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A review by thebookishdesigner
The Fangs of War by E.J. Doble
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The Fangs of War is a grimdark fantasy debut from E.J. Doble, and what a debut this is. At the time of writing this review the release of book two is imminent and I could not be more excited to get my hands on it.
The biggest positive I had reading this was the world building but it was also my biggest issue. The world building here is absolutely phenomenal, the prose almost poetic and I feel like it shouldn’t work yet it does. It works incredibly well! When reading this I felt fully immersed into the world, the pictures that Doble paints are truly stunning.
However this does lead onto my one of my two issues I found, it does cause the writing to be a bit denser than I would have preferred. It put me in mind of Wheel of Time, I was having a great time with the book but it was a struggle at points to read large chunks of the book in one sitting particularly in the early stages where the plot was still developing.
My only other issue with the book came in the form of the characters, I wouldn’t say these characters are poorly written, far from it. I just wish that there was more from them and some of them had a little more depth. There were a few characters that I really connected with because we got a better insight into them or events happened in the book that forged that connection, but others I think I’d have just liked a little depth to understand why they are the way they are.
But back into the positives once we get past the introductory stages towards the end of part two, the plot comes into its own here and you get a real idea of where Doble is planing to take this series. In the stages we have a lot that needs to be set up, the aforementioned world need to be built, a cast of characters and political systems all need to be introduced. Once we get past this and everyone is in there places the plot shines with some unexpected twists, great fight scenes and a big revel that has me craving book 2 already.
It’s clear from The Fangs of War and The Crescent Moon, that Doble has a very bright future ahead of him and I’m so excited to follow his career and see where he takes both of these series. An extremely talented author who’s world building is some of the best I’ve read, especially from self-published authors, his writing is only going get better which is evident in both The Crescent Moon and the re-writes he did for Fangs of War.
The biggest positive I had reading this was the world building but it was also my biggest issue. The world building here is absolutely phenomenal, the prose almost poetic and I feel like it shouldn’t work yet it does. It works incredibly well! When reading this I felt fully immersed into the world, the pictures that Doble paints are truly stunning.
However this does lead onto my one of my two issues I found, it does cause the writing to be a bit denser than I would have preferred. It put me in mind of Wheel of Time, I was having a great time with the book but it was a struggle at points to read large chunks of the book in one sitting particularly in the early stages where the plot was still developing.
My only other issue with the book came in the form of the characters, I wouldn’t say these characters are poorly written, far from it. I just wish that there was more from them and some of them had a little more depth. There were a few characters that I really connected with because we got a better insight into them or events happened in the book that forged that connection, but others I think I’d have just liked a little depth to understand why they are the way they are.
But back into the positives once we get past the introductory stages towards the end of part two, the plot comes into its own here and you get a real idea of where Doble is planing to take this series. In the stages we have a lot that needs to be set up, the aforementioned world need to be built, a cast of characters and political systems all need to be introduced. Once we get past this and everyone is in there places the plot shines with some unexpected twists, great fight scenes and a big revel that has me craving book 2 already.
It’s clear from The Fangs of War and The Crescent Moon, that Doble has a very bright future ahead of him and I’m so excited to follow his career and see where he takes both of these series. An extremely talented author who’s world building is some of the best I’ve read, especially from self-published authors, his writing is only going get better which is evident in both The Crescent Moon and the re-writes he did for Fangs of War.