Book Review - Ruin (The Faithful and the Fallen #3) by John Gwynne

This review should be free of major spoilers but as it is the review of a sequel it will contain some very minor spoilers akin to the blurb on the back of each book - but nothing major - Enjoy

Ruin is the third book in John Gwynne’s The Faithful and the Fallen series and it doesn’t disappoint.

Corban is emerging as a true leader of men, his destiny as the Seren Disglair now revealed and known. The identity of the Black Sun, the great enemy, although known to the reader, is finally revealed to the character in question. The fight to attain the seven giant Starstone relics takes precedence in Ruin as whomever can gather them all together will surely emerge victorious in the Godwar.

The end of Valour sees a great evil unleashed upon the Banished Lands, the Kadoshim, the demon servants of Asroth. In Ruin Calidus and the servants of Asroth now march to assert an evil dominion over the realms of men.

Reunited with his sister Cywen, but at heavy cost, Corban must make the decision to march south to aid Edana and liberate Ardan or follow the prophecy to Drasil. Nathair struggles with the great deception against him and his own place in the prophecy. Maquin is on the run from his enemies and rebellion is brewing. Maquin has become one of the most kick-ass characters in the series for me, along with Veradis, but he was always kick-ass.

The books are still gradually getting darker. There are some more gruesome parts than we have seen so far that come with the emergence of the Kadoshim. There are battles and plenty of well written fight sequences, as we have come to enjoy from Gwynne’s work. The ending chapters of ruin literally had me shouting out loud, there are some emotional moments, and the book leaves us on a tragic and uncertain cliff-hanger, more so than the previous endings which left me immediately wanting more. Gwynne is slowly notching up every aspect of The Faithful and the Fallen and in this third book the great and powerful forces we have been building up to are finally aligned against each other. If you loved the first two books, Ruin will not disappoint.

Thanks for reading

Lee

Book Review - Valour (The Faithful and the Fallen, #2) by John Gwynne

This review should be free of major spoilers but as it is the review of a sequel it will contain some very minor spoilers akin to the blurb on the back of each book - but nothing major - Enjoy

The next instalment of The Faithful and the Fallen is Valour and I dived in immediately after finishing Malice, eager to discover the fate of my favourite characters.

The story picks up immediately after the tragic events at the end of Malice. Corban and his companions flee Ardan, exiled from their homes they take a perilous journey to find safer lands. Queen Rhin continues her conquest and turns her eyes north to the remaining free realms in the west, and allied with Nathair their combined armies pose a formidable military threat to the Banished Lands.

We also get some new point of view characters, we get giants!! We have Uthas one of the Benothi giants in the far northwest, these giants guard the cauldron which Calidus and Evnis are so eager to get their hands on. So a further glimpse into the ancient culture of the giant clans is interesting. We have Maquin’s point of view now after the events with Kastell. We have Tukul also, who leads the Jehar not sworn to Nathair and introduces us to the lost fortress city of Drassil from the prophecy. We also get chapters from Fidele, Nathair’s mother, as she holds Tenebral in her son’s absence. We also meet Coralen, a giant hunter from Domhain who seems quite kick ass.

All our favourite characters who survived Malice are still in play. Lykos continues to slink around with his lack of morals and ruthless ambition and has point of view chapters. Cywen has a good storyline in Valour too. We get to discover more about Corban’s destiny, Gar also, and the brothers Halion and Connall’s backstory comes to the fore in this book.

In this sequel we again have some cool battles, the action is certainly not scant, nor is the deadly jeopardy of our heroes. There is a lot going on but it has been again expertly woven together by Gwynne without losing any of his elegant prose. The writing really transports you into his world of the Banished Lands and there’s a real empathy and attachment to the characters, or in case of a few a real loathing.

The story is slowly edging into darker places. The ending is both exciting and heroic and yet completely leaves us in dire circumstances as dark forces manoeuvre against our heroes, setting us up to eagerly dive straight into the next book.

Valour is another fantastic book, continuing what is turning into one of my favourite series’ of all time.

Thanks for reading

Lee C. Conley

Book Review - Malice (The Faithful and the Fallen #1) by John Gwynne

I had heard a lot of talk and good things about The Faithful and the Fallen by John Gwynne so I decided I would take a look for myself and see what all the fuss was about. Malice is book one of Gwynne’s The Faithful and the Fallen series and my initial reaction is wow, just wow. This book blew me away and has risen to one of my all-time favourite books. The prose immediately struck me as elegant. Gwynne’s world is beautifully described and brought to life characters whom I quickly found attachment to.

The setting is a realm called the Banished lands, a late iron age/early medieval style fantasy setting. The setting had a real feeling of post-Roman/ Dark-age Britain, but yet not at all Britain, this is a place with its own unique feel. It is a place of thatched wooden houses and farmsteads, and mail clad warriors and honour, a place of wild and as yet untamed country. The larger towns of the Banished lands had been built on the old ruins of an ancient race of giants, with men unable to recreate the stonework of a forgotten age. The culture Gywnne has woven feels rich and easily imaginable as realistic.

There are several point of view characters, each telling a part of the story from various realms across the Banished lands. I would say the main protagonist is Corban, a young lad coming of age in the fortress town of Dun Carreg, in the realm of Ardan. He is involved in a bitter rivalry with an older boy named Raffe. We also see the story from Cywen’s point of view, Corban’s older sister, who’s story is entwined with Corban’s. Also in Ardan is Evnis, a lord and advisor to the king who appears to have sinister allegiances and designs on the throne of Ardan.

We have Veradis’ perspective, a lords son from the kingdom of Tenebral who swears into the service of the high king’s son, Nathair. We have Kastell, another warrior-noble and his protector Maquin who lock horns with his spiteful cousin, Jael as they vie for favour with their uncle the king of Isiltir. Also there is the perspective of Camiln, a woodsman and bandit from the forests working for sinister overlords.

There is a whole host of other characters not yet mentioned, some fantastic villains, I won’t say who as I don’t want to spoil it but some are not noticeable on first meeting, and of course there is Storm (you will have to read it for yourself to find out who that is).

There appear to be great forces in motion and the characters of the book are embroiled in an inexorable wave of events sweeping them each onto either the side of good or evil, yet which side is which is not always obvious and even at the end I was eager to discover more. There are some cool monsters and giants too, but yet it’s done really well and is quite believable. There are some emotional moments, and I felt at times joy and humour, and at others, genuine sadness and shock – which is a testament to Gwynne’s writing. The intrigue, plenty of exciting events, sometimes intense jeopardy and various switching character arcs drive the reader onwards, making this book a fast paced joy to read. The book starts off intriguing and quite light but slowly descends into darker times, and I get the sense has potential to get darker still with only the truth and courage of the righteous to light the way. It is not particularly high fantasy but neither is it low, yet somewhere in between. One thing it could be definitely described as though is epic. This is some epic fantasy right here.

If you couldn’t tell, I loved this book and as mentioned it has taken a place on my shelf of favourite books. Everyone needs to read this book and take their own journey into the Banished Lands.

Thanks for reading,

Lee