Steel books to a third-person perspective told from four distinctive protagonists in this series allowed for a wider focus to the book, and Ryan makes sure to provide some intriguing expansions to his fantasy world. Each chapter switches the narrative to another of the four perspective characters, and it was interesting to see how each switch would change the tone of the narrative depending on whichever protagonist was in focus. I felt that Ryan did a great job of balancing the four distinctive storylines throughout the novel, and each plotline developed in some compelling ways. I honestly found myself enjoying each of these separate storylines equally, with no noticeable weak links. However, my favourite was the Elvine plotline, thanks to its inherent intrigue and focus on one of the book’s more fascinating protagonists, and Thera’s chapters, which had the most action and multiple cool scenes of long-ship on long-ship warfare.
Due to being the second book in a complex fantasy series, which is itself a sequel to a previous trilogy, Born of an Iron Storm is probably best enjoyed by those who have read the preceding novels from Ryan. While there is a very intensive summary of the events of A Tide of Black Steel at the front of this novel, Born of an Iron Storm dives into the narrative very quickly, and reading the previous book really does help to increase enjoyment and understanding of the plot. Ryan does a good job of recapping key plot points as he writes, and when combined with the comprehensive summary, new readers can probably drop into Born of an Iron Storm without too much effort. However, this novel is going to appeal to those existing Ryan fans the most, especially those who previously enjoyed the Covenant of Steel novels. While not too excessively vital to the plot, there are a lot of references to the events of the Covenant of Steel series, including the appearance of a couple of minor characters from these books, which was fun to see. The events of these original books also play a big role in a couple of characters storylines and development, especially in the Elvine sections of the book (which features the two children of the Covenant of Steel’s protagonist), which lead to some compelling and intense moments. I personally loved seeing Ryan continue to build on his already existing setting, and it was great to see what followed the chaotic events of the Covenant of Steel novels.
Ryan once again spent a lot of time developing his four central characters in Born of an Iron Storm, and their unique personalities, histories and continued changing perspectives, added some intriguing elements to the narrative. Each of these characters have some fascinating moments and interactions in this novel, which cleverly builds on their storylines from the previous novel. This includes Elvine, the young scholar revealed to be the long-lost daughter of Alwyn Scribe, who is forced to find her inner courage in this novel after being trapped in the captured Skar Magnol. Caught up in the madness of Sister Lore, who develops a dark obsession with her, Elvine finds her inner rebel, while also trying to comprehend the sentient magical spear she recovered in the previous book. Elvine’s storyline was really well written in Born of an Iron Storm, and Ryan had fun turning the previously mousy scholar into a dangerous warrior and leader, who gets into just as much trouble as her father. Ryan’s other badass female protagonist in this novel was Thera, who finds herself the reluctant leader of the Ascarlian loyalist forces. A skilled fighter, Thera spends much of Born of an Iron Storm learning to take on the mantel of leadership, while also dealing with her traumatic past, and her current emotional complexities. Thera proved to be a very intriguing character to follow, especially with her chapter’s naval content, and it was fascinating to see her influence grow thanks to her actions.
On the other side we have the male protagonists, Felnir and Ruhlin, both of whom go through their own development and hell in this book. Ruhlin’s character arc was a good continuation from A Tide of Black Steel, as he works to control his newly discovered inner monster and turn it into a force for good. Like Thera, Ruhlin finds himself reluctantly leading a group of people who have placed their lives in his hands, and it was interesting to see him rise to the challenge, especially when even more figures put their hope in him. Felnir, on the other hand, works to change fate by actively seeking leadership in a fun contrast to his sister and rival, Thera. Finding himself in an unfamiliar land, Felnir works to inspire people unfamiliar with his past and soon finds the acclaim and respect he’s always wanted. However, Ryan also writes a great storyline around his unchecked ambition and the consequences it has on those around him, and there is a great darkness to this character that is going to make him the wildcard of the series.
While the above four characters naturally get most of the focus in this series, Born of an Iron Storm also features a massive supporting cast, some of whom prove to be just as compelling and memorable as the main protagonists. A lot of these figures are returning from A Tide of Black Steel, and I must admit that I was glad that Ryan put up his comprehensive summary at the front of this book, or I would have probably lost track of who they were. Most of the best characters in this book were primarily in Elvine’s chapters, with the returning Colvyn (son of a certain scribe and a dark saint), being very fun, even if he got a little less focus here. The ancient Ascarlian warrior and spymaster, Margnus Gruinskard, the Tieldwald was a great inclusion, first as a prisoner, then a reluctant ally to Elvine, and Ryan wrote a distinctive wearied element to him in this novel. The author also did an amazing job of building off the big twist at the end of A Tide of Black Steel by featuring more of the traitor Sister Queen, Sister Lore. Ryan made Lore into a particular twisted and dangerous antagonist, and her obsessive interactions with Elvine were some of the most compelling parts of the book. Aside from these figures from the Elvine chapters, my favourite supporting figures were Lynnea, the innocent yet dangerous companion to Thera, and the mysterious Wohtin, who serves as Felnir’s guide to his new land. Both were outstanding supporting characters in this novel, and I loved the intense, and very different, interactions they had with their respective protagonist. I’m honestly barely scratching the surface of all the great supporting figures in Born of an Iron Storm, and I really appreciated the strong and varied cast that emerged in this novel. All of them were very well written, and I really appreciate how Ryan utilised them to enhance his excellent narrative.
As I have tended to do with Ryan’s previous novels, I ended up enjoying Born of an Iron Storm on audiobook, which was an amazing experience. I often find that compelling fantasy novels really come across well when read out by a talented narrator, and Born of an Iron Storm was an excellent example of this. Thanks to the excellent narration of Steven Brand, who previously narrated the Covenant of Steel series, Born of an Iron Storm was a great treat to listen to, and I ended up powering through its near 20-hour long runtime. Brand did an amazing job diving into the multilayered narrative and bringing out all the detail, action and compelling story elements through his narration, and I ended up absorbing a lot more detail thanks to having the story read out. The narrator also brought back all his fantastic character voices from the previous audiobook, as well as a few new ones, to give the cast of Born of an Iron Storm life. These characters came across amazingly, and I ended up having a blast listening to Born of an Iron Storm, especially the cool action sequences, which were so epic to listen to. As such, I really recommend checking out this novel on audiobook, as you will be in for an amazing time.
Overall, Born of an Iron Storm was another exceptional novel from Anthony Ryan, who continues to expand on his cool fantasy world with another amazing, adventure-filled read. Loaded with action, a fun story, and some excellent characters, Born of an Iron Storm was an impressive second outing in the author Age of Wrath series, and I loved how the story continued to evolve. As such, this book comes highly recommended, and I cannot wait to see how Ryan continues his outstanding series next year.
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The Unseen Library 