Tag: Civil War

Days of Shattered Faith by Adrian Tchaikovsky

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy, Five-Star Books2 Comments

Publisher: Head of Zeus (Audiobook – 5 December 2024)

Series: The Tyrant Philosophers – Book Three

Length: 21 hours and 39 minutes

My Rating: 5 out 5 stars

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One of the current top authors of all things fantasy and science fiction, the improbably imaginative Adrian Tchaikovsky, continues to greatly impress with his outstanding and epic early 2025 novel, Days of Shattered Faith.

I think it is fair to say that few fantasy and science fiction authors are as consistently prolific and entertaining as the relentless Adrian Tchaikovsky, who has been continuously putting out clever books over the last few years.  While he has written many intriguing series and standalone novels throughout his career, I am more familiar with some of his more recent works, including the novella Ogres, the gripping interstellar novel Alien Clay, one of my favourite Warhammer 40,000 novels, Day of Ascension, and the hilarious and insightful robot apocalypse novel, Service Model (one of my favourite books of 2024).

While the above books are all quite exceptional, my favourite body of Tchaikovsky’s work has so far been The Tyrant Philosophers series.  A gripping, brilliant and highly amusing series, the Tyrant Philosophers novels are set in a cool fantasy world filled with magic, gods and demons, all with a fun Tchaikovsky twist to them.  With the first two books, City of Last Chances and House of Open Wounds, both of which were amongst my favourite books of 2023 (with City of Last Chances being one of the best audiobooks of 2023) the series has really grabbed my attention over the last couple of years.  Much of it is down to the author’s clever narratives that work to expand this intriguing fantasy world through some interesting overlapping characters and events.  In particular, the series examines the dark impact of the Palleseen, a conquering army of fanatics who violently supress superstition and belief in the gods in the name of expanding their own worldview of perfection and correctness.  Both the previous books in this series were quite impressive, and I was very eager to read Days of Shattered Faith when it first came out.  While I have been delayed in writing a review for this book, it proved to be an outstanding read, especially with its rich and powerful narrative.

Plot Synopsis:

Welcome to Alkhalend, Jewel of the Waters, capital of Usmai, greatest of the Successor States, inheritor to the necromantic dominion that was the Moeribandi Empire and tomorrow’s frontline in the Palleseen’s relentless march to bring Perfection and Correctness to an imperfect world.

Loret is fresh off the boat, and just in time.

As Cohort-Invigilator of Correct Appreciation, Outreach department, she’s here as aide to the Palleseen Resident, Sage-Invigilator Angilly. And Sage-Invigilator Angilly – Gil to her friends – needs a second in the spectacularly illegal, culturally offensive and diplomatically inadvisable duel she must fight at midnight.

Outreach, that part of the Pal machine that has to work within the imperfection of the rest of the world, has a lot of room for the illegal, the unconventional, the unorthodox. But just how much unorthodoxy can Gil and Loret get away with?

As a succession crisis looms, as a long-forgotten feat of necromantic engineering nears fruition, as pirate kings, lizard armies and demons gather, as old gods wane and new gods wax, sooner or later Gil and Loret will have to settle their ledger.

Just as well they are both very, very good with a blade…

Wow, what an incredible read.  Adrian Tchaikovsky continues to deeply impress with his elaborate and intense narratives, especially as he expertly continues his Tyrant Philosophers series in his distinctive and creative way.  Featuring a complex plot that follows various damaged and self-serving characters as they navigate the attempts to influence and control a mighty city, Days of Shattered Faith was an addictive read from start to finish, and I loved how the entire novel came together.  A very easy five-star read, Days of Shattered Faith was one of my favourite books and audiobooks from the first half of 2025, and I had such an exceptional time getting through it.

I really loved how Days of Shattered Faith’s story turned out, especially as Tchaikovsky managed to turn this into both a powerful standalone novel as well as a moving entry in the larger Tyrant Philosophers series.  This book has quite a complex and layered narrative to it, as it follows multiple intriguing characters through chaotic events that are about to overtake the city of Alkhalend.  Initially focusing on the two Palleseen characters, Sage-Invigilator Angilly and Cohort-Invigilator Loret, Days of Shattered Faith sees them as unlikely ambassadors in a city that mostly hates and fears the Palleseen and their attempts to subvert and control the world.  When the sudden death of Alkhalend’s ruler results in a brutal civil war, Angilly and Loret attempt to help the Palleseen supporting heir to retain the throne following a coup from his brother.  At the same time, various other figures in the city, including a familiar former priest and several unconventional doctors, attempt to survive the chaos engulfing their home.

Tchaikovsky does an excellent job building up a lot of complex storylines, details of the main setting, and character arcs in the first half of Days of Shattered Faith, all of which came into play in fantastic ways as the novel continued.  Following a large collection of complex character-driven storylines throughout the novel, Tchaikovsky moulds these together into a compelling overarching narrative, with these protagonists impacted by various major events.  This includes the brutal civil war at the centre of the novel, which completely changes the course of the narrative and sets several major characters down some compelling and dark spirals.  Due to the appearance of more Palleseen influence in the second half of the book, things in Alkhalend naturally go to hell in a variety of ways, especially when all the unconventional and imperfect methods of Angilly and her unusual Palleseen colleagues in Outreach are questioned and changed by her more by-the-book superiors, who also drop the subtle tactics when it comes to controlling the city.  This results in a darker, more intense second half of the novel, where every protagonist makes mistakes or experiences greater tragedy.  The author perfectly builds up the tension and suspense before leading up to the big revolution sequence where all the separate character arcs converge for the last time, which was as devastating and crazy as you would expect from Tchaikovsky.  Everything ends on a satisfying, heartbreaking note, especially as several characters find themselves in worse positions then when they started.  It will be very interesting to see where the wider narrative of the series goes from here, especially for the series’ recurring protagonist, but it’s clear that the events of Tchaikovsky’s universe can only get sadder from here.

Tchaikovsky has a very distinctive and compelling writing style for the Tyrant Philosophers novels that coveys his elaborate and entertaining narrative in some unique ways.  Once again relying heavily on multiple perspective changes to tell his layered story, Tchaikovsky embarks on providing a deep and personal story, set around a large collection of compelling supporting characters.  The author excels at creating elaborate and complex backgrounds for the various characters, which are worked into the larger plot extremely well, especially as each character has their own unique motivations and damage.  All these varied story elements are well woven together into one complex story, and it was fascinating to see all the different figures react to the continually changing events.  As with the previous books, Days of Shattered Faith has a range of tones within it, as Tchaikovsky works hard to produce the right balance of intrigue, action, world building and dramatic and moving character moments, all of which are done perfectly and work to create an impressive novel.  The elaborate battle sequences pair well with the subtle and often forced betrayals of the various characters, while deeper personal troubles and dark histories lurk just beneath the surface.  All these sequences are well laced with the excellent and often cynical humour of the author, which really ties the entire thing together quite nicely.  I loved how so many complex scenes were made better by the sarcastic and realistic commentary of either the characters or the narrator, which worked to highlight the dark, and often absurd nature, of so many of the fantasy elements of the story.

As with the last two books in the series, Days of Shattered Faith works well as both its own distinctive, standalone narrative and as a continuation of elements and character-focused storylines from the previous books.  Due to how it initially focuses on an original group of central characters navigating an unfamiliar setting in the series’ wider world, new readers can easily come into this series without any real pre-knowledge of the other books.  However, as the story eventually grows to focus on several major characters from the first two novels, I think those readers who know the full story of these figures and the complex events they’ve had to navigate will end up appreciating the plot of Days of Shattered Faith a little more, especially as Tchaikovsky continues to torture a certain former priest with even more tragedy and hardship.  The author also features references to events from the previous books throughout Days of Shattered Faith, and readers will find it fascinating to see how certain decisions or plots from the recurring characters, such as some vengeful religious conversion in House of Open Wounds, had larger, devastating impacts on the wider world.

Tchaikovsky once again pulls together an elaborate setting for his compelling narrative, as while Days of Shattered Faith is set in the same fantasy world as the other Tyrant Philosophers novels, much of the action occurs around the newly introduced complex city of Alkhalend.  Loaded up with cut-throat politics, various conflicting religions, distinctive magic, and various otherworldly beings who have migrated from other realities, Alkhalend is an exceptional focus for much of the plot.  Tchaikovsky excelled at introducing the various unique elements of Alkhalend and its surrounding nations in the early part of the book, and it was fascinating to see how they impacted the plot going forward.  Alkhalend honestly had so many fun and quirky unique fantasy features, and this had to be one of the more memorable settings I have had the pleasure to see in fantasy figure.

Of course, as this book is set within the Tyrant Philosophers universe, Tchaikovsky had to once again include the Palleseen, who serve as the main antagonistic group in the series.  Ideological zealots often bound by their own rules and processes as they slowly and greedily try to take over the world, all the books in this series are dedicated to examining their methods and serves as a humorous critique of militarisation and empire building.  While the previous books have either looked at the Palleseen as an occupying force or at their weaponisation of magical medical practices, Days of Shattered Faith focuses on their diplomats and how they influence conflicts in lands outside their empire.  This ends up showcasing a new side to the Palleseen machine, especially as the empire’s diplomatic department, Outreach, is made up of more fluid personnel, willing to go outside of standard practices to achieve their goals.  It was quite entertaining to see the differing methods of this empire conflict with each other, especially when it brings some conflict between the various Palleseen characters, and it added some great drama to the second half of the book.  I loved once again seeing the dangerous bureaucracy and insatiable desire for more magical material turn the Palleseen from reasonable allies to controlling occupiers as the plot continued, especially as it perfectly influenced various characters to take a new course of action.

As I have mentioned a few times above, Tchaikovsky loaded this novel up with an outstanding array of complex or damaged characters who are the true highlight of the plot thanks to their collective dark histories and layered motivations.  The sheer range of different characters in Days of Shattered Faith is very impressive, featuring a great mixture of locals of Alkhalend, Palleseen visitors, and other memorable figures seeking refuge in the sandy city.  Much of the plot was focused around the two members of Palleseen Outreach in the city, Sage-Invigilator Angilly and Cohort-Invigilator Loret, whose unique take on diplomacy often causes more chaos.  Angilly was a great lead for much of the plot as a pragmatic Palleseen operative, who finds her loyalty compromised by her romantic connection to the city’s crown prince.  This doomed romance leads to all manner of trouble for both characters, and the various betrayals and eventual end resulted in some of the author’s more tragic writing.  Loret, on the other hand, was a great fish out of water in this novel as she attempts to learn the rules of diplomacy and understand the many facets of Alkhalend, all while keeping her troubled past a secret.  I felt that Tchaikovsky used Loret well as a good stand in for the audience to showcase his new city setting in more detail, while her eventual development and tragic past connected to the events of the previous book proved to be a particularly compelling, if bloody, part of the plot.

The rest of the cast are also impressive, including a couple of opportunistic Palleseen operatives who have less issues with exploiting the people of Alkhalend for their own means.  I also personally enjoyed the return of several familiar figures from the previous Tyrant Philosopher novels, including the unusual batch of former military doctors who made their escape in the previous novel.  While given less focus in this novel, Tchaikovsky still makes excellent use of these fugitive doctors, and it was interesting to see how the most junior member of the troupe got upgraded to a major character now he’s a little older.  Accompanying the doctors is character now known as Happy Jack, who readers of the series may recognise as the priest of small gods from the first two novels, Yasnic.  Now bereft of his original petty deity, Jack has now found happiness and contentment in Alkhalend, especially thanks to an unlikely doomed romance.  Of course, that happiness can’t last too long, and Tchaikovsky soon returns to torturing one of his best characters, ensuring he’ll be even more compelling in the next book of the series.  Throw in the many other unusual denizens of Alkhalend, which includes pirates, necromantic priests, scheming nobles, and even a giant frog god, and the cast of Days of Shattered Faith is impressive, especially as the author carefully balances the many alternating character storylines to create an overall outstanding narrative.  I cannot wait to see what awesome characters Tchaikovsky comes up with in the rest of the series, but I’m expecting some truly fascinating figures going forward.

While I did end up buying a physical copy of Days of Shattered Faith, I ended up listening to its audiobook format instead, mainly because I had such a good time with the City of Last Chances audiobook.  Days of Shattered Faith also proved to be an incredible listen, with the audiobook format deeply enhancing the complex plot and showcasing all the excellent fantasy elements in even more detail.  Coming in with a notable runtime of nearly 22 hours, I was able to get through Days of Shattered Faith quickly, especially with the outstanding David Thorpe narrating the story.  A veteran narrator who has lent his voice to many of Tchaikovsky’s audiobooks, Thorpe did an excellent job bringing Days of Shattered Faith to life, especially as his tones and voices matched the style of the author’s writing.  Thorpe really dives into the various unique characters loaded into Days of Shattered Faith, coming up with a range of fun and fitting voices.  I felt that these voices, as well as his excellent narration of the complex fantasy plot details of this novel, turned Days of Shattered Faith into a very enjoyable audiobook, and it was such a good format to enjoy this unique story.  Easily one of the top audiobooks I have so far enjoyed in 2025, Days of Shattered Faith comes highly recommended in this format, and you are guaranteed to have an amazing time listening to it.

With even more crazy characters, distinctive fantasy elements, and a twisty and captivating plot, Days of Shattered Faith was another exceptional novel from Adrian Tchaikovsky.  A perfect continuation of the incredible Tyrant Philosophers series, Days of Shattered Faith had so many awesome elements to it, and I loved its complex story and compelling protagonists.  An outstanding read I loved so much, Days of Shattered Faith is one of the best fantasy novels of 2025, and I cannot wait to see how the rest of the series unfolds.  Indeed, the fourth book in the series, Pretenders to the Throne of God, is out in a few months’ time, and it is already shaping up to be another epic read.

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Warhammer 40,000: Final Deployment by R. S. Wilt

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, WarhammerLeave a comment

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 30 August 2025)

Series: Warhammer 40,000

Length: 11 hours and 23 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Prepare for battle as R. S. Wilt presents his debut novel, Final Deployment, a captivating read that perfectly highlights bloody war in the grimdark future of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

There are few franchises that bring me as much joy as the Warhammer 40,000 series, which follows the numerous factions of the infamously grimdark 41st millennium.  The sheer amount of imaginative stories and tales that are featured in this universe, as well as the talented authors who contribute to it, is quite impressive, and includes some major established writers.  I particularly like how the Warhammer 40,000 publishers also give some interesting opportunities to new authors looking to break into the fantasy or science fiction space.  Many aspiring authors have had their very first novel published in the Warhammer canon recently, and I deeply enjoy reading debuts from these new writers.  Examples of this include Fire Made Flesh by Denny Flowers, The King of the Spoil by Jonathan D. Beer, Ashes of Cadia by Jude Reid, Longshot by Rob Young, Deathworlder by Victoria Hayward and Lord of Excess by Rich McCormick, to name a few.  Many of these debuts are first class reads, and I’ve featured a few on my favourite Warhammer 40,000 novels lists over the years.

Due to my previous awesome experiences with debuts in this franchise, I am always very excited to check out first Warhammer 40,000 novels from new authors, especially those with epic plots.  The latest example of this is Final Deployment by R. S. Wilt, which was the author’s very first novel.  Spinning off from his previously published short story Eradicant, Final Deployment had a very exciting plot behind it that follows the most lethal human soldiers in the grimdark future, the Tempestus Scions.

In the far future, the Imperium of Man battles for survival on thousands of planet-spanning battlefields, with untold numbers of human soldiers fighting and dying every day against monsters, xenos and heretics.  Of these soldiers, none are more deadly or skilled than the Tempestus Scions.  Moulded into unquestionable killing machines from a young age with relentless training and mental manipulation, the Tempestus Scions serve as an elite force with the soldiers of mankind, taking on the missions that no other soldier could complete.

Amongst these Tempestus Scions are the fighters of First Eradicant squad of the Xian Tigers.  Led by Tempestor Traxel and “inspired” by Commissar Fennech, First Eradicant are an unusual regiment made up of several misfit Scions damaged by the battles they have seen.  Deployed to the planet of Rilis, a formerly loyal world now fighting a brutal civil war, First Eradicant is tasked with destroying the rebelling regiments and bringing order to the planet.  Utilising their superior training and equipment, First Eradicant quickly turn the tide against the enemy and being to lead the loyalist forces on Rilis to victory.  However, their success leads them discover the full strength of the traitors, as well as their dark allegiances.

After a disastrous battle that sees their loyalist allies massacred, First Eradicant find themselves facing monstrous opponents even more lethal than they are; three Chaos Space Marines from the Iron Warriors legion.  Determined to slay the ancient, genetically enhanced traitors, First Eradicant take the fight to the Iron Warriors across the planet.  However, with their leader traumatised by past battles and Commissar Fennech playing his own sinister games, can even the best human soldiers in the galaxy defeat the evolved might of the Chaos Space Marines?

R. S. Wilt starts his professional writing career off in explosive fashion with this amazing and compelling debut. Final Deployment was a deeply exciting character-driven Warhammer 40,000 story that followed several highly damaged characters as they attempted to survive the horrors of war. Intense, action-packed and deeply addictive, Final Deployment was an outstanding read that I had an incredible time getting through.

I really enjoyed the epic and deeply exciting narrative that Wilt pulled together for Final Deployment, which perfectly showcases futuristic special forces soldiers going after a deadlier opponent.  Set after the events of the author’s previous short story Eradicant, Final Deployment has a quick and effective start to it, as Wilt first sets the scene for the war on Rilis, before introducing the members of First Eradicant as they literally drop onto the scene.  Each of the protagonists, especially lethal and reckless recon trooper Norroll, gets their moment to shine in these opening scenes, which also work well to highlight Wilt’s intense writing style.  You are soon dragged into the story, and while the initial parts of the book are a tad slow, that changes with the pivotal battle around a third of the way through that sees the Chaos Space Marines arrive in bloody fashion.

Wilt did an outstanding job of changing the tone of Final Deployment after this big moment, as the protagonists find themselves heavily on the backfoot, and there are some notable PTSD elements hitting Tempestor Traxel.  The rest of the novel revolves around the protagonists attempting to hunt down and stop the Chaos Space Marines, no matter how the rest of the war is going.  The story from that point is essentially broken down into three distinctive parts, each of which showcase the very different, but equally brutal, fights against the separate deadly antagonists.  Wilt does an excellent job setting up the scenarios around these battles, which include infiltrating a deadly facility, a brutal ambush by a daemonic possessed foe, and an air drop into enemy territory, and you soon get enthralled in the protagonist’s desperate mission.  These events work extremely well as a sequential and cohesive narrative, and you get really absorbed in the mission of the slowly dwindling group of Tempestus Scions.  Everything leads up to the desperate final confrontation between the protagonists and their deadliest foe, which hits hard and keeps you guessing about who is going to survive.  I felt this entire story came together perfectly, and the ending does an excellent job wrapping up Final Deployment as a standalone Warhammer 40,000 story, with the potential left open for a sequel.  An overall excellent narrative that was quite impossible to put down at times.

While the story is very cool, I also felt that Final Deployment was extremely well written, as Wilt produces a powerful, character-driven narrative that focused on the horrors of war in the grimdark future.  Expertly utilising the iconic Warhammer 40,000 universe in this clever and brutal war story, I loved how the intense personal narratives blended with the more outrageous elements of franchise.  Wilt puts his evident skill at writing brilliant and bloody action sequences to good use in Final Deployment, and the resulting firefights and close combat sequences were some of the more intense and striking you are likely to see in Warhammer fiction.  The author maintains an excellent, fast pace throughout the entire novel, and there wasn’t a single slow moment or inclusion that didn’t play into the story in some interesting or compelling way.  I also appreciated the great use of alternate perspectives, as the story cleverly jumps between several key characters.  This is primarily utilised to showcase multiple angles to the book’s awesome action sequences, which was a ton of fun.  However, I also enjoyed how Wilt took the opportunity to examine the plot from the perspective of several interesting supporting character, including a couple of antagonists.  This helps Wilt to present an even more layered narrative, and it is always really entertaining to see the villain’s reactions to the protagonist’s actions.

Final Deployment is also an excellent and entertaining addition to the Warhammer 40,000 franchise, which works well as an exciting standalone novel.  Despite diving straight into the universe, Final Deployment is accessible to readers no matter their experience with Warhammer fiction, as the author provides a lot of intriguing universe details.  This includes the Tempestus Scions, who serve as the human faction’s ultimate special forces unit outside of the genetically enhanced Space Marines.  The author does an incredible job showcasing the skill and tactics of the Scions throughout Final Deployment, and you really appreciate that they are a highly trained and better equipped regiment.  While Wilt somewhat exaggerates the effectiveness of the Scions and their equipment for narrative purposes (especially carapace armour), you get a realistic sense of these figures in combat, and I appreciated how the characters were slowly debilitated by injuries and losses.  There is also a fascinating look at the harsh training and religious brainwashing these figures undergo, which fits the grimdark Warhammer 40,000 universe perfectly.  Other elements of Warhammer fiction are cleverly utilised here, and I loved the author’s depiction of just how dangerous Space Marines and their chaotic counterparts are compared to normal humans, even the Tempestus Scions.  The damage three Iron Warriors were able to do to the loyalist army, and the lengths the protagonists went to beat them, was so beautifully excessive, and I felt it was an appropriate amount of power scaling.  Thanks to these cool features from the Warhammer 40,000 universe, this book will primarily appeal to established fans of the franchise, although thanks to Wilt’s great writing, new readers will also have a lot of fun with it, even if they didn’t read the author’s previous short story.

While much of the appeal of Final Deployment was its epic story, great writing, and impressive action, I also felt the complex characters helped to make it even more special.  Primarily set around a group of Tempestus Scions, Final Deployment featured an intriguing look at these figures, their damaged pasts, and the struggles they experience on and off the battlefield.  Wilt does an excellent job of splitting the focus of Final Deployment over much of the extended cast, and indeed its nominal main characters, Tempestor Traxel and Commissar Fennech, don’t have that much of the book shown from their perspective.  Instead, most of the story is told through the eyes of other key members of the squad, including Norroll and the squad’s medic, Daviland.  This allows these secondary figures in the squad much more room to shine, and I felt the book was stronger as a result.  Norroll in particularly was quite a fun character.  An overly reckless Scion, Norroll finds himself caught between loyalty to Traxel and his squad, and his own death wish, and it was often really intriguing to see him in the middle of the bloodiest scenes in the book.  Daviland served as an excellent counter to Norroll’s more outrageous perspectives, especially as she is one of the saner members of the squad.  A transplant from another regiment, Daviland provides an interesting outsider’s perspective to the book, especially as she has a lot less mental damage the rest of First Eradicant.  Despite her loyalty primarily being to Fennech, Wilt writes an excellent storyline around Daviland becoming closer to her squad, and I felt that her perspective scenes were some of the more thoughtful and provided some great insights in the minds of the rest of the characters. 

Of the rest of the cast, Tempestor Traxel and Commissar Fennech, had the most presence.  Despite not serving as perspective characters, both were major parts of the book’s plot, and Wilt did an excellent job showcasing their personalities and issues through the eyes of the other protagonists.  This includes Traxel’s mental trauma at once again facing Chaos Space Marines after a previous deadly mission, and his impacted leadership adds an extra layer of difficulty to the protagonists’ mission.  Fennech, on the other hand, was a great portrayal of a classic, cold-blooded Imperial commissar, shooting allies first and never asking questions.  Fennech served an interesting role as both an ally/gun-bearing motivator, and a potential secondary antagonist to First Eradicant, especially as he questions their effectiveness and resolve.  While Fennech’s storyline doesn’t go as far as it could have, and I would have liked seeing some of the book through his steely eyes, I felt that he was an outstanding inclusion to Final Deployment’s cast that added some excellent alternative menace.

In addition to these characters, I enjoyed how the rest of First Eradicant also got their time to shine in this novel.  Featuring a mixture of existing members and later transfers from another squad, each of these characters had their own unique charm, and their compelling interactions added a lot to the novel’s enjoyment.  While there isn’t an excessive amount of development with some of these characters, which is mainly down to the mental indoctrination they’ve gone through, they were still fun to follow.  Just make sure not to get too attached to them, as the death toll in this novel is quite high.  Wilt matches these excellent perspective characters with several additional outsider characters, including several gloriously over-the-top antagonists, and the clash of styles and mentalities increased the overall fun and excitement I had with Final Deployment.

Unsurprisingly, I ended up listening to Final Deployment on audiobook, rather than seeking out a physical copy of the book.  I always find that the audiobook format brings out the very best of the grimdark Warhammer 40,000 universe and the unique characters that inhabit it, and the Final Deployment audiobook was a great example of this.  Perfectly narrated by Andrew Wincott, who previously impressed me with his voice work in Deathwatch: Shadowbreaker by Steve Parker and Huron Blackheart: Master of the Maelstrom by Mike Brooks, the intense action and harsh nature of war featured in Final Deployment really comes through in this audiobook, and I loved hearing all the intense firefight sequences come to life.  Wincott did an excellent job moving this intense story along at a quick clip, while also providing all the characters with distinctive voices that really fit their unique and gritty personalities.  The fun mixture of voices between the battle-weary human soldiers and the more unnatural forces of Chaos was extremely enjoyable, and you really get drawn into the compelling narrative as a result.  I honestly flew through the over 11-hour long audiobook in no time at all, and I loved every second I spent listening to it, especially some of the more brutal and deadly fight sequences.

Loaded with awesome action, damaged characters and an epic narrative, Final Deployment by R. S. Wilt was an incredible read and an amazing piece of Warhammer 40,000 fiction.  A fast-paced novel that follows some intense protagonists through hell and back, Final Deployment was an outstanding debut from Wilt, and comes very highly recommended, especially on audiobook.  I look forward to seeing how Wilt’s writing career continues in the future, and I am sure I will enjoy any additional contributions to the Warhammer franchise.

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War Cry by Ian Ross

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Historical Fiction8 Comments

War Cry Cover

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (Trade Paperback – 25 January 2024)

Series: de Norton trilogy – Book Two

Length: 387 pages

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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Ready to dive into an intense and fantastic historical adventure, then look no further than the epic new novel from Ian Ross, War Cry.

Last year I had the very great pleasure of reading the epic novel, Battle Song.  Written by author Ian Ross, who had made a name for himself with his Roman historical fiction, Battle Song was an outstanding and compelling novel that really blew me away.  Set during Simon de Montfort’s rebellion against the English crown, Battle Song followed a rogue knight and his squire, as they attempt to find the best side to fight on.  I had an outstanding time with Battle Song, especially as Ross combined a unique story with intriguing historical background and some great characters.  Battle Song ended up being one of my favourite books of 2023, and I had such a great time getting through it.  As such, I have been eager to see how Ross was going to follow Battle Song up and I recently got my hands on the sequel War Cry.  One of my most anticipated reads for 2024, War Cry proved to be an outstanding book that I quickly powered through.

England, 1265.  Following his decisive victory at the Battle of Lewes, the English lord Simon de Montford is now the de-facto ruler of England.  Holding the king and the crown prince prisoner, de Montford has ambitious plans to increase the power of the nobles while he champions the rights of the common people.  However, de Montford’s control is not absolute, with several powerful lords still loyal to the royal family and desperately seeking to restore their rule.  Worse, many of de Montford’s allies in the initial rebellion have grown wary of his power and ambitions.

As the political climate of England once again changes, the recently knighted Adam de Norton finds himself reclaiming his ancestral lands.  Finally having everything he always longed for, Adam looks to settle down and enjoy the prosperous future set out before him.  But the dual loyalties of England weigh heavily around him, and soon rumours of a new rebellion emerge, dragging Adam back to war.

Returning to the service of de Montford, Adam seeks to prove his worth in battle.  However, despite owing everything to de Montford, Adam begins to wonder if he should truly be fighting this war.  As the war progresses, Adam finds himself pushed to the limit and his loyalties tested, especially when he finds himself on the opposite side of his former mentor and master, Robert de Dunstanville.  Can Adam survive the brutal civil war unfolding around him, or has he chosen the wrong side of the conflict?

This was an awesome book from Ian Ross, who provided an outstanding follow up to his previous epic read.  War Cry had an amazing and powerful story behind it, which honestly had me hooked the entire way through.  I had such a great time with this book, and I ended up powering through it in only a short couple of days.

War Cry featured a powerful, brutal, addictive narrative that expertly ties together a personal story, while also diving into a particularly unique and fascinating period of English history.  This story is told exclusively from the perspective of returning protagonist Adam de Norton, who, after his adventures in the first book, has become a knight with his family estates returned to him.  The initial scenes of War Cry follow Adam as he attempts to restore his lands, while also facing conflict from several intriguing new enemies.  However, he is also soon forced to navigate the new political situation of England.  Despite his desire to stay out of the war, Adam is compelled by honour to return to the side of Simon de Norton as his rivals rise in rebellion against him.

This leads to an intriguing narrative that follows the subsequent campaigns that occurred in the period after de Norton’s rise to power.  Adam finds himself caught up in several key conflicts and events, including the escape of a certain hostage, a quick siege, and a collection of deadly battles across the breadth of the country.  At the same time, Adam is also caught up in several personal dramas, as he tries to reconcile his loyalties to de Norton, his friendship with Robert de Dunstanville, and his forbidden romance with Joane.  Ross did a great job of blending the historical and the personal together, and you get a great simultaneous look at the protagonist’s struggles, while also seeing the events of the war progress around him.  Thanks to the historical record, events get grimmer and grimmer for the protagonist as War Cry continues and you get really invested in seeing how everything unfolds, especially if you aren’t familiar with this particular English civil war.  Everything leads up to another climatic battle, where Adam and many of the supporting characters of the book meet their fates, one way or another.  The book ends on a pretty unique and dark note, and you will come away shocked at the cliffhanger, while also longing for more.

I really enjoyed how War Cry came together, as this epic piece of historical fiction was designed to hit hard and keep you on your toes.  I particularly loved some of the book’s unique historical elements, as Ross continued to explore the Simon de Norton rebellion against the English crown, which was such a major highpoint of Battle Song.  This unique civil war was a brilliant backdrop for the series, and Ross meticulously covers all the key events that followed de Norton’s victory at the Battle of Lewes here in War Cry.  You really get invested in this historical element of the book, especially as Ross expertly showcases some of the deadliest battles and places his protagonist right in the middle of them.  All these fight scenes are extremely well written, and Ross excels at highlighting the chaotic feel of battle, as Adam constantly finds himself amid a brutal melee of battle, especially during the final fight, and one particularly intense sequence on a bridge.  However, War Cry is much more than a rendition of a compelling historical war, it is also a deeply personal tale of love, loyalty, honour, and friendship, as the protagonist attempts to come to terms with his complex life and relationships while caught up in the battles.  As such, there is a little something for everybody in War Cry, and most fans of historical fiction will absolutely love this book.  War Cry was also a very worth sequel to Battle Song, and I cannot emphasise just how well Ross built on his original narrative and provided a gripping continuation in this sequel.

As with Battle Song, War Cry features a compelling combination of characters, including a mixture of fiction and real historical figures caught up in the war.  Ross did a great job of blending the two groups together, and I loved the range of unique knights and lords that emerged and the compelling interactions that followed.  There is a real focus on twisted loyalties and uncertain honour as many of the characters change alliances throughout the book, desperate to be on the winning side.  I did think that Ross might have at times included too many supporting characters, especially when it came to the various knights and lords, as you sometimes get worn down with a flurry of knightly names and titles that proves hard to remember.  However, this is generally a minor issue, especially when most of the character focus is reserved for recurring protagonists from the first book.

I really enjoyed seeing more of protagonist Adam de Norton, who is such a compelling centre for much of the plot.  After witnessing his exploits as a squire in the first book, it was great to finally see Adam as a knight in War Cry, even though that causes him more trouble than he hoped for.  Constantly dragged through battle after battle thanks to his still somewhat naïve sense of duty, Adam finds his loyalties fraying at times as he tries to stay true to who he is.  This proves hard as he is once again going up against the more self-centred views of his mentor, while also harbouring a forbidden love that he knows he cannot act on.  Several other characters also shine throughout War Cry, although my favourite is probably Robert de Dunstanville, Adam’s former mentor and friend.  While we get less of Robert in War Cry than I expected, he still proves to be a fascinating figure, serving as Adam’s dark conscience and trying to get him to do the smart thing rather than the right thing.  The two come to blows at several points throughout War Cry, and it was fascinating to see how their relationship has changed now that Adam has become his own man.  Robert also has some of the more fascinating character arcs.  After finally getting he wanted, he is still unhappy, and his attempts to reverse that cause only heartache for him.  I really enjoyed seeing these characters and more develop even further in War Cry, and there are some surprising fates for several of them that I honestly did not see coming.  It will be interesting to see what happens to the remaining protagonists in the future, and I really hope we get a third book soon as I am very invested in their stories.

Overall, War Cry by Ian Ross was an outstanding piece of historical fiction that I cannot recommend enough.  Expertly continuing Ross’s outstanding 2023 novel, Battle Song, War Cry thrusts the reader into the bloody centre of a fascinating English historical war, while also focusing on some complex and likeable characters.  Loaded with battle, intrigue and relatable protagonists, War Cry proved to be highly addictive, and I had an incredible time getting through it.

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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

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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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Battle Song by Ian Ross

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Historical Fiction18 Comments

Battle Song Cover

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (Trade Paperback – 28 March 2023)

Series: Standalone/Book One

Length: 405 pages

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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Impressive historical fiction author Ian Ross journeys away from his typical Roman history novels and instead dives into the chaos and glory of medieval England with the outstanding and highly addictive read, Battle Song.

England, 1262. Adam de Norton is a lowly squire with very few prospects to his name.  Unable to claim his family’s rightful estates, Adam’s only hope is to be knighted by his lord, which will allow him to win the glory and respect his chivalrous heart believes in.  However, his chances of even being noticed by his lord seem slim, and Adam looks set for a life of disappointment until a hunting accident leads him to his new master, the rogue knight Sir Robert de Dunstanville.

Robert de Dunstanville is a man infamous throughout England as a murderous heretic, and his anger, resentment and apparent lack of knightly virtue seem to match his devilish reputation.  A keen member of the tournament scene, Robert leads Adam to Europe, where his underhanded strategies and desire for victory over honour, prove to be highly effective.  While Adam chafes under the dishonour of his new master and the circumstances that lead them together, he soon discovers that Robert seems to have a far better idea of the realities of his world than he does.

Two years later, Robert leads Adam back to England, determined to take advantage of the chaotic political situation that emerges.  The Earl of Leicester, Simon de Montfort, has declared war against his brother-in-law, King Henry III, and now leads the barons of the realm in a rebellion, aimed at bringing reform and redressing the balance of power in the country.  As the country plunges into civil war, Robert and Adam must choose which side will give them the greatest advantage and keep them alive.  Soon caught in the middle of a desperate battle for the fate of the kingdom, will this duo get everything they think they deserve, or wind up in a bloody grave?

Ian Ross has written an exceptional and captivating historical adventure in Battle Song that I had an absolutely wonderful time reading.  Blending some great characters with an exciting story and intriguing historical detail, Battle Song is one the most thrilling and intense historical novels I have read in a while, and which is worth checking out.

Battle Song has an intense and captivating story that perfectly follows a young knight in training as he finds his destiny and gets embroiled in war.  Blending emotional personal growth with an exciting narrative from a great part of history, Ross’s narrative for this book is really addictive, and I had a ton of fun powering through it in a few days.  The story starts off great with a very strong introduction to protagonist Adam de Norton, a minor squire overlooked in life who still believes in the knightly virtues.  After a violent brawl shows his true raging potential, Adam is drafted into the service of Robert de Dunstanville, a bastard knight with a severe grudge against the king, who drags Adam to Europe for a run at the knightly tournaments.  The initial part of the book is really good as it sets up the story and the key politics of England, while also serving as an invaluable introduction to main characters.  I loved the early friction between Adam and Robert, which really helps to showcase the differences between their world views and ensures that there is some intriguing personal conflict between them throughout the book.

Ross dedicates a good chunk of the plot to following Adam, Robert and their companions, on an extended romp through the European tournaments, which are so damn fun.  The various scenes depicting the harshness of the tournaments, including the infamous melee, are some of my favourites in the book, and the author’s depiction of the chaotic violence and sheer unpredictability really appealed to me.  At the same time, this book serves as a good learning experience for the protagonist as Adam learns the realities of being a knight as he experiences love, betrayal and begins a deadly rivalry.  Ross also uses this part of the story to further dive into the start of the conflict between Simon de Montfort, as Robert meets and plots with the exiled Earl while in Europe and begins to weigh his options.

The second half of Battle Song is set back in England as Adam and Robert return home, determined to take part in the civil war to come, even if they don’t know which side to choose.  This half of the novel is pretty damn intense as Ross really dives into the intriguing and dark history of the period in some great ways.  The narrative drags the protagonists into some of the key events of the period, including riots, a dangerous siege, and several minor conflicts, as they watch the King and Simon de Montfort fight for control of the country.  This part of the book is also well layered with the personal concerns of Adam and Robert, as Adam faces a hopeless romance while witnessing some of the most vicious elements of war, while Robert continues to battle his conscience, inner-hate and survival instincts to come out on top.  There are some pretty epic scenes here and I deeply enjoyed how Ross balanced out the historical detail with the deeper part of his story.  The characters all go through setbacks, growth, and dark moments as the plot proceeds, and the reader gets caught up in their personal tales.  The battles themselves are really impressive, as Ross captures the sheer chaos of war and Adam learns what it is to kill.  I really appreciated Ross’s use of Adam as the main point-of-view character for this second half of the battle, not only because his position allows a great view of all the key historical moments, but because you see a more impassioned take on events which gives the entire narrative some great heart.  Everything leads up to the big final battle, which Ross covers perfectly, showcasing it as a metal meatgrinder of knight-on-knight combat.  There are some outstanding moments in these final pages, especially as several character arcs and storylines are cleverly finished, and I was deeply intrigued to see how the entire conflict came together.  Ross leaves everything on a satisfying conclusion and Battle Song ends up serving a particularly epic and brilliantly self-contained standalone read, which does have some potential to be continued in the future.  I deeply enjoyed this exceptional story and it was so damn addictive in places.

One of the best highlights of Battle Song is the way that Ross expertly portrays the historical period in which the book is set.  I loved the depictions of England and Europe in the 13th century featured throughout Battle Song, and Ross has a lot of fun showcasing the people, culture and politics of the people at the time.  There is a particular focus on the lives and experiences of the knightly classes as the book as shown through the eyes of a lowly squire experiencing them for the first time.  As such, you get a great idea of what it is to be both a knight and a squire as Adam grows into both roles while watching his master and peers in action.  There are some great discussions about the how knights act in life, and I loved how Ross examined how the realities of this compared to the romanticized notions of chivalry and honour that Adam had been fed growing up.  Naturally some of the best parts of the historical elements of Battle Song fall amongst the tournaments and battles that were such an amazing feature of the story.  Ross really dives into the nitty gritty detail of the tournaments, and I loved seeing the tactics and practicalities of big events like the joust and the melee.  It was also very interesting to see how these skills then translated across to the battlefield and the similarities and differences between the two proved to be deeply fascinating.  Ross really went out of his way to highlight the gritty and brutal nature of both the tournament melee and the battlefield throughout Battle Song, and I loved the high-intensity action scenes that emerged as a result.  Battle Song honestly some of the best historical battle sequences that I had seen for a while, and I found myself getting even further dragged into the story thanks to that.

In addition, I really enjoyed the compelling and impressive examination of the events of Simon de Montfort’s rebellion in 1264, one of England’s lesser-known civil wars.  The entirety of Battle Song is set around this war, and Ross really good job of showcasing the politics and the events leading up to the rebellion as Adam and Robert witness his plotting during their tournament days.  The second half of the book then examines the resulting war in high detail as the protagonists find themselves dragged into several key battles and incidents of this war, including the siege of Rochester and the decisive battle of Lewes.  The author does an outstanding job showcasing these battles as he looks at how they came about, what happened during them, and the resulting impacts it had on the war.  At the same time, Ross also tries to examine some of the key historical figures involved in this conflict, and it was very interesting to see the protagonists interact with them.  Ross initially paints this war as a battle for rights against the king, with de Montfort trying to rally the nobles behind his leadership.  However, rather than showing this as a purely noble affair, Ross also highlights some of the darker aspects of de Montfort’s campaign, including the infamous purge against the Jewish population of London at the start of the rebellion, which honestly was some of the darkest and most intense moments in the entire book.  I deeply appreciated this complex examination of the history, especially the prejudice against the Jews, and it painted both sides in morally ambiguous tones that fit the two protagonists.  Ross clearly has a real talent for portraying fascinating moments from history, and I had an outstanding time learning more about this unique and captivating period.

I was also quite impressed by the characters featured within Battle Song as Ross introduces the reader to an outstanding cast of both original characters and notable figures out of history.  The main protagonists are the duo of Adam de Norton, a poor squire who serves as the book’s point of view character, and Robert de Dunstanville, a blackhearted knight with a low opinion of the world around him.  Both characters are intriguing as they represent very different ends of the knightly spectrum.  Adam starts the book as a naïve squire who believes in honour and duty, even after years of being overlooked by his lord.  Robert, on the other hand, is a far more devious and jaded being.  A bastard with no lands of his own, Robert is upset about royal rulings made against him and takes out his anger in the tournaments, where his cunning tactics allow him to achieve many victories.  These two characters are polar opposites to begin with, however, they both start to influence the other in different ways.  Adam starts to become a little more cynical, wiser, and learns how to survive in this harsh world, eventually becoming a competent and dangerous warrior.  Robert on the other hand starts to soften as they grow closer, and the protagonist finds out that there is far more to Robert than he lets the rest of the world see.  These two play off each other, and the rest of the extended cast, extremely well, and I loved the complex mentor-mentee relationship that emerged.  These two are definitely the heart of the story, and I deeply enjoyed their compelling storylines, especially as they both experience hopeless romances, loss, disappointment, intense rivalries, betrayal and moments of glory as they journey towards the conclusion of the book.  The rest of the cast supports the story nicely, and I loved some of the interactions that emerged, as well as the clever mixture of real people from history and original characters invented for the narrative.  These great characters and their unique stories deeply enhance the quality of Battle Song and its powerful story and I was very impressed by how well Ross set them out.

With its outstanding blend of historical detail, amazing protagonists, and an intense and powerful narrative, Battle Song is a brilliant and epic read that I had such an incredible time reading.  Ian Ross produced such a great read here and this was one of the more exciting and entertaining historical fiction novels I have read all year.  Battle Song is a highly recommended historical fiction novel that is really worth checking out.

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Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Historical Fiction2 Comments

Act of Oblivion Cover

Publisher: Hutchinson Heinemann (Trade Paperback – 20 September 2022)

Series: Standalone

Length: 464 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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That master of historical fiction, Robert Harris, returns with another deeply compelling read, this time diving into one of the most fascinating manhunts in history with Act of Oblivion.

1660, England.  It is the dawn a new age in English history.  Following the death of Oliver Cromwell, the country has allowed King Charles II to come to power.  In exchange, the King has agreed to clemency for the former Parliamentarians, allowing peace to return to England for the first time in decades.  However, the King’s clemency is not absolute, and under the terms of the Act of Oblivion, all the men involved in the execution of his father, King Charles I, including the 59 men who signed his death warrant, are to be hunted down and brutally executed.

General Edward Whalley and his son-in-law, Colonel William Goffe, are two such men.  Former Parliamentarian leaders, their signatures lie prominent on the king’s death warrant.  Knowing that their deaths are close behind, Whalley and Goffe are forced to abandon their families and flee to the colonies.  Arriving in New England, Whalley and Goffe attempt to become part of the local community, but the shadow of their treason is far-reaching, and both old soldiers will have to live with the consequences of their action.

In London, Richard Nayler has been appointed as secretary of the regicide committee of the Privy Council.  Tasked with tracking down, capturing and executing all the men wanted in relation to the King’s death, Nayler attacks his task with zeal and passion, determined to bring justice to those who wronged the kingdom.  However, Nayler saves the vast amount his hatred and determination for Whalley and Goffe, two men he bears a particular grudge against.  Soon, a large bounty is placed on the two fugitive’s heads, and Nayler himself arrives in America, determined to see the men captured.  Forced to flee across the continent, Whalley and Goffe find themselves as outcasts and fugitives wherever they go.  The chase is on in the new world, and no-one is prepared for how far this mission of vengeance will go.

Robert Harris does it again, producing a brilliant and riveting historical epic that reconstructs fantastic historical events in impressive detail.  I have long been a fan of Harris’s writing, having deeply enjoyed An Officer and a Spy and V2, and his latest book, Act of Oblivion, is one his better works.  I had an outstanding time getting through this complex novel, especially as it spent substantial time diving into a unique historical occurrence I was unfamiliar with.

I had an exceptional time with Act of Oblivion, especially as Harris presents an elaborate and massive story set across multiple years.  Leaning heavily into historical sources, Harris dives deep into the flight of Goffe and Whalley and perfectly portrays their journey to America and the hardships they encountered.  This proves to be quite an intense and frustrating tale, as these two protagonists suffer a great deal through the course of the book.  Forced to abandon their families, Goffe and Whalley are initially seen as heroes by the people of Boston and Cambridge, but the two fugitives are gradually forced to flee from these towns due to the machinations of the English and their former enemies.  Forced to flee to smaller and smaller settlements, the protagonists are chucked into some uncomfortable positions in their flight, which includes years of depredation and isolation throughout the country.  The full tale of their time in America (or at least what is known), is pretty damn remarkable, and I felt that Harris did a wonderful job bringing it to life and showing what these two might of experienced and the lengths they went through to survive.  However, it does occasionally get slow in places, mainly because the historical fugitives were often unable to move for fear of being captured.

Harris covers these slower periods well by mixing in a second major storyline that runs parallel to the depictions of Whalley and Goffe.  This second storyline is primarily set in England and Europe and showcases the events occurring while the fugitives are in hiding.  Mainly shown from the perspective of the fictional character hunting them, Richard Nayler, as well as several scenes that show the fugitives’ family, this second storyline adds some real colour and danger to the events, especially as you get to witness the hunt from the other end.  The blend of fictional and historically accurate storylines works extremely well, and Harris creates a deeply fascinating and compelling overall narrative that really draws you in.  Seeing the simultaneous actions of both hunter and fugitives is a lot of fun, and I loved Nayler’s reactions to the constant escapes of Whalley and Goffe.  Harris also spends time showing the hunt for the other regicides, which Nayler embarks on with greater success.  Not only does this add in some additional fun action and historical context, but it also ups the stakes of the main storyline, as you are forced to witness the gruesome fate that awaits Whalley and Goffe if caught.  All this adds up to quite a remarkable tale, and I was deeply impressed with how exciting and captivating Harris was able to make these historical events appear.

One thing that is extremely clear about Act of Oblivion is the sheer amount of historical research that Harris put into crafting this book.  There is so much exceptional and compelling detail put into Act of Oblivion, as Harris goes out of his way to make this book as historically accurate as possible.  Naturally a substantial amount of this research goes into showing the known events of the two fugitives, as Harris meticulously recounts where they went and the various places they were forced to hide.  While the author does add in a few literary embellishments, this appears to be a very accurate and intriguing depiction of the fugitives’ flight in America, and I had such an amazing time seeing what they went through.  Harris makes sure to try and tells as much of their tale as possible, and the book goes all the way up until 1679, when the records end.  At the same time, Harris spends a large amount of time exploring the history of the rest of the world.  The novel is chock full of intriguing depictions of various key parts of British and American history at the time, which I found to be extremely fascinating, especially as you get to see how England changed after the return of the

King.  Harris also makes sure to examine how major historical events around the world might have impacted the lives of the two fugitives, and I felt that he worked all these fascinating events into the main story extremely well.  All the historical aspects of the book are showcased to the reader in a fantastic and very readable way, and even non-history fans will be able to dive into this story extremely easily.  This is mostly because the historical events themselves are pretty damn remarkable (honestly historical reality stranger than fiction in some places), but I really appreciated how well Harris was able to explore them and showcase them to the reader.

Another historical aspect of this book I deeply enjoyed was the author’s extremely detailed and moving depictions of the American countryside and its settlements in the 17th century.  Quite a lot of the book is spent out in the American wilds, as the two protagonists are constantly fleeing from their pursuers and avoiding people, and Harris makes sure to patiently and lovingly depict the various locations they find themselves in.  You really get a sense of the beauty and danger of the land during this period, and I loved seeing the various English characters react to the wide open spaces after spending time in cities like London.  Harris also takes the time to describe several of the historical settlements that the characters journeyed to and through, and you get a real sense of how built up or settled they were.  I found it fascinating to see all the descriptions about the various settlements, especially as many are quite significant cities in modern times, and it was really cool to see how they originated.  The descriptions of towns like Boston and Cambridge were pretty intriguing, especially as I didn’t realise just how built-up they were during this period (sentiments that some of the character’s shared), and I loved also seeing the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam, especially as Harris also explored the events that saw it renamed as something far more iconic.  Throw in the deeply fascinating depictions of the people inhabiting these settlements, including the distinctive religious differences (so many puritans) and political sentiments.  Religion in particular becomes quite a key part of this book, and watching the various Puritan figures discuss their beliefs and their thoughts on the actions of the main characters, is particularly intriguing, as you get to see how these religious fugitives shaped early America.  Overall, this is a very impressive and clearly heavily researched look at 17th century America, which all historical fiction fans will deeply appreciate.

I also really enjoyed the central figures of Act of Oblivion and I found their storylines to be very compelling.  As I mentioned above, I really didn’t know that much about Edward Whalley and William Goffe before reading this book, but that swiftly changed.  Harris did a remarkable job showcasing the lives of these two historical figures and you really get to know everything about them.  While I am sure that Harris made a few character changes to fit the narrative, I felt that the overall presentation of them was pretty realistic.  Harris really highlights their personalities, religious convictions, and deep pride in the actions they took under Cromwell throughout the book as they spend time remembering their pasts.  All the key moments are their lives are captured in some way throughout the book, either in the plot or in their memories, and you soon see what events led them to become fugitives.  While the depictions of some their actions during the war and Cromwell’s control of England does make them a tad unsympathetic, I grew attached to them, especially as you see them suffer in isolation over a period of years.  Harris did a remarkable job showcasing how he believed these people would have felt spending years and years trapped in attics and basements, and you can just feel the mental and physical impacts it had on them.  This was frankly a brilliant portrayal, and I had an excellent time getting to know these unique historical figures.

Aside from Whalley and Goffe, the other major character I need to mention is Richard Nayler, the man charged with hunting the fugitives down.  Nayler is a purely fictional character, although Harris indicates upfront that someone likely had this job in the 17th century.  I quite enjoyed the portrayal of Nayler in this book, especially as he serves as a grim and determined counterpart to the protagonists.  A Royalist who witnessed the execution of King Charles I, Nayler goes about his duties with a resolute duty, determined to make all the regicides pay.  However, his main obsession lies with Whalley and Goffe, who holds responsible for the death of his wife and child.  Despite this tragic past, it is a times hard to feel sorry for the super serious Nayler, especially as he has little compassion for others, even the innocent.  However, he is quite a captivating figure, especially as his growing obsession with finding the fugitives becomes more and more apparent.  While his fellow returned Royalists initially share his determination, it soon becomes evident that he is true fanatic, while the others are purely in it for political reasons.  Harris really shows the downside of obsession through this character, especially as Nayler sacrifices a lot to try and find the fugitives.  I felt he had an impressive storyline throughout Act of Oblivion, and this great fictional character played off the real historical figures extremely well.

Robert Harris’ latest novel, Act of Oblivion, once again highlights the author’s outstanding skill as he recounts a particularly fascinating occurrence from history.  I loved the amazing story contained in Act of Oblivion, especially as the author did such a great job incorporating historical events into an intense and captivating plot.  Deeply intriguing and very entertaining, Act of Oblivion is a highly recommended read, and I can’t wait to see what elaborate historical tale Harris comes up with next.

Act of Oblivion Cover 2

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Warhammer 40,000: Krieg by Steve Lyons

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer23 Comments

Warhammer 40,000 - Krieg Cover

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 29 January 2022)

Series: Warhammer 40,000

Length: 9 hours and 33 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Death, dishonour and duty all collide as impressive author Steve Lyons returns to the epic Warhammer 40,000 universe with Krieg, which dives into the origins of one the most iconic regiments of Imperial Guard out there, the Death Korps of Krieg.

Damn this has been a good year for Warhammer fiction so far.  We may only be in March, but 2022 has already produced a great collection of awesome Warhammer novels, including Steel Tread, The Twice-Dead King: Reign and Day of Ascension.  I have deeply enjoyed all these cool books, and when another awesome sounding tie-in novel was released on audiobook, I just had to grab it.

This latest book is Krieg by veteran science fiction author Steve Lyons.  Lyons is a new author to me, but he comes with an impressive pedigree in tie-in fiction, having written several Warhammer novels and short stories, a ton of Doctor Who novels and audio dramas, and several other intriguing novels.  I knew that I was probably going to love Krieg and I turned out to be right, as this fantastic and dark Warhammer 40,000 novel contains an intense and captivating tale of a legendary regiment.

In the grim future of the universe, there is only bloodshed and death, especially near the system-spanning Octarius War, where two brutal alien races battle for supremacy, and Imperial forces fight to stop their conflict spilling out into the greater Imperium.  However, the latest round of fighting sees a massive orc ship break through Imperial lines and crash into the massive city of Hive Arathron.  As the desperate Imperial forces fail to contain the invading orcs, all hope looks lost until a new set of deadly reinforcements arrive: the Death Korps of Krieg.

The Death Korps of Krieg are a legendary unit of peerless soldiers who are utterly fearless in battle, fanatically loyal to the Emperor, and who seem to harbour an unnatural desire to die in battle.  But who are the men of Krieg under their gasmasks and coats, and why do they fight so hard to regain their lost honour?  The answer lies thousands of years ago when Krieg attempted to cede from the Imperium, thrusting the planet into a brutal civil war.  In the end, one man stepped forward to end the fighting, and his decision doomed Krieg to become a blasted wasteland where only soldiers are grown.

As the fighting around Hive Arathron continues, many of their fellow soldiers and inquisitorial observers begin to doubt the loyalty and sanity of the Death Korps, especially when their unusual habits and creeds keep them apart from the other members of the Astra Militarium.  However, a deadly discovery deep inside the Hive will show the Imperium just how invaluable the men of Krieg are, especially when history seeks to repeat itself.  Can the Death Korps succeed against the xenos, or will Hive Arathron and its planet soon share a similar fate to Krieg?

The Warhammer 40,000 hits just keep on coming as Krieg turned out to be a truly awesome read.  Steve Lyons has produced an epic and intense novel here, and I loved the brilliant story that not only showcased a dangerous alien threat but which also examined the past of an iconic and captivating faction.

I thought that Lyons came up with an exceptional and captivating narrative for Krieg, which takes the reader on several parallel journeys throughout the history of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.  I have said multiple times before that I think some of the best Warhammer stories out there focus on the common troops, and I was proved right again as Lyons does a brilliant dive into the mind of the average solider when they experience the very worst of circumstances.  The primary storyline is set in the modern era of the canon and shows a regiment of Krieg Imperial Guard dropped into the battle for Hive Arathron to fight the orcs.  This section, which is told entirely from the perspective of supporting non-Krieg characters, shows the Death Korps in battle, with a specific highlight on their unusual appearance and practices.  At the same time, another storyline dives back into the past and shows the civil war that occurred on Krieg and the events that led up to the destruction of the planet and the formation of the modern Death Korps.  Both these storylines take up about half the book and they present the reader with two unique and interesting tales which work to complement the story from the other timeline while also depicting their own brutal military actions.  The stories start to come together towards the end when the protagonists of the contemporary storyline discover nuclear weapons in Hive Arathron, which they need to recover.  This leads to an interesting conclusion that results in some clever parallels between the historical events and the current storyline.  All this leads to a satisfying, if grim, conclusion that reveals the various fates of the supporting characters and wraps up the remaining story elements.

I was really impressed with how Krieg was written, and I think that Lyon did a really good job here.  The story ended up perfectly toeing the line between examining the lore and history of the universe and providing the reader with all the necessary excitement and adventure.  I think the decision to split the book between the two separate timelines was pretty clever, and I had a brilliant time reading the unique storylines it produced.  Both timelines were really good, and I loved the grim and powerful plot points they contained, especially as the protagonists within both suffered defeats, setbacks and brutal character realisations.  If I had to choose a favourite it would probably be the historical storyline set on Krieg, mainly because it shows the more desperate situation and substantially more character development and tragedy.  The twin storylines also did a wonderful job complementing each other, ensuring that the reader gets two separate sides of the titular regiment.  It also results in a series of different battle sequences, and I loved the interesting comparisons between a protracted civil war and a short and brutal fight against orcs.  Krieg ended up being a good standalone read, with a concise, well-paced and beautifully set-up narrative that is pretty easy to get addicted to, especially once both storylines descend into the hell of battle.  This also proved to be an extremely accessible tie-in to the Warhammer 40,000 universe, with Lyons ensuring that newer readers can easily follow what is happening with a minimal of explanation about the universe.  As such I would strongly recommend this book to a wide range of readers, and both experienced Warhammer fans and general science fiction readers will really appreciate the powerful and action-packed story contained within.

Unsurprisingly for a novel named Krieg, there is an extensive and fascinating examination of the Death Korps of Krieg in this book.  Lyons does a brilliant job of diving into this distinctive Warhammer faction, and this novel ended up being a very detailed and impressive love letter towards the infamous regiment.  Every aspect of the modern regiment is shown in exquisite detail, and you get an extremely powerful look at their design, uniform (which is based on the uniforms of World War I German trench fighters), fighting style, equipment, unique regiments, and more, including the iconic Death Riders (I was so very happy they were included, especially as you get several great fight scenes with them, including against orc bikers).  However, the real focus is on their unusual behaviour, including their determination to die in combat, their complete resolve and the fact that they never remove their masks.  Lyons really hammers home the unusualness of this regiment by only showing the modern Krieg soldiers through the eyes of regular soldiers or member of the Inquisition, all of whom are at a loss about what the Krieg are or why they fight so hard.

However, while these outsider characters are left wondering about many of these events, the readers get multiple insights thanks to the chapters that explore the historical civil war on Krieg.  Lyons does an incredible job of portraying this conflict, and it is fascinating to see the events that led up to it and the lengthy and costly war that followed.  Watching the opposing mentalities on Krieg during this time is really fascinating, and you soon get caught up in the dramatic battle that follows, especially as the situation continues to deteriorate over time.  I loved how the origins of the Krieg’s many idiosyncrasies are featured here, and you soon see what necessitated the use of certain equipment or behaviours.  The real highlight is the eventual destruction of Krieg and the subsequent formation of the modern version of the Death Korps.  The scenes that cover this destruction are pretty damn brutal, and watching the slow transition from typical soldiers to the eventual shrouded figures is extremely compelling and awesome.  I really appreciated the way in which Lyons showed off the various stages of the Krieg regiments, and the use of both the historical version of the regiment and its current formation really helped to highlight just how distinctive and cool they are.  While there are still a few secrets left hidden (what’s under the mask??), the reader leaves this book with an impressive appreciation for this awesome regiment, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it convinces several Warhammer 40,000 players to start using the Death Korps in their games.

A quick shoutout also needs to go to the fantastic characters featured throughout Krieg.  Lyons makes use of a large cast to tell this interesting story, and I liked the excellent mixture that this novel contained.  The characters featured in the contemporary line are primarily made up of non-Krieg fighters who serve as an interesting counterpoint to the nameless, faceless Death Korp soldiers.  This includes Inquisitor Ven Bruin, an older witch hunter who leads the search for the hidden weapons in Hive Arathron.  Ven Bruin is a lot gentler and less cynical that a typical Imperial Inquisitor, and he has some intriguing viewpoints on the situation, with his decisions tempered by experience and weariness.  Ven Bruin ends up holding multiple secrets throughout Krieg, and it is emotional to see him impacted by his multiple hard decisions and the lives they cost.  You also get the compelling viewpoint of Sergeant Renick, a Cadian soldier who fights alongside the Krieg.  Renick, who is a surprisingly good female character for a Warhammer novel, gives the common soldier’s viewpoint of events, and I loved seeing her slow opinion change of the Death Korps after seeing them in action against the orcs.

While there are some great characters in the Hive Arathron storyline, Lyons saves his best character work for the historical storyline on Krieg, which highlights the key people in the deadly civil war that destroyed the planet.  While there are several intriguing figures here, most of the focus is given to Colonel Jurten, the Imperial Guard commander who fights to keep Krieg in the Imperium.  Jurten is a weary veteran character who borders on the fanatical, especially when it comes to saving his home from himself.  Throughout the course of the book, you see Jurten fight a desperate war for his believes that culminates in him making a terrible decision that will impact his people for generations.  Watching Jurten’s substantial resolve slowly chip away throughout the book is very intense, and Lyon really shows the weight his beliefs and determination bear on him, especially after he makes the very worst of choices.  The other characters in this past storyline serve as an excellent support cast, and it was great to see their concerns and opinions about the battles being fought, especially compared to the resilient Jurten.  My favourite is probably the mysterious Adeptus Mechanicus tech-priest, Greel, who acts as the devil on Jurten’s shoulder, convincing him to make the tough decision about the future of Krieg.  I am still a little uncertain whether Greel was a hero or a villain (probably both; it is Warhammer), and I would be curious to find out more about him and his motivations in the future.  An excellent group of characters, I would be interested to see more of some of them in the future.

Unsurprisingly, I made sure to grab the audiobook version of Krieg, which ended up being another excellent and enjoyable experience.  I deeply enjoy Warhammer audiobooks, especially as they tend to enhance the grim and brutal stories, while also highlighting all the cool details about the Warhammer universe.  I had amazing time with the Krieg audiobook, and with a runtime of only 9 hours and 33 minutes, this was a pretty easy audiobook to get through.  The audiobook did an excellent job capturing the grim battles and blasted warzones featured throughout this awesome novel, and I could easily envisage every fight and every brutal decision.  I was also really impressed with the voice work of narrator Timothy Watson, who brought a ton of gravitas and intensity to this book.  Watson’s voice fit perfectly into this grim universe, and he did an outstanding job of capturing the various larger-than-life characters featured within, while also providing great Germanic accents to all the characters who originated from Krieg.  You really get a brilliant range of voices throughout Krieg, and I loved Watson’s ability to showcase the devotion, despair and weariness of all these great figures.  Another brilliant and wonderful Warhammer audiobook, this is easily the best way to enjoy this amazing tie-in book.

Overall, Krieg by Steven Lyons was another awesome Warhammer 40,000 novel that did a wonderful job of examining one of the game’s more unique and enjoyable faction.  Containing an action-packed narrative that highlighted the fantastic Death Korps of Krieg and showcased the events that made the soldiers they are today; Krieg was an addictive and clever read.  I loved the excellent use of a split timeline narrative, especially when it dove back into the civil war on Krieg, and the result was a grim and haunting tale of regret, duty and honour.  Highly recommended to all fans of Warhammer 40,000, you will love this beautiful and moving love letter to the iconic Death Korps and their tragic origins.

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Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy: Lesser Evil by Timothy Zahn

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction, Star Wars, Tie-in Novel15 Comments

Star Wars - Thrawn Ascendancy - Lesser Evil Cover

Publisher: Del Rey/Penguin Random House Audio (Audiobook – 16 November 2021)

Series: Thrawn Ascendancy – Book Three

Length: 23 hours and 13 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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The undisputed master of Star Wars extended fiction, Timothy Zahn, returns with final book in the Thrawn Ascendancy series, Lesser Evil, which brings this excellent prequel trilogy to a fantastic and dramatic end.

Out of all the awesome authors who have contributed to the Star Wars extended universe over the years, few are more talented or highly regarded than Timothy Zahn.  Zahn, who is one of the key architects of the original extended universe (now rebranded as Star Wars Legends), is probably best known for his original trilogy of Star Wars novels, which started with Heir to the Empire.  Heir to the Empire served as the introduction of several major extended universe characters, such as Mara Jade; however, his most iconic creation is probably the legendary character of Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Grand Admiral Thrawn is an intriguing and complex figure considered the greatest tactician in the entire Star Wars canon.  Serving as a major figure in the Imperial Navy, Thrawn was the brilliant antagonist of Heir to the Empire and other major Star Wars Legends novels.  The subsequent popularity of Thrawn saw him eventually introduced into the Disney canon in the Star Wars: Rebels animated series, as well as a future live-action appearance.  This also resulted in Zahn being contracted to write six new Thrawn-centric novels.  The Thrawn trilogy (made up of Thrawn, Alliances and Treason), detailed Thrawn’s introduction, rise and career in Imperial Navy and filled in some of the gaps of the show.  Zahn followed this up with the Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy, which served as a prequel to the original trilogy.

The Thrawn Ascendancy series is set during the Clone Wars period and takes place in the Chaos, the unexplored area of space outside of the main galaxy of the Star Wars series, and focuses on Thrawn’s species, the Chiss.  As such, the series is primarily set in and around the Chiss Ascendancy and focuses on several threats to the Ascendancy that Thrawn attempts to overcome.  This series has so far consisted of Chaos Rising and Greater Good, both of which were extremely cool, filled with detailed battles, fun new characters, and some intense political machinations.  Now this brilliant trilogy comes to an end, with a final chapter telling the full story of Thrawn’s greatest victory and lowest moment.

For thousands of years, the legendary Chiss Ascendancy has been one of the greatest powers within the Chaos, keeping its people safe from the alien races who seek to conquer or destroy them.  Confident in its own power and determined not to interfere in the lives of its neighbours, the Chiss maintain their borders through the Expansionary Defence Fleet.  However, in recent months, the Ascendancy has found itself under attack from a dangerous and manipulative force that seeks to utterly destroy the Chiss.  After defeating a potential external invader and weathering an attempt to drag some of the Ascendancy’s powerful families into conflict, the threat to the Chiss appears to be over.  However, these were merely a precursor to a much more sophisticated and dangerous attack by a new alien race, known as the Grysk.  Led by the dangerous and manipulative Jixtus, the Grysk seek to unleash a deadly, multi-pronged assault against the Chiss to rip the ascendancy apart inside and out.

As Jixtus traverses the planets of the Ascendancy, manipulating the great Chiss families towards civil war, his powerful fleet lies just outside its borders, waiting to attack.  With the Chiss getting closer and closer to a devastating internal and external conflict, the fate of the Ascendancy lies in the hands of Senior Captain Mitth’raw’nuruodo (Thrawn), the Chiss Expansionary Defence Fleet’s most brilliant and unconventional commander.  Having defeated the previous attacks on the Ascendancy, Thrawn is the only person that fully understands the oncoming danger and he is determined to stop Jixtus and permanently end the threat he represents.  However, Thrawn has long worn out the patience of the ruling families, and he now finds himself hamstrung by politics and personal grievances.  To save his people, Thrawn will be forced to break all the rules he has sworn to uphold.  But just how far will Thrawn go to defeat his enemy, and what consequences will his actions have on himself and the future of the Chiss Ascendancy?

Lesser Evil was another brilliant and exceptional read from Zahn that did an amazing job of wrapping the complex Thrawn Ascendancy series to an end.  Containing some awesome and unique Star Wars elements, Lesser Evil fills in all the gaps between this trilogy and the sequel Thrawn trilogy, and I think it ended up being one of Zahn’s strongest recent novels.

This novel contains an amazing narrative that brings together all the elaborate and compelling storylines from the previous Thrawn Ascendancy novels and provides a satisfying and fantastic conclusion to the trilogy.  The novel starts off right after the events of Greater Good, with several characters dealing with the aftermath of the near civil war and Thrawn’s latest unofficial mission.  The story quickly introduces the book’s antagonist, the master manipulator Jixtus, as he starts his grand plan to destroy the entire Chiss Ascendancy.  This brings out an impressive amount of intrigue, infighting and dissent, which forces many of the protagonists to attempt to slow it down.  At the same time, Thrawn engages in his own mission to try and identify the enemy’s master plan, which reintroduces several key storylines and settings from the previous novels and helps tie them into the plot of this book.  Zahn also throws in a series of flashback interludes that dive into key parts of Thrawn’s past and give some context to his current mindset and plans.  This all leads up to the big conclusion in which the great adversaries, Thrawn and Jixtus, finally meet in battle.  Lesser Evil proves to be a particularly exciting and intriguing read, and I loved the brilliant combination of world building, political intrigue, character development and fantastic battle sequences.  I had a lot of fun with this story, and it was one of the strongest in the entire Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy.

I really enjoyed how Zahn told this final entry in the series.  The great use of multiple character perspectives not only allows for a richer story that examines all angles of the conflict but it also presents several impressive character driven storylines that were wonderful to follow.  In addition, Zahn once again lays onto the universe building by expanding the reader’s knowledge of the alien Chiss Ascendancy and their domain outside of the main galaxy of the Star Wars universe.  This universe building excellently comes into play as the novel progresses, especially as the antagonist’s plan relies on manipulating the politics and history of the various ruling families.  I really appreciated this cool extended look into this intriguing setting, especially as it ties into some of Zahn’s prior work.  Due to the extensive and elaborate Star Wars lore contained within Lesser Evil, this book is probably best read by experienced fans of the franchise who will appreciate all the inclusions.  It is also highly recommended that readers check out the first two novels in this trilogy first, as the storylines of Lesser Evil are very strongly tied into them.

Lesser Evil contains some intriguing connections to the wider Star Wars universe and canon that long-term fans of the franchise will deeply appreciate.  These connections mainly revolve around Thrawn’s prior appearances and fills in many gaps that were left open from the Thrawn trilogy.  This includes the full reason why the original series began with Thrawn banished from his people and left stranded on an alien planet.  It has been pretty clear since the first Thrawn Ascendancy novel that this entire trilogy has been leading up to this moment, and Zahn did not disappoint, including a moving and complex reason for the banishment that played perfectly into the character’s personality and the events of the previous novels.  Zahn also layers in a ton of intriguing connections to his Star Wars Legends novels that fans will deeply enjoy.  For example, parts of Lesser Evil are deeply connected to Zhan’s previous novel, the now non-canon Outbound Flight, which also focused on a younger Thrawn.  Parts of Outbound Flight’s story and setting have been adapted into the Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy, such as some elements of Chiss culture and some supporting characters, and it was interesting to see Zahn retrofit his previous works for the new canon.  In addition, key flashbacks within Lesser Evil take place in a version of Outbound Flight’s narrative, and while I did think this was cool, Zahn did not include a lot of context, so readers unfamiliar with his prior book may be left a little confused.  Still, this was a clever homage to the author’s prior works, and I appreciated Zahn’s fascinating references to his now defunct novels.

One of the strongest things about Lesser Evil was the great array of characters featured throughout.  There is a very strong cast in this final book, with most of the key characters having been established in the previous Thrawn Ascendancy novels or re-introduced from some of Zahn’s Star Wars Legends novels.  All the major characters featured in Lesser Evil have some amazing story arcs and Zahn spends a lot of time fleshing out their personalities, motivations, and histories, which deeply enhances this brilliant narrative.

The most prominent of these characters is Thrawn himself, who has an epic showing in Lesser Evil after being somewhat underutilised in Greater Good. Lesser Evil proves to be a defining novel for Thrawn, especially as he encounters his true enemy, the Grysk, for the first time.  The reader is also given insights into certain previously unseen relationships that Thrawn had, namely with his adopted brother, Thrass.  It also finally reveals the reasons why he was banished from the Chiss and marooned on the deserted alien planet by the start of Thrawn.  I deeply enjoyed the cool character arc surrounding Thrawn in this book, and Zahn does a great job once again highlighting his unique personality and motivations.  Despite being a little less sinister in literary form than in Star Wars Rebels, Thrawn has a harsh edge here, and the reader gets some great insights into his constant motivation of protecting the Chiss Ascendancy.  Throughout the course of the book, it becomes deeply apparent that Thrawn will risk everything to achieve his goal, and I loved how heartless Thrawn can become when dealing with his enemies.  This motivation and background go a long way to exploring Thrawn’s actions while serving the Empire, and fans of this fantastic character will deeply appreciate this compelling story arc.  Zahn also answers several intriguing questions about Thrawn’s past in this book, and it proved incredibly fascinating to see this great character expanded even further.

I must once again highlight the great way in which Zahn displays his central protagonist.  As with his previous appearances in Zahn’s novels, Thrawn is one of the few characters whose perspective is not shown; instead all his actions and interactions are viewed through the eyes of his friends, allies, and even a couple of enemies.  I have always felt that this was a very clever technique from Zahn as it helps to highlight just how mysterious and distinctly complex his protagonist is.  Readers are only given glimpses into his brilliance, and it allows for increased suspense and surprise throughout the novel as the reader often has no idea what Thrawn is thinking or how he plans to get out of a certain situation.  The use of other observers also really helps to highlight the tactical ploys Thrawn employs, especially as he usually is forced to explain his insights, strategies, and the entire scope of his plans to the less tactically gifted people he is working with.  These elaborate explanations, coupled with the observations of the relevant side character, ensures that the readers get a much more detailed picture of Thrawn’s observations and subsequent tactics.  I have often compared this to how Watson amps up the deductive ability of Sherlock Holmes by having Sherlock explain everything to him, and the result is pretty much the same here.  I deeply enjoyed this fantastic use of perspective and I love everything that Zahn did with his iconic protagonist throughout Lesser Evil, and indeed the entire Thrawn Ascendancy series.

If Thrawn was Sherlock Holmes, then I would say that antagonist Jixtus was the Professor Moriarty of the Thrawn Ascendancy series.  A member of the mysterious Grysk species, Jixtus has been a shadowy figure throughout the proceeding novels, influencing events from the shadows and sending out proxies to fight Thrawn and the Chiss.  This comes to an end in Lesser Evil as Jixtus takes a personal hand in attacking the Chiss Ascendancy.  Jixtus proves to be an excellent and brilliant counterpoint to Thrawn and it is fascinating to see the battle of minds between them, especially as both have alternate strengths.  While Thrawn is tactically brilliant, Jixtus is better at personal manipulation and politics, something Thrawn struggles with.  As such, there is a real battle of styles here in Lesser Evil and the result is pretty brilliant.  I also really appreciated how you also never see any part of the book told from Jixtus’ perspective, ensuring that he is just as mysterious and ethereal as Thrawn.  I loved how Zahn portrays Jixtus in this novel; he comes across as an incredibly dangerous and malevolent being, even though you never see his face.

The other new character I wanted to focus on in this book was Thrass (Mitth’ras’safis), Thrawn’s friend and fellow member of the Mitth family.  Thrass is an interesting character, initially introduced in the previous canon as Thrawn’s brother.  There have only been hints of him in the Thrawn Ascendancy novels, and this final book finally features in him to a degree, showing him in a series of flashback interludes set in Thrawn’s past.  Thrass is shown to be a Mitth politician who finds himself befriending and then partnering with Thrawn through a series of adventures.  The two complement each other extremely well, with Thrass serving as a bridge for the more unconventional Thrawn, while also supporting him with his political knowledge.  Thrass’s scenes proved to be a great inclusion to the novel and I felt the author did a great job re-introducing the character, even if only for flashback sequences.  I really appreciated the author’s examination about how this friendship, and later brotherhood, was vital to Thrawn’s growth and current abilities, and I particularly enjoyed the examination about how Thrass helped develop Thrawn’s flair for the dramatic.  Fans of Zahn’s Legend’s work will deeply enjoy the new appearance of this established character in Lesser Evil, and I think it was an interesting and fun choice from the author, that ended up working incredibly well.

I must also highlight how Zahn featured the other recurring characters from the Thrawn Ascendancy series.  Pretty much all the major characters from the previous two novels are featured strongly in Lesser Evil, and there are some remarkably good storylines set around them.  Thrawn’s crew aboard the Springhawk get a decent amount of focus throughout this book, particularly Samakro, Thalias and Che’ri, and each of their storylines are nicely concluded.  In addition, I loved the continued use of Ziinda, another Senior Captain, who, after barely averting a civil war in the previous book, finds herself subsequently vilified and forced into a new family.  Ziinda proves to be a vital part of the plot, and it was great to see how much she had developed since the previous novel, especially as Zahn starts her on the path to becoming as determined as Thrawn.  Zahn also makes great use of Roscu, a former member of the Expansionary Defence Fleet who had issues with Thrawn in Chaos Rising. Roscu is initially set up as a secondary antagonist, especially as her mistrust of Thrawn, his friends, and all the rival families, drives her to do some stupid things.  However, Zahn slowly turns her into a surprisingly sympathetic character as the novel progresses and you end up really rooting for her.  I also loved Qilori, a supposedly neutral Pathfinder with a grudge against Thrawn; and Thurfian, the Mitth Patriarch who views Thrawn and his actions as a threat to his family and the Chiss as a whole.  These two serve as interesting secondary antagonists to the story, and it was great to see their outraged reaction to Thrawn’s actions, as well as their own attempts to end him.  These characters, and many more, added so much to this book, and I loved seeing all their arcs conclude with the trilogy.

I cannot talk about a Zahn Star Wars novel without highlighting the amazing and exciting space battles featured within.  No one does a space battle in Star Wars fiction better than Zahn, who devotes an impressive amount of time and detail into making them as impressive, thrilling, and tactically awesome as possible.  The reader gets a detailed mental impression of the space engagements that occur, and you can practically feel every shot, roll, or manoeuvre.  Lesser Evil was a particularly good example of this, featuring several great battle scenes, including one massive and action-packed confrontation towards the end.  Each sequence was beautifully rendered and perfectly portrayed, with the reader getting the full sense of everything that happened.  Throw in the distinctive technology of the Chiss, as well as the tactical abilities of Thrawn, and you have some of the most unique and brilliant battles in all of Star Wars fiction, especially as there is a great focus on larger cruisers and battleships, rather than smaller fighter craft.  I deeply enjoyed every battle sequence in this book, and fans of fights in space are in for a real treat here.

Unsurprisingly, I ended up checking out the audiobook version of Lesser Evil, rather than reading a psychical copy.  I cannot overemphasise just how amazing the Star Wars audiobooks are, thanks to their usual amazing combinations of impressive voice acting, clever sound effects and moving Star Wars music.  Lesser Evil is a great example of this, and I had a wonderful time getting through this brilliant audiobook, even with its extensive 23+ hours run time (it would rank 17th on the current version of My Longest Audiobook I Have Ever Listened To list).  I must once again highlight the cool sound effects that were utilised throughout the audiobook to great effect.  These effects, most of which have been taken from Star Wars films and animated shows, add so much depth and power to the audiobook’s scenes, building up a strong atmosphere around the words.  Sounds like blaster fire or roaring engines really help to bring the listeners into the centre of the book’s climatic scenes, while even smaller scenes get a boost thanks to having crowd noises or computer sounds lightly running in the background.  The audiobook also makes good use of the iconic Star Wars score in various parts.  While not featured as heavily as other Star Wars audiobooks, in several places the amazing orchestral music from the films is utilised to give some major scenes a dramatic punch.  This is particularly true in some of the battle sequences, and the listeners are treated to some of the more exciting or moving tunes, which makes the battles or major moments feel bigger and more important.

In addition to this great use of sound effects and epic Star Wars music, Lesser Evil’s audiobook also benefited immensely from the narration of Marc Thompson.  Thompson is an amazing narrator (one of my personal favourites), who has contributed his voice to a huge range of Star Wars novels, including all of Zahn’s previous Thrawn and Thrawn Ascendancy novels, and other audiobooks such as Scoundrels, Light of the Jedi, The Rising Storm, Dark Disciple and more.  Thompson has such a great range for Star Wars fiction, and he can produce some amazing and fitting voices for the various characters featured within.  Most of these voices are continuations of the ones used in the previous Thrawn Ascendancy novels, and I enjoyed the consistency from the previous two books.  I must also really highlight Thompson’s epic Thrawn voice, that perfectly captures the character’s essence, and which is incredibly close to Lars Mikkelsen’s voice from Star Wars: Rebels.  I also loved the voice that Thompson assigned to Jixtus, and the dark and sinister tones perfectly fit this awesome villain.  Thompson also cleverly modulated his voice for certain alien races to capture the unique characteristics Zahn assigned to them in his writing.  You really get a sense about how alien and strange these creatures are, which helped bring me into the zone.  This was another exceptional Star Wars audiobook, and this is easily the best way to enjoy this clever and impressive novel.

With the brilliant and captivating Lesser Evil, the legendary Timothy Zahn brings his awesome Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy to an end in a big way.  Loaded up with excellent universe building, an outstanding story, some excellent characters and some truly impressive space battles, Lesser Evil is probably the best entries in the entire Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy.  I loved how Zahn brought the trilogy’s various storylines together in this final novel, providing an exciting and captivating conclusion that perfectly leads into the original Thrawn trilogy.  Thanks to all of this and more, Lesser Evil gets a full five stars from me and comes extremely highly recommended, especially in its audiobook format.  I have had an incredible time reading the various Thrawn novels over the last few years and I really hope that Timothy Zahn continues to explore his iconic protagonist in the future, especially once Thrawn gets his long overdue live action debut.

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The Pariah by Anthony Ryan

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy, Five-Star Books36 Comments

The Pariah Cover

Publisher: Orbit (Audiobook – 24 August 2021)

Series: The Covenant of Steel – Book One

Length: 19 hours and 57 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Bestselling fantasy author Anthony Ryan returns with the first book in an epic, brand new series, The Pariah, a massive and captivating tale of one young man destined to alter an entire kingdom.

Anthony Ryan is an impressive and highly regarded fantasy author who has been a leading figure in the fantasy fiction landscape for the last 10 years.  Ryan has already written several compelling series, including the Raven’s Shadow trilogy (succeeded by the Raven’s Blade duology), the Slab City Blues series, the Draconis Memoria trilogy and his Seven Swords series.  All these series sound pretty awesome, and I have been meaning to check out some of Ryan’s works for years, especially his Raven’s Shadow books.  Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to go back and read any of them, which I really regret.  So when I was lucky enough to receive a copy of The Pariah a couple of weeks ago, I was very interested in checking it out, especially as it serves as the first book in the brand new The Covenant of Steel series, which I thought would be a good way to experience Ryan’s writing style.  I am very glad that I did as The Pariah was an outstanding and powerful fantasy read that I had a wonderful time getting through.

Alwyn is a young outlaw, trained by his band to steal, kill, spy and deceive.  Raised in the massive and forbidding forest known as the Shavine Marches, in the heart of the kingdom of Albermaine, Alwyn serves the notorious Deckin Scarl, a feared and revered bandit king who rules the forests with an iron fist.  Following a deadly civil war, Deckin finds himself with an opportunity to eliminate a recently installed duke and his family and seize his power and lands.  However, before he can enact his ambitious and murderous plan, the bandit horde is betrayed, Deckin is executed and Alwyn is imprisoned, sent to work a lifetime in the labour prison known as the Pit Mines.

Determined to escape the mines and get revenge on the person responsible for the death of everyone he knew and loved, Alwyn finds himself under the sway of an inspirational cleric imprisoned alongside him.  Under her tutelage, Alwyn learns a subtler art and becomes a scribe of great skill.  However, his desire for freedom and revenge is never far from his mind, and he soon leads the inmates of the pit in an ambitious escape attempt, and so sets forth a series of events that will change Albermaine forever

Managing to escape from the prison and find sanctuary, Alwyn learns much and finds himself taking on many guises including that of scribe, scholar, advisor, and thief, as he attempts to find safety, wealth, and revenge.  However, fate never appears to be on Alwyn’s side, and his bad luck eventually forces him to join a military company serving a noble lady who believes herself touched by the gods.  Pledging himself to this company to save his life, Alwyn traverses battlefields and warzones across Albermaine, encountering some of the unusual people who inhabit this chaotic realm.  His adventures will place him at the centre of the formative events of the kingdom and the church, but how will this scribe of bastard birth rise to become one of the most infamous figures of the age?

This was an outstanding novel from Ryan and one that makes me really regret not checking out some of his previous novels earlier.  The Pariah contains an epic and comprehensive fantasy tale that sees a flawed protagonist traverse a compelling and well-established new fantasy realm.  I had an amazing time getting through this impressive novel and it gets a full five-star rating from me.

The Pariah has a really great story that I got pretty damn addicted to.  This latest book from Ryan is told in the chronicle form, as penned by its protagonist, Alwyn Scribe, who recounts his life story, including the early events which are the focus of this book.  Ryan dives right into The Pariah’s narrative extremely quickly, with details of the setting and history weaved in as the tale progresses.  The story has an intriguing start to it, showing Alwyn as the young member of a bandit crew with an ambitious leader.  However, the story goes in some very interesting and devastating directions fast, with a brutal massacre changing the entire status quo for the protagonist and forcing him onto a new path.  The rest of the story follows Alwyn as he becomes mixed up with a series of inspirational leaders, mysterious magic users, and fun side characters, whose plans and beliefs forces the protagonist into great adventure and intrigue.  This leads to some awesome and memorable scenes, including a dangerous prison break, some epic battle sequences, and innumerable mysteries and revelations, several of which are left open for the author to explore in the rest of the series.  This all leads to an intriguing and action-packed conclusion that showcases the protagonist’s growth, while also setting up the future entries in the series pretty well.

I deeply enjoyed the author’s impressive writing style in this novel, especially with the entire novel set out in the form of first-person chronicle.  Due to the cool stories that it can tell, I have a lot of love for the chronicle format, and I felt Ryan did a really good job of utilising it in The Pariah.  The post-examination of Alwyn’s story from his older self provides a unique and compelling view of the events unfolding around him, and I enjoyed the various notes from his older self that hint at future events and hidden secrets.  These discussions of future events help to add a certain amount of anticipation and suspense at various points at the novel, such as the early hints about the ambush at the bandit camp or mentions about future dark meetings with certain characters.  I also found the focus of this book to be quite interesting, especially as a large portion of the novel was more concerned with setting up future storylines, rather than moving the story along at a quicker pace.  This is a very classic epic fantasy move from Ryan, and it quite enjoyed the way in which he took the time to establish the protagonist, the supporting cast, and the settings, with a particular focus on some of the formative events of Alwyn’s life.  While I enjoyed this set-up, it does steal a little excitement and momentum from the narrative, although I think the sheer amount of interesting setting detail and the intriguing potential of several established, long-term storylines more than makes up for it.  All these interesting writing elements helped to turn The Pariah into a very exciting and compelling read, and I really loved the way in which they enhanced the already awesome narrative.

I also quite enjoyed the new setting that Ryan set up for The Covenant of Steel series, which has an interesting medieval European feel to it, equipped with knights, forest-dwelling bandits, and religious crusades.  The entire novel is set within the Western Duchies of Albermaine, a nation riven by civil war, invasion and religious instability.  This proves to be an outstanding and compelling background to the awesome story contained with The Pariah, especially as the protagonist finds himself visiting some of the more unique locations of this setting during major historical events.  I personally enjoyed the cool forest lair portrayed in the start of the novel, mainly because Ryan was trying to emulate a darker version of the Robin Hood tale, but there is also a deadly prison mine and an elaborate cathedral that serve as major settings which I thought were really good.

There is also a great focus on the political and religious makeup of Albermaine, and this results in some fascinating storylines.  I really liked the focus on the martyr-based and corrupt overarching religious organisation that has substantial control of the kingdom, as that forms a driving point of the plot, with the protagonist becoming involved with several unorthodox clergy members, who bring down the wrath of the rest of the church for their actions.  Also, I am kind of curious to see if a prophesied end-of-the world event that multiple characters preach about actually occurs in future novels, especially as it would be a pretty fun story moment if it did.  The protagonist also seems drawn to several people with magical abilities considered heretical by the church, which offers an interesting counterpoint to his other threats, especially as each of these magical characters produce impressive mysteries and potential dark storylines.  I was impressed with how much time the author takes to imbue his setting with a massive amount of detail and after the quick start to the narrative, the reader is given a crash course in the history and politics of the realm.  Despite the level of detail, I think that Ryan spread the world building out to an acceptable degree, and I never felt too overwhelmed with the various explanations and world expansions.  I had a wonderful time traversing Albermaine with the protagonist and I look forward to seeing what additional developments and storylines occur within it in the future novels.

As I mentioned above, the novel is solely told from the perspective of protagonist Alwyn, later known as Alwyn Scribe once he takes up his profession, who is penning the events of his younger life.  Alwyn is an interesting protagonist to follow and thanks to the author’s use of the chronicle style, you really get a sense of the character’s personality, motivations, and intentions as the novel progresses.  Initially starting off as a young thief with immense loyalty to his chief, Alwyn goes through a lot as the novel progresses, forced to make hard decisions and encountering horrors, mistakes and a load of enemies as his tale progresses.  I found Alwyn to be a complex and compelling figure, and I didn’t always like him or his decisions, especially when he was reckless and rash.  However, he does grow as the novel progresses and, while he still has a lot more development to go, I felt that he was a better character at the end of the novel.  I liked the various talents that Alwyn develops throughout the novel, and it was fun to have a more complex and less noble figure, thanks to his past as a thief and conman.  I especially enjoyed his transition into a scribe, which the character soon sees as his primary profession, and it certainly is an interesting and compelling role for a fantasy protagonist.  I liked the way in which the older version of the character tells the story, especially as there are some great reflections about his actions and his personality during that time, and you can often hear the protagonist’s regret over what he did and what is to come.  I cannot wait to see what happens to this character in the future, and I kind of suspect that his tale is not going to come to a very happy end.

Aside from Alwyn, The Pariah is filled with a massive contingent of side and supporting characters who Alwyn meets throughout his adventures.  These characters are featured perfectly throughout the narrative and I loved the unique and compelling ways in which they influenced the overall story.  Ryan invests a lot of time into developing many of these characters, even some who had more minor roles, providing interesting personal histories and personality traits to make them stand out, and I appreciated how complex and compelling their storylines could turn out to be.  I found it interesting that there was a focus on inspiration leaders, with Alwyn falling in with three separate figures in this novel, each of whom commanded his loyalty through different means and whom he became close with in different ways (one is a surrogate father, another a teacher, while the third has a very complicated and constantly evolving relationship with the protagonist).  There were also some interesting antagonists featured throughout the novel, and while a couple died before their time, Ryan made sure to leave some of the better ones alive for the next entry in the series, and I am sure they will have an impact there.  Each of the characters featured in The Pariah added a lot to the plot, and I cannot wait to see what unique figures are featured in Ryan’s next entry.

While I did receive a physical copy of The Pariah, I decided to try out the audiobook format instead.  I am glad that I did as this was an excellent and enjoyable audiobook that was really fun to listen to.  Due to its massive story, The Pariah has a decent run time of just under 20 hours, although I managed to get through it in less than a week as I really got into the amazing story.  The audiobook moved at a great pace, ensuring that there were never any dull or slow moments for the listener to get bogged down in.  I also found that the audiobook format was a great way to absorb the intense amount of world-building, and it also lent itself to some of the exciting fight scenes extremely well.  I was also impressed by the narration of Steven Brand, who brought a wonderful energy to this format.  Brand has an amazing voice and he quickly leapt into the role of the narrator, telling the unique tale of the protagonist’s life and inhabiting the character seamlessly.  I loved the distinctive and well-fitted voices that Brand used throughout The Pariah, and he really helped to turn this format into something special.  As a result, the audiobook version of this book comes highly recommended and I will probably end up listening to the rest of this series in this format.

The Pariah by Anthony Ryan is an epic and deeply compelling piece of fantasy fiction that is really worth reading.  Perfectly setting up Ryan’s intriguing new series, The Pariah was an awesome outing from this talented author, and I loved the brilliant story, complex characters and chaotic setting that was featured throughout it.  I cannot wait to see how this awesome series is going to turn out, and The Covenant of Steel novels look set to be one of the most iconic fantasy series of the next few years.

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Starlight Enclave by R. A. Salvatore

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy6 Comments

Starlight Enclave Cover

Publisher: HarperAudio (Audiobook – 3 August 2021)

Series: The Way of the Drow – Book One

Length: 14 hours and 49 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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The icon of the fantasy world, R. A. Salvatore, returns with a new adventure set in the world of his acclaimed Drizzt Do’Urden novels, with Starlight Enclave, the first book in The Way of the Drow trilogy.

Salvatore is an absolute legend amongst fantasy writers, having been an impressive leading figure for over 30 years with a massive catalogue of more than 60 novels.  I have long been a fan of Salvatore, who has written some of my absolute favourite fantasy novels over the years.  While he has written several great series, the author is still best known for his iconic, long-running Drizzt Do’Urden novels, which are set within the shared Forgotten Realms universe.  Salvatore has had a particularly busy couple of years, simultaneously writing two separate series, including The Coven trilogy (Child of a Mad God, Reckoning of a Fallen God and Song of a Risen God), as well as the three books in the Drizzt focused Generations series (Timeless, Boundless and Relentless).  All six of these recent novels have been pretty incredible, with Song of a Risen God and Boundless being amongst some of my favourite audiobooks of 2019 and 2020 respectfully.  As a result, I was pretty excited when I saw that Salvatore had another Drizzt Do’Urden novel coming out and I made sure to grab a copy of Starlight Enclave as soon as I could.

Two years after the miraculous end to the Drow siege of Gauntlgrym, peace reigns throughout the Forgotten Realms.  However, while some revel in the hard-won tranquillity, others worry about the future.  Despite having cemented his rule over the pirate city of Luskan, the Drow rogue Jarlaxle is deeply troubled by the difficulties plaguing his people.  Despite the apparent magical miracle that showed her as a false gold, the demonic Spider Queen Loth is still worshiped in the dark Drow city of Menzoberranzan, and civil war appears likely as the powerful Drow houses battle for the city’s soul.

Determined that Loth be thrown down once and for all, Jarlaxle looks for every advantage and weapon he can get his hands on.  One of his more ambitious plans leads him to arm his closest friend, the recently resurrected Zaknafein Do’Urden, with two mighty swords of power, including the notorious blade Khazid’hea, better known as Cutter.  With a sly and dark intelligence of its own, Khazid’hea has corrupted many wielders over the years, and its last master, the half-Drow Doum’wielle, may prove to be the missing piece in Jarlaxle’s latest master plan.  Unfortunately, Doum’wielle was lost years before, thrown through a magical portal to the far north, and to find her Jarlaxle will need to embark on another dangerous quest.

Gathering three mighty companions in Zaknafein, the human priestess Cattie-brie and the former assassin Artemis Entreri, Jarlaxle leads them to the extreme far north, a place few have travelled.  However, they are unprepared for just how dangerous this northern land can be, with new foes and mysterious phenomenon they have no idea about.  But there are far great surprises waiting in store for them, ones that could change the very fabric of the world and alter the course of the upcoming Drow civil war.

Starlight Enclave is another compelling and fun fantasy novel from Salvatore who continues to expand and polish his iconic characters and settings with another great adventure narrative.  This latest book contains a fantastic story that not only takes the series back to its bold adventurous roots, but which also sets up a great new trilogy that will no doubt be some of my favourite books of the next couple of years.

This new book contains a distinctive and powerful narrative that starts off a couple of years after the events of the previous novel, Relentless.  The story starts off by setting the scene for a substantial amount of the plot while also recapping some key events of the previous novels in this very long-running series.  It took me a little while to initially get into this book, but once the story got to a fantastic and intense sea battle around 50 pages in, I was pretty hooked.  From there, the story diverts into two distinctive paths, the first following Jarlaxle and his companions as they venture out into the north, while a second following main series protagonist Drizzt Do’Urden, as he takes his daughter Brie to meet his martial arts master, Grand Master Kane.  While initially pretty evenly split, the Jarlaxle adventure storyline quickly becomes the dominant narrative thread, with Drizzt’s storyline stopping about halfway through.  I personally was fine with this; by this point, I was really enjoying the unique and cool tale being told around the four adventurers as they discover new lands and great dangers in the far north.  This second half of the novel is very intriguing, and Salvatore ensures that there is a great blend of action, character development and world building.  Just like with most of Salvatore’s novels, the fight scenes within Starlight Enclave are a thing of beauty and the author does an amazing job bringing the various fantasy battles to life, so much so the reader feels like they are in the room with them.  The narrative eventually ends a bit of a cliffhanger that places most of the characters in mortal peril and which serves as a pretty cool conclusion to this great tale.  I had a wonderful time getting through this story, and I am very intrigued to see how the narrative continues in the rest of the trilogy.

Due to Starlight Enclave being part of the long running Drizzt Do’Urden series, there is a bit of a question about how easy it is for new readers to enjoy this latest book.  I will admit that there might be some difficulties for those unfamiliar with the series.  Salvatore has built up quite a lot of background lore in the last 30+ years, and large amount of this comes into play throughout the book as there are a substantial number of references to previous adventures and characters.  In addition, new readers might not be familiar with Salvatore’s writing style, which is very similar to how he wrote the original novels back in the 1980s, and as a result, they have a more classic fantasy adventure feel to them.  As someone familiar with the previous adventures (although I could use a refresher) and the author’s style, I managed to get into this novel quite well, although I could potentially see new readers having a bit of a harder time breaking into them.  Salvatore does take the time to explain the relevant bits of lore, and readers that pay attention should be able to follow the story without any substantial problems.  I do think that, at this point, most of Salvatore’s novels are probably best read by his long-term fans, but newer readers will probably find something that they enjoy within them.

Unlike the previous trilogy of novels, which was set in more established settings, Starlight Enclave takes the reader on a big adventure into some brand-new areas of this massive fantasy world.  Most of the story takes place in the far, far in the north of the planet, where very few southerners have ventured.  This is a pretty unforgiving land of ice and snow, which proves a real challenge to survive in.  Salvatore does a really good job bringing this snowy landscape to life, and it proves to be an excellent and treacherous setting for the story, especially as the protagonists soon discover that their magic does not work the same way as it does in the south, severely weakening them.  Salvatore also does some major world-building in this book, as he introduces some big new civilisations and opponents.  While I won’t go into too much detail about them here, I will say that it is a pretty major new inclusion, and it is clearly one that is going to have some significant impacts on the Drizzt Do’Urden series going forward.  Some of the new major locations and races are extremely cool and Salvatore has successfully introduced some great and intriguing new entries into this wider world.  I look forward to seeing how these elements are expanded in the future novels, and I have a feeling they are going to produce a few great surprises down the line.

You can’t talk about one of Salvatore’s novels without mentioning the fun and compelling characters.  Starlight Enclave is a great example of this, as it includes a fantastic range of characters, with both intriguing new characters to beloved long-running figures from the overarching series.  Over the last couple of Drizzt Do’Urden novels, Salvatore has noticeably moved away from some of his classic protagonists and has started to focus on the unique combination of the Drow characters of Jarlaxle and Zaknafein.  I quite like these two great characters, especially the constantly manipulative and canny Jarlaxle, and together they form a fantastic pairing who play off each other’s personalities perfectly.  The inclusion of other main characters, Cattie-brie and Artemis Entreri rounds out the main quartet nicely and presents a great group of veteran adventurers who are each looking for something very different, whether it be hope, redemption or the long-lost joy of adventure.  Long-term fans of Salvatore’s books may be a little disappointed that some major characters, such as Regis and Wulfgar, are overlooked in this novel, but I was personally more than happy with the four main characters Starlight Enclave ended up focusing on.

The other character who got a bit of attention in Starlight Enclave is the overarching series’ main protagonist, Drizzt Do’Urden, who is the focus of the book’s secondary storyline.  Like some of the other major characters, Drizzt has not been as heavily featured in the last few books as Salvatore experiments with different protagonists.  This is still true in Starlight Enclave, with less than a quarter of the book given over to Drizzt’s adventure.  Drizzt still shines as a character, especially as he is going through quite a lot.  Drizzt is facing a bit of a crisis of faith and self-identity, brought on by his unique experiences in the previous trilogy when he ascended to a higher plain of existence to escape a deadly foe.  Brought back by the love of his family, Drizzt still isn’t all there, and it is quite fascinating to see the more distracted and spiritual version of the character.  Due to this development, Drizzt’s scenes tend to be quite philosophical in nature rather than action orientated, and there are several detailed discussions and debates about religion and the morality of the Drow.  While not as exciting, Drizzt’s scenes are pretty interesting and form a great counterpoint to the other storyline.  Salavatore is clearly building to something big here surrounding Drizzt, and I feel like there are going to be some other major changes around him in the coming novels.  Still, it was nice to see a somewhat more peaceful Drizzt in this book, and after all these years, I had a smile to see him as a father rather than a warrior.

To enjoy this cool novel, I ended up grabbing the audiobook version of Starlight Enclave, which was narrated by Victor Bevine.  This audiobook has a pretty decent runtime of just under 15 hours, which I was able to get through in around a week.  I really enjoyed this version of the book, and I felt that it helped me get more entrenched in the landscapes and detailed fantasy world that Salvatore produced.  Bevine, who has narrated a substantial number of Salvatore’s previous novels, does another great job here, and it was great to once again here his take on the various characters, especially as there is a bit of continuity from the previous audiobooks I have enjoyed.  Bevine does a good job portraying each of the characters contained within Starlight Enclave, and I like the fun accents he does for the various races, especially the dwarves, who get some fun Scottish tones.  Bevine ensures that this audiobook moves along at a fast and exciting pace, and I always enjoy hearing his narration of these exciting and compelling adventures.

In the amazing Starlight Enclave, the iconic R. A. Salvatore continues to expand his impressive and long-running Drizzt Do’Urden series with another bold adventure novel.  This great novel does an awesome job setting up the cool new The Way of the Drow trilogy with a unique and exciting story and some compelling world-building.  I had a wonderful time getting through Starlight Enclave and it is an excellent read, especially for those established fans of the author who will no doubt love to see another classic fantasy tale.  An overall outstanding book, I am extremely excited to see how the rest of this new series unfolds.

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