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A review by ecorinnes
The Tyranny of Faith by Richard Swan
4.0
Many years ago, a fairy appeared over the crib of newborn child Richard Swan and whispered “show don’t tell” in his tiny ear, and lo and behold another epic fantasy writer was created
This series follows, not a spoiler, the fall of the Empire of the Wolf.
We follow a Magistrate’s Apprentice, Helena, as she travels around with her employer/adopted father Justice Konrad Vonvalt, a veteran of the violent wars that brought the Empire together, and a practitioner of legally-approved magiks including but not limited to compulsion and necromancy.
Gods I love necromancy in a story, and in this one it does some WORK
Matters that seem small quickly escalate, and we realize that a lot has been going on inside of the Empire while the Justice and his retinue were traveling the outskirts that we are only just now learning about.
But first we gotta learn 200 proper nouns and their definitions
Swan seems to have a special flair for describing violence, and as the girl who rewatches Henry Cavill’s witcher fight scenes, it was my exact cup of tea.
There are some concerns I will be sending to the publisher, mainly about anachronistic male gaze from our teenage girl narrator and the uncomfortable power dynamics in a certain relationship, but I literally cannot talk about that without spoilers.
I’ve tried.
If you are a frequent flyer with epic fantasy, you’re not shocked or outraged by these themes.
We will go forward as we always do with a conscious acknowledgement of bias within even our favorite works (Tolkien I still love you) and continue being mindful readers.
Overall I give the first book 3.8/5, and the second a 4.6/5. High up on my list of favorite epic fantasy reads, this easily sits beside Martin, Gwynne, and Suri for me
This series follows, not a spoiler, the fall of the Empire of the Wolf.
We follow a Magistrate’s Apprentice, Helena, as she travels around with her employer/adopted father Justice Konrad Vonvalt, a veteran of the violent wars that brought the Empire together, and a practitioner of legally-approved magiks including but not limited to compulsion and necromancy.
Gods I love necromancy in a story, and in this one it does some WORK
Matters that seem small quickly escalate, and we realize that a lot has been going on inside of the Empire while the Justice and his retinue were traveling the outskirts that we are only just now learning about.
But first we gotta learn 200 proper nouns and their definitions
Swan seems to have a special flair for describing violence, and as the girl who rewatches Henry Cavill’s witcher fight scenes, it was my exact cup of tea.
There are some concerns I will be sending to the publisher, mainly about anachronistic male gaze from our teenage girl narrator and the uncomfortable power dynamics in a certain relationship, but I literally cannot talk about that without spoilers.
I’ve tried.
If you are a frequent flyer with epic fantasy, you’re not shocked or outraged by these themes.
We will go forward as we always do with a conscious acknowledgement of bias within even our favorite works (Tolkien I still love you) and continue being mindful readers.
Overall I give the first book 3.8/5, and the second a 4.6/5. High up on my list of favorite epic fantasy reads, this easily sits beside Martin, Gwynne, and Suri for me