josiahpeterson17's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The primary reason this isn't a 5 star read is because of the rough beginning. There's an overload of characters and POVs introduced and it just felt a little overwhelming and chaotic.
Otherwise, this was an absolutely phenomenal book. And it's a debut novel? Ridiculous. I think Gwynne's writing is slightly more polished in his Bloodsworn books, but his work here is still nothing short of excellent. The world of the Banished Lands that has been crafted is epic in scope, mysterious, mystical, and has an astounding amount of depth with various kingdoms, wildlife, and history.
The characters are tremendous too. It took me a minute to warm up to Corban as he's thirteen at the start of the book, but by the end he's aged a few more years and he's clearly incredibly mature and well beyond his years. He's on his way to being an all-time favorite protagonist. And I loved the deliberate choice to view the descent of Nathair through the eyes of Veradis. I'm very intrigued by their dynamic going forward. And there are several other very likeable characters with standout moments and plenty of depth.
And the action. My goodness John Gwynne is definitely the king of writing action sequences. I feel like I can picture every single movement; he writes them so vividly and immerses you right within the moment.
I'm so excited to continue the series. I'm so excited to keep reading the rest of Gwynne's works. The Faithful and The Fallen will undoubtedly become a top 5 favorite series for me.
Otherwise, this was an absolutely phenomenal book. And it's a debut novel? Ridiculous. I think Gwynne's writing is slightly more polished in his Bloodsworn books, but his work here is still nothing short of excellent. The world of the Banished Lands that has been crafted is epic in scope, mysterious, mystical, and has an astounding amount of depth with various kingdoms, wildlife, and history.
The characters are tremendous too. It took me a minute to warm up to Corban as he's thirteen at the start of the book, but by the end he's aged a few more years and he's clearly incredibly mature and well beyond his years. He's on his way to being an all-time favorite protagonist. And I loved the deliberate choice to view the descent of Nathair through the eyes of Veradis. I'm very intrigued by their dynamic going forward. And there are several other very likeable characters with standout moments and plenty of depth.
And the action. My goodness John Gwynne is definitely the king of writing action sequences. I feel like I can picture every single movement; he writes them so vividly and immerses you right within the moment.
I'm so excited to continue the series. I'm so excited to keep reading the rest of Gwynne's works. The Faithful and The Fallen will undoubtedly become a top 5 favorite series for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Gore
Minor: Animal cruelty and Torture
xta_07's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This is John Gwynne’s incredibly ambitions debut novel, and Oh Boy, this story was a doozy. The first half of it did feel a bit disjointed as Gwynne sets up everyone on the board. Plus he doesn’t do any hand-holding of any kind. You are dropped into the middle of a world, and you need to pay attention and strap in. Because once he gets going he doesn’t stop!
Bandits and Mythical creatures have started to awaken and harass our characters that live in the Banished lands. Heralding the prophesied god war. Essentially this will be a battle of good vs evil, and the characters we follow are beginning to choose what side they will end up on.
I actually enjoyed most of the beginning chapters in this book, I found Corban’s chapters almost cozy in a weird way. Plus no-one writes a battle scene quite like this author, once the action starts it doesn’t stop. I highly enjoyed this read, and I’m looking forward to continuing the series.
Bandits and Mythical creatures have started to awaken and harass our characters that live in the Banished lands. Heralding the prophesied god war. Essentially this will be a battle of good vs evil, and the characters we follow are beginning to choose what side they will end up on.
I actually enjoyed most of the beginning chapters in this book, I found Corban’s chapters almost cozy in a weird way. Plus no-one writes a battle scene quite like this author, once the action starts it doesn’t stop. I highly enjoyed this read, and I’m looking forward to continuing the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Animal death, and Violence
Moderate: War, Murder, and Child abuse
Minor: Alcoholism
surdiablo's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I did not enjoy this one as much as I hoped, which is unfortunate considering the majority of people who participated in a FatF read-along with me seem to have loved it. I couldn't connect with the prose and found the whole book a bit too plain and predictable overall. As usual, I will say what I liked first. I liked the action scenes well enough as it was immersive and easy enough to imagine. Bonding with Regardless of all the cons I will list soon, I enjoyed the overall story for the most part. It's the classic 'good vs evil' with a modern touch and the last quarter, especially the final 10 chapters is excellent, which makes me wanna read the next book soon enough. It's an ambitious attempt and definitely has potential to be something amazing.
As for things I didn't like, sadly there's plenty. The author constantly throws several character and location names at you from the beginning and inserts exposition dumps during conversations, which interfered with my immersion. There were way too many characters ( yes, I know that's normal in epic fantasies ) but none of them had any real depth, and those who did stay within their assigned archetype. They all felt like cardboard cutouts so whenever someone died or some major event happened, it fell flat as they lacked any weight or emotional impact. I know fast pacing can be fun but it felt jarring whenever a timeskip happened, and pacing still felt slow regardless of short chapters, since POVs kept switching one after another, ruining the momentum. Plus, you know there's not enough descriptions when you have no idea how any of the main characters even look ( Unless that's intentional for headcanon purposes). They all kinda sound the same too and I won't be able to tell if you ask me Is it Veradis or Kastell talking? from a dialogue scene without context. I also found the twists and turns highly telegraphed so ultimately, nothing really wowed or left an impression on me until the very end. It felt like the author was trying to make everything sound and feel 'epic', but it just didn't land for me due to the aforementioned issues. I know all of these may sound like minor problems and I would agree, except when combined with me not being able to connect with the writing style, they were detrimental enough to my overall enjoyment. I do get that it's a debut book ( hence it's rough around the edges ) and the remaining books might be better indeed, but I can't say I <b>liked</b> this book at all, so I am going with a 2.
Spoiler
animal companions was pretty wholesome and I love Storm.As for things I didn't like, sadly there's plenty. The author constantly throws several character and location names at you from the beginning and inserts exposition dumps during conversations, which interfered with my immersion. There were way too many characters ( yes, I know that's normal in epic fantasies ) but none of them had any real depth, and those who did stay within their assigned archetype. They all felt like cardboard cutouts so whenever someone died or some major event happened, it fell flat as they lacked any weight or emotional impact. I know fast pacing can be fun but it felt jarring whenever a timeskip happened, and pacing still felt slow regardless of short chapters, since POVs kept switching one after another, ruining the momentum. Plus, you know there's not enough descriptions when you have no idea how any of the main characters even look ( Unless that's intentional for headcanon purposes). They all kinda sound the same too and I won't be able to tell if you ask me Is it Veradis or Kastell talking? from a dialogue scene without context. I also found the twists and turns highly telegraphed so ultimately, nothing really wowed or left an impression on me until the very end. It felt like the author was trying to make everything sound and feel 'epic', but it just didn't land for me due to the aforementioned issues. I know all of these may sound like minor problems and I would agree, except when combined with me not being able to connect with the writing style, they were detrimental enough to my overall enjoyment. I do get that it's a debut book ( hence it's rough around the edges ) and the remaining books might be better indeed, but I can't say I <b>liked</b> this book at all, so I am going with a 2.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, War, and Violence
Moderate: Bullying
Minor: Alcoholism and Physical abuse
dryhop's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. That's the tl;dr. I wasn't sure I was going to, and in fact had avoided the book for quite a while, walking by it countless times at countless Barnes and Nobles for a good few years at least. I'm not really sure why. There's going to be some Wheel of Time comparisons here because I am rereading that series at the same time and the differences create a really nice contrast.
Gwynne does not muck about with his words. Chapters can be rather short, almost thriller novel short at times. I am just finishing the 5th book in the Wheel of Time and there was almost half a chapter of description in that book to let you know that the servants wore black livery. In that span, Gwynne would have moved the plots forward with two of his characters in as many chapters. This is more an observation than a pro or a con, but I did find it refreshing by comparison and you really feel like you're plowing through the book as you burn through the shorter chapters. The stakes are real and characters can die. They may not be as at risk as Game of Thrones characters, but there are definitely consequences to actions other than a sternly worded rebuke. In particular, the last probably 15% of the book or so really plows forward in action and a lot changes in that time. I also tended to care about most of the viewpoint characters and didn't feel like I had to slog through a chapter for a character I didn't really like, a problem I am running into with WoT.
For some criticism, it starts out slow. There's a lot of characters and locations to introduce and it takes awhile before I personally started to really feel invested and for the characters to start to feel different. In particular, Veradis and Kastell were vary samey to me for a bit and Camlin pops infrequently enough that at one point I had to stop and slip back chapters to remember who he even was. So be wary if you're a much more limited viewpoint type of person. By the end I had no problem but there was some time in the beginning and middle where I had to do a little work. I personally also found a weird inconsistency with scale. It felt like it could take weeks or so to get somewhere and then they could turn around and walk back in a couple days. Maybe I didn't follow close enough, but it struck me a couple of times.
Overall, I am excited to continue this series and it acts as the perfect counterpoint to the WoT as I reread that. Characters all feel reasonably motivated to be doing what they're doing, there's real stakes, and a big canvas with lots of things happening. It gives me very Games of Thrones vibes while still being its own thing. An interesting note, this book might be the book that I have accidentally purchased the most physical copies of, buying it twice on accident and a third time as part of a boxed set of all four books. There's a lot going on, but I recommend this book.
Gwynne does not muck about with his words. Chapters can be rather short, almost thriller novel short at times. I am just finishing the 5th book in the Wheel of Time and there was almost half a chapter of description in that book to let you know that the servants wore black livery. In that span, Gwynne would have moved the plots forward with two of his characters in as many chapters. This is more an observation than a pro or a con, but I did find it refreshing by comparison and you really feel like you're plowing through the book as you burn through the shorter chapters. The stakes are real and characters can die. They may not be as at risk as Game of Thrones characters, but there are definitely consequences to actions other than a sternly worded rebuke. In particular, the last probably 15% of the book or so really plows forward in action and a lot changes in that time. I also tended to care about most of the viewpoint characters and didn't feel like I had to slog through a chapter for a character I didn't really like, a problem I am running into with WoT.
For some criticism, it starts out slow. There's a lot of characters and locations to introduce and it takes awhile before I personally started to really feel invested and for the characters to start to feel different. In particular, Veradis and Kastell were vary samey to me for a bit and Camlin pops infrequently enough that at one point I had to stop and slip back chapters to remember who he even was. So be wary if you're a much more limited viewpoint type of person. By the end I had no problem but there was some time in the beginning and middle where I had to do a little work. I personally also found a weird inconsistency with scale. It felt like it could take weeks or so to get somewhere and then they could turn around and walk back in a couple days. Maybe I didn't follow close enough, but it struck me a couple of times.
Overall, I am excited to continue this series and it acts as the perfect counterpoint to the WoT as I reread that. Characters all feel reasonably motivated to be doing what they're doing, there's real stakes, and a big canvas with lots of things happening. It gives me very Games of Thrones vibes while still being its own thing. An interesting note, this book might be the book that I have accidentally purchased the most physical copies of, buying it twice on accident and a third time as part of a boxed set of all four books. There's a lot going on, but I recommend this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Violence
raila_h's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, and Death
ripxw's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Animal death, Murder, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, and Blood
Moderate: Torture, Death, War, and Death of parent
Minor: Alcoholism
aliteralhobbit's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: War, Death of parent, and Violence
kat1105's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Child abuse, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, War, Torture, and Violence
ladybugwrites's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I came into this book expecting, well, better... I heard about it from people whose opinion on books I value due to other recommendations and books I like that they like, but I'm left disappointed. It's starts slow, kind of interesting but nothing much happenes. And it starts with what I'd call beginner's mistakes with writing. I'm not saying the writing isn't good, because I did enjoy the book and it was easier to read than some other high fantasy books I've read before. Nevertheless, I spent the first 100 pages commenting on the writing, things that lacked excitement, or tension, or just unecessary uses of the words "then" and "suddenly" which most of the time had me read again.
I decided to try not to focus on that (but as a writer it's hard), and I did actually enjoy the book. It picked up the things I commented on in the beginning and they didn't appear by the second half of the book. I am thankful for that because if it did, I'm not sure I would've made it through.
With that said, the story itself is intriguing and, despite only giving this 3 starts, I will pick up the next book mainly because I want to know what happens to the characters I like and if my countless predictions are correct. As with any intriguing book, it's always nice to know when you've noticed the foreshadowing.
Now, I gave minus one start, maybe some more, due to the annoyance of the writing at the start. But the rest of the minus goes to the dislike of characters, generally. I absolutely adore Corban, and Cywen and most of the people that are part of those POVs. I liked Veradis and Kastell the first few times I read their chapters, btu eventually, I came to be completely indifferent towards them. Even if what their chapters were about, I wanted to skip them, and that is a major downside to a book. I want to be engaged all the way through, I want to want to read every POV, but frankly, only Corban's really made me keep reading. He's also the main reason I'm reading on, because I like him and I want to know what happenes to him next.
I don't actually know if this books is worth picking up. It's definitely intriguing in it's own way, and reminds of Game of Thrones with the intrigues and games played, but it also has some originialty. I do wish, that for once, I could pick up a high fantasy written by a man that isn't also misogynistic (because that is a choice they all make and it's annoying), that said the female characters were well written and I am thankful for that.
I don't know what more to say. Kinda annoyed I didn't like this considering all the five stars, but you can't like everything.
I decided to try not to focus on that (but as a writer it's hard), and I did actually enjoy the book. It picked up the things I commented on in the beginning and they didn't appear by the second half of the book. I am thankful for that because if it did, I'm not sure I would've made it through.
With that said, the story itself is intriguing and, despite only giving this 3 starts, I will pick up the next book mainly because I want to know what happens to the characters I like and if my countless predictions are correct. As with any intriguing book, it's always nice to know when you've noticed the foreshadowing.
Now, I gave minus one start, maybe some more, due to the annoyance of the writing at the start. But the rest of the minus goes to the dislike of characters, generally. I absolutely adore Corban, and Cywen and most of the people that are part of those POVs. I liked Veradis and Kastell the first few times I read their chapters, btu eventually, I came to be completely indifferent towards them. Even if what their chapters were about, I wanted to skip them, and that is a major downside to a book. I want to be engaged all the way through, I want to want to read every POV, but frankly, only Corban's really made me keep reading. He's also the main reason I'm reading on, because I like him and I want to know what happenes to him next.
I don't actually know if this books is worth picking up. It's definitely intriguing in it's own way, and reminds of Game of Thrones with the intrigues and games played, but it also has some originialty. I do wish, that for once, I could pick up a high fantasy written by a man that isn't also misogynistic (because that is a choice they all make and it's annoying), that said the female characters were well written and I am thankful for that.
I don't know what more to say. Kinda annoyed I didn't like this considering all the five stars, but you can't like everything.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Misogyny
mayonnaise419's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence