You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
adventurous
inspiring
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:
Complicated
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Good lord what a book and all your favorites will die. Make sure to bill John Gwynne for the therapy you’ll need after this AND ITS ONLY BOOK 1
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Oh my god. I did not know what I was expecting, as I haven’t really dabbled in this type of fantasy in a while but had heard great reviews about John Gwynne. What incredible world building, and storytelling throughout. I found that the love you feel for a character he writes slowly builds until you reach a harrowing chapter and you’re hoping for the best for them and speed reading to know what happens next. I loved it from start to finish, though the beginning was just a little bit slow
3.5⭐️
I, surprisingly, have enjoyed this quite a lot.
This is my first introduction to Epic/High Fantasy and I’m not mad about it! It definitely took me some time getting used to the writing and the setting, but once I was there, you got me hooked.
This book plays with two/three main POV’s and another four more scattered around. Yep, you did the math right, we’re switching up and jumping into 7 different minds!!! And oh gods was I so incredibly lost and confused at first hahahaha
The setting and main plot is very interesting to me and has definitely left me curious to know more about it since I believe that in this book we are introduced to the characters and there’s more focus on the reader getting to know them. So yeah, pretty excited to see where this is headed because this first book totally felt like the “prologue” episode in a series, alas, a long one but interesting nonetheless.
The characters are, undeniably, my favourite part of this book. No surprise there lol.
The action scenes and world building were great and I will say that the narrator’s work in the audiobook was splendid!!
I am so proud of me! Now I need to go back to my confort zone a little
I, surprisingly, have enjoyed this quite a lot.
This is my first introduction to Epic/High Fantasy and I’m not mad about it! It definitely took me some time getting used to the writing and the setting, but once I was there, you got me hooked.
This book plays with two/three main POV’s and another four more scattered around. Yep, you did the math right, we’re switching up and jumping into 7 different minds!!! And oh gods was I so incredibly lost and confused at first hahahaha
The setting and main plot is very interesting to me and has definitely left me curious to know more about it since I believe that in this book we are introduced to the characters and there’s more focus on the reader getting to know them. So yeah, pretty excited to see where this is headed because this first book totally felt like the “prologue” episode in a series, alas, a long one but interesting nonetheless.
The characters are, undeniably, my favourite part of this book. No surprise there lol.
The action scenes and world building were great and I will say that the narrator’s work in the audiobook was splendid!!
I am so proud of me! Now I need to go back to my confort zone a little
adventurous
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:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Violence
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Having read John Gwynne's The Bloodsworn trilogy first, I was very excited to go back and read his first series, The Faithful and the Fallen - so excited that I bought the whole quadrilogy as a set. Something I never do.
So I sat down over this last weekend, full of anticipation, for what many readers here as well as on Facebook in various fantasy groups had labelled the best series Gwynne has written.
350 pages into this 628 novel and I was full of doubt about that.
If there is one similarity between this first series and his more recent Bloodsworn trilogy, it is that Gwynne takes his time getting the pieces on his chessboard into place ... and then toward the end of the first novel he goes all out on the attack.
It was a bit of a slog wading through the first two-thirds of this book, and though I thought The Shadow of the Gods was overall better paced, it is fair to say that the last 100 pages of Malice are even better than what that other novel produced. So much takes place, setting up the rest of the series, that I could barely put the novel down. Betrayals old and new take place, characters are mercilessly dispatched, and - though it was no great surprise - battle lines are drawn between what look to be the two major sides to an impending all-out war. It is genuinely thrilling, and I am now, keenly anticipating the second book in the series.
So how to score a book that at the halfway point I was bored by, but by the end I cannot wait to follow up? Seems like a straight down the middle star rating should do it, with the sincere belief that the rest of the series will only be better.
3 Long Nights to Become a Warrior for Malice.
So I sat down over this last weekend, full of anticipation, for what many readers here as well as on Facebook in various fantasy groups had labelled the best series Gwynne has written.
350 pages into this 628 novel and I was full of doubt about that.
If there is one similarity between this first series and his more recent Bloodsworn trilogy, it is that Gwynne takes his time getting the pieces on his chessboard into place ... and then toward the end of the first novel he goes all out on the attack.
It was a bit of a slog wading through the first two-thirds of this book, and though I thought The Shadow of the Gods was overall better paced, it is fair to say that the last 100 pages of Malice are even better than what that other novel produced. So much takes place, setting up the rest of the series, that I could barely put the novel down. Betrayals old and new take place, characters are mercilessly dispatched, and - though it was no great surprise - battle lines are drawn between what look to be the two major sides to an impending all-out war. It is genuinely thrilling, and I am now, keenly anticipating the second book in the series.
So how to score a book that at the halfway point I was bored by, but by the end I cannot wait to follow up? Seems like a straight down the middle star rating should do it, with the sincere belief that the rest of the series will only be better.
3 Long Nights to Become a Warrior for Malice.