Malice

Product Information

If I could give a perfect example of how to write a predictable story well, this would be it; I guess a lot of fantasy fits into that category though. The author is obviously a talented writer. When he described a scene, I could see it in my head pretty well, but a lot of the content was boring. After his daughter’s disability, he left the lectureship and stayed at home to take care of her. After spending some time, he opened a vintage furniture shop with his wife, where they rejuvenate vintage furniture. Though his wife quite enjoyed doing this work, John was not much interested. With lots of encouragement from his family, he began his writing journey. John Gwynne Career The Shadow of the Gods is unconnected to anything that the author has written before, and is set in the world of Vigrið, the Battle-Plain. A world of departed deities, bloody feuds and fearsome monsters; a harsh, unforgiving place that will brook nothing less than hard words and harder actions to survive and where only fools do not learn to protect themselves. The tales speak of an ancient war between the gods that came to a ruinous head 300 years ago, culminating in the Guðfalla, the final battle of devastating proportions that turned Vigrid into a graveyard of gods. A shattered land bleeding monsters, vaesan, from the wounds of this conflagration and littered with the sought after, potent remnants of these fallen beings. A place in which the blood of the gods still flows through the veins of Vigrid’s inhabitants. But in this world where the gods and their kin once lived, thrived, and were worshipped, such worship is now forbidden, and those who display any of the gifts that would mark them as possessing even a hint of the deific blood, the Tainted, are despised and mercilessly hunted. For never again will Vigrid be ruled over by the whims of gods.

The Banished Lands has a violent past where armies of men and giants clashed in battle, the earth running dark with their heartsblood. Although the giant-clans were broken in ages past, their ruined fortresses still scar the land. But now giants stir anew, the very stones weep blood and there are sightings of giant wyrms. Those who can still read the signs see a threat far greater than the ancient wars. Sorrow will darken the world, as angels and demons make it their battlefield. Then there will be a war to end all wars. Between Malice, A Time of Dread, and The Shadow of the Gods, Gwynne just crafted his most well-polished start to his series yet. As a gratifying bonus, Gwynne’s reputation earned him my faith that the rest of the series will get better and better. Both Wrath and A Time of Courage are included in my “Masterpieces” shelf, and I’m sure the concluding volume to The Bloodsworn Saga will follow the notion. The Shadow of the Gods marked the beginning of a new bloodsoaked and legendary superlative Norse-inspired epic fantasy that future readers will praise, remember, and memorialized. The Bloodsworn and Battle-Grim are carving a bloody path across Vigrið, and I will be proud to say that I was there during the birth of this saga-tale. Welcome to the Battle-Plain. I await your enlistment into the Bloodsworn. It's a good tale with mounting tension, a slowly revealed plot, unexpected twists, and plenty of bloodshed. It's also definitely the foundation of a larger story with many elements left unresolved for the subsequent titles to chew over. Of the characters, the easiest to follow was Corban, the pretty classic coming-of-age storyline, though with hints of something more lurking behind the scenes. Kastell's POV didn't serve much for the story overall, IMO. Cywen's was interesting but mostly adjacent to Corban's plot. Veradis had some pretty intriguing parts to play as companion to Prince Nathair, and his POV is the one that's kind of got me wondering what's to come for the future books. His is real big-picture stuff, not related to HIS story, but his companionship with the Prince.Gwynne was also praised about his battle sequences. I must say that I really enjoyed the battle scenes, especially when we could zoom in on individual duels, and on the nitty gritty, not so much when we talked about the larger scale settings (these weren't bad, just not as good). One big qualm I have is that, for some reason, only one set of warriors knows how to make a shield wall? No one else in the world has heard/thought about it nor can copy it? What? One of the most awesome aspects of the world-building is the blood system, which is central to the story. In this world, the Tainted - descendants of the gods' children - are kept as slaves in thrall collars, sold to the highest bidder as symbols of status and power. They each have hidden traits of their ancestor God, and the thrall collars help keep these powers under control, to be unleashed only at the direction of their owner.... We only get a taster of these powers in this book, and I can't wait to see what happens with them in the follow ups. All know the past of the Banished Land. This is the place where armies of men and giants fought till the bloodbath painted the earth red. One can still read the far worse signs of danger. There are currently two books in the Bloodsworn saga with the third expected to be published later in 2023. I get the sense that the cultures of the people in the Banished Lands is similar to the old Scottish and Irish cultures we know. Everything from their speech, to their dress and architecture seems to lend itself to that thought. There are a lot of giants... lots of giants... and they serve as the primary adversary. There are also wyrms (mini dragons?), draigs (mini-dragons?), wolven (werewolves), and other odd creatures. All of them make the Banished Lands a dangerous and mystical place that I would love to see on the big screen someday. There's no shortage of gruesome deaths and blood spilt across the board. There also seems to be some variation of angels and demons that further expand the conflict on a larger scale. This is no grim-dark tale though. There is a clear message of hope with characters very much fitting in categories of good, evil, or ambiguous, unlike a lot of grimdark. That said, the story does go down darker paths as it goes along and the enemies plans are revealed.

With three POV-characters, The Shadow of the Gods means that this is Gwynne’s lowest POV-characters count so far in his career; for Gwynne’s first book of a series, Malice utilizes seven (six main + one side) POV-characters, and A Time of Dread has four POV characters. The decision to narrow it down to three POV characters worked in favor of the narrative because Vigrið is a relatively smaller place compared to The Banished Lands, at least for now. It’s been a year since I’ve read A Time of Courage, the last book in Of Blood and Bone trilogy by John Gwynne, and I am once again reminded just how “safe” so many other epic fantasy books are. No one is ever safe in his books, Gwynne excels so much at characterizations, and this isn’t only applicable to his protagonists but also antagonists. If you’re a new reader to his works, Gwynne is a merciless author; you will always fear for the protagonists, and you will always want retribution towards the enemies. It is one of the best parts about reading his books, and I, for one, am utterly grateful for this. Not many fantasy authors can—or have the bravery to—achieve this fearless feat. On the other hand, Corban has always wished to join King Brenin’s army. Little did he know that the day would come soon, and he will price for it in blood. ValorLastly, before I end this review, I want to mention that The Shadow of the Gods contained Gwynne’s most detailed world-building yet. As mentioned several times already, this is a heavily Norse-inspired fantasy series inspired by Ragnarok and Beowulf. The details in the character’s appearances, clothing, weaponry exhibited Gwynne’s passion for this world and Viking mythologies. The history of the Battle-Plain—shattered realms caused by the war of the gods that destroyed the world a long time ago—plus the intricacy of the environment and landscape truly transformed Vigrið into a location that felt so real. Snaka (Snake, the father of gods), his sons—Ulfrir (Wolf), Berser (Bear), Rotta (Rat), Orna (Eagle) Lik-Rifa (Dragon)—and Oskutred were definitely Ragnarok-inspired world-building. And I loved how Gwynne connects these mythical beings into the current events of the story with the inclusion of the Tainted. As I said, the Tainted are people with cursed blood that mankind hates and hunts. They’re descended from the gods I mentioned earlier, and depending on the cursed blood, each Tainted is capable of channeling their blood to enhance their own respective abilities and power. I personally wouldn’t call The Shadow of the Gods as The Last Kingdom or Vikings inspired; these are massive oversimplification and generalization that doesn’t give this book the recognition it deserved. The Norse-inspired God of War video game is a much more epic and apt comparison. Now a new world is rising, where power-hungry jarls feud and monsters stalk the woods and mountains. A world where the bones of the dead gods still hold great power for those brave – or desperate – enough to seek them out. As for the plot, Gwynne's storytelling chops are seriously next level. He masterfully weaves together multiple storylines, keeping you on the edge of your seat with every twist and turn. The pace of the story is non-stop, but he's got a talent for balancing it with moments of introspection and character development. It's like this wild rollercoaster of action, suspense, and epic battle scenes that keep you totally hooked and dying to know what happens next. The plot is intricate and well thought out, with each revelation and plot twist feeling earned and satisfying - with plenty of "No way's" and "are you kidding me's" being exclaimed by me at the end of chapters. I found my reading of Maliceto bea little happier than that experienced by Josh. I do howeveragree witha lotofthe positive elementshementionedand I was similarly impressed byhow Gwynne managed to take much that is stereotypical or derivative in the fantasy genre and breath new life into it. After Gwynne had spent so long building the world of Malice, I did have some doubts that the conclusion would be satisfying. However, I need not have worried. There is a significant pace shift and some of the shortest chapters in the novel make up the final third where an intense and emotional denouement takes place. Malice does not end with any huge cliff hangers, but the key character arcs are setup to continue in the next instalment of the series . There has been a lot of focus on the potential devastation of the imminent god war and I cannot even begin to predict how it will impact the remaining characters.

John Gwynne is an excellent writer and has a rapidly growing and loyal following of fantasy readers. His work features unique fantasy worlds, gritty battle scenes, fast-paced plots and well-developed characters. He’s been praised for his ability to create vivid and believable fantasy worlds that are populated by characters that readers care about. She smiled, teeth glinting. ‘I like the sound of that. But there is more to this than Ardan. So much more. This is about the God-War. About Asroth made flesh.’ The Bloodsworn Saga is a Norse-inspired dark fantasy tale. Set in a new fantasy world, one that lies broken by the last battle between the gods, gods that now lie dead or in slumber. The bones of the dead gods hold great power for those brave enough - or desperate enough to seek them out. And those not dead threaten to awaken and ravage the world once more. The story is filled with monsters, warbands and powered humans tainted by their divine ancestors.In this novel - so many of the presented personae are complicated, some are likable and others are intensely mysterious. Characters that stood out most to me, and there are a few which speaks volumes in itself - were Tull, Storm, Nathair, Envis, Cywen, Maquin, Camlin amongst about 47 others. You will get attached and yes; it will hurt.

Special thanks to my Patrons on Patreon for giving me extra support towards my passion for reading and reviewing!Orka, a renowned warrior with excellent battle skills, she’s forced on a journey to hunt down her son’s kidnappers and take her vengeance. Lik-Rifa, the dragon god of legend, has been freed from her eternal prison. Now she plots a new age of blood and conquest. Evnis has sacrificed—too much it seems. But what he wants—the power to rule—will soon be in his grasp. And nothing will stop him once he has started on his path.