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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
At its surface, Crache could be seen as a utopia, but it is very far from it. Savage Legion is an epic fantasy book with an incredible amount of world building, a good heaping of political intrigue, and a cast of characters that keep it interesting the whole way through.
The Savage Legion themselves are Crache’s lower class army made up of criminals and the dregs of their society. Well, according to what is on paper anyways. Evie, when she finds herself conscripted into the Legion, quickly realizes that it is more of an army of what their society deemed not useful to them – a very broad term. The Legion is used mostly as fodder before sending in what is their ‘proper’ army and it is clear that for the majority, their first battle is often their last.
For Lexi, a Gen of the upper side of society, the sudden disappearance of her husband has set into motion events that would upheave all she has grown to know. Crache is dirty, but how deep does the rot go?
The final main character, Dyaewan, has been plucked from the streets in much the same way Evie was. The big difference here is that instead of finding herself fighting for her live in the Legion, she awakens to the fascinating halls of the Planning Cadre. For Crache, this group helps to invent and improve the city.
Multiple viewpoint format isn’t new, especially in fantasy. It’s not always my favorite and I come across it so often that I sometimes find that it takes away from the overall story by jumping around so much. However, I found it to work quite well here. Each person’s perspective serve as pieces to a whole picture. It all begins to slot together as the book progresses.
As to my negatives, some phrases started to get repetitive. I had taken note of several instances of a particular one regarding ‘a story being the most dangerous thing in the world’. It stuck out to me enough that I wrote myself a note on it. Additionally, the commentary on societal failings was sometimes more than a little in your face. Did it make sense in the story? Sure. And I’m not even disagreeing with said failings either, but trying to hammer it home again and again became a bit much.
Still, I did enjoy this book as a whole enough that I’m apt to pick up the next installment to see where everyone’s story goes.
Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for the free copy in exchange for a honest opinion.
The Savage Legion themselves are Crache’s lower class army made up of criminals and the dregs of their society. Well, according to what is on paper anyways. Evie, when she finds herself conscripted into the Legion, quickly realizes that it is more of an army of what their society deemed not useful to them – a very broad term. The Legion is used mostly as fodder before sending in what is their ‘proper’ army and it is clear that for the majority, their first battle is often their last.
For Lexi, a Gen of the upper side of society, the sudden disappearance of her husband has set into motion events that would upheave all she has grown to know. Crache is dirty, but how deep does the rot go?
The final main character, Dyaewan, has been plucked from the streets in much the same way Evie was. The big difference here is that instead of finding herself fighting for her live in the Legion, she awakens to the fascinating halls of the Planning Cadre. For Crache, this group helps to invent and improve the city.
Multiple viewpoint format isn’t new, especially in fantasy. It’s not always my favorite and I come across it so often that I sometimes find that it takes away from the overall story by jumping around so much. However, I found it to work quite well here. Each person’s perspective serve as pieces to a whole picture. It all begins to slot together as the book progresses.
As to my negatives, some phrases started to get repetitive. I had taken note of several instances of a particular one regarding ‘a story being the most dangerous thing in the world’. It stuck out to me enough that I wrote myself a note on it. Additionally, the commentary on societal failings was sometimes more than a little in your face. Did it make sense in the story? Sure. And I’m not even disagreeing with said failings either, but trying to hammer it home again and again became a bit much.
Still, I did enjoy this book as a whole enough that I’m apt to pick up the next installment to see where everyone’s story goes.
Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for the free copy in exchange for a honest opinion.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A unique and fascinating premise. Fantasy without being fantasy, and brutal, and intellectual, and clever. ... and fully realized characters for whom you really care about. RECOMMEND.
Matt Wallace’s Savage Legion is the first book in his epic fantasy series, Savage Rebellion. An inventive fantasy with brilliant fight scenes, diverse and inclusive characters, and intricately done world-building.
Set in Crache, a utopian government led by nobility before a revolution took place and the Gen system was introduced where everyone contributes resources. Everything looks good in Crache but in reality, there is rot and corruption in the government and the secret police are keeping the citizens ignorant.
We follow the story of three women: Evie, a drunken brawler who was forced into the Savage legion, a ragtag group considered expendable in battles. Evie’s POV is the most exciting; this is where the action happens. Gore everywhere. The fight scenes are incredibly done and detailed.
Next is Lexie, a leader of a Gen that is helping the poor living at The Bottom. Her husband is presumed dead or treasonous and her House is being forced to shut down. We follow her as she navigates the politics in Crache.
Lastly, Dyeawan, a crippled girl taken from the street to work behind the scenes for a secret society filled with inventors. She’s given a wheelchair and started working as a messenger until they discovered that she’s too intelligent for it and put her to test to find what she’s good at.
I wasn’t invested when I started Savage Legion, the first part was dragging. The world-building was slow and it took a bit of time to understand things. The story did pick up halfway, things started to get interesting and I just can’t stop reading. Matt Wallace is an amazing storyteller, his prose is gripping and elegant. It’s easy to visualize the scenes and the world he crafted is complex and intricately done. I can’t wait to start book 2!
I highly recommend it for fans of Game of Thrones and The Traitor Baru Cormorant.
Thank you, Matt Wallace, Gallery Books, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read Savage Legion.
Set in Crache, a utopian government led by nobility before a revolution took place and the Gen system was introduced where everyone contributes resources. Everything looks good in Crache but in reality, there is rot and corruption in the government and the secret police are keeping the citizens ignorant.
We follow the story of three women: Evie, a drunken brawler who was forced into the Savage legion, a ragtag group considered expendable in battles. Evie’s POV is the most exciting; this is where the action happens. Gore everywhere. The fight scenes are incredibly done and detailed.
Next is Lexie, a leader of a Gen that is helping the poor living at The Bottom. Her husband is presumed dead or treasonous and her House is being forced to shut down. We follow her as she navigates the politics in Crache.
Lastly, Dyeawan, a crippled girl taken from the street to work behind the scenes for a secret society filled with inventors. She’s given a wheelchair and started working as a messenger until they discovered that she’s too intelligent for it and put her to test to find what she’s good at.
I wasn’t invested when I started Savage Legion, the first part was dragging. The world-building was slow and it took a bit of time to understand things. The story did pick up halfway, things started to get interesting and I just can’t stop reading. Matt Wallace is an amazing storyteller, his prose is gripping and elegant. It’s easy to visualize the scenes and the world he crafted is complex and intricately done. I can’t wait to start book 2!
I highly recommend it for fans of Game of Thrones and The Traitor Baru Cormorant.
Thank you, Matt Wallace, Gallery Books, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read Savage Legion.
Thank you Gallery Books and NetGalley for allowing to read an eARC in exchange for an honest review. I've given myself about a week for my thoughts to sink in before writing this review. I will continue to the series even though the hype I allowed to build up was not met. The book follows three main point-of-views: Evie a member of the Savage Legion, Lexi a Gen member, and Dywean a member of the planners and builders of the society that the book is centered. There were many intriguing parts of the book and its worldbuilding that focused around gender identity, female rights, disabilities, the police state, and the poor, which were done very well. However, I felt there were issues with pacing between the three parallel story lines. The chapters tended to rotate between the three POVs, but in some cases there was little timeline progression in one POV while in the next POV a lot of time progressed. While I enjoyed the characters, I felt the development of them was at times too drastic.
In the end, I'll come back to this world for more and hope that some of the first book's flaws are corrected in Savage Rebellion.
In the end, I'll come back to this world for more and hope that some of the first book's flaws are corrected in Savage Rebellion.
It's hard for me to think of stories of Utopias and their dark underbellies without thinking of Ursula K. Le Guin's classic story "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas." While reading Savage Legion, thoughts of that story were never far from my mind. Savage Legion is, to my mind, about Omelas as empire. Wallace has set out to examine and annihilate many of epic fantasy and military fantasy's tropes, with this story, while weaving a secondary story of political intrigue and a fascinating tertiary story which I will not elaborate on. He was, to my mind, entirely successful in this.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“A ruler is a target. A bureaucracy, on the other hand, is an endless forest in which the discontent lose both their way and their will to rebel, with nowhere and no one to focus their ire upon. We give them no direction, no bull's-eye for any anger or frustration or malice they may harbor against the state.”
I think the best word to describe this book is interesting. It's got a lot of big ideas it's intent on exploring, and it does so with aplomb. It doesn't so much subvert tropes as it breaks them apart and examines them, giving space to things that in epic fantasy tend to be hidden in the background.
We follow three main characters. There is Evie, who has gotten herself conscripted into the Savage Rebellion for a very specific purpose. There is Lexi, an upper-class (inasmuch as class exists in this society, which it very much does, even if the society does not want to admit to that) woman and Gen leader (kind of like a Guild?) whose husband has gone missing; she finds herself thrust into a position of power and leadership. Finally, there is Dyeawan, a disabled and brilliant teenage girl taken from the streets and sent off to a strange island.
There are many things to like about Savage Legion. The writing is very careful and elegant, if sometimes a bit overwrought; it's certainly very suitable for fantasy, though. The ideas being explored here are, as I said, very interesting: the book wants to dig deep at how empire and capitalism function, on a very practical scale. There's a lot of subtle and overt parallels to the modern-day United States, and to neoliberal capitalism in general, which is not something I've seen often in fantasy. Nonbinary people exist (they are called "Undeclared"), and there are two nonbinary characters with very significant roles. The final fifty pages, when hammers start dropping and major information is revealed and characters (particularly Dyeawan) make some pretty jaw-dropping decisions, are fantastic.
Unfortunately, as is often the case with fantasy series that don't really need to be series, 90% of this book felt like setup, and that 90% could easily have been summarized or rewritten to make this a more engaging and less predictable novel. As it is, we plod along with the characters with zero suspense or curiosity. Like I said, the final few pages had some cool reveals, but those should have come at the midpoint of the book, not at the very end, because so much of this book felt like filler. It's all just so expected; I could see the plot threads of this book to their ends from the very first page of the book. Also, there's no magic system that I could see, which was disappointing.
I also struggled to connect to the characters, especially Lexi, who is framed as utterly perfect. She's smart, good-hearted, fair, kind, spunky, and can handle herself in a fight. She's...a complete cliche. I have no idea what to make of her. Evie was more likable but similarly unflawed. Dyeawan is the most multi-faceted and interesting of the three, but I still struggled to find in her tangible flaws. Maybe this is just a personal thing, as I've gotten so used to grimdark fantasies with morally gray characters, but I just wish that these characters felt a bit more human, especially when the writing is so very formal that it threatens to sometimes make things feel stiff. Honestly, the side characters, especially Sirach, Daian, Spud-Bar, and Taru, were far more interesting.
Still, overall I would say I enjoyed this novel a lot, and I may even pick up the sequel. I like the writing and am intrigued enough by Dyeawan's arc to follow her along.
I really liked several of the characters. Two of the POV characters are probably a bit too competent, but sometimes that is the type of escapist reading one wants. And I'm happy that it seems we get to spend more time with a fourth person in book 2.
This is one of the first truly fantasy novels I have ever read and I am so glad it was this story that sucked me into the genre.
Set in the fictional nation of Crache, Savage Legion sets the tone for this thrilling trilogy. The story focuses on three different women from three different classes, all from the same nation. Lexi, a Gen pleader desperate to find her missing husband, while also becoming the leader she was born to be. Evie, a street hardened warrior with a mission to infiltrate the Savage Legion and recover somebody from her past. Finally, Dyeawan, a young woman with a remarkable brain taken from the streets and thrust into the inner workings of the nation. The women quickly learn that the nation they call home is not at all what they've been spoon fed. Their "protectors" are crooked, their "leaders" unseen, and their citizens are in danger of becoming pawns in a deadly war that is not all it seems. The women quickly realize a revolution is afoot and all three play a massive part in its success.
I cannot sing enough praise about this book. The pacing is incredibly swift but does not feel rushed and the world building is remarkable. The characters, even the minor ones, are well written and full of personality. I am obsessed with this story and won't have a good night's sleep until I can finish the trilogy!
Set in the fictional nation of Crache, Savage Legion sets the tone for this thrilling trilogy. The story focuses on three different women from three different classes, all from the same nation. Lexi, a Gen pleader desperate to find her missing husband, while also becoming the leader she was born to be. Evie, a street hardened warrior with a mission to infiltrate the Savage Legion and recover somebody from her past. Finally, Dyeawan, a young woman with a remarkable brain taken from the streets and thrust into the inner workings of the nation. The women quickly learn that the nation they call home is not at all what they've been spoon fed. Their "protectors" are crooked, their "leaders" unseen, and their citizens are in danger of becoming pawns in a deadly war that is not all it seems. The women quickly realize a revolution is afoot and all three play a massive part in its success.
I cannot sing enough praise about this book. The pacing is incredibly swift but does not feel rushed and the world building is remarkable. The characters, even the minor ones, are well written and full of personality. I am obsessed with this story and won't have a good night's sleep until I can finish the trilogy!
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No