“I am blood. I am death. I am vengeance.”
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I’ve been hearing people rave about John Gwynne for years and while I love fantasy, I always found his books intimidating. But I decided to give this new trilogy a go, I mean it has a dragon on the cover, surely it’s good.
I was rewarded with a complex story of fierce warriors fighting each fighting for their own vengeance or glory. I loved how there were strong women who were equally capable to the male warriors, some who were even more impressive. Our three heroes whose motivations are all slowly unraveled to us as they draw nearer and nearer to their goals and it turns out, one another is masterfully written. Like GRRM’s ASOIF series, these are all characters painted in shades of grey who you learn to love despite their faults.
While the battle scenes are brutal and gruesome at times, it’s not all about blood and glory. Although, let’s be honest the blood and glory is fabulous. The story has poignant moments and funny moments and passionate moments. There are life lessons and betrayals a plenty. Not as much magic or dragons as I’d hoped for a story with this title but I’ve got to assume that the bulk of that is coming in book two. Generally, I don’t start a series until all of the books are out and I sort of wish I did that with this series but that said, I’d get lost in this world again in a heartbeat.
Now rushing off to add all of Gwynne’s books to my TBR…
Who’s the most recent “new to you” author that made you want to fill your TBR with their works?
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