Reviews

This is the strongest start to a series I have ever read. You become so involved with all of the characters. I will admit all the different characters had me confused it the beginning. But I caught on.

I never thought I would enjoy a fantasy without romance, but this book touches on so many important relationships.
Parent and child, siblings, friendships, relationships with pets. I cannot wait to read the rest of the series

veraann's review against another edition

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5.0

A great fantasy debut book. It is not a light read and does have some gruesome parts. This book follows many different character PoVs and is highly character driven read. A prophecy, A battle of good vs. evil but who is good, who is evil and who is just being used? Very nice pacing for a first book that is trying to build the character and the world surrounding them while leaving a reader wanting more.

laviestbelle's review against another edition

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I'm just not in the mood to read high fantasy.

beanscozycorner's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

4.0

isi__1's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

What a pleasant surprise this was! This book was exactly what I needed at the moment. It‘s a very typical adult epic fantasy book with a lot of common tropes. Even though this book certainly didn‘t reinvent the wheel, I do think that it executed everything quite well.
I do have to admit that the first half or so didn‘t entirely manage to pull me in. It was a bit slow-going. There was a lot of exposition and it took a while to get to know the different p.o.v. characters, the world, and figuring out where the plot was headed. This was to be expected, seeing as this is a 4-book adult epic fantasy series. The 1st book in such a series always takes some time setting up the characters, world, magic, and plot.
I was also not having the highest expectations because I‘ve heard a lot of people (even fans of the series) say that this first instalment isn‘t the best and that the series just gets better and better with each book.
Even in the beginning, I was nevertheless intrigued to see where this is going, even though I wasn‘t fully immersed yet.
After that, though, things just started escalating all of a sudden. I could barely put the book down in the second half. I was at the edge of my seat. Especially the ending blew me away. I was shocked the entire way through. It was amazing!
Even though the start was a bit slow and the pacing was a little weird at times, I ended up feeling connected to the characters. So, when bad things started happening, it made me quite upset, because I cared about the well-being of the main characters and important side characters.
I kept wanting to know what would happen next. The plot became quite fast-paced towards the end. Overall, the world-building I‘ve seen so far seems very interesting, although I‘m pretty sure I‘ve barely scratched the surface.
This first instalment seems like a solid setup for the series to come. I can‘t wait to read the next book!

Content Warnings

jnvreads's review against another edition

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4.5

Malice by John Gwynne - Rating: 4.5/5⭐️

Two thousand years ago, the Banished Lands withstood the God War that broke the world. Leaving behind a prophecy that the death, destruction, and chaos between the Ben-Elim and Kadoshim would one day come back. As strange times bring about the oathstones weeping blood and creatures once again roaming the land, the prophecy forces everyone with the knowledge of it to band together to prevent it against the others working to make it come true.

LIKES:

👍🏾 That’s it…I’m officially obsessed with John Gwynne’s writing. And he’s my favorite author now. I get so lost within his words (in a good way) that I can feel myself stepping into the world, connect to the characters, and take on my own identity through my senses with the lore of it all. His prose is just so dynamic and richly textured, making his books a stand out in the fantasy genre for me.

👍🏾 The action scenes are especially notable, written with visceral intensity that is thrilling and remarkably easy to follow along with to get the whole scene.

👍🏾 There’s a religious similarity to some of the little details that I find fascinating.

👍🏾 As much as it is confusing in the beginning to nail down, I love following all the different storylines. Especially how they are spread out throughout the lands, different sides of the war, and different morals. It’s fun to step into the mindsets of conflicting narratives to get the whole picture.

👍🏾 Most of the events tie up by the end. It was brutal, utterly devastating, and unpredictable at points. And I ate it all up!

DISLIKES:

👎🏾 John Gwynne’s books do contain a copious amount of character POVs that can be quite overwhelming when starting out. Especially being introducing consecutively. Which takes me about a quarter of the novel to sort out along with where they are placed on the beautiful maps he displays. And also slows down the pacing.

Overall, John Gwynne can do no wrong. And I am excited to continue the series! I’m glad I bought all of his books to devour them!

kale323's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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

2.75

Pros: Excellent character writing on the main characters within the book. I found myself rooting very hard for Corban, his family and friends, and the kingdom his family was in overall. Veradis was also fun, but on a different note, in the sense that the battle scenes on his part were very, very entertaining.

The “war! Incoming!” trope can be very hard to pull off, as preparation for a big event is not exactly as entertaining as the event itself. Fortunately for Gwynne, he managed to make this trope work for the plot, as the slow unfolding of events did keep me hooked for the majority of the book.

As previously mentioned, the action was very, very good. Sword fights kept my attention, and conveyed the intensity of medieval warfare with gusto. Definitely entertaining!

The plot, overall, was good. The “false messiah” aspect of the story was very, very good. The development of a young man to manhood and responsibility was by far the best part of the overall plot for me.

Cons: Unfortunately, the book does not manage to make sure the side characters are distinguishable from one another, which can make switching perspectives across kingdoms very confusing.

The plot did slow at many times throughout the book, which was frustrating.

The book ends on a major cliff-hanger, which is fine! But perhaps some extra scenes would have made more sense to end the book on.

This book makes the big mistake of relying on the reader to read the next installments of the series to be satisfied with the story, which is fine with some people, but not with me so much. Each book in a series should make an effort to be distinctive from one another in at least some way. Essentially, I ended the book EXPECTING more chapters, not necessarily WISHING for more chapters. There is a difference.

I would recommend the book to someone that would like to read some kingdom-politic fantasy that has high stakes and has good main character development.

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