Category: Five-Star Books

The Traitor by Anthony Ryan

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy, Five-Star Books14 Comments

The Traitor Cover

Publisher: Orbit (Audiobook – 11 July 2023)

Series: Covenant of Steel – Book Three

Length: 19 hours and 15 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Amazon

Acclaimed fantasy author Anthony Ryan brings his epic and exceptional Covenant of Steel trilogy to an end in a massive way with the impressive third and final book, The Traitor.

Over the last three years I have had an outstanding time getting my first taste of the works of leading fantasy author Anthony Ryan.  A veteran author who has been enthralling fantasy audiences for over a decade, Ryan has several highly regarded series under his belt, including his Raven’s Shadow books, the Slab City Blues series, the Seven Swords series and The Draconis Memoria trilogy.  However, I have so far only had the opportunity to read his latest body of works, The Covenant of Steel trilogy, which has been more than enough to make me a major fan of this author.

The Covenant of Steel books are an outstanding series that follows an intriguing and well-developed protagonist, the notorious Alwyn Scribe.  Told in a chronicle format written by Alwyn, the Covenant of Steel books follow the protagonist as he embarks upon a powerful and exciting character journey that sees him overcome his bandit past to take on several new roles, including that of a scribe, soldier and knight, all while serving the mysterious religious figure, Lady Evadine Courlain.  I have had an epic time with this series over the last few years, and the first two books, The Pariah (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2021) and The Martyr (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2022) have been exceptional five-star reads that proved near impossible to put down.  Loaded with action, intrigue, a fantastic new world, and some complex characters, this series is so damn good, and I have been eagerly awaiting the third and final book for a while.  This third book, The Traitor, was one of my most anticipated reads for 2023, and I was so excited when I finally got the chance to listen to it.

Alwyn Scribe is a man in real trouble.  Now a renowned knight, general, spymaster, and trusted advisor, the former outlaw has relentlessly championed the cause of his lady, the Risen Martyr Evadine Courlain, and ensured she is now the most beloved and influential religious figure in all of Albermaine.  But what if he made a terrible mistake?

Cryptic visions from the past have warned Alwyn that, despite her claims to be a servant of the divine Seraphile, Evadine actually serves the Malecite, the source of all evil in the land, who will use her to bring about a cataclysmic future.  Blinded by love, Alwyn is convinced that these visions are false, and he is determined to keep Evadine alive and ensure that her vision of a united Albermaine are brought to life, even if that means starting another destructive war.

However, the closer Evadine gets to achieving her goal, the more Alwyn begins to realise that she is no longer the same woman that he swore his life to.  Her messages of peace and tolerance have been replaced by the fires of puritanical fury, and Evadine soon launches a brutal crusade to rid the country of her enemies and place herself on the throne as an Ascendant Queen.  But is she truly corrupted by the Malecite or is her brutal work a necessity to keep Albermaine safe from a greater evil?  As a devastating civil war is unleashed upon the kingdom, Alwyn will be forced to choose whose side he is truly on and what he is willing to sacrifice to keep the world from burning.

Well damn, Ryan really didn’t disappoint with this fantastic and powerful conclusion to the fantastic Covenant of Steel trilogy.  Weaving together all the elaborate elements from his first two books and then lighting everything you love on fire, The Traitor was a complex and deeply enjoyable read that I honestly couldn’t stop listening to.  Powerful, thrilling, and oh so beautifully dark, The Traitor was a perfect ending to the Covenant of Steel trilogy that got an easy five-star rating from me.

The Traitor has a heck of a powerful narrative to it that takes the protagonist and the reader to the emotional limit.  After an effective and entertaining recap of the previous two books, The Traitor starts in the immediate aftermath of the previous novel, The Martyr, with Alwyn leading Evadine’s army to war against the dangerous Ascendant Arnabus and his forces, resulting in a major, religious war.  This initial conflict is the focus for a good part of the early story, and it serves as a great warm-up for the rest of the plot, allowing for some much-needed character reintroductions and development, while also providing some intriguing new context for the main story.  This initial fight only serves as a taste for the wars to come, as Evadine seeks to overthrow the current order and rule herself.  This incoming conflict ensures that the first half of The Traitor has a range of great story elements to it, with a mixture of intrigue, political manoeuvrings, espionage, and battles, ensuring that every second of The Traitor at this point is highly entertaining.  This also serves as an excellent prelim for the anticipated change in the middle of the book, where the protagonist is finally forced to confront the fact that Evadine is no longer the woman he fell in love with.

Due to the reveal at the end of The Martyr, you had to know that Evadine was going to have some sort of fall from grace in this final novel, and when it comes, boy does it come hard.  The betrayals, shocks and losses at this point are exceedingly impactful, and you soon realise that Ryan intends to go full scorched earth with his storytelling, forcing the reader to deal with some major tragedies.  I liked the dark turns that occurred at this point in The Traitor, especially as Ryan had been hinting at them since book one, and it was awesome to get some payoff for the previous dark predictions.  This forces Alwyn to make some tough choices, and there is a major and compelling change in the protagonist’s objectives and loyalties for the second half of the book.  Thanks to the great setup at the start, as well as the major events in the middle, the reader will be very strongly caught in the narrative at this point, and even though the final half of The Traitor slows down in places, you really cannot put it down.  Ryan really dives into the lore of his land in this second half, which provides some very unique scenes and moments, even if some of these story elements got a little away from the author.  Still, this part of the book has some pretty impactful moments, and you will not be prepared for some of the key touching events.

Everything leads up to a final confrontation, which releases three books worth of pent-up emotion and revelations in some spectacular scenes.  While part of this confrontation is a bit more metaphysical than it needed to be, you honestly will be blown away with how it all comes to an end, especially as there is layer upon layer of tragedy involved, and I deeply enjoyed the compelling and satisfying resolutions that followed.  This entire story was a fantastic read from start to finish, and I really loved how Ryan wrapped up so many of his ongoing storylines and arcs here.  While most plot points are finalised here, a couple do remain unresolved, and it wouldn’t surprise me if we get a sequel series at some point.  I personally would be very keen for that, as I had such an exceptional time seeing this elaborate trilogy and ongoing narrative come together in some excellent ways.

I have always really enjoyed how Ryan set out the previous Covenant of Steel books, and he did a fantastic job of continuing his awesome writing style in this third and final book.  The author sets out The Traitor using a chronicle style told from the protagonist’s perspective, which is such an effective writing tool.  This deeply personal vision of events, combined with the author’s regretful insights of the future, really helps to drag the reader into the story, and Ryan really makes the most of this story format the entire way through.  Like with the rest of the trilogy, Ryan keeps up a pretty steady pace in The Traitor, and there aren’t a lot of quiet moments in the book.  The author really hit the right blend of powerful character focus, fantasy world building, and storytelling loaded with intrigue and action, and there is generally something for everyone here.

I loved the darker, more tragic feel that The Traitor had, especially compared to the earlier books, and it was easy to tell that this is the final book in the series.  While the detailed plot recap and cast list at the front of the book is very helpful at reminding readers of prior events, readers unfamiliar with The Pariah and The Martyr probably won’t be able to jump into this final novel too easily as there are so many details from the first two books that reader’s need to be aware of to fully appreciate the impacts of this story. As such, people new to the series should really head back to the start, and I guarantee you will have a great time doing so.  I really enjoyed how this awesome book came together, and Ryan’s ability to weave together an intense read with so many layers to it is very impressive.

One of the great highlights of the Covenant of Steel series has been the exceptional and detailed fantasy realm that the book has been set in, shown through the eyes of the narrator as he explores it.  The reader has been given a very detailed look at these settings throughout the last two novels, and it has served as a great background to the plot.  Primarily a medieval landscape dominated by a quasi-Christian religion, this background setting initially didn’t have a lot of fantasy elements to it except for a couple of wandering beings with strange powers.  But Ryan slowly built up the fantasy elements throughout the book, with cumulation of magic occurring about halfway through The Martyr, which I think was an excellent choice, as it allowed him to instead focus on character growth, other world building elements, and the general politics and wars of the realm, in excellent detail.  A lot of these political and religious elements are strongly explored throughout The Traitor, especially in the first half, and Ryan had a lot of fun showcasing the land’s dark turn towards religious conflict as his character’s embark on a bitter holy war.  The dark and destructive changes to this well utilised setting are very notable, disturbing and compelling, and it was fascinating to see how much everything changed throughout the course of the series.

The Traitor does get a lot more fantasy heavy in the second half of the book, as the protagonist returns to a hidden realm and fully experiences the mysterious magic and powers that reside there to counter the dark visions of Evadine.  I do think that there might have been a few too many magical inclusions here, as the plot did get a tad convoluted in places.  Still, Ryan definitely had some fantastic and unique ideas here, and many of these fantasy elements have been utilised in the past to great effect.  One particular ability that emerges actually brings part of the story around full circle, and it allowed for some very compelling interactions with characters from the past that I quite enjoyed.  The fantasy revelations that emerge during the big concluding confrontation are very over the top, which some readers might have issues with.  However, I quite enjoyed it, and it lead to a particularly dark final meeting between protagonist and antagonist that had me hooked the entire time.  This really was an awesome fantasy series, loaded with cool settings and unique features, and I hope that we might get to revisit them in the future, especially as the events of this book will leave Albermaine a much darker and traumatised setting.

Easily my favourite element of The Traitor, and indeed the entire Covenant of Steel trilogy, has been the complex, damaged and memorable characters that the story has focussed on.  Ryan has come up with an exceptional group of protagonists and villains over the course of the trilogy, and there are some deeply elaborate character arcs ongoing throughout the last two books.  Many of these continue and conclude here in The Traitor, and Ryan really went out of his way to finalise the development of his characters in some powerful ways that will really strike the reader in the feels.

The main character of The Traitor is once again Alwyn Scribe, who serves as the primary narrator of the trilogy as he recounts his historical adventures.  Alwyn has been a particularly compelling character throughout the series, mainly because you get to see him grow from a common outlaw to key advisor of the Risen Martyr as she begins her campaign across the country.  Ryan has done such a great job telling Alwyn’s unique tale in the previous books, and the reader should already be highly invested in his story before The Traitor even starts.  Of course, this ensures that the reader is hit even harder by some of the big moments of the book, as Alwyn goes through a lot here.  Not only is he still involved in a series of deadly wars and political battles, but now he finds himself being torn between love and his sense of right and wrong, as Evadine becomes more and more unstable.  Watching Alwyn continue to justify Evadine’s actions, even though deep down he knows she’s in the wrong, is both frustrating and understandable, as you realise just how much he is devoted to her.  This sense of frustration is only enhanced by the constant recriminations Alwyn throws towards his past self as he narrates his own story, and you can feel the regret pouring of the pages there.  While I won’t give too much away here, Alwyn ends up going through quite a lot in The Traitor, and the emotional toil that inflicts is pretty terrible, especially as he has to make some bitter and ruthless choices.  It was very touching and intense to see Alwyn’s story come full circle in some ways, especially as there are some intriguing callbacks to his past, and all the major impactful moments that affect Alwyn are expertly portrayed by the author.  Despite everything he goes through, Alwyn still maintains much of his humour, wit, ingenuity, and disrespectful attitude that were such a great part of the Covenant of Steel trilogy.  It was so much fun to once again get his unique take on events, and he ended up being a pretty perfect narrator for this fantastic series.

The other major character that I have to talk about is Evadine Courlain, the Risen Martyr and Alwyn’s love interest, who has been such a significant figure in the last two books.  A religious leader who inspired people with her visions, Evadine has always been a fascinating character, especially as you are never quite sure if she is actually divinely chosen, a delusional madwoman, or something even worse.  After the reveal at the end of The Martyr that Evadine might be an avatar of evil, you come into The Traitor naturally highly suspicious of her, and Ryan caters to these expectations by ensuring that she quickly starts to descend into further darkness.  Despite Alwyn’s continual attempts to restrain her, and justify her actions to the reader, Evadine becomes more of a darker figure as she pursues her various wars, although initially never going quite far enough to alienate her friends.  Of course, that changes about halfway through the book, and when she goes dark, she goes dark in a big way, turning into quite a fantastic and sinister antagonistic figure.  I really loved how Ryan turned Evadine here, and it is such an outstanding cumulation of so many key story arcs from the first two books.  Despite everything she does, there is still a powerful bond between Alwyn and Evadine that deeply impacts both of them, and it was fascinating to see these great characters walk the thin line between love and hate again and again.  The complex interactions between these two characters at various different points of The Traitor are beautifully written, and you have to appreciate just how damaged and dangerous their bond got at times.  Evadine honestly was the perfect counterpoint to Alwyn in The Traitor, and I cannot emphasise how impressive her entire story arc ended up being.

In addition to Alwyn and Evadine, Ryan has loaded The Traitor with an exceptional cast of supporting characters who add a great deal to the impact of the story.  This supporting cast is mostly made up of figures from the first two books, as Ryan brings back many of the old favourites and seeks to wrap up many of the intriguing storylines that have been such a fantastic part of the series.  Highlights include Alwyn’s returning comrades, such as the unstable but very likeable Ayin, disgraced knight Wilhum, former outlaw Tiler, outlaw queen turned legitimate Duchess Lorine, and Juhlina, also known as the Widow.  These characters, and more end up having some interesting roles throughout The Traitor, and it was fascinating to see the various sides that many of them chose, especially as the plot continued.  I liked some of the surprising directions Ryan took a few of these returning characters, and there are some interesting choices, romances and entertaining fates that were wonderful to see.  Ryan also features several great new characters who got a good introduction and utilisation in The Traitor, even if it was only for a single book.  Quite a few of these characters were cast in antagonistic roles, which I think worked really well, and it was amazing how quickly Ryan was able to turn some of these characters into quite hateable figures.

While I did really enjoy the return of so many great characters featured within The Traitor, readers should be warned that Ryan does go on a bit of a murder spree here.  While I won’t give too much away here, several great characters meet an untimely end in The Traitor, and this honestly gets pretty heartbreaking.  While I usually don’t love it when authors kill off most of their characters in a finale, I think it worked quite well in The Traitor, especially as each death served an important narrative purpose.  It also helped that for many of these characters, Ryan worked to resolve their storylines in advance, so readers got some closure with them, even as they were taken away.  As such, The Traitor turns into quite a bloody and impactful read at times, and you will not be prepared for just how grim and tragic it gets when it comes to your favourite Covenant of Steel characters.  I really cannot emphasise just how good Ryan’s character work is though, and I hope we see some of the surviving figures again in the future.

I ended up grabbing a copy of the audiobook version of The Traitor, mainly because it has been the format that I have enjoyed the rest of the Covenant of Steel books in.  Coming in at a bit over 19 hours, this is a decently long audiobook, but I absolutely flew through it once I got caught up in the exceptional story.  This format really lent itself to Ryan’s writing style and epic storytelling, and I deeply appreciated how listening to The Traitor allowed me to absorb all the key character moments, action and world building a lot better.  My enjoyment of this book was enhanced even further by the return of narrator Steven Brand, who has given his voice to most of Ryan’s audiobooks.  Brand is a very talented narrator with a great voice that fits this darker fantasy novel extremely well, especially as he perfectly encapsulates the protagonist, Alwyn Scribe.  Brand really brings Ryan’s chronicle style to life in Alwyn’s voice, and I really loved his take on the protagonist and all the other characters.  The sheer despair, weariness and self-loathing that Brand envisions in Alwyn’s voice at times is really moving, and I deeply appreciated how expertly he dove into the role of the main character.  The rest of characters in The Traitor also receive some great, fitting voices, and the entire cast really came to life, if but briefly.  I honestly had such a great time listening to The Traitor on audiobook and this is easily my preferred way to enjoy this fantastic book.  As such, this format comes highly recommended, and it will probably end up being one of my top audiobooks of 2023.

Honestly, after how much fun I had with the first two books in this series, as well as my lengthy write-up above, it should come as no surprise that I deeply enjoyed The Traitor.  Anthony Ryan brought his epic Covenant of Steel trilogy to a near perfect end, and I cannot emphasise enough how great and impactful this exceptional novel was.  Featuring some excellent dark moments, powerful character development, and an outstanding war-focused narrative, The Traitor delivered everything I wanted and more.  Easily one of the best fantasy books of 2023 so far, The Traitor was a joy to read from start to finish, and I am so glad I got the experience this awesome and amazing fantasy trilogy.

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The Book That Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Fantasy, Five-Star Books16 Comments

The Book That Wouldn't Burn Cover

Publisher: Harper Voyager (Ebook – 1 May 2023)

Series: The Library trilogy – Book One

Length: 570 pages

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Amazon

One of the world’s inventive and compelling fantasy authors returns with one of his best novels yet, the highly addictive and ambitious novel, The Book That Wouldn’t Burn, which sets off his new The Library trilogy.

Few authors have had the impact on the fantasy genre than Mark Lawrence has in the last few years, as the author has truly impressed readers throughout the world with his unique and captivating novels that routinely blend fantasy and science fiction elements.  His series include The Broken Empire trilogy, The Red Queen’s War series, and The Book of the Ancestor series.  I myself only started reading Lawrence’s work a couple of years ago with his compelling The Book of the Ice series, which followed several powered teens on a grim frozen planet.  I had an outstanding time with this series, which included The Girl and the Stars and The Girl and the Mountains.  While I still have to read the third book, The Girl and the Moon, I really enjoyed these books, and it was a pretty clever series.  As such, I was very keen to check out Lawrence’s new novel, The Book That Wouldn’t Burn, especially as it had a very intriguing plot synopsis behind it.

Throughout the world, there is nothing more important, more significant, nor more permanent than the library.  Built inside a mountain near the great city of Crath, the library contains an impossible number of books fitted within innumerable rooms that no one person can access.  The sheer amount of knowledge contained within the library represents the greatest power in the world, allowing its keepers and the King of Crath to wield great control in the world.  Into this vast and elaborate repository of knowledge and secrets, two young people are about to meet in unusual circumstances.

Livira is a young girl raised in the Dust, the desolate wasteland that surrounds Crath.  Plucky, curious, and incapable of giving up, Livira is a rarity among her people as she seeks to know more about the world outside her home.  But when the alien sabbers destroy her village and kill her people, Livira finds herself lost in the wilderness.  Rescued and brought to Crath, Livira soon becomes certain that her future lies in the library.  Overcoming prejudice and her own humble background, Livira learns to navigate the library and soon begins to find out some of its deeper secrets.  However, the most mysterious of these might be another strange inhabitant of the library, Evar.

Evar and his small family have known nothing but the library their entire lives.  Released after unknown eons frozen as children inside the library’s mysterious Mechanism, Evar and his siblings have grown up in a vast chamber of the library, learning from the books and becoming masters of specialised subjects.  However, Evar has always desired more and has long tried to find a way to leave their book filled prison.  His discovery of a portal within his home soon leads him to a place outside of time where he meets an exploring Livira.  Together, the two attempt to find the true history of the library and the threats it has withstood over the years.  But dark evils haunt the library, and soon the two explorers must find a way to uncover the truth behind the sabbers, their own history, and other deadly threats waiting for them in the future.  Can these two children of the library survive the revelations in front of them, or will the truth tear them apart in ways they can’t even understand?

Well damn, now this was a seriously impressive and epic book.  Lawrence has honestly outdone himself here with this incredible read, and this might be one of the best books he is ever written, which is saying something.  The Book That Wouldn’t Burn features one of the most elaborate settings and narratives you are likely to see in fantasy fiction, and this results in a powerful and moving read that will keep you guessing time and time again.  I had an exceptional time reading The Book That Wouldn’t Burn, and it would be impossible for me to give it anything less than a five-star rating.

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn is told from two separate perspectives, that of Livira and Evar, and covers their very different lives and experiences within the libraries.  These two character-driven storylines are initially kept separate from each other as Lawrence spends a good chunk of the book introducing the protagonists, setting up their unique stories, and bringing together the elaborate setting that the story is based around.  Both of these storylines are very interesting and fun off the bat, with Livira having her life torn apart, only to find purpose in the library, while Evar details his life lived purely within the library.  While both storylines are really good, I initially got drawn into Livira’s the most, especially as her outsider perspective of the library allows you to really appreciate how alien and strange the massive house of books is.  Livira’s storyline advances at an extended clip, covering years of her life as she learns, grows, and fully develops her adventurous personality as she seeks to fully understand the secrets of the library and everything within it.  Evar’s storyline on the other hand is a little more sedate in its pacing, as it is set only along the course of a few days as he tries to finally understand the structure that has kept him prisoner for so many years.

The first half of the book that showcases these two characters’ initial introduction and growth are pretty damn entertaining, and it does a wonderful job of setting the scene for Lawrence’s elaborate story and background location.  However, the story doesn’t find its true strength until the two protagonists meet and their storylines becomes a lot more intertwined.  Due to the impossible physics and requirements of the library, there is a compelling time element to the meetings between the characters, which Lawrence captures masterfully, and which really alters their perspectives of each other.  Once they are able to properly interact, the two characters grow close and spend an interesting chunk of the novel exploring their respective worlds, as well as the history of the library.  Lawrence really lays the world building on thick during these parts of the book, and it serves to bring the two protagonists together, which just ensures the last act of the book is as tragic, moving and devastating as possible.  The author drops some massive bombshell twists around two-thirds of the way through, which completely throws you and makes you rethink everything you have thought about the preceding narrative.  I honestly was pretty damn shocked at this epic and devastating revelation, and while I had already been pretty damn addicted to the story by this point, this was the moment I realised what a masterpiece The Book That Wouldn’t Burn truly was.

The final third of the novel gets even better as certain background elements of Livira’s storyline finally come to fruition and her entire life begins burning around her.  This causes her and many of the supporting characters from her part of the book to end up interacting with the characters from Evar’s storyline, which is a very interesting change of pace from the previous parts of the book.  There are also some frenetic conflicts and some very dark moments as everything you have previously known about the settings, the characters and the history of the library is thrown around in some excellent and compelling ways.  There are several great new twists in this final section of the book, and Lawrence gets very metaphysical with the reveals, relying on his setting’s unique temporal properties to mess with your mind and bring you surprise after surprise.  I really loved just how cool and complicated this novel got towards the end, and Lawrence leaves an awesome and open conclusion for you to enjoy while drawing you in towards the next book in the series.  I came away from this narrative desperately wanting more, especially after being blown away by all the twists within the book, and I cannot wait to see what happens next.

Those who are familiar with Lawrence will know that he is a very impressive and talented author, and I really liked how he developed his story and displayed all its outstanding elements to the reader.  The Book That Wouldn’t Burn is a particularly complex read, loaded with damaged characters, elaborate storylines and an inventive major setting.  Lawrence approaches his latest novel with his usual flair and imagination, expertly showcasing every clever detail of this world to the reader and keeping them enthralled the entire way through.  Due to the complexity of the story, you really need to dive into every single word that Lawrence writes, and it honestly took me a little longer to get through this lengthy novel than I expected, mainly because of how much focus I needed to fully appreciate everything.  That said, it has a very good pace to it and there is never really a dull moment as you are constantly drawn into what is happening or the elaborate depictions of the library.

I felt that the author’s use of two narrators was particularly effective, especially as they give very different views of what is happening around them and the setting they find themselves in.  The extra expansiveness of the separate narration really helps to expand the scale of the book, and it takes some major temporal shifts for the two protagonist’s storylines to align.  Once they do, the two separate character arcs intertwine extremely well, and I loved seeing their interactions through each other’s eyes, as well as the elaborate adventures they find themselves involved with.

Lawrence also was very skilled at setting up some of the book’s big twists, and while many of them surprised me when I read them, looking back you could see the subtle clues leading up to them, and you really appreciate just how clever the author was in the earlier stages of the book.  The initial big twist is probably the best, and you really have to love how careful Lawrence was with some of the dialogue and character descriptions to pull that off.  Some of the subsequent twists are a little less shocking, mainly because you are on guard at that point, but I did like how well some of the reveals based around the protagonist’s journey through time were utilised and hinted at in earlier scenes.  The fact that there are completely different faces to some of the major early figures of the book was very cool, and it was clear that the author had a very impressive plan while writing the early stages of the book.  These excellent writing elements, and more, served to enhance an already captivating story, and I cannot get past how well Lawrence set everything up.

There is no way I can move forward without talking about the elaborate library setting that was such an epic centrepiece of The Book That Wouldn’t Burn.  I love how the author’s ultimate major setting is a library, which is something that all readers can really appreciate.  While we can all imagine a pretty massive or full library, Lawrence amped that imagination up to an 11 in this book, describing a seemingly impossible structure, made up of innumerable rooms filled with massive climbable bookshelves and a seemingly infinite number of books and tomes.  The sheer scale of this setting when described by Lawrence boggles the mind to a degree, and it really is an outstanding setting for this story as it is the perfect place for exploration, adventure, and even habitation.  The library naturally features Lawrence’s trademark blend of fantasy and science fiction elements, and the structure has a transdimensional or alien feel to it, as the protagonists find different mechanisms within the structure, as well as strange and unique ways to travel through it.  This blend of fantasy and science fiction elements worked particularly well, especially as you get to experience an intriguing contrast between ancient advanced technology and endless shelves of paper books.

The more unique elements of the library, including the portals, the robotic guardians, the locked doors, and more, are worked into the plot extremely well, and it was fascinating to see how they impacted the story, especially while the characters attempted to find out their origins.  The time travel aspects of the library proved to be particularly awesome, and I loved how Lawrence used them, and other cool features, to twist the narrative in some powerful and unexpected directions, completely changing everything you thought you knew.  It was also really effective how Lawrence explored the library through two very different sets of eyes, as Livira and Evar see it in different ways based on their respective history and cultures.  These alternate views added even more depth to the epic setting, and you have to love the continued focus on exploration, especially when it resulted in some of the best scenes in the book.  Honestly, I could go on and on for pages about just how impressive this outstanding setting is, so let me just be blunt and say: read The Book That Wouldn’t Burn, as you really won’t be disappointed when it comes to this elaborate library setting and the dark world it inhabits.

The final thing that I really need to highlight are the great characters contained within The Book That Wouldn’t Burn, which Lawrence did an outstanding job pulling together.  There is a rich and compelling cast of characters featured within this novel, and their unique stories and experiences play a big role in how the story develops.  However, most of the character work is saved for the point of view protagonists, Livira and Evar.  Both characters have intriguing and tragic backgrounds brought about by encounters with sabbers, and they have found sanctuary within the library as a result.  However, this is where their storylines differ as Livira seeks out the treasures of the library and works to get deeper within, while Evar looks to escape and find a whole new world to explore. This leads to some very conflicted character moments, and it was fascinating to see how these characters’ intriguing histories influences their understanding of the world and what they want.  Both protagonists are well established and utilized by the author in The Book that Wouldn’t Burn, and their distinctive character arcs give the book a different flavour chapter to chapter as you explore both their lives.

I personally enjoyed Livira a little more as a protagonist, as her adventurous spirit, drive to be the best and sheer pluck were quite entertaining to see, especially as it allowed her to uncover so many cool secrets about the library.  However, you also have to appreciate the darker background and narrative around Evar, a man trapped all his life in the library, and who has known only limited contact and love in his life.  Evar’s entire life has been nothing but uncertainty, abandonment and a certain amount of inadequacy as he has only known a few other people, each of whom are the absolute experts in their fields.  These two protagonists, when they meet, prove to be a powerful and interesting combination, and Lawrence was quite masterful and subtle when it came to weaving their chapters together.  You really appreciate the pain, loss and sacrifices that both protagonists make throughout the book, and the bond they formed together, soon becomes such a key part of the story.  While they do experience some major, mind-blowing setbacks, you grow really attached to both of them, and seeing them continue and dive even deeper into the unknowable heart of the library, makes for powerful reading.

Aside from Livira and Evar, The Book That Wouldn’t Burn features an extensive and compelling cast of supporting characters, whose interaction with the protagonists adds some intriguing elements to the plot, especially as many of them are filled with some great surprises.  Both Livira and Evar’s storylines had some excellent supporting figures whose appearances are primarily limited to their respective narrator’s timeline.  My favourite supporting character in the Livira chapters had to be Malar, a rough and tough solider who becomes Livira’s protector mostly against his will.  His gruff attitude is a fun contrast to Livira’s bright and curious nature, and they have some entertaining scenes together, especially as he grows to care for her, and Lawrence works in some particularly compelling story elements around him in the later part of the book.

Evar’s chapters also feature a great range of supporting characters, and due to the more constricted nature of his story and setting, you get to know them a lot better than some of the cast associated with Livira.  These characters include Evar’s adopted siblings, Starval, Kerrol and Clovis, who were also trapped in the Mechanism as children and grew up with him in the library.  However, unlike Evar, who emerged relatively normal, each of Evar’s siblings were warped by the knowledge of the Mechanism and are now masters of a particular subject, including assassination and espionage, war and psychology.  Each of these siblings is now fairly damaged as a result of their complex upbringings and childhood traumas, and it was fascinating to see their unique mindsets, especially through the eyes of Evar, who holds a special place in each of their hearts.  These characters were all raised by the animatronic constructs, the Assistant and the Soldier, servants of the library who took charge of them, and I liked the fun interactions that resulted from them, especially once Lawrence worked his twisty magic on them.  All of these characters and more are pretty damn interesting, and I loved how complex and emotionally charged their interactions became.

Frankly I could go on and on about this book, but I still do not think I would really be able to fully encapsulate just how much I enjoyed The Book That Wouldn’t Burn.  This complex and clever fantasy novel is a true masterpiece from Mark Lawrence, who utilised all his impressive writing skills and imagination to create a unique and powerful read.  The Book That Wouldn’t Burn’s elaborate narrative and massive library setting really grabbed my attention and I had such an epic time getting through this outstanding novel.  Easily one of the best fantasy books of 2023, you need to check The Book That Wouldn’t Burn out, especially if you are already a fan of Mark Lawrence’s amazing works.

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The Will of the Many by James Islington

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Australian, Fantasy, Five-Star Books23 Comments

The Will of the Many Cover

Publisher: Gallery/Saga Press/Audible Studios (Audiobook – 23 May 2023)

Series: Hierarchy – Book One

Length: 28 hours 14 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Talented Australian author James Islington delivers one of the best fantasy books of 2023 with the compelling and complex novel, The Will of the Many, an exceptional read that I had a brilliant time reading.

I am always on the lookout for epic fantasy novels to sink my teeth into, and one that caught my eye when it was first announced was the intriguing book, The Will of the Many.  Set in a cool new magical school setting, The Will of the Many sounded liked a very fun novel and I instantly wanted to read it.  It helped that it was written by James Islington, an Australian author who had been on my radar for a while thanks to his fantastic Licanius trilogy.  While I have not had a chance to check out the Licanius books, I was very keen to dive into The Will of the Many and I was glad I got the chance a couple of weeks ago.  The Will of the Many is the first book in Islington’s new Hierarchy series, which looks set to be a major addition to the fantasy landscape especially after this incredible first book

The Catenan Republic, known as the Hierarchy, rules the world, conquering and enslaving everything before it using its unique magic of Will, which drains power, strength and mental energy from the lower classes and passes it up to those above.  To gain true power and control in the Hierarchy citizens need to battle their way to the top of the pyramid of power and influence, and only those with drive, ambition, connections or no choice can rise.

Vis is an orphan boy with a hidden past, a quick mind, and an utter disdain for the entire Hierarchy.  Lodged in a Catenan orphanage, Vis bides his time while searching for an escape from a future of ceding his Will to the higher echelons of the Hierarchy.  However, his entire life is turned upside down when a powerful Catenan nobleman offers him a chance he never expected.  Ulciscor Telimus is convinced that there are dark dealings going on at the Hierarchy’s most prestigious school, the Academy, and he needs someone to go undercover and discover what has been hidden there.  If he succeeds, he will be adopted into Ulciscor’s influential family and be given a choice about his future.

Reluctantly agreeing to Ulciscor’s terms, Vis prepares to attend the Academy, only to discover it is a dangerous place of corrupt ambition, deadly secrets and deep rivalries.  To succeed, Vis will have to rise through the Academy’s ranks by any means necessary without losing who he is as a person.  But this will be no easy task, as deadly politics, long-buried power and a murderous rebel group all seek to control him.  Worse, the more he advances, the greater the chance that his secret past will be uncovered and his enemies will put him to death.  Can Vis survive against the terrible burden that is weighing him down or will he be ground down by the unstoppable Hierarchy just like everyone else?

Islington has created a pretty exceptional fantasy novel with The Will of the Many.  Featuring a powerful, intense and character-driven plot, all set within an outstanding new fantasy world, The Will of the Many had me hooked pretty early on and I dedicated a lot of time to reading it.  I really got drawn into Islington’s amazing inventiveness and this book gets an easy five-star rating from me thanks to how damn good it is.

I have lot of love for the epic and captivating narrative that Islington set up in The Will of the Many, especially as he simultaneously tells a brilliant introductory story while also expertly setting up the rest of the series.  There are some awesome scenes in the start of this book, including an intense fight club sequence, which do an excellent job getting the reader across some key aspects of the plot, while also showcasing the emotional range and complexity of the protagonist, through whose eyes the entire story unfolds.  I was honestly already very hooked by this point in the story, but Islington quickly picks up the pace and ensures that this character-driven narrative heads off in some very compelling directions.  The introduction of Ulciscor soon presents the idea of the Academy and the dark conspiracies around it, and Islington starts the gradual process of getting the protagonist to the school environment.  Ulciscor is a great addition to the plot, especially as he plays off Vis very well, and the early sequences with him result in some major world expansion and plot movement.  It also sets up the book’s established formula of adventure, world building, politics, mystery and espionage, that carries through the rest of the story, and which ends up being a very heady combination.

Islington keeps building the story as The Will of the Many progresses, and pretty much every new revelation or intriguing world detail is really fun to behold.  There is some good early action, as well as a couple of twists that I liked at this point, but the story is still very much on track for the promised magical school setting.  However, before we get there, there are a series of cool and fascinating training montages which build up Vis as a character and really highlight the difficult tasks to come.  There is also a deeper dive into the complexities of the tasks and the secrets surrounding them, and Islington does an impressive amount of set-up in this first third.  However, the real highlight of this first part of the book is a very surprising and explosive occurrence that pushes Vis into the limelight, while also ensuring that he is caught between some very dangerous people.  This big scene is extremely memorable, bloody and very well-written, and if you weren’t riveted to The Will of the Many before, you sure as hell were now.

From there the story turns into a more magical school focused narrative, which was something that I was really looking forward to.  This intriguing setting had some great elements to it, and the story set within the Academy was a brilliant and compelling blend of education, entertaining rivalries, compelling personal interactions, and a series of secrets, as Vis attempts climb up the ranks, while also completing some of the objectives the various groups trying to control him have forced him to do.  I honestly had a ton of fun during the scenes set in the Academy, and I liked how Islington built up the setting and the fantasy elements behind it, while also slowly advancing the story and the character development.  The substantial part of the novel set in or around the Academy has some fantastic moments to it, including a few big scenes where Vis is forced to encounter deadly enemies, hard tasks, or the secrets from his past, and each of these major moments expertly expands on some part of the plot or universe you are already enjoying, whether it be secrets of the world, or some political machinations that will come back to bite the protagonist later.

Everything leads up to a major extended concluding sequence as the final test of the Academy brings all manner of trouble to the protagonist in a variety of cool and intriguing ways.  Not only do some big secrets come to life but Vis manages to learn more about the magical secrets of the world and the Hierarchy, while also being forced to deal with deadly attacks and threats from a variety of corners.  There are so many epic moments in this final section of the book, and Islington did an incredible job of tying together his many, many story threads to ensure that a variety of previous hints and revelations are well utilised.  I loved some of the elaborate tests and set-ups featured here, and it was very fun to see the protagonist try to run them while also dealing with major threats from every angle.  This final sequence has some massive moments, including major betrayals, compelling reveals about the wider world, and a very tragic death, all of which served as the perfect cherry to an already outstanding story.  While many secrets and hanging storylines are resolved by the end of the plot, quite a few still remain for the sequels.  Islington has already set up some big moments and unique ideas for the future, and I am very curious to see how they turn out.

As you can no doubt tell from my expansive summary above, I really loved this captivating narrative in The Will of the Many and I think that Islington did a really good job of presenting this complex and impressive story to the reader.  The entire book has an outstanding pace to it, and there is barely a scene that is not filled with something exciting or entertaining, whether it be a moving character moment, some compelling world building, or a thrilling bit of action.  I honestly flew through this lengthy novel, and there was no point of the book where I not highly invested in the plot nor gripped by the events unfolding.  The author’s use of a first-person perspective from the character of Vis was a very good choice of narration that allowed the author to tell a compelling character-driven story that simultaneously explored a cool new setting from the outside, while also cleverly capturing all the key elements of the plot.  The intense balancing act of lies, politics, outside influences and personal relationships that the protagonist has to maintain really shines through as a result of this use of perspective, and it was deeply compelling to see Vis attempt to overcome all the obstacles in front of him.  The intense action scenes were particularly good, and Islington perfectly portrays the desperate violence, the life-and-death confrontations, and even some complex but exciting maze running, in ways that grab the reader’s attention and keep them fully engaged.  I personally loved how Islington included so many different compelling storylines, plot points, and fascinating detail into every single page of the book, and you really cannot help but get addicted as a result.

I always love seeing a cool fantasy setting for a new series, and Islington produced a pretty intriguing and compelling one for The Will of the Many.  Much of the main setting of the book sees Islington expand on an ancient Roman society, by adding in some intriguing new details like magic, powered constructs, a rigidly hierarchical community, and a deep political divide between the military, governance and religion bodies.  This results in a very interesting background for much of the story, and Islington showcases it all through the eyes of Vis, a hostile outsider with an established hatred of the Hierarchy, which works to showcase it in even more detail, especially as Vis focuses on both the negatives and the positives of the political and cultural structures around him.  I really enjoyed the clever balance of political concerns, oppressed citizenry and unique inclusions about status and magical power that were explored as a result, and it was fantastic to see them utilised in the plot, especially as Vis has to balance all of them throughout his many guises and missions.  The most fascinating part of this whole setting has to be the focus Will, the magic of the Hierarchy, which sees people at the bottom of society sacrifice part of their strength, drive and health to those above them.  The higher up in the Hierarchy you are, the more people you have ceding their strength to you, and this gives you greater powers, including better physical attributes, the ability to control and manipulate materials to certain purposes, and other magical abilities.  Islington does a really good job of exploring and expanding on this intriguing magical system throughout The Will of the Many, especially as the narrator is also learning about it as he goes.  The author has clearly put some time and great thought into this magical system, treating it like an established science, and I liked seeing the range of abilities it produces, as well as its related social and cultural impacts.  Islington makes sure to highlight that this is not a perfect society, and the cracks that Vis witnesses throughout The Will of the Many should result in some outstanding and compelling ongoing storylines.

I need to point out that one of the main reasons I chose to grab The Will of the Many is that it had a magical school setting.  I love, love, love magical school settings in fantasy fiction, and it is one of the best backgrounds for an excellent fantasy story (make sure to check out my recent list about my favourite books with magical school settings).  The Academy in The Will of the Many is an amazing example of this, and I enjoyed how Islington utilised it as a primary location for the book’s plot.  Just like the rest of the Hierarchy, the Academy is a rigidly hierarchical place based around a pyramid structure, with the most talented students at the top, and the other students below battling to take their place.  This made for a great background of study, competition and rivalries for much of the plot, and it was fun to see the protagonist try to reach the higher classes in a short time period, especially as he was required to overcome numerous obstacles while also coming to terms with the distinctive social structure of the Academy.  Islington adds a further twist to this education setting by introducing the Labyrinth as a unique educational and testing tool.  Essentially, the Labyrinth sees participants run through an elaborate maze while being chased, manipulating a magical gauntlet to move around walls and doors, all to prove that the participant has the concentration and focus to control vast amounts of Will.  Islington did an outstanding job of showcasing this Labyrinth in multiple scenes of The Will of the Many, and it produces some very exciting and compelling scenes, especially when the stakes around it get very high.  There is also a very complex, and highly enjoyable final test that serves as a great background for much of the final confrontation.  Islington clearly has a highly inventive streak when it comes to these unique fantasy inclusions, and I personally loved every second spent in this highly competitive magical school setting.  I hope that we see more of it in the future, and this was honestly one of the better magical schools that I have personally seen in fantasy fiction.

I also must highlight the captivating and nuanced characters that were featured within The Will of the Many, especially the main protagonist, Vis, through whom we see most of the events occurring.  Vis is an outstanding central protagonist, as he is a highly educated individual who sees all the flaws in the society he is forced to live in, and goes into the story with many secrets around him, including the fact that he is secretly the deposed prince of a realm recently conquered by the Hierarchy.  Due to his many losses, his outsider status, and the sheer resentment he holds towards the Hierarchy and those who use Will, Vis has a great deal of anger, bitterness and lack of social ability that he needs to overcome.  Vis proves to be the perfect character for the complex and morally grey narrative that Islington envisions, as Vis has to put all his learned deceit and ability to keep secrets and survive to good use to infiltrate the Hierarchy and the Academy, while being blackmailed by several different people.  Vis has an interesting analytical mind, and I wonderful time seeing him try to work through the various problems, conflicts, and hostile situations he encounters, especially as nearly everything about him is a lie that he needs to keep straight.  Despite his past and the pressures he is under, he is still a mostly kind and noble figure, trying to stay true to his original ideals while still doing what is right in a very corrupt world, and it was wonderful to see him grow throughout the course of the story and finally learn to trust again.  I grew quite attached to Vis as the story continued, and it really hurts to see him suffer time and time again, especially once he comes to terms with the traumas of his past.  I am very excited to see his story continue in the future, especially as it seems like it is going to get quite complex and multifaceted in the next book.

The rest of the cast of The Will of the Many is also very strong, and I liked the compelling and varied supporting characters that Vis has to interact with, including classmates, his new adopted family, rivals, political opponents, high-ranking members of the Hierarchy, and a dedicated group of rebels with dark plans for the future.  The powerful and intriguing interactions that occurred between Vis, who is often lying about his intentions, and these other fantastic characters results in some amazing scenes, and I loved the unique relationships that Vis was able to form with them.  You grow pretty attached to some of these characters as well, and I had my heart broken with one major fatality towards the end of the novel.

To check out this impressive novel I chose to grab an audiobook copy of The Will of the Many, which proved to be a pretty exceptional way to enjoy this fantastic read.  I have a lot of love for the audiobook format when it comes to massive fantasy novels, especially as I find myself really able to absorb the complex narratives and vast new worlds extremely well when listening to it.  This was definitely the case with The Will of the Many audiobook which really allowed me to get to grips with the powerful story it contained, and I lapped up every second that I listened to.  It definitely helped that The Will of the Many audiobook featured an outstanding narrator in the form of Euan Morton, whose work I have previously enjoyed in several Star Wars audio productions (Tarkin, Dooku: Jedi Lost and Doctor Aphra).  Morton has a unique voice that I felt gave The Will of the Many some real gravitas and impact when read out, especially with the distinctive, accented tone he utilised for both Vis and the main narration of the story.  This specific great voice was pretty impressive, and it really helped to make the protagonist’s speech really stand out throughout the audiobook.  The rest of the accents and tones he utilised for the other characters in the book really worked, and I loved how much range Morton had, covering a range of different characters perfectly and gifting them very fitting voices.  All this really helps to make The Will of the Many an absolute pleasure to listen to, and I cannot recommend this format enough to people interested in this book.  With a run time of just over 28 hours, The Will of the Many audiobook does represent a substantial time challenge for potential listeners (it is the 10th longest audiobook I’ve ever listened to).  However, I would say it is well worth the investment, especially as it does not take long for you to get obsessed with this awesome book and its elaborate story.  An exceptional audiobook that is easily the best way to enjoy this amazing fantasy tale.

Unsurprisingly, I loved The Will of the Many, and it was a pretty great introduction to James Islington’s brilliant writing and inventiveness.  The Will of the Many is a captivating fantasy read that makes excellent use of its dark setting and magical school focus to craft a powerful, character-driven tale.  This is easily one of the best fantasy novels of 2023 so far and I would strongly recommend it to anyone wanting an epic read to really lose themselves in.  An exceptional novel that perfectly sets up a bold new fantasy series!

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Throwback Thursday – Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Animation, Comics/Manga, Extended Universe, Five-Star Books, Superhero, Throwback ThursdayLeave a comment

The Flashpoint Paradox Poster

Studio: Warner Bros. Animation and DC Entertainment

Series: DC Universe Animated Original Movies – Film 18 / DC Animated Movie Universe – Film One

Director: Jay Oliva

Writer: Jim Krieg (Based on the comic by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert)

Producer: James Tucker

Length: 81 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Welcome back to my Throwback Thursday series, where I republish old reviews, review content I have enjoyed before or review older books I have only just had a chance to read.  For this week’s Throwback Thursday, I dive into a pretty damn awesome DC Comics animated film that is highly relevant at the moment with the awesome Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox.

Like many comic book fans in the world, I went out last weekend for the epic new film offering, The Flash, which ended up being pretty damn good.  The film had a lot of great elements to it, including the return of Michael Keaton as Batman, the introduction of a great new Supergirl, and a fantastic examination of the Flash mythos.  I was also very happy to see a fresh new take on the iconic Flashpoint comic, and it will be interesting to see how that impacts any upcoming live action DC films.  While I liked what they did with the Flashpoint story, I don’t think that The Flash was the absolute best adaptation of the Flashpoint comic; instead that honour goes the focus of this article, the 2013 animated film, Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox.

Before we talk about the film, I should give a little background about the Flashpoint comic.  Flashpoint was a major 2011 comic event, written by Geoff Johns, whose work I have deeply enjoyed in comics like Rogues’ Revenge and Teen Titans, and pencilled by Andy Kubert.  Flashpoint was a compelling alternate timeline story that ended up resetting the main DC Universe in a big way.  While I honestly have very little love for the resulting changes it caused (I will never forgive DC for The New 52), the Flashpoint comic itself is pretty good, featuring some unique and stunning ideas within it.

Flashpoint has been adapted a few times in recent years, including in several seasons of The Flash television series, and the current The Flash film takes a lot from it.  While these other adaptations are pretty good, I think that The Flashpoint Paradox did the most with it, mainly because it sticks a lot closer to the source material and provides a very gritty animated film with a brilliant cast behind it.  Directed by veteran animated film director Jay Oliva (who has directed several of my favourite animated comic book films) and written by Jim Krieg, The Flashpoint Paradox is pretty damn awesome film and it is one that I have rewatched multiple times over the years.

Barry Allen is the Flash, founding member of the Justice League, the fastest man alive and the greatest hero Central City has ever known.  However, despite all he has done and everyone he has saved, Barry still cannot shake the trauma of his mother’s murder, a tragedy that has haunted him since his childhood.  After defeating several of his greatest foes, including his archenemy, the Reverse-Flash Eobard Thawne, Barry awakens to find himself in a new world, one where his mother is still alive and the Flash never existed.  Despite the joy he feels about his mother, this new world is no paradise, instead it is on the brink of ruin.  The Atlanteans, under the command of Aquaman, and the Amazons, led by Wonder Woman, are at war, and their relentless battling and disdain for humanity, has seen the destruction of much of Europe and the death of hundreds of millions of people.

Determined to find out what is happening and to stop the war between the Atlanteans and the Amazons before it destroys the world, Barry seeks out the one man who he thinks can help him, Batman.  However, the Batman he encounters is far different from the one he knows and has very little desire to save the world.  Worse, it soon becomes apparent that the changes to the world have been caused by Thawne, whose obsession with destroying the Flash could lead to unbelievable destruction.  To save the day, Barry needs to find a way to regain his powers and unite the scattered heroes of this reality.  But with all-out war in front of him, and his own trauma catching up behind, can the Flash stop Thawne before it’s too late?  And even if he succeeds, is he truly ready for the revelations that await him?

The Flashpoint Paradox was a pretty epic film that I have a lot of love for, especially as it blends a compelling story with great aesthetics, slick animation and a brilliant cast to produce something pretty damn awesome and a lot of fun to check out.

The creative team behind The Flashpoint Paradox did an outstanding job bringing this film together and one of the main reasons it works is the fantastic and intense story behind it.  The film itself is an exceptional adaptation of the original Flashpoint comic and much of it is a close and deliberate match to the source material.  That being said, it’s not a straight adaption as they needed to make it more accessible and take the story out of the main comic universe.  The film starts off with an exceptional sequence where the Flash faces off against the Rogues and the Reverse-Flash, who ambush him at the Flash Museum.  This scene, which sees a series of bombs threaten Flash and Central City, manages to achieve a lot of essential story points, including introducing Flash, showcasing his bitter rivalry with the self-destructive Thawne, and presenting the established version of the various Justice League characters who will later appear in the alternate timeline.  It’s also a very entertaining scene in several great ways, not only because the banter between Flash and Thawne is pretty brutal, but because it shows each member of the Justice League in action as they disarm a bomb in their own unique way.  This great intro really sets up the rest of the film, especially thanks to the clever references to Barry’s mothers’ death, and while it does make it a little more obvious whose ultimately responsible for events, it was a pretty damn epic start.

The middle part of the film is where the meat of the story is developed, as Barry arrives in the alternate universe and attempts to find out what is going on.  This part of the film resembles the source material the closest as they are pretty much doing a straight adaptation of the Flashpoint comic at this point.  However, they manage to really show off the grim reality of this new timeline very effectively in a short amount of time, and you really get to appreciate just how murderous the Amazons and the Atlanteans are, as well as how dark a world without the Justice League can be.  The creative team tell a very impactful story in this part of the film, and you must love the powerful interactions between Barry and the new Batman, as well as the emotional impacts of Barry realising just how much his universe has changed.  Everything is well capped off by the infiltration into the lab holding Superman, which is honestly way darker than what they did in the recent Flash film, especially with the horrifying aesthetics around the captured Superman.  At the same time, the growing sense of doom in the world is intensifying as the two superhuman armies prepare for war in London, and the tension is well and truly ratcheted up before the final phase of the film.

Everything leads up perfectly to the final act of The Flashpoint Paradox, which frankly is the best and most impactful part of this entire exceptional film.  The final third of the film is essentially an all-out war sequence, as the various characters descend into a three-way battle in the ruins of London, with the Atlanteans, the Amazons, and the human resistance, which includes the protagonists, fighting to kill as many enemies as possible.  This sequence is dominated by several excessively brutal fights between the heroes, and so many characters end up dead in some pretty horrible ways.  Not only are these action scenes highly polished and exciting, but they are also emotionally powerful, as the various character arcs and elements come full circle.  The best scenes are probably shared between Barry and Thawne, as they fight through the battle, debating what has happened to the world.  There are some outstanding revelations here, especially if you aren’t familiar with the source material or the other Flashpoint adaptations, and the moment when Barry figures out what truly happened is just heartbreaking, especially with Thawne’s taunting.  There is so much dramatic tension floating around, especially as Barry witnesses the full onslaught of the battle in front of him, and everything tilts on the edge of destruction.  The final brutal moments of this fight are so damn epic, and it leads up to some painful farewells and some tough decisions from Barry that will shake him forever.  This built-up emotion remains to the very end of the movie, especially as Flash manages to get closure for himself and others, and I really appreciated just how well the film ended.

On top of the epic plot and amazing concluding third, I also need to really highlight the impressive animation, stylistic choices, and fantastic musical score that accompanied it.  The animation in particular is awesome, and I loved the brilliant and iconic character designs that it depicted, especially as there is a mixture of classic character depictions, and the alternate versions that appeared in the Flashpoint universe.  The grim nature of the Flashpoint timeline serves as a powerful backdrop to the plot of The Flashpoint Paradox, and it was fantastic to see the DC universe in an even darker and more desperate light.  The best animation is naturally saved for the multiple impressive fight sequences scattered throughout the film, especially in the big war sequence at the end, and the brutality and sheer ferocity of the fights and battles are quite distinctive.  The animators honestly show no hesitation in showing blood, gore, death and even brains throughout this film, and it is even more brutal than The Flash film or the original comics, as there is barely a second in the final war where someone isn’t dying in some dramatic fashion.  There is some outstanding attention to detail during these various battles, whether it be a brutal fight in the sky, an intense duel between Cyborg and Aquaman in the middle of a warzone, or a high-speed fight through the midst of over combatants, and these are expertly portrayed and guaranteed to keep your interest with its high concept impact.  The cool time travel sequences are also a great highlight, and the clever animation around them really dial up the intensity of the film, especially during certain seminal scenes.  I’m also a big fan of the way that the major characters are presented throughout this film, and I appreciated how their designs change at various points of the film depending on which timeline is being watched.  The alternate costumes or depictions are well contrasted by the classic costumes shown at the start of the film, and I also love the subsequent subtle changes that appear at the end of the film to represent the further changes that have been created.

I also must talk about the fantastic use of music throughout this film, which works perfectly in concert with the animated sequences.  There are some great orchestral scores and tunes that are featured throughout the film, often in the most impact scenes, and I really liked how well they were used to enhance emotion or drama in a very powerful way.  Some of the very best scenes, including several particularly tense or pivotal sequences at the end come across as so much better thanks to the music that was overscoring it, and this really drew me further into the plot.  Combined this great music with the excellent graphics and The Flashpoint Paradox turns out to be an exceptional watch that I cannot get away from.

While the adapted plot and amazing stylistic choices help to turn this film into something special, I cannot walk away from this review without talking about the incredible cast of actors who bring this elaborate story to life.  The Flashpoint Paradox features a pretty hefty and impressive group of voice actors who each dive into their respective characters and bring forth some of the more iconic figures from the DC universe, as well as their alternate versions, in some pretty epic ways.  There is a great combination of classic character depictions, as well as the more nuanced and, in many cases, evil versions from the alternate timeline, that are featured in The Flashpoint Paradox, and the creative team brilliantly balanced the two throughout the plot.

At the centre of The Flashpoint Paradox is the Barry Allen version of the Flash, who embarks upon one of the most important missions of his life.  Expertly voiced by Justin Chambers (of Grey’s Anatomy fame), this version of the Flash is much more closely related to the classic comic portrayals (rather than Ezra Miller’s quirky version) and is an experienced and competent crime fighter.  Despite being one of the more stable superheroes out there, Barry is still haunted by the murder of his mother and his failure to save her.  Chambers really dives into this role and perfectly voices the full emotional spectrum out of Barry, showing all the deep inner pain, as well as his inherent hope, all of which really comes out throughout the film.  There are so many powerful scenes featuring Barry in the film, from his initial confusion over the new timeline, the emotional meeting with his mother, the despair at how the world turned out, and his absolute shocked resignation at who is responsible.  I also felt that the writers did an outstanding job of capturing the entire personality, key history and mythos of the Flash within this film, and you really understand his decisions and how he interacts with the other heroes.  I particularly loved his shock and pain at seeing what his friends have become in this alternate timeline, and it is so damn compelling.  Honestly, there are so many powerful moments here and I have a whole new level of respect for Chambers thanks to this film as he honestly was just magical here.

On top of the Flash, I really need to highlight two figures from the new timeline who perfectly mesh with the main character and show off just how dark events are.  The most prominent of these is easily this universes Batman, who was voiced by another Grey’s Anatomy alumni, Kevin McKidd.  Rather than being an older version of Bruce Wayne, this version of Batman is his father Thomas Wayne, who took on the cowl after Bruce was killed in Crime Alley and Martha became this universe’s Joker.  McKidd goes full on growly here for Batman, and the result is a grizzled, violent, and very murderous Dark Knight who has given up on the world in many ways.  I loved this fantastic and clever take on Batman in The Flashpoint Paradox, and it is so damn epic to watch Barry attempt to work with this very different Batman.  The shared connection of knowing Bruce gives these characters a powerful emotional bond, and McKidd kills it in several emotionally charged scenes, showcasing this Batman’s hidden heart.

I also have a lot of love for the cool version of Cyborg that appears in The Flashpoint Paradox, and honestly this is probably the grimmest and most powerful portrayal you are likely to see.  Voiced by a young Michael B. Jordan, this Cyborg is the only real superhero left in America and has been modded out into a massive tank figure who runs national security.  Out of all the figures in the film, Cyborg has the most impressive change in characterisation between timelines, especially as he goes from teenage figure to actual adult, and this is one of the first animated films that really showed what he could offer the wider DC universe.  Jordan provides a pretty good and slightly robotic voice for Cyborg here, and I loved how he was portrayed as a level-headed peacemaker, trying to save the world.  While still a little naive and idealistic, he really lives up to all the hype surrounding him in his initial introductions, especially during the final bloody battle scenes.  He honestly goes full out in this war, and it was so damn cool to see just how dangerous he could be.

While the more heroic (or anti-heroic for Batman) characters above were great, this film would be nothing without its villains.  The most prominent of these is easily Flash’s archnemesis Eobard Thawne, better known as the Reverse Flash.  Voiced by the very talented C. Thomas Howell, Thawne is a brilliant and powerful figure in The Flashpoint Paradox, mainly because he has such a tangible hatred for Barry and his legacy.  While he is the main villain of the story, he only appears in a few short scenes, but Howell makes each and every one of them count.  The sheer contempt and bile that drips from every sentence is so important for the performance, and you quickly understand just how much he wants to destroy him, even if that means losing his own life.  Thawne’s best sequence occurs at the end of the film when he finally appears to mock Barry and reveal everything that has been done.  The joy, satisfaction and mocking appreciation for Barry is just perfect, and he has such a great villain monologue here.  Howell has one of the strongest performances in The Flashpoint Paradox and I deeply appreciated how he brought such a fun and compelling villain to life.

In addition to Thawne, The Flashpoint Paradox features two other outstanding and particularly unique antagonists in the form of militarised and anti-human versions of Aquaman and Wonder Woman.  Both characters have been twisted by a failed romance and the hatred that followed Wonder Woman’s slaying of Aquaman’s wife, and they are now brutally engaged in war to kill each other and the rest of the world.  I loved these darker and more murderous forms of these iconic characters, especially after they are shown in their more heroic guises at the start of the film, and their complex war is a destructive backdrop to the intense narrative.  Like Reverse-Flash, both are consumed by hatred, and they are willing to destroy the world rather than lose.  Despite that, there is still an obvious, if twisted, love between them, which makes their fight even more tragic.  I loved how both characters are portrayed, although I especially like how badass they make Aquaman here, especially as this was released in the pre-Jason Momoa days when Aquaman was still a bit of a joke.  Watching him destroy everyone in The Flashpoint Paradox really sets him up as a massive threat, and I deeply appreciated this fantastic change to the character.  I also loved the great casting behind these characters as well.  Aquaman is portrayed by legendary actor Cary Elwes, who honestly disappears into the role, providing a much more gruff and commanding voice than I have heard in his previous works.  The voice of Wonder Woman is provided by veteran voice actor Vanessa Marshall (Hera Syndulla from Star Wars Rebels), who is reprising the role she previously portrayed in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths.  Both actors really get these iconic characters down perfectly, especially in their darker moments, and I loved how well they were utilised in the film, especially as they enhance the emotional power and looming threat of the narrative.

On top of the great performances above, I also must commend the use of several excellent supporting actors in smaller roles who did an outstanding job.  I as particularly happy that several actors who had previously voiced certain characters in other films and shows revisited their roles here, including some big names.  The most noticeable of these is the late great Kevin Conroy, who does an exceptional (as always) job of voicing the Bruce Wayne Batman at the beginning and end of the story.  Conway has several amazing scenes, including a particularly emotional sequence at the end that will have you in tears.  Other performers include Nathan Fillion providing a cocky voice to the Hal Jordan Green Lantern, Dana Delany once again voicing Lois Lane after voicing her the DC Animated Universe (Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited), and Ron Perlman revisiting his epic Teen Titans performance as Deathstroke for a short scene.  Other notable actors and characters include Danny Huston doing a quick dash as General Sam Lane and Dee Bradley Baker (the voice of all the clones in Star Wars animation, as well as several hundred other credits) doing a fantastic Etrigan the Demon.  However, my favourite of these side characters is Danny Jacobs’s portrayal of the Wildstorm Comics character Grifter.  Grifter is a brutally effective figure in the final third of the film, and he has some outstanding interactions with other characters like Batman.  This cast, and more, all add so much to the film with their brilliantly portrayed characters, and I am still blown away by the calibre of the cast that was brought together here.

I think it is pretty obvious from the lengthy rant above that I have a lot of love for Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, and it is one of those animated films that I have watched so many times.  Thanks to its amazing cast, fantastically adapted story, intense animation and general darker vibe, The Flashpoint Paradox is a pretty spectacular animated film, and I honestly think it has the best execution of the Flashpoint comic.  It also has an awesome legacy, especially as it sets up the DC Animated Movie Universe and has impacts that range all the way to the final film, Justice League Dark: Apokolips War.  As such, I really must give this film a full five-star rating and it is a must-watch for all comic fans, especially those who like their animation a little more adult and emotionally charged.

White Night by Jim Butcher

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy, Five-Star Books, Throwback Thursday7 Comments

White Night Cover

Publisher: Penguin Audio (Audiobook – 3 April 2007)

Series: Dresden Files – Book Nine

Length: 14 hours and 12 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Amazon

Welcome back to my Throwback Thursday series, where I republish old reviews, review books I have read before or review older books I have only just had a chance to read.  In my latest Throwback Thursday post, I continue to explore the epic Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher, with the exceptional White Night.

Readers of this blog will have noticed that my last few Throwback Thursday posts have been all about the amazing Dresden Files by Jim Butcher.  One of the most impressive and recognisable urban fantasy series in the world today, the Dresden Files are brilliant novels that follow Harry Dresden, a wizard and magical protector of humanity, as he faces off against all manner of unique supernatural foes and mysteries in modern day Chicago.  This series features so many incredible books, such as Storm Front, Fool Moon, Grave Peril, Summer Knight, Death Masks, Blood Rites and Battle Ground, as well as the novella The Law, all of which are five-star reads.  I have been reading this series on and off since 2020, and I recently got back into it, managing to finish off two more books, Dead Beat and Proven Guilty in recent weeks.  These outstanding novels were also pretty exceptional, and I was in such a Dresden Files mood I ended up also listening to ninth book in the series, White Night, which turned out to be a pretty awesome decision.

Harry Dresden, wizard, private investigator, and now Warden for the White Council, is Chicago’s only defence against a range of supernatural threats lurking around its exterior.  However, due to his growing power, the extended war between the White Council and the Red Court vampires, and his new position as a Warden, a lethal magical law enforcer, the ordinary magical users of Chicago have grown to fear him and no longer consider him one of their own.  As such, Dresden is shocked to discover that several lesser practitioners in the city have either died in apparent suicides or simply disappeared.

Investigating the crimes, he discovers several mysterious messages that hint at a serial killer stalking female magic users in the city, one who seems to be taunting Dresden directly.  Diving into the city’s hidden magical underbelly, Dresden soon finds a group of minor witches living in fear, all of whom are convinced that Dresden has something to do with their comrade’s deaths.  Attempting to gain their trust, Dresden tries to find the truth, only to discover that all the evidence points towards his secret half-brother, the vampire Thomas Raith.

Unwilling to believe that his brother has become a murdering monster, Dresden dives deeper, only to discover a far more sinister plot lying beneath the surface.  The vampires of the White Court are on the hunt, and their malevolent schemes are expanding to capture all of Chicago, including Dresden and his friends, in their web.  Working with a range of allies, including wizards, gangsters and an old flame, can Dresden untangle the web and stop the White Court before every human magic user on the planet becomes the ultimate prey?

Damn, it really is proving impossible for me to have a bad time with one of the Dresden Files books.  The ninth novel in this series by Butcher, White Night, was another incredible addition and one that I absolutely inhaled in only a few short days.  Featuring a brilliant and well-written story loaded with the series’ great characters, White Night is an amazing and captivating read that gets another easy five-star rating from me.

Butcher has come up with a pretty epic story for White Night, and it was one that had me hooked the entire way through.  The narrative starts off in familiar ground for a Dresden Files novel, with Dresden helping the Chicago police with a suspicious death that might have magical implications.  Butcher draws the reader in at first by presenting them with a juicy and compelling case, that of a serial killer stalking minor magical practitioners in Chicago and leaving taunting messages or Dresden to find.  This story gets even more intriguing when it turns out that many witnesses or the victims’ friends consider Dresden to be the main suspect, not only because of circumstantial evidence, but because his damaged reputation.  Despite this, Dresden keeps trying to investigate, only to come across evidence that suggests his half-brother, Thomas, a White Court vampire, might be behind some of the crimes.  He also encounters his first love, Elaine, who has been hired by a local group of witches for protection, and who Dresden teams up with again to solve the case.

I really appreciated the investigative focus for the first third of the book, and it really reminded me of some of the more classic Dresden Files adventures that started the series off.  This initial investigation soon leads the protagonists into a pretty massive confrontation, and I loved how deadly and destructive things got around halfway through.  Butcher also works in a rather good flashback sequence at this point, which lends itself well to explaining the protagonist’s mental state and providing some excellent context to his recent actions.  As the story continues, Butcher starts to layer out and fully explore the major mystery of White Night in some fantastic ways.  Not only is one of the killers exposed after some fun revelations, but a massive, elaborate conspiracy is also revealed that places Dresden and his allies in a major predicament.  This leads up to an extended confrontation sequence in the last third of the book where Butcher really cuts loose and provides the reader with all the action and intense scenes that they can handle.  Not only is their a beautifully written duel sequence that was pretty cool to see, but Butcher than provides a massive battle sequence that had so much going for it.  There are explosions, betrayals, carnage and sacrifices here, and it is an impressive extended sequences that was near impossible to put down, especially as Butcher loads in epic surprise after epic surprise.  The entire sequence comes together perfectly, and I had so much fun with it, especially as it opens up some cool storylines for the future.  It also serves as a great conclusion to the narrative, and I was really impressed at the ongoing storylines that were either wrapped up or strengthen.  Everything comes together really well and it honestly left me wanting even more Dresden Files.

Butcher once again backs up his amazing story with some outstanding writing that always works to drag the reader write into the middle of the plot.  Featuring a great first-person perspective from Dresden that showcases his unique view of events, as well as his own deep personal concerns, Butcher moves White Night along at a swift pace, ensuring that every scene has something deeply interesting or exciting to keep the reader’s attention.  I really appreciated the great blend of elements within White Night, as Butcher cleverly balances action, adventure, humour, character growth and dark moments, which, along with the investigation elements, ensures that there is a little something for everyone in this book.  I particularly enjoyed some of the elaborate and intense major action sequences in White Night, especially that epic one at the end, and it was cool how massive and deadly some of them got.  Just like most of the previous Dresden Files novels, White Night can be read as a standalone urban fantasy adventure, as Butcher makes sure to recap and reference and relevant prior event, character or storyline so new readers can easily follow along and still have fun.  However, as this is a key novel in the series which concludes or continues several long-running storylines and character arcs, White Night is best enjoyed by those who have checked out the earlier Dresden Files books, especially as the emotional elements of some revelations or actions are greatly enhanced by continuous reading.  I always have so much fun with Butcher’s style in this series, and I felt that White Night was particularly well served by the author’s ability to tell an amazing story.

I have a lot of love for the cool fantasy setting that the Dresden Files utilises as the combination of modern-day Chicago and classic fantasy monsters and magic is always makes for an excellent story.  There are so many excellent elements to this fantasy society that Butcher has dreamed up over the years, and at this point in the series the lore and history of magic and its various factions is very well established.  Despite this, Butcher always finds intriguing new elements to dive into each book, which is something I really appreciate.  In White Night, he takes the time to look at the less powerful magic users in this society, the ones that don’t have enough magic to bother the White Council or interact with Dresden.  These somewhat marginalised magic users have created their own societies and communities as a result, and it was really interesting to see Dresden interact with them, especially as, due to his position as a Warden, they all fear what he represents, which is a fun reversal of how Dresden was persecuted at the start of the series.  I really loved seeing magic through the eyes of the little guy, and Butcher works them into the story in a very intriguing way.

The book also features quite a few White Court vampires, who feed on emotion and mental energy rather than blood.  The White Court are always a rather distinctive inclusion in any Dresden Files novel, and of course there is the requisite extremely beautiful women and focus on lust that are a key part of the White Court vampires.  However, several of the other factions of vampires are finally introduced here, those that induce and feed off fear and despair.  This adds a rather darker angle to parts of the book, especially when these abilities are unleashed at full blast, and it was interesting to see how badly it can be weaponised.  The accompanying vampiric schemes and backstabbing plans are also very fun, and Butcher manages to weave several elaborate ruses and plots into the narrative with some effective results.  These fantasy elements, and more, really help to create a distinctive and captivating read, and I cannot get enough of Butcher’s ability to come up with and utilise the inventive elements.

As always, the characters contained within White Night were pretty damn amazing, and I felt that their complex and powerful character arcs added so much value and intensity to the plot.  The focus is once again on protagonist and point-of-view character, Harry Dresden, who finds himself under all manner of immense pressure in White Night, which blows up around him in some big ways.  Not only is he dealing with the dual responsibilities of having an apprentice and being the magical law in Chicago, but he also has some major family issues and a tone of intense mental trauma that has been building up over the last few books.  A lot of this comes to a head in White Night, and Dresden actually comes across as a lot more angry and frustrated than he has in previous novels, especially after experiencing more losses and seeing some dreadful things.  Butcher writes some compelling and complex storylines around Dresden’s many emotional concerns in White Night, and it proves very intriguing and powerful to see him try to work through them, especially as he is in denial about several of the more prominent concerns.  The author does an amazing job exploring Dresden’s inner psyche here, and you come away feeling closer to him as a result.  White Night is actually a pretty significant book for Dresden’s character growth, especially as several long-running storylines about his mental state finish up here, and this ends up being a pretty satisfying read as a result, especially if you like how he was portrayed in the previous few novels.  Despite, or perhaps because of, his many issues, Dresden still brings his typical humour and complete disregard for decorum or his opponents to the table in White Night, and his fun comments and witty observations are responsible for most of the book’s comedy and entertainment.  As such, Dresden remains a pretty impressive and likeable central character, and I cannot wait to see what future adventures and pain he has coming to him in the future.

White Night also features a great supporting cast of friends and antagonists to liven up the plot in some awesome ways.  While most of the focus of the story is on Dresden, you see a lot of these characters and there are some fantastic and complex storylines written around them.  The most prominent of these characters in White Night is probably Dresden’s half-brother Thomas Raith, who has been a major figure for the last few books.  Due to his banishment from his vampire family, Thomas has been somewhat adrift in recent books, and it was clear that he had been keeping secrets from Dresden for various reasons.  Most of his secrets are finally revealed here in White Night and it was interesting to see what resulted.  Some of them are quite intriguing, some are pretty funny, and it was nice to finally get some answers, especially as it helped to strengthen the relationship between the two brothers.  Other great characters in White Night include Dresden’s former lover, Elaine, who has managed to bounce back since her last appearance and is trying to become more like Dresden by helping people; Dresden’s dog, Mouse, who is such a fun supernatural canine character; and the fallen angel in Dresden’s head Lasciel, who has some of the most emotionally powerful scenes in the book.  However, my favourite supporting character in White Night is probably Chicago gangster John Marcone, a mortal crime lord who dips his toes in supernatural affairs and often serves as an antagonist/uneasy ally of Dresden.  Marcone is always very fun in these books, especially as he and Dresden play off each other perfectly, and he is the perfect foil to the hot-headed protagonist.  His appearance in White Night is particularly good, as you get a deeper look at his true character, and realise he isn’t as evil as he appears.  Despite that, he still proves to be rather ruthless and Butcher writes some amazing and compelling scenes around him.  These characters and more add so much to the power and impact of White Night’s story, and I love how captivating and complex Butcher makes them.

I can’t talk about a Dresden Files novel without once again raving about its audiobook format.  I love, love, love the Dresden Files audiobooks, and there is honestly no substitute to listening to these amazing stories, especially when all the audiobooks feature the incredible vocal talents of actor James Marsters.  Marsters, who is one of my favourite audiobook narrators thanks to this series, is so damn talented, and his take on the Dresden Files books is very special.  This proves to be the case again in White Night, as Marsters utilises all his intensity and passion to bring this epic story to life.  His grip on all the major characters in White Night is pretty damn amazing, and I love how he manages to expertly portray all the characters, ensuring that the reader fully understands their personalities, emotions and inner thoughts when Marsters speaks in their voice.  This is particularly true for protagonist Harry Dresden, a character that Marsters has always done an incredible job voicing, and I deeply appreciated how the narrator was able to capture his full emotional turmoil in this fantastic audiobook.  This brilliant narration, as well as the great story it follows, ensures that White Night was another exceptional listen, and I had an outstanding time getting through this audiobook.  Coming in at just over 14 hours, White Night was slightly shorter than some of the other Dresden Files audiobooks out there, but it still takes a little bit to get through it.  However, it is well worth the time investment, and I cannot recommend White Night on audiobook enough.

Just like every Dresden Files novel I have read, White Night is an exceptional and captivating read that I had an absolute blast getting through.  Jim Butcher’s novels always drag me in with their brilliant storytelling, complex scenarios and fantastic characters, and White Night is one of his more intense and exciting inclusions in the series.  A highly recommended read and an outstanding addition to the series.  I will be reading more Dresden Files novels as soon as I can.

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Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy, Five-Star Books, Throwback Thursday6 Comments

Proven Guilty Cover

Publisher: Penguin Audio (Audiobook – 1 February 2006)

Series: Dresden Files – Book Eight

Length: 16 hours and 16 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Amazon

Welcome back to my Throwback Thursday series, where I republish old reviews, review books I have read before or review older books I have only just had a chance to read.  This week I dive into another awesome entry in the exceptional Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher with Proven Guilty.

I have been having an outstanding time reading Butcher’s iconic and fantastic Dresden Files books over the last couple of years.  One of the absolute best urban fantasy series ever written, the Dresden Files follows titular wizard and supernatural protector, Harry Dresden, as he investigates a series of crimes and magical conspiracies in Chicago.  I got into these books back in 2020 and have been slowly getting through the series from the start, with most of the entries getting five-star reviews from me as I go.  This includes the outstanding novels, Storm Front, Fool Moon, Grave Peril, Summer Knight, Death Masks, Blood Rites, Dead Beat and Battle Ground, as well as the novella The Law.  I had so much fun reading the previous novels that I just had to dive into the eighth book this week with Proven Guilty, which proved to be another amazing read.

A year after officially becoming a Warden for the White Council of Wizards, Harry Dresden is chafing under his new role, especially the part that forces him to punish young practitioners with no real knowledge of the magic they wield.  However, he must put aside his concerns when he is warned about black magic being used in Chicago, forcing him to start a new investigation into the city’s magical underbelly.

His investigations soon lead him to a seemingly normal horror movie convention where mysterious and sinister events are taking place.  Brought in by one of the convention’s staff, Molly Carpenter, the daughter of holy knight Michael Carpenter, Dresden soon finds himself attempting to stem a series of supernatural attacks against innocent humans.  The dangerous perpetrators all appear in the form of classic horror movie monsters, and their deadly attacks soon leaves a trail of mayhem across the convention.  Forced to circumnavigate the police and other dangers waiting for him, Dresden works to hold back the dark supernatural tide, only to discover dangerous secrets that shock him to his core.

Working with his faithful dog, his vampiric half-brother, a cop with her own problems, and the most dangerous mother on the planet, Dresden attempts to right all the wrongs in front of him.  But to succeed, he’ll need to confront the forces of the Nevernever, a rogue White Court Vampire, dangerous creatures forged from fear, and even the White Council itself.  Can Dresden succeed or will his actions lead to even more suffering for those he cares about the most?

Butcher keeps his epic Dresden Files going in an amazing way with this eighth book, and I had an outstanding time reading Proven Guilty.  Featuring an elaborate plot that effortless combines mystery and supernatural elements in modern day Chicago, while also serving as a key entry in the wider Dresden Files, Proven Guilty is a powerful and deeply captivating read that I had a great time listening to.  I have so much love for this fantastic series, and Proven Guilty got another five-star rating from me as a result.

Proven Guilty has an outstanding story to it which sees the protagonist go up against a cohort of deadly enemies, some of which are disguised as horror movies creatures.  I will admit that the start of the book was a tad slow, and I honestly thought that this was going to be more of a filler novel than anything else.  However, it soon develops into an excellent story that loads up a cool mystery with some exciting encounters, deep emotional moments, strong character development, and the continuation or creation of several major storylines for the entire series.  A conflicted Dresden is dragged into everything when Molly Carpenter requests his help, and he soon finds himself looking into the mysterious events at the horror convention.  The main story goes in some very interesting directions, and I liked the great combination of investigation and fantasy elements as it continued, while several compelling side stories see Dresden facing even more danger and mystery.  Several of these storylines came together quite nicely as the book continued, and Dresden soon identifies the main perpetrator of the threat, as well as other forces taking advantage of their actions.  The impact of the big reveal of who was responsible wasn’t as significant for me, as I’d had that spoiled in advance, but it was still well crafted, especially the motivations behind it.  However, the real meat of the story revolves around darker designs as unknown forces manipulate Dresden and his allies to do their bidding.  This results in some very impressive scenes, including a massive magic battle in the Fae realm, and I loved how everything came together while also leaving some big mysteries open for later in the series.  I also really enjoyed the complex wrap-up chapters, which saw Dresden go up against the White Council in some very intense scenes, as well as providing some excellent emotional resolutions that I deeply appreciated.  Everything comes together perfectly, and this proves to be a fantastic new addition to already impressive series.

Butcher applies his usual excellent writing style to Proven Guilty, which always works well to convey his complex narratives.  Like the rest of the series, Proven Guilty moves at a swift pace, quickly taking readers from one intriguing scene to the next, all of which is great in its own particular way, whether it be character interactions, plot developments, or lore downloads.  At the same time, readers are treated to a great blend of fantasy elements, emotional moments, and a compelling investigation storyline, all of which is overlayed with a fun and signature bout of humour and snark, often directed from the protagonist.  You really get drawn into Proven Guilty as a result, and I always love Butcher’s approach to the urban fantasy style, especially as both his unique fantasy world and the cool investigative story arcs work so well together.  Like the rest of the Dresden Files books, Proven Guilty can be read as a standalone novel, although Butcher is juggling a few ongoing storylines and character arcs that had been built up in the previous entries.  While the author always does a good job of recapping key events and reintroducing key characters, I really do feel that at this point in the series readers need to have enjoyed some of the previous books to get the full emotional and story impact Butcher is conveying.  I do really need to critique one part of Butcher’s writing style for Grave Peril though, particularly how he oversexualised a teenage female character.  The Dresden Files have always featured over-the-top descriptions of women, and while Butcher has gotten better about them as the series continues, he backslid here in Proven Guilty when it came to this character.  While I do get what he was trying to do from a literary perspective, i.e. showing the vulnerability and confusion of teenagers, and how they act out a result, it honestly felt really icky to me, and I think the book would have been better off without it.  Apart from that though, Proven Guilty is very well written, and I had a wonderful time getting through it.

I always really enjoy how well Butcher manages to utilise cool and complex fantasy elements into his narratives and Proven Guilty has some outstanding examples of this.  Thanks to Dresden’s promotion to Warden in the last book, he is now a very prominent member of the White Council, and this provides him some bigger insights into the council and its members.  This results in some great political scenes, as well as a deeper dive into the council’s law enforcement wing, which exists to hunt down and punish magic users who break the laws of magic.  I found this to be pretty interesting and compelling, especially as the council’s determination to enforce the laws leads to some dark moments in the plot, and I liked the clever comparisons between them and the Chicago PD.  The case also sees a return of the Fae Summer and Winter Courts, both of which have been featured heavily in the past, and Butcher has a lot of fun revisiting both and expanding the lore surrounding them.  One of the most pivotal moments of the plot sees Dresden and his allies invading one of the most significant locations of the Winter Court, and I loved the carnage that resulted.  As always, the various scenes of magical battle and encounters are a great highlight of Proven Guilty, and Butcher has a real talent for making the featured spells feel intense and spectacular.  I also rather enjoyed the use of a horror convention (SplatterCon!!!) as a major background for the plot, especially as it allowed for a menagerie of movie monsters to emerge and attack the convention goers.  There were a ton of fun homages here as a result, and it was very entertaining to see Dresden face off against several iconic monsters in some great scenes.  These fantasy elements merge with the rest of the plot extremely well, and it was fun to see Dresden dive through the worst parts of his world to save the day.

One of the major highlights of all the Dresden Files novels in the fantastic cohort of characters that Butcher features and Proven Guilty is no exception to this as the author has utilised another fantastic group of figures, each of whom brings something emotional or compelling to the plot.  The most prominent of these is naturally series protagonist Harry Dresden, who serves as the book’s main voice.  Cocky, confident, emotionally damaged and highly conflicted, Dresden makes a great focal character and I have deeply enjoyed seeing his personal journey throughout this series.  While still responsible for most of the book’s humour thanks to his jokes and fun observations about the other characters and all things magic, Dresden is decidedly a little more serious in Proven Guilty, especially as he is still recovering from some of the traumas of the previous books, including his injuries, his possession by a fallen angel, emotional conflicts with those closest to him, and the guilt over being forced to kill two people in his previous adventure.  This provides a noticeable change to Dresden in this book, and I felt that Butcher did a wonderful job showcasing this in several emotionally charged confrontations and scenes.  At the same time, Dresden is also dealing with his misapprehensions for working for the White Council as a Warden, especially as he is having trouble believing in all their rules.  This leads him into even greater conflict as the book continues, especially when he finds out who is truly responsible for the latest evils he uncovers.  All these personal issues and traumas help to provide a deep emotional layer to the plot, and it was one that Butcher masterfully addressed, providing some compelling and satisfying resolutions to several of them.  I particularly liked how Dresden’s story is coming full circle in some ways, and it will be interesting to see how that plays out in the future.

Aside from Dresden, there are a ton of other great characters featured through Proven Guilty who add their own flavour to the plot.  This includes an excellent range of new figures and well-established supporting characters, and I liked the mixture of storylines and character arcs that emerged.  Dresden’s usual allies, Karrin Murphy and Thomas Raith are very well utilised again here, both as supporting characters for Dresden’s adventures, and as individuals with considerable personal and professional issues to deal with.  Molly Carpenter, a minor figure from the previous novels, returns in a big way here and serves as an intriguing new addition to the plot.  While I have some major concerns about Molly’s portrayal at times, her storyline had some great depth and it will be interesting to see how that develops in the future.  This use of Molly also allowed a great focus on her mother Charity, another minor character from the previous novels, who gets a fantastic showing in Proven Guilty, especially as she shows herself to be an absolute badass.  Throw in Harry’s giant dog Mouse, who is one of my favourite characters in this series now, and differing voices of Dresden’s two supernatural advisors, Bob and Lasciel, the angel and demon on his magical shoulder (both literally and figuratively), and you have a pretty outstanding cast here, and one that I always have a great time following.

As always with one of the Dresden Files novels I really need to highlight the exceptional and awesome audiobook versions which are my favourite way to enjoy this amazing books.  The format really lends itself to the intense action, fast-paced storytelling and great characters contained within Proven Guilty, and I really found myself powering through this great audiobook in no time at all.  With a run time of over 16 hours, this is one of the longer Dresden Files audiobooks, but I still managed to knock it off in a few days, as I never got sick of listening to it.  The main reason for this is the outstanding narration of actor James Marsters, who has lent his powerful voice to the entire Dresden Files series.  Marsters effortlessly dives into the story each time, and he brings some real gravitas and feeling to the plot and characters.  The various voices he produces does each member of the complex cast great justice and I love how well he portrays their feelings, interactions, and personalities.  This is mostly easily seen in main character Harry Dresden, who is suffering from a lot of different abuses by this point in the series.  Marsters really does such a great job showcasing his various emotional and personal issues and I am always so impressed with how the narrator just gets this complicated character and brings that out with his voice.  This great performance does so much to enhance the experience of listening to Proven Guilty on audiobook and I cannot recommend this format enough to people interested in checking out this cool Dresden Files entry.

Unsurprisingly, I had an outstanding time with Proven Guilty and it proved to be an excellent continuation of Jim Butcher’s epic Dresden Files series.  Featuring another brilliant story, some fantastic character growth, and even more magic and mayhem, Proven Guilty was a ton of fun to get through, and I have so much love for this series.  Indeed, I had such an incredible time with Proven Guilty that I have already started listening to the next book in the series, White Night, which I will hopefully review next week. I honestly can’t give Proven Guilty a higher compliment than that, and this is a pretty damn amazing read.

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Throwback Thursday – Dead Beat by Jim Butcher

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy, Five-Star Books, Throwback Thursday14 Comments

Dead Beat Cover

Publisher: Penguin Audio (Audiobook – 3 May 2005)

Series: Dresden Files – Book Seven

Length: 15 hours and 7 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Welcome back to my Throwback Thursday series, where I republish old reviews, review books I have read before or review older books I have only just had a chance to read.  For this latest review I dive back into the epic Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher with the seventh entry, Dead Beat.

Over the last couple of years, I’ve had a ton of fun finally getting into the iconic Dresden Files books by legendary author Jim Butcher.  Generally considered one of the very best urban fantasy series, the Dresden Files are a deeply captivating series that follows Chicago’s resident wizard, Harry Dresden, as he investigates a series of mystical cases throughout the city, often resulting in epic moments loaded with magic.  I started this series with the latest book, Battle Ground (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2020), and then went back to the start to experience the series from the beginning.  So far, I have managed to read Storm Front, Fool Moon, Grave Peril, Summer Knight, Death Masks and Blood Rites, as well as last year’s novella, The Law.  All these books have been extremely good in their own way, and I have loved the elaborate stories each of them contained.  As such, when I was in the mood for something I was guaranteed to love this week, listening to the next Dresden Files book on my to-read list was an easy choice for me, with the seventh book, Dead Beat.

Harry Dresden, private wizard detective and magical protector of Chicago is always willing to help a person in need no matter the cost.  But even he is unprepared for how far he’ll have to go when an old and merciless enemy imperils one of the people closest to him.  The ancient vampire Mavra has evidence that could destroy his best friend, Karrin Murphy, and threatens to unleash it unless Dresden recovers a powerful book of magic written by the legendary, long-dead necromancer Kemmler.

With no choice but to find the book, Dresden begins his search around Chicago, attempting to discover any trace of its location.  However, his search soon leads him into conflict with a new dark power arriving in the city.  Three of Kemmler’s students have their eyes on the book and the rituals it contains, and they are willing to destroy everyone and anyone to get it, including each other, especially when the prize at stake is godhood.

Caught between the three warring necromancers and their minions, Dresden needs to find the book first to stop their dark ultimate ritual before it can decimate Chicago.  However, each of Kemmler’s students far outclasses him in terms of magical ability and ruthlessness, and with only limited allies to call upon, it looks like even Dresden will have trouble saving the day again.  To survive, he might have to a make a dark deal with an even more malevolent evil, one that that has the potential to damn him forever.

I don’t know how he does it, but every single one of Jim Butcher’s novels that I read is so damn addictive and epic that I always struggle to put it down.  Dead Beat was another outstanding entry in the Dresden Files series, and honestly it might be one of the best I have read so far.  I absolutely powered through its clever and elaborate story as I tried to get to the end, and everything about it was highly enjoyable and fun.  Dead Beat gets another easy five-star rating and I have so much love for how amazing this seventh entry in the series turned out.

Dead Beat has an amazing story to it that effortlessly drew me in with the cool combination of magic, character moments and investigative angles.  Starting off quickly with Dresden drafted into the search for a powerful magic book, the protagonist begins his new investigation, only to discover the dangerous necromancers waiting for them.  Dresden soon has deadly encounters with all three necromancers in Chicago searching for the book, as well as their various minions and associates, which results in some brilliant scenes.  Dead Beat continues by setting Dresden and his allies on a dark course as they simultaneously attempt to find the book and the full extent of the warring necromancer’s plans, while also fending off their attacks.  Dresden keeps getting confronted again and again by his foes, barely escaping each time while also learning more about what is to come.  At the same time, he is forced to deal with certain personal issues, including trauma, complicated relationships, and a literal demon in his head, tempting him with power and knowledge.  There are some great twists, dark moments and emotionally powerful scenes set up around the middle of the novel, and I loved how well Butcher laid out the storylines and hinted at some big moments to come. Everything leads up to an epic concluding final third of the book as Dresden makes some hard decisions and compromises to save the day.  The final confrontation with the bad guys is pretty damn awesome, especially as the protagonist, utilising his usual restraint and good judgment, unleashes a very monstrous response to the antagonist’s minions.  This entire narrative was enthralling from start to finish, and I cannot emphasise just how addictive and entertaining the entire story was.

Dead Beat featured Butcher’s usual excellent writing style which once again lent itself extremely well to the elaborate narrative he came up with.  The pacing of this book was constantly fast and exciting, which guarantees that the reader is always paying attention, especially as every page has either action, some intriguing bit of lore or history, or some intense and compelling character development.  Butcher also ensures that this latest novel has the right blend of great story elements to it, and I deeply enjoyed how the fantasy and mystery elements are well featured as the protagonist is forced to do detective work to get the answers.  All this is overlayed by a great smattering of humour, mostly from the funny protagonist, who approaches the dark events and villains with his usual cockiness and disrespect.  The use of a first-person perspective from Dresden is also quite effective, and I loved seeing events through his eyes, as it allows readers to fully grasp the mystery, while also showcasing the great character developments.  While Dead Beat can be read as a standalone read, especially as Butcher is good at quickly recapping events, at this point in the series readers will benefit from going back and reading the earlier Dresden Files books first.  Dead Beat proves to be a key entry in the larger series, with multiple major events occurring here, and there are a ton of references to the preceding books, including the return of several fantastic characters.  I really got a lot more out of Dead Beat’s story for having read the previous novels, especially as you get to see how much Dresden has been through in the lead up to this book.  Overall, this was a very well-written and impressive novel, and Butcher really ensured that his cool story came through perfectly.

As with the rest of the Dresden Files books, I was really impressed with the blend of fantasy and urban fiction elements in Dead Beat, especially as Butcher has come up with such an elaborate world to set his stories in.  The author adds some cool new elements into his complex world throughout Dead Beat, as Dresden is forced to deal with a whole new branch of dark magic, necromancy.  Necromancy, or the control over the dead, is always a great villainous power in fantasy fiction, and Butcher makes excellent use of it in this book, with three rival necromancers vying for power.  Each uses a different form of necromantic magic in battle, and this results in some outstanding scenes where Dresden is forced to confront them.  The resulting magical mayhem is pretty epic, and Butcher’s unique depiction of zombies was both fun and a little scary.  This intriguing new form of magic ensured that Dead Beat really stood out, and I appreciated how Butcher turned it on its head towards the end when Dresden gets creative.  These excellent portrayals of magic fit within the fantastic setting of modern-day Chicago and it is always fun to see the elaborate balance of magical and mundane features that Butcher has set up within the city.  These great fantasy inclusions blend well with the character work and mystery elements of Dead Beat, and I look forward to seeing how Butcher further expands it in future books.

One thing that I felt Butcher did particularly well in Dead Beat was how he portrayed his brilliant cast of characters.  The Dresden Files always contain great protagonists and villains, but this novel had some of the best portrayals of them to date.  This is especially true for series protagonist and point-of-view character Harry Dresden, who had a great outing here.  Dresden has always been a damaged and conflicted figure in the series, but recent traumas are really weighing him down in Dead Beat as he struggles with a terrible hand injury, as well as the malign influence of the fallen angel bound to him, Lasciel.  The protagonist spends most of the book trying to deal with the influence of Lasciel who subtly manipulates him in many ways, tempting him with power or a solution to his many problems.  Each damaging and desperate encounter that Dresden survives in Dead Beat forces him to reconsider the wisdom of refusing her help, and the subsequent internal battles produce some of the most intense and compelling scenes in the novel.  This continued temptation and manipulation alters Dresden’s personality at times, and it was interesting to see how his allies and friends treat him, especially as Dresden begins to understand the different ways that members of the magical community view him.  Of course, Dresden hides most of his internal pain with his usual hilarious wit and humour, and his irreverent opinions, funny observations, and sheer ability to annoy anyone he encounters, results in most of the book’s humour and over-the-top moments.  Throw in other concerns, including complex relationships, unrequited love, and the character’s desire to prove himself and do the right thing, and this was some of the best character work that Butcher has ever done around his main protagonist.

On top of Dresden, Butcher also features a brilliant cast of support characters and villains that really help to enliven the book.  Dead Beat features a mixture of established supporting characters, as well as several great new ones, each of whom get some excellent moments to show off throughout the book.  I particularly enjoyed how well Butcher utilised the character of Waldo Butters in Dead Beat.  Butters, a kooky and big-hearted mortal medical examiner who had minor roles in a previous novel, is thrust into the limelight during this book, becoming a major ally to Dresden.  Butcher weaves some great storylines around him as he simultaneously finds his courage and begins to understand the magical world that keeps trying to kill him.  Butters proves to be a great supporting figure to Dresden in this book, and I loved their amusing team-up and developing friendship.  There is also a couple of great hints at some of the future storylines involving Butters, and I look forward to seeing more of him.

Aside from Butters, I also enjoyed the appearance of Dresden’s half-brother, the vampire Thomas Raith, who has been crashing at Dresden’s place.  Butcher paints a fun brotherly relationship between the two in this novel, which was quite entertaining at times.  However, the more humorous elements of their relationship are often overshadowed by the deep pain within Raith as he tries to overcome the emotional damage done to him in the previous novel.  I also loved learning more about Dresden’s skull spirit companion, Bob, in Dead Beat, and his dark history proves to be quite fascinating, especially as his former nature contrasts substantially with his usually entertaining persona.  The three necromantic villains, Grevane, the Corpsetaker and Cowl, each bring a certain level of sinisterness to the table, and they prove to be exceptional antagonists in their own way.  Finally, I must highlight the inclusion of Dresden’s new dog, Mouse, who has an awesome outing in Dead Beat.  A young and growing gentle giant, Mouse is a fun animal companion to Dresden and his allies, and I look forward to seeing more of his hijinks in the future.  Honestly, the entire cast of Dead Beat was pretty damn exceptional, and their powerful interactions and internal issues, added so much to the impact and power of this awesome novel.

As with all the Dresden Files novels, I chose to listen to Dead Beat on audiobook, which was an exceptional experience as the audio format helps to enhance the great characters and magical action.  Coming in at just over 15 hours, this is a substantial audiobook, however, I manage to knock it out in a few days, especially once I got caught up in fantastic story.  Naturally, the best thing about the Dead Beat audiobook is the return of actor James Marsters as the narrator.  Marsters, who is one of my favourite audiobook narrators thanks to his work on this series, did another brilliant job in Dead Beat and I have so much love for his outstanding performance.  After lending his voice to all the previous Dresden Files novels, Marsters has all the characters down, and each figure is given a fitting and powerful voice that carries through from book to book.  I particularly appreciated his portrayal of main character Harry Dresden, and Marsters perfectly captures the protagonist’s deep emotions and cocky demeaner, ensuring that you are both drawn to his pain and entertained by his antics.  In addition to the excellent voices, Marsters also has some noticeable and contagious enthusiasm in his narration, especially when it comes to the magical battles, and you can really feel his passion and excitement in parts of the story, especially when he loudly shouts out Dresden’s magical spells.  This narration from Marsters is so damn good, and it ensures that I had an exceptional time with Dead Beat’s audiobook, while is the absolute best way to enjoy a Dresden File novel.

In the seventh entry in his iconic Dresden Files series, Dead Beat, Jim Butcher has produced another exceptional read and one that I cannot recommended enough.  Featuring a particularly impressive and captivating narration, cool magical inclusions, and some of the best character work Butcher has ever done, Dead Beat is one the best Dresden Files novels I have read so far, and I loved everything about it.  This was such an amazing book, and I am very much intending to read several more entries in this outstanding series later this year.

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Son of the Poison Rose by Jonathan Maberry

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy, Five-Star Books24 Comments

Son of the Poison Rose Cover

Publisher: Macmillan Audio (Audiobook – 10 January 2023)

Series: Kagen the Damned – Book Two

Length: 25 hours and 55 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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One of my favourite authors, Jonathan Maberry, returns to his intriguing fantasy world in a big way with the second Kagen the Damned novel, Son of the Poison Rose.

Readers familiar with my blog will know I am a massive Jonathan Maberry fan, and the path to my current obsession with his work is well documented throughout The Unseen Library.  I started off by reading his fantastic 2018 novel, Deep Silence, quite early in my blogging career, and this ended up getting me into the rest of his exceptional Joe Ledger series, including The Dragon Factory, The King of Plagues, Predator One and Dogs of War.  I have also had a great time reading his sequel Rogue Team International series, which featured the epic books Rage (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2019) and Relentless (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2021), as well as the fun standalone novel Ink (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2020).  Needless to say, I have deeply enjoyed his cool books, and this only increased when he made his impact into the fantasy fiction world last year with Kagen the Damned.

Kagen the Damned was an amazing and exceptional dark fantasy novel that took the reader on a wild ride.  Set in a brutal fantasy world of Maberry’s own invention, Kagen the Damned followed the titular character of Kagen Vale, a highly regarded hero and palace guard of the Silver Empire who loses everything in a single night when the armies of the dread nation Hakkia invade with dark magic, led by the powerful and deadly Witch-king.  Forced to watch his parents, his empress, and the royal children he was sworn to protect die terrible deaths, a haunted Kagen flees, only to be further destroyed when he beholds his gods turning their back on him, damming him for his failure.  Now known as The Damned, Kagen travels the world in a daze before finally regaining his senses and launching an attack on the Witch-king at his coronation.  However, this reveals secrets that shock Kagen further and spelling doom for the entire world.  I had an epic time reading Kagen the Damned last year, and it ended up being one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2022.  Between this and the cool Kagen the Damned novella I Say Your Name in the Dark Nights, I have been eagerly awaiting a second novel and I was very excited when I heard that Son of the Poison Rose was coming out.  Son of the Poison Rose was one of my most anticipated books of 2023 and I finally managed to read it a short while ago and it was everything I hoped it would be and more.

“There is blood on the ground between us!”

Following his failed assassination attempt on the Witch-king of Hakkia, Kagen Vale, better known as Kagen the Damned, is once again the run with his companions, Tuke Brakson and Filia alden-Bok, attempting to find safety and come up with a new strategy of survival and revenge.  While their plan to kill the Witch-king failed, their attack stopped the return of the Hakkian God, Hastur, while also opening up the possibility of war, as the Witch-king’s fellow monarchs see the Hakkians as vulnerable.  However, Kagen also uncovered the terrible secret that the Witch-king is his older brother Herepath, who has turned his back on everything he once believed in to unleash great evil upon the world.

Wandering the wilderness, Kagen, Tuke and Filia attempt to come up with a new way to strike back against the Hakkian forces.  Their journey eventually leads them to the north of the continent, where they attempt to recruit an army of nationless-rogues, mercenaries and fighters to their cause.  But force of arms alone will not be enough to stop the Witch-king, instead Kagen and his allies will need magic.  But with magic long banned within the Silver Empire, only the Hakkians have any real knowledge of the mystic arts.  To that end, Kagen turns to former nun turned spymistress, Mother Frey, who sends Kagen on a deadly mission to a long lost city in a dangerous jungle in the hopes of recovering ancient books of dark magic.

However, the Witch-king is far from idle while Kagen is working against him.  With his army spread thin and the nations of the former Silver Empire all gearing up for war, the future looks grim for the usurper and his advisors.  But with new dark allies arriving every day, called to his side by magic, the Witch-king plans to unleash a magical plague, one that will turn his enemies into a ravenous, unthinking horde.  With such power at the Witch-king’s command, will Kagen’s quest reveal something powerful enough to defeat him?  And even if he does, will Kagen be able to fight his own brother?

Wow, wow, wow, what an epic and exceptional book!  Maberry can really do no wrong when it comes to his writing and this impressive sequel really hammers home what a talented author he is.  Masterfully expanding on the narrative set up in the first book, Son of the Poison Rose contains Maberry’s trademark blend of intensity, awesome action, complex characters, and dark world building that I love so much.  I absolutely powered through this lengthy novel, and it earns Maberry another easy five-star rating from me as I loved every single second I spent with it.

Maberry continues his sprawling and dark narrative in Son of the Poison Rose, as this book takes the reader in some great and captivating new directions.  Taking place in the explosive aftermath of Kagen the Damned, Son of the Poison Rose starts off in a big and action-packed way as Kagen and his allies find themselves being hunted by everything the Witch-king can throw at them.  Maberry quickly establishes his usual practice of featuring a huge number of different perspectives to showcase not only the adventures of the protagonists, but also the actions and schemes of the antagonists and the impacts that their machinations have throughout the world.  The main story of Kagen is pretty epic as it sees the protagonist and his friends struggling through new lands in the search of allies and magic.  While this results in some great scenes for Kagen in the first two thirds of the book, including a great haunted house sequence, his story here feels a little meandering at times without too much progress being made.  However, this is more than made up from the various alternate perspectives and worldbuilding that occurs in the same period.  It is so damn fascinating and entertaining to see the various dark and often horrifying plots of the antagonists come into effect as they plot for war.  These storylines blend spy thriller and dark fantasy elements together really well and you are drawn into these storylines, especially as Maberry takes the opportunity to strengthen the followers of the antagonists in some big ways.  The simultaneous build-up of other complex supporting characters, as well as the many examinations of various corners of Maberry’s new fantasy world adds to the impressive tapestry of the first two thirds of the story, and I was pretty damn hooked during this part of the book.

Maberry ramps up the intensity in the final third of the book as the various intriguing storylines he set up in the start of the novel really come to fruition.  This is headlined by Kagen and his allies travelling into a dangerous jungle nation to find a legendary ancient city where magical texts are hidden.  While I was initially concerned this part of Kagen’s story was going to be rushed, it ended up being very well written and awesome, as they encounter all manner of evils out in the jungle.  This final third of the book was again firmly enhanced by the continued dive back to the antagonists, where you see their evil plot to fill the jungle with zombies and other deadly creatures to kill Kagen and his comrades.  This results in an epic series of battles which keep you on the edge of your seat, as you know Maberry will not hesitate to kill off his characters.  The author chucks in several massive revelations around this part of the book, including finally showing the motivation behind the Witch-king’s actions, and the entire narrative ends on a big note while also expertly setting the stage for even more chaos in the following novel.  This ended up being a particularly epic story and I was firmly hooked the entire way through.

Those who are familiar with Mabbery’s novels will know that the author has a very distinctive style which has worked wonders in his many thriller novels.  Maberry successfully transported this style across to the fantasy genre last year with Kagen the Damned, and I felt it really enhanced his already impressive story.  Naturally he continues it in Son of the Poison Rose and it is still really effective at conveying the vast scope of his tale.  The main basis for his style is the utilisation of a vast number of shorter perspective chapters which showcase events from multiple characters across the narrative.  This results in a vast and complex story that not only allows the reader to see the adventures of the protagonist but also highlight the other players throughout the realm, including the antagonist, his court, the members of the resistance, and even several kings and rulers from unaligned nations who are making plans for war.  Maberry further expands out the plot by including a series of intriguing, often standalone interludes, which showcase smaller, self-contained stories within the wider universe.  These interludes are usually pretty cool, both by themselves and as extensions of the larger story, and I love how inventive and dark Maberry can be at times.  This mass of perspectives really helps to create an extensive and complex plot that has so many different aspects to it.  Seeing the protagonist and antagonist constantly reacting to the actions of each other, as well as other figures in the book, really ups the stakes and intensifies the plot, and I loved how Maberry gave this fantasy novel a strong thriller feel, especially with the continues focuses on politics, espionage and revenge.

Now, one thing about Maberry’s writing style that is not going to appeal to everyone is just how dark and disturbing the author makes the story.  Maberry is a particularly over-the-top writer at times, as he really does not hold back on the gore, violence and depravity, with the characters witnessing or causing all manner of mayhem or gruesome acts.  While this excessive violence and brutality fits the dark fantasy realm that Maberry has created, particularly as it highlights just how evil the antagonist and his legions can be, it is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea.  The torture, abuse and sadism of many scenes can be a bit much at times, and anyone that dislikes that sort of inclusion is probably best served to avoid this series.  However, for those that remain, I will point out that Maberry’s attention to bloody detail does ensure that the action sequences are extremely awesome.  The author has a gift for bringing the brutality and intensity of the battlefield to life in some truly glorious scenes, and you will be enthralled by every swing of the dagger or sword that he writes.  These action scenes are a beautiful, if bloody, highlight of this book, and the overall excessiveness of some of the scenes, especially when focusing on an over-the-top villain really plays into the wider narrative and setting.

I am still in love with the cool new dark fantasy world that Maberry created in Kagen the Damned, especially as the author took his time to populate with evil creatures, Lovecraftian gods and so much damn despair.  His first book served as a brilliant introduction to the various intriguing nations, and I deeply appreciated the intricate depictions of the Hakkian invasion, as well as the subtle and slow reintroduction of magic into this world.  Maberry continues to build up this world in several ways throughout Son of the Poison Rose, which results in some amazing story elements.  The focus on several of the other realms not seen in the first book is pretty interesting, as is the examination of the complex politics of the land as these now independent nations contemplate war with Hakkia after the concluding events of Kagen the Damned.  This builds up several great storylines as these rebelling nations and the Witch-king’s court plot different strategies to win any future wars.  Maberry also has a lot of fun exploring several new lands that were only hinted at in the previous books, and the protagonists soon end up in several unique and deadly landscapes, including cursed snowscapes with mysterious creatures, lethal jungles, and massive ruined cities dedicated to overthrown gods.  All of these locations are expertly introduced and described by Maberry, who uses them to his full advantage to increase tension and ensure that all the inevitable battles have a compelling new edge to them.

Another excellent thing that Maberry continues to do in Son of the Poison Rose is show how magic is slowly returning to the land due to the machinations of the Witch-king.  Thanks to several great chapters and interludes, you get to see the full horror as old magical creatures re-emerge, including the always reliable zombie, which plays very heavily into the plot.  Maberry is no stranger when it comes to zombies, having featured them in several books before (Patient Zero and Code Zero for example) and he uses to them to great effect here, both as political tools for the antagonist, and as rabid obstacles for the protagonists.  Other awesome features include the unstoppable, demonically powered, Razor Knight, which has a great showing at the end of the book, and it will be interesting to see how that, as well as some of the other magic unleashed in Son of the Poison Rose, come into effect in the rest of the series.  I also really appreciated how Maberry kept including a few references to his other series throughout Son of the Poison Rose, which is always a lot of fun for his established fans.  The hints of connection between this world and the settings of other books from Maberry is noticeable and fun without being too mysterious for new readers.  I especially loved the inclusion of a fantastic new villainous character who readers of the Joe Ledger books will be well familiar with under a different name, which I thought was an awesome touch for those who have read his other books.  I deeply enjoyed the impressive world building that Maberry did in Son of the Poison Rose, and I look forward to seeing how else he expands it in the rest of the series.

As always, one of the absolute best parts of Son of the Poison Rose were the exceptional, complex, and well-written characters that Maberry has expertly crafted together.  This includes a great combination of established figures from the first book, as well as a good collection of new characters who add some outstanding original spice to his second book.  Thanks to huge number of perspective chapters, the Kagen the Damned series features a pretty massive cast of damaged or sinister figures that Maberry uses to full effect to tell an elaborate overarching narrative.

Unsurprisingly, most of the focus of the book falls on series titular character, Kagen Vale, better known as Kagen the Damned.  Kagen had an outstanding introduction in the first book, where you see him lose everything, including his gods, in a single night, which drives him to great despair.  While he has managed to mostly recover from this thanks to his friends, he is still haunted by that dark night, especially after learning the truth about who the Witch-king is, as well as the identity of his heirs.  Driven by even further guilt, confusion, and anger towards his brother and his treachery, Kagen continues his impressive and emotionally rich journey in Son of the Poison Rose, and I had an outstanding time along the ride with him.  Maberry writes Kagen in an outstanding way throughout this book, and you really feel his pain and continued anger as he tries to deal with everything that has happened to him.  While he does bear some noticeable similarities to Maberry’s other major protagonist, Joe Ledger, especially when it comes to lethal prowess and severe psychological damage, I think that the author does enough to set Kagen apart, especially as his painful motivating event is a lot more raw and personal, resulting in some emotionally charged sequences.

Aside from Kagen, Maberry sets up a great supporting cast who add a lot to the main storyline while also introducing their own intriguing character moments.  It was great to see the return of Kagen’s main associates, Tuke and Filia, who continue to follow him into hell.  These three characters have great chemistry together and they form an impressive emotional centre to the story, especially as Tuke and Filia serve as Kagen’s conscience and voice of reason.  I also liked the return of Mother Frey, the clever spy mistress who is attempting to control the resistance against the Hakkians.  Her insights into the world and its political players often expands the intrigue of the story and she serves as a compelling figure in the plot.  I did find it interesting that one of the major figures from the first book, Ryssa, barely appeared in this novel after her fantastic storyline in Kagen the Damned.  However, her few appearances seem to hint at some sinister things in the future, and I look forward to seeing what Maberry organises with that.  Some of the more complicated and disturbing scenes of Son of the Poison Rose revolve around the captured Alleyn and Desalyn/Gavran and Foscor, the royal twins who were captured during the invasion, psychologically broken down, and forcibly given new identities.  These two mentally mutilated children spend the entire book trying to retain and regain their memories in some pretty dark scenes and thanks to their affliction, they run the gauntlet from sweet and damaged, to homicidal maniacs.  I felt that Maberry really showcased the twins’ mental state perfectly, and their dark storyline was an excellent addition to the plot.

However, to my mind, some of the best characters in Son of the Poison Rose are the villains, who add an entertaining and impressively sinister edge to the book, while also expanding out the political intrigue aspects of the plot.  These complex antagonists are led by the evil and destructive Witch-king, who was revealed to be Kagen’s long lost brother Herepath.  Empowered by dark magic, vengeance, and a need to keep his true identity hidden, the Witch-king continues his mission to kill Kagen and ensure that and opposition to this power is utterly destroyed.  The Witch-king proves to be a particularly malevolent figure throughout Son of the Poison Rose, even after his motivations are revealed to the reader, and he is the perfect foil to Kagen and his companions.

The Witch-king is backed up by a court of loyal, terrified advisors, each of whom are dedicated to the Witch-king’s plans, while also trying to stay alive and gather their own power.  This includes the fantastic trio of Lord Nespar, Lady Kestral and Jakob Ravensmere, each of whom have their own reasons for serving the Witch-king, and who each suffer for it in different ways, especially Kestral.  Nespar and Ravensmere deeply enhance the political thriller focus of Son of the Poison Rose, as their analysis, plotting and attempts to keep the Hakkians strong on behalf of their master results in some fantastic and powerful moments.  I also must call out the mysterious new evils that join the Witch-king’s side during Son of the Poison Rose, especially as many bring their own form of magic and despair with them.  The highlight of these new characters is the fantastic and devilish Prince of Games, a mysterious figure who comes to the Witch-king’s side to give advice, counsel and chaos.  The Prince of Games really stood out to me, not just because of his portrayal in Son of the Poison Rose but because of the great, universe-spanning implications his appearance has, and I cannot wait to see what havoc he creates throughout this series.  All of the antagonists are pretty great, and they all bring their own horror and darkness to the story, especially as they all do some pretty terrible and gruesome things to stay in power.  Honestly, every character in Son of the Poison Rose is awesome and memorable in their own way, and Maberry once again shows himself to be the master at effectively bringing together a truly complex cast of damaged and misfit figures.

In my opinion, the only way to properly enjoy a Jonathan Maberry novel is to listen to its audiobook, especially if that audiobook is narrated by the legendary Ray Porter.  This has been the case for pretty much every Maberry novel I have had the pleasure of reading, including Son of the Poison Rose, and all these epic audiobooks have been something special.  Not only do Maberry’s elaborate storylines and settings get the gravitas and exposure that they deserve in this format, but Porter’s narration really amps up the dark nature of the narrative and provides perfect depictions of the characters.  Porter, who is easily one of my favourite audiobook narrators, does another exceptional job in Son of the Poison Rose and I absolutely powered through this audiobook thanks to it.  His voice really lends itself to every dark and deadly scenario that Maberry envisions in this novel, and the way that he can convey fear, hatred and pure evil with his voice is just amazing.  His real talent lies in his ability to bring all Maberry’s complex characters to life in a particularly fitting way.  I especially love how he portrays the main protagonist, Kagen Vale, and he really captures every bit of pain, despair and resolve that this battered character contains.  Throw in a series of particularly disturbing voices for all the inhuman and horrifying creatures that the characters encounter, and this is a perfect narration that adds so much to my enjoyment of an already epic book.  With a run time of nearly 26 hours, Son of the Poison Rose is a particularly long audiobook (it would come in at number 14 on my latest Longest Audiobook I Have Ever Listened To list), but it is well worth the time investment especially once you get caught up in the twisted story.  I personally powered through it extremely quickly, as the combination of the amazing writing and impressive narration ensured I was listening to it continuously and loving every damn second of it.  As such, I must once again strongly recommend the audiobook format to anyone wanting to check out Son of the Poison Rose, and you will not be disappointed if you do as this is easily one of the best audiobooks of 2023.

I could go on for ages about Son of the Poison Rose, as Jonathan Maberry has done another exceptional job with this second Kagen the Damned novel.  Featuring an electric and addictive dark fantasy narrative, loaded with carnage, battles, great characters and an elaborate world on the brink of war, Son of the Poison Rose was a joy from start to finish, especially in its audiobook format.  This is easily one of the best fantasy books I have read all year and I cannot wait to see how Maberry continues this epic story in the future.  A masterful second book in one of the best ongoing dark fantasy series!

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City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy, Five-Star Books35 Comments

City of Last Chances Cover

Publisher: W. F. Howes (Audiobook – 15 December 2022)

Series: Standalone/Book One

Length: 20 hours and 7 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Acclaimed fantasy and science fiction author Adrian Tchaikovsky delivers one of the best fantasy books of 2023 with the intricate and captivating City of Last Chances.

Over the last year I have been really getting into the works of Adrian Tchaikovsky, one of the most inventive and imaginative authors of fantasy and science fiction writing today.  Tchaikovsky is a skilled and prolific author who has been a major figure in genre since 2008.  Best known for his Shadows of the Apt, Children of Time, Echoes of the Fall and The Final Architecture series, as well as a compelling collection of standalone novels and novellas (I personally have my eye on his previous novel, Guns of the Dawn), Tchaikovsky has a great habit of creating elaborate new worlds filled with intriguing characters and scenarios.  I have only read a couple of his books so far, including Tchaikovsky’s first Warhammer 40,000 novel, Day of Ascension, and his outstanding 2022 novella, Ogres, but both were outstanding reads and I loved the epic stories both of them contained.  Because of this, Tchaikovsky’s latest standalone novel, City of Last Chances, has been on my radar for a while.  It was released last year, and I finally managed to get a copy on audiobook a short while ago and dove into it as soon as I could.  However, I was unprepared for just how captivating its story would be.

There has always been a darkness hanging over the ancient city of Ilmar.  Known colloquially as the City of Long Shadows, the City of Bad Decisions, and the City of Last Chances, Ilmar is home to many dangerous magical occurrences, including the mysterious Anchorwood at its centre, which serves as a gateway to other far-off worlds.  However, a far more sinister enemy has arrived at Ilmar, the soldiers of the Palleseen, a powerful empire seeking to bring its ideas of perfection and order to all it conquers, whether they like it or not.

After several years of occupation, Ilmar is at a tipping point.  Its citizens are fed up of the corrupt and brutal soldiers, and everyone in Ilmar, be they rebels, criminals, refugees, idealistic students or factory workers, is looking for an opportunity to strike back and make their lives better.  With these forces straining to be unleashed, all it takes is one spark to set the fire of anarchy.  That spark occurs when a powerful Palleseen official leads an ill-advised expedition into the Anchorwood, searching for additional power.  However, he is unaware that an opportunistic thief has stolen the necessary protective amulet in advance, and the expedition is massacred by the creatures that live within the wood.

As news of this crime spreads throughout the city, chaos begins to rear its head.  Everyone is searching for the valuable amulet that was stolen as it represents the greatest chance of freedom many will see, while the Palleseen soldiers are clamping down on the entire city, determined to find those responsible and make them pay.  In this chaos, a mixture of Ilmar’s citizens, including a desperate priest, a violent murderer, an unlucky thief, a duplicitous lecturer and several of the most lost people in the city, will seek to survive the oncoming storm, only to fan the flames further.  However, none are truly prepared for the full danger about to engulf Ilmar, or the heartbreak that follows with it.

Well damn, now that was a pretty damn epic book.  Tchaikovsky has delivered an exceptionally intriguing and addictive novel in City of Last Chances that got me hooked very early on.  I was honestly blown away with the captivating and unique narrative that City of Last Chances contained, and Tchaikovsky drew me in with every fantastic detail and distinctive character.  This book gets a very easy five-star rating from me as I am still thinking about every detail of this book.

City of Last Chances has an amazing fantasy narrative at its centre, which Tchaikovsky backs up with his impressive and distinctive writing style that results in an extremely entertaining, powerful, and intense read.  City of Last Chances follows a raft of different characters as they attempt to navigate a series of deadly events following a single theft.  Tchaikovsky sets out the story in a very interesting way, and the book initially feels more like a collection of short stories than one cohesive narrative; for most of the first half of the book, each chapter acts as a semi-independent story that introduces the reader to a new character and shows their place in Ilmar.  These new characters are often supporting or named figures from a previous character’s chapter, who have their own unique stories and lives.  These character-driven stories are all quite enjoyable and compelling in their own way, and Tchaikovsky cleverly alters the tone so that some come off as very serious, some are quite dark, and others can be a little more comedic and thought provoking.  Some of my initial favourites include the funny and philosophical first chapter around the priest Yasnic and his relationship with God (which reminded me a lot of Small Gods by Terry Pratchett), Langrice’s scene-setting chapter at the mysterious Anchorage inn, and the chapter that gave a proper and humorous introduction to the grim figure of Blackmane as he finds himself about to be executed by a very cheery hangman.  Not only are these chapters very entertaining in themselves, but they effectively set up a larger narrative within City of Last Chances, while also providing great character moments and more and more glimpses into the many aspects of Ilmar.

As the book continues, the character-driven chapters begin to flow on from the preceding storylines, with the catalytic theft of the Palleseen artefact leading to bigger events down the line.  Each chapter adds its own spin to these events by showing new factions, impacted characters, or horrors within the city, or by introducing a new series of spiralling events that begin to unwind the situation even further.  As the story continues, a main cast begins to develop as more of the chapters focus on certain characters.  This really starts to bring the overarching narrative together, and soon the best parts of each unique character and their arcs begin to mingle with the other fantastic figures.  The story soon develops into a great tale of revolution with some Les Misérables vibes to it, as students, refugees, resistance fighters and factory workers begin to revolt.  The substantial main cast is worked into these events extremely well, and the reader is soon wrapped up in their powerful character arcs as well as the overarching story of Ilmar as everything begins to unfold.  Most of this is captured in a series of great chapters focused on the main cast, although new characters are still introduced right up into the end, with some unique, if brief, storylines skilfully worked into the larger narrative.  The author really pushes everything up a notch as the book comes towards the end, and every danger, unusual occurrence and strange character is unleashed to some degree.  There are some outstanding reveals, big battles, and some deeply personal moments that really help to bring the entire fantastic story together.  I particularly loved how some great story elements that were hinted at earlier in the book are brought to the fore at the end, especially as this includes some outstanding twists (Hellgram’s wife was a fun one for me).  However, the true joy is in the way that every major character gets a resolution to their emotional and complex character arcs, leaving the reader breathless in multiple ways.  I felt that Tchaikovsky wrapped everything up perfectly, and this serves as a brilliant and captivating standalone fantasy narrative.

I cannot compliment the way that Tchaikovsky presented this outstanding story enough, as his distinctive writing style really helped to compliment the epic and complex plot.  I have already mentioned his great use of different character focused chapters above, and I must once again highlight how effectively they were used to tell a cohesive and distinctive narrative with so many entertaining facets.  While it did take me a little while to fully appreciate what Tchaikovsky was trying to achieve with these semi-independent chapters, once you notice how the story is coming together through character-focused sequences, you really grow to appreciate it.  The continued change of character focus ensures that Tchaikovsky keeps the pace of City of Last Chances pretty brisk, and it is easy to quickly move through the story, especially once you get caught up in the tale of Ilmar and its people that the author is developing.  Tchaikovsky also introduces some impactful changes in tone throughout the book, as City of Last Chances runs the gauntlet from being light-hearted to emotionally draining, as the protagonists go through hell and back while also trying to deal with their own personal problems.  The author puts in some pretty intense scenes throughout this powerful story, many of which leave the characters reeling in different ways, and there are also some quite terrifying or shocking sequences as the full horror of this city is revealed in gruesome fashion.  However, these darker scenes are often undercut with some fun and amusing humour that helps to diffuse the tension at some key parts of the plot and which I found to be very refreshing.  This humour is often a little black and cynical in context, which ensures that the reader is left amused, and sometimes laughing, without the story getting too light and drifting away from its harsher content.  I really think that Tchaikovsky found the right balance here, and I rather enjoyed how he mixed everything together.  I had so much fun seeing how Tchaikovsky wove his complex tale into this book and City of Last Chances really emphasises just how talented he is as an author.

One of the key things that made City of Last Chances such a hit for me was the outstanding setting of Ilmar.  Tchaikovsky has always been exceedingly good at effectively building up an inventive and complex new setting for his stories, and this is some of his best work yet.  The author shows Ilmar through the eyes of so many different characters in this book, each of whom adds a new aspect to its history, character, and energy, as the story progresses.  This proves to be quite an effective way to introduce the setting, and the reader soon gets an impressive picture of the entire chaotic glory of this oppressed city.  I love all the aspects of this place, including the magical dimension-hopping wood and the responsibilities surrounding it, the demon powered factories, the oppressed refugee areas, the idealistic student academy and the sinister Reproach, an abandoned part of the city filled with magically cursed wretches dancing to their death.  Each of these complex and compelling elements are explored to their fullest throughout City of Last Chances and I really appreciated how Tchaikovsky built them up and then effectively featured them again later in the story.

The author also explores various parts of the world outside of Ilmar, and it is interesting to see how that impacts on the main story.  I particularly liked the use of the Palleseen as the overarching antagonists of the story and Tchaikovsky paints them as an obsessed group of fanatics trying to bring their ideas of perfection to an unwilling world.  This plays into several of Tchaikovsky usual themes about oppression and revolution, and he sets the Palleseen up as a vindictive group, who are often hamstrung by the practices and bureaucracy they force on their enemy.  The entire focus on the city of Ilmar being unleashed to face the occupiers was an excellent part of the book, and Tchaikovsky built up all the factions and chaotic nature of the city really well.  As such, Ilmar is a brilliant background setting to this great story and I really appreciated how Tchaikovsky set his story into it.

While I loved so many of City of Last Chances elements, for me the most important and powerful part of the book is the characters, as Tchaikovsky introduces the reader to a massive and captivating cast of figures who travel through the story in their own fashion.  Due to the way the story is set out, there are quite a lot of characters in City of Last Chances, with new cast members being added in every chapter, either to support the current point-of-view protagonist or to set them up for their own chapter later.  As such, there is a real focus on quickly and effectively getting to the root of each character in their first chapter, and I think that Tchaikovsky did a great job on this score.  You get to know each of these figures really quickly and you really get drawn into their unique tales and arcs, many of which are perfectly developed over the course of the book.  While the cast is pretty massive, each of these characters is given plenty of time to develop and many prove to be particularly complex and relatable as a result.

While there are so many great characters, several definitely stood out to me, especially as Tchaikovsky kept going back to them.  This includes Yasnic, the last priest of a diminished and petty god who now haunts his one follower.  Yasnic is a fantastic and occasionally comedic character, which reminded me a little of the protagonist of Terry Pratchett’s Small Gods.  While I did think that Yasnic was a bit one-note at the start of the book, he develops as the story continues, and you really appreciate just how complex and damaging his life as a priest has been, thanks to his god’s arbitrary rules, many of which have actual good reasons behind them.  Watching him try to balance his faith and connection to his god against the terrible things being done to him and the city is a key part of the book, and it leads to some emotionally powerful scenes, especially when Yasnic thinks that his god is being taken away from him against his will.

Other great characters include Langrice, the shunned owner of the Anchorage, the inn that borders the Anchorwood, and Blackmane, an Allorwen refugee and former sorcerer, who serves as a criminal pawnbroker.  Both characters are older and wearier figures who are trying to survive the harsh circumstances of their lives the best way they can.  Both are shown to be outcasts to their own people in different ways, and this leads to a compelling relationship between the two, even if they do not actually trust each other.  I also quite liked the character of Maestro Ivarn Ostravar, a lecturer at Ilmar’s Gownhall university, who acts as a great patriot to his students while actually collaborating with the Palleseen.  Ivarn is a particularly arrogant figure who manages to manipulate people’s views of him, and it is really fun to see him thrown into situations outside of his control, especially when his own reputation works against him and forces him to become the figure head of resistance.  His student, Lemya, is also a great part of the book due to her fervent idealism brought on by Ivarn’s teachings.  Off course, her naivety comes back to bite her and the other characters repeatedly, and while her actions are often a little frustrating, it is great to see her slowly realise she is being manipulated and gain some common sense.

However, to my mind the best character in the book is Ruslav, which is frankly a shock as he initially shown as a simple thug with an obsession for women.  However, Tchaikovsky keeps coming back to him as the story develops and each new situation he finds himself in makes him more complex and likeable.  His first chapter shows how his entire perspective on life is changed when he falls in love with a beautiful painting, which starts a great character arc of self-discovery and confusion for him.  Tchaikovsky keeps developing Ruslav’s story as the book continues and he soon faces more and more challenges, including a mortal injury, a hanging, and forced religion.  The latter is the most damaging to him as he is forced to give up violence, the one thing in life he is good at, to stay alive, which results in quite the existential crisis.  Watching him try to fit all the unusual events occurring to him into his insights as a street thug proves to be entertaining and very relatable, as you understand just how much of a struggle each of his new experiences are for him.  His coarse humour fits into this arc very well, and watching him swear at his new, inadvertent god and all the people of different backgrounds he is forced to deal with, makes for some very fun scenes.  However, not all of Ruslav’s storyline is comedic, as Tchaikovsky loads in continued tragedy for him as well, that really shakes him, and the reader, to their core.  The author seems to both love and hate Ruslav, and the resulting damage and development he goes through result in some of the most emotionally rich parts of City of Last Chances.  I honestly am still surprised that Ruslav turned out to be such a great character, but he and the rest of the cast really make City of Last Chances an epic book, and I am really glad I got the opportunity to dive into their unique lives.

As with many of the larger fantasy books I tend to read, I chose to seek out the City of Last Chances audiobook format, which served as an outstanding way to enjoy this fantastic and elaborate book.  This new Tchaikovsky audiobook is pretty long with a run time of just over 20 hours, and it did take me a little while to get through it, although it was very much worth the time.  I always find that listening to an audiobook helps me to absorb more detail for some books, and this was particularly useful for City of Last Chances as Tchaikovsky has once again loaded his unique setting and captivating story with so many intricate elements.  As such, I was really able to full appreciate the full complexity of the dark city of Ilmar and its many, desperate residents.

I was also extremely impressed with the voice work of narrator David Thorpe, who ensured that the listeners could full enjoy every single aspect of City of Last Chances.  Thorpe, whose narration I have not had the pleasure of before, did a spectacular job here in City of Last Chances and I honestly enjoyed every second he spent telling this story.  Not only has he got a great base voice that tells the main story at a clipped and exciting pace but he also provides a ton of impressive tones for all the characters in this book.  Every one of City of Last Chances’ unique characters is given a particularly fitting voice that captures their personalities and really helps to convey to the reader some of their key points, such as Yasnic’s meekness, Ostravar’s arrogance, or Lemya’s unbridled idealism.  Thorpe also comes up with several great accents that he uses to differentiate some of the different races and nationalities contained within the city, and I felt that this really helped to emphasise the cultural elements contained within the story.  Overall, the City of Last Chances audiobooks is pretty damn spectacular, and I loved how the entire thing came together.  I had so much fun listening to Thorpe’s great take on the characters, and this is easily the best way to enjoy this epic read.

City of Last Chances is a brilliant and wonderful novel by Adrian Tchaikovsky that I cannot start raving about.  I quickly became enthralled the outstanding and compelling narrative that he pulled together throughout City of Last Chances, and his fantastic delivery, intriguing setting, and impressive characters all drew me in.  This is easily one of the best books I have read so far in 2023 and it comes very highly recommended by The Unseen Library.  I cannot wait to see what amazing book Tchaikovsky comes up with next, as if it is any where as good as City of Last Chances, I am going to love it.

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Headcase by Jack Heath

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Five-Star Books, Thriller5 Comments

Headcase Cover

Publisher: Allen & Unwin Australia (Trade Paperback – 29 November 2022)

Series: Timothy Blake – Book Four

Length: 416 pages

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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One of Australia’s leading and most diabolical thriller writers, the exceedingly talented Jack Heath, returns with another twisted and immensely clever mystery, Headcase, which sees the return of his cannibalistic protagonist, Timothy Blake.

While Australia has quite a few outstanding crime fiction authors, Jack Heath is a particular favourite of mine.  Coming from my hometown of Canberra, Heath has been writing for years, producing a range of different series and standalone novels.  I have really enjoyed some of his recent books, including the 2021 standalone novel, Kill Your Brother, an ultra-intense and amazing five-star read that saw a young woman with a complex past forced to make a terrible decision: kill her imprisoned brother or die herself.  This was one of my favourite Australian novels of 2021, and it is a must-read for anyone keen for a powerful and thrilling story.  However, Heath is probably best known for his Timothy Blake books (also known as the Hangman series), which are particularly fun and gruesome.  Following the titular Timothy Blake, a brilliant investigator with cannibalistic tendencies, this epic series are set around a unique but highly entertaining series of mysteries that really draw the reader in.  I have had an amazing time with this series, including the third entry in the series, Hideout (one of my favourite Australian books of 2020), and I have been very excited to see how this series continues for a while.  Heath did not disappoint as the fourth and latest entry in the series, Headcase, proved to be an exceptional and gripping read.

Following his previous harrowing adventure, which cost him his arm and burned all the trust he had with his former FBI partner, freelance investigator and full-time cannibal Timothy ‘Hangman’ Blake’s future seemed in doubt, until he was given an offer he couldn’t refuse.  Recruited by a CIA agent nearly as insane as he is, Blake now works freelance for the agency, investigating odd occurrences throughout the country in exchange for occasionally being able to indulge in his cannibalistic habit.

His latest case sees him and his CIA partner, Zara, journey to Houston, where something unexplainable has occurred at the NASA training complex.  A fully suited Chinese astronaut has been discovered on the grounds of the facility and no one can explain how he got there.  Did he fall out of the sky, or was he murdered elsewhere and somehow dragged into the middle of a secure United States facility?  As a diplomatic catastrophe seems imminent, Blake is drafted by the CIA to unofficially investigate one of the facility’s employees, a former kidnapper who Blake helped put away seven years ago, who may hold the secret of the dead astronaut.

As Blake starts digging, he uncovers a series of surprising and unusual clues that seemed design to confuse any investigation.  The evidence seems to point to the victim falling out of a Chinese spacecraft surveilling the United States, however, all Blake’s investigative senses and knowledge of human flesh seem to tell him differently.  But with Chinese hit squads following them, the CIA attempting to forestall their investigation, several suspicious individuals working in the facility attempting to misdirect him, and Blake’s own ravenous hunger driving him crazy, this case seems near impossible to solve.  Can the Hangman crack the impossible one more time, or will he finally end up in the cage that he deserves?

Wow, I just cannot get over how good Jack Heath is an author as he produces another outstanding and captivating read with a diabolical story behind it.  This amazing thriller has everything you need to enjoy yourself, including a clever mystery and some truly insane characters, and I absolutely powered through it trying to see how everything came together.  This is an easy five-star read from me and I have already featured Headcase on my Top Australian Books of 2022 list a few weeks ago.

Headcase has a brilliant story to it that takes the reader on a very wild ride into some very gruesome murders.  Told from the perspective of main character Timothy Blake, you are soon shown the compelling murder through the eyes of a crazed cannibal who is attempting to simultaneously solve a murder and please the CIA while not revealing that they are looking into the death and sate his own hunger for dead human flesh.  Heath provides a great set-up to this entire story with the mysterious Chinese astronaut discovered in the centre of the NASA facility, which is a very good hook to drag the reader in.  As Blake tries to investigate this case, the reader is treated to several flashback chapters to when Blake was working for the FBI and helped to put away one of the NASA technicians for kidnapping, a crime Blake never believed he committed.  Heath also mixes things up by also including several chapters set a short while into the future in which Blake is incarcerated in a mental institution and is recounting the current story to his psychologist.  This three-way split storyline works extremely well for the first half the book as all three timelines support the others extremely well, and the blend of different periods and focuses helps to create a very interesting read.  The storyline focusing on the dead astronaut remains at the centre of the narrative, with the other two plotlines tying into it, and this is where the magic truly happens.  Heath sets up a particularly interesting mystery around the dead astronaut, with the protagonist forced to dive through a ton of clues, overly dodgy suspects, and government secrets to try and get to the truth.  At the same time, Blake and his partner find themselves under attack from several sources, such as Chinese hit squads, the police, a mysterious serial killer, and their own very dark inner demons.

The story advances at a quick clip the entire way through as the characters power through a range of deadly and dark scenarios.  Heath loads up the clues and the complicated supporting characters and it proves very interesting to see Blake attempt to work out who may be responsible and their very complex motivations.  Much of the story has a bit more of a spy thriller taste to it, thanks to Blake’s association with the CIA and this really helps to make Headcase standout a little from the previous Timothy Blake books.  The NASA and Chinese space surveillance proves to be a very fascinating inclusion that Heath cleverly works into the plot, and I loved that the author was able to write a whole story about mysterious Chinese surveillance craft before the current balloon crisis.  While these spy elements, which include brutal encounters with hit teams from various agencies, are a great new inclusion, some of the best parts of the book still revolve around the deeper character moments of the story, especially when it comes to the protagonist.  I deeply enjoyed how Heath utilises his protagonist’s disturbing cannibalistic insights as an investigative tool, while other insights into his mind, especially when he is in a mental institution, increase the tension and make you wonder just how reliable a narrator Heath truly is.

Everything comes together perfectly in the second half, especially when Blake is desperately trying to solve everything, not only to get to the truth but to save lives.  All the previous story elements are brought together in a big way, and it was outstanding how the clues that Heath had cleverly laid throughout the story came together.  The time split perspectives are resolved in a great way, and it is a lot of fun to see how Blake ended up in the mental hospital.  Everything leads up to several big reveals at the end of the book, not just surrounding the main murder, but other curious events that have been explored as Headcase continues, and reader will not be disappointed in what comes to light, nor how the protagonist deals with it.  The full details about the compelling and unique motivations for the main murder makes for a very interesting read, and the diabolical method of murder is something that I won’t be forgetting in a hurry.  While I did find that the use of a certain McGuffin was somewhat unrealistic, even for this crazy series, I was generally extremely happy with how the entire novel came together.  The complex mystery is resolved in a very captivating way, and the character arcs that sit at the centre of the story go in some very interesting direction which should result in some fantastic books in the future.  I personally came away from Headcase extremely elated and deeply impressed with just how clever an author Heath is.

On top of the outstanding and fantastically compelling story, I have a lot of love for Heath’s writing style, which deeply enhances each of his books.  The quick pace, the fantastic dives to both the past and future, and the intense blend of mystery and insane personal issues surrounding the main characters, makes for some outstanding reading, and there honestly isn’t a single part of Headcase that wasn’t extremely fascinating or fun.  Understandably, due to the story content, this is a pretty gruesome series, and Heath doesn’t hold back on the detailed depictions of dead bodies, nor the terrible things that his protagonist does to them.  However, he never goes way too over-the-top, and the gore and cannibalism always serves a vital purpose, either to provide clues to the mystery or to highlight the protagonist’s complex nature.  It also helps to make the series particularly distinctive, even amongst other impactful thrillers, and you must love just how obsessed and focused the main character/narrator is about dead bodies. Like most of the books in this series, Headcase can be very easily read as a standalone novel, and Heath is very careful to concisely fill in any relevant details that the reader might need.  However, as with most ongoing series, those people who have read the earlier books in the series will probably get a lot more out of Headcase emotionally, especially when it comes to seeing the progression of the protagonist.  I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Headcase to a new reader, as they are guaranteed to have a fun and unique time with this outstanding read.

I must highlight Heath’s captivating and complex central protagonist, Timothy Blake, who is once again one of the best things about this entire book.  I really love the character of Blake in this series as he is such an intriguing and damaged character due to his deranged cannibalistic tendencies, which often drive him to do terrible things in the name of obtaining human flesh.  There are so many great scenes where Blake feels his desire and hunger for human meat start controlling his actions and the character is constantly fighting for some measure of self-control.  Despite this, he is a relatively good person and a skilled investigator whose keen observation skills, canny insights, intense survival instincts, and intimate knowledge of human bodies give him some intriguing edges during a case.  While he often likes to pretend that he is only helping the case to get fresh meat, he is also obsessed with finding the truth and getting justice, which, when combined with his romantic desires for his former FBI partner Reese Thistle make him occasionally seem like a good, if highly damaged, person.  These seemingly incompatible parts of his personality are so damn effective, and it is always quite fascinating to see what part of his personality actually wins: the feral hungry beast or the surprisingly heroic detective.

The version of Blake in Headcase is particularly interesting as Heath comes up with some new range of issues and problems for him to overcome on top of his all-consuming hunger.  After managing to survive his particularly desperate situation in Hideout, he has a somewhat different lease on life which goes with his new job.  However, he is still in love with Thistle, even after their confrontations in the last two books, and this is encouraging him to be a better person.  This desire to be a better person somewhat goes against the desires of his new masters in the CIA, especially his partner Zara, who try to use his fractured mind to their advantage and his desire to change for Thistle puts both her and Blake at risk.  He also undergoes therapy for the first time in his life, albeit somewhat against his will.  These scenes with the psychologist are particularly fascinating as they discuss his cannibalistic desires and his general sanity.  While the psychologist doesn’t believe he is a cannibal, her insights give Blake a lot to think about, especially when he comes to the revelation that he might be able to overcome these life-long issues if he sought treatment.  This really alters Blake’s perspective of his entire life, and it, as well as some insights he gets from viewing other patients at the mental hospital he is locked in, proved to be a very interesting tipping point for the character growth we have witnessed throughout the series.  It will be very interesting to see how Heath continues to explore and highlight Blake in the future and I have a feeling we are only on the start of a particularly dark and emotionally rich journey.

In addition to Blake, Heath has loaded Headcase with an intriguing array of unstable and entertaining supporting characters who add some awesome value to the entire novel.  The most prominent of these is Blake’s CIA partner in this case, Zara.  Zara was introduced in the previous novel, Hideout, when she managed to infiltrate a group of psychotic killers extremely successfully, before recruiting Blake with the promise of bodies to eat.  While Zara serves as an effective agent and partner to Blake, she is ultra-violent and has some major mental issues and might even be crazier than Blake (which is saying something).  Zara ends up forming a toxic relationship with Blake in this book, especially as she utilises his addiction and leads him into to some deadly and dark situations.  She proves to be a fantastic addition to the plot and I love how intense and threatening Heath made her at times.  There are some great reveals around her, as well as a certain incident that matches her with Blake, and I loved all the awesome stuff Heath set up around her.  Heath also makes sure to bring back Blake’s former FBI partner and love interest, Reese Thistle, who has another interesting run in Headcase.  Blake and Thistle have had a very compelling relationship throughout the series, which got even more complicated when Reese found Blake’s fridge full of corpses.  Still keeping his secret after he saved her life, Reese is very awkward with Blake, which adds to Headcase’s dramatic tension.  Despite this, the two do work together to try and solve the murder and it was nice to see them teaming up again.  Of course, this leads to more danger and despair for both of them, but Heath is taking their relationship in some interesting directions, and I look forward to seeing how that turns out.  Throw in a compelling group of potential suspects, foreign agents and mental patients that the protagonist has to work his way through to solve this complex case and you have an outstanding group of characters that I had a lot of fun with.

With his latest Timothy Blake novel, Headcase, Jack Heath continues to impress with his epic and captivating take on murder and complex characters.  This incredible novel takes the reader on an awesome journey through insanity, obsession, and desperation, all centred around an impossible and very clever mystery.  I had a brilliant time powering through Headcase, and I have so much appreciation for Heath’s scary wit and ability to dive into the head of a killer.  Headcase is an exceptional book that comes highly recommended, I cannot wait to see what outstanding mysteries and thrillers he produces in the future.

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