Scan barcode
spellboundbybooks's review
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
vampierusboy's review
4.0
Where the first book in the trilogy started as an improbable team stealing some dragon's gold, the whole trilogy ended in a battle of gods, old and new. This book series was first pitched (probably by the editor) as ocean's eleven meets guardians of the galaxy. I don't think this does the series judgement at all. This book series is more an exploration of faith and religion in a fantasy world than it is a heist novel. Faith and religion play an important part in every book and are the main driving force behind a lot of the events. If you're a fan of American Gods and Terry Pratchett Discworld novels (especially the ones who deal about religion like Small Gods), this book series is more for you. I also like the exploration of that theme.
Although the bickering between the main characters is also a fun part of the book, sometimes it dragged on to long in my opinion. I would recommend this series.
Although the bickering between the main characters is also a fun part of the book, sometimes it dragged on to long in my opinion. I would recommend this series.
rogue_runner's review
3.0
I read this like 3 months ago and I'm not sure exactly where I'd score this on the scale. Happy to see the end of this trilogy, and it did do something different, but I feel like maybe books 2 and 3 could have been squashed together?
Also they resurrected awful quick lol.
Also they resurrected awful quick lol.
taypoor's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
tense
slow-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? Yes
4.5
slowreadswede's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
tense
fast-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? Yes
4.75
jonathanrobert's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
tense
fast-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? Yes
3.75
alexis_baldwin92's review
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-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? Yes
4.5
lindzy's review
4.0
Full review here
Jon Hollin’s The Dragon Lords trilogy have been a delightful read. The books are refreshing, different and, perhaps most importantly, made me laugh out loud more than once.
Bad Faith takes a different approach to the others. The humour is dialled back a lot and the entire premise of the book is far darker. There’s a lot more seriousness to this book, with characters not only developing, but twisting everything we knew about them.
Unable to accept Barph has won, Will comes up with a new plan – this time to break them out of the Hallows. But with new power feeding off the worship of the masses, coming back to life isn’t enough for Will. He wants revenge, he wants Barph to pay for killing them and he starts to lose track of what it is he is prepared to sacrifice to get said revenge.
When you insert an ancient form of magic into a farm-boy, it has consequences. Will loses himself in this book, following a quest for power and revenge. He loses the naivety and innocence that made him so likeable in the previous books. There was quite a large portion of this one where I disliked him: he isn’t the Will we know and love. He does, however, get the chance to redeem himself and I ended the book with a grin on my face.
Balur also goes through a few changes. He cares, he has a cause and – Gods forbid – he tries to do what is right by the masses. Love changes a man, even if they are a half-man, half-lizard type creature.
Love also changes Quirk –she will do anything to keep Afrit safe. Unfortunately, that realisation comes after she has rallied a group of dragons brought them back as an army to face Barph. It’s hard to know who is the biggest threat: Barph, Will or the dragons.
Lette isn’t as much of a dominant character this time, but she is instrumental in trying to hold Will together. Likewise, Afrit appears to be the moral compass: the one who will fight regardless of the cost because she knows how important it is and the cost to her doesn’t matter if it saves everyone else.
The plot boils down to good versus evil and the masses rising against a tyrannical god. But, as with the other two books, it’s more than that. There’s a lot of morality thrown in – how far do you go for the one you love? How far do you go for revenge? When is the cost too high?
Although I was gripped, I didn’t find the tension as high. I think this is because it was so tense throughout the entire book – there are threats coming from every direction and literally no telling what comes next – that it didn’t feel like it reached one particular climax, but several smaller ones.
Bad Faith was different to the first two. It was still a thoroughly enjoyed read and definitely a trilogy I’d recommend.
Jon Hollin’s The Dragon Lords trilogy have been a delightful read. The books are refreshing, different and, perhaps most importantly, made me laugh out loud more than once.
Bad Faith takes a different approach to the others. The humour is dialled back a lot and the entire premise of the book is far darker. There’s a lot more seriousness to this book, with characters not only developing, but twisting everything we knew about them.
Unable to accept Barph has won, Will comes up with a new plan – this time to break them out of the Hallows. But with new power feeding off the worship of the masses, coming back to life isn’t enough for Will. He wants revenge, he wants Barph to pay for killing them and he starts to lose track of what it is he is prepared to sacrifice to get said revenge.
When you insert an ancient form of magic into a farm-boy, it has consequences. Will loses himself in this book, following a quest for power and revenge. He loses the naivety and innocence that made him so likeable in the previous books. There was quite a large portion of this one where I disliked him: he isn’t the Will we know and love. He does, however, get the chance to redeem himself and I ended the book with a grin on my face.
Balur also goes through a few changes. He cares, he has a cause and – Gods forbid – he tries to do what is right by the masses. Love changes a man, even if they are a half-man, half-lizard type creature.
Love also changes Quirk –she will do anything to keep Afrit safe. Unfortunately, that realisation comes after she has rallied a group of dragons brought them back as an army to face Barph. It’s hard to know who is the biggest threat: Barph, Will or the dragons.
Lette isn’t as much of a dominant character this time, but she is instrumental in trying to hold Will together. Likewise, Afrit appears to be the moral compass: the one who will fight regardless of the cost because she knows how important it is and the cost to her doesn’t matter if it saves everyone else.
The plot boils down to good versus evil and the masses rising against a tyrannical god. But, as with the other two books, it’s more than that. There’s a lot of morality thrown in – how far do you go for the one you love? How far do you go for revenge? When is the cost too high?
Although I was gripped, I didn’t find the tension as high. I think this is because it was so tense throughout the entire book – there are threats coming from every direction and literally no telling what comes next – that it didn’t feel like it reached one particular climax, but several smaller ones.
Bad Faith was different to the first two. It was still a thoroughly enjoyed read and definitely a trilogy I’d recommend.
granillo1979's review
5.0
What a fun read, sad to finish the series. Definitely deserves a five star rating IMO, and then some.
kartiknarayanan's review against another edition
4.0
tl;dr : Bad Faith is a properly epic conclusion to a great irreverent fantasy series
Before I get further into the book, let us look at its precursors. Fool's Gold was great with its USP being irreverent humour. False Idols' USP was its world building and excellent characters. And now, Bad Faith has excellent storytelling & plot twists as its stand-out features. This series has been brilliant for a number of reasons and the primary one is how each book changes its tone so much while retaining the essentials - characters, writing, pacing, plot & world building. If for nothing else, you ought to read this series just to how masterful Jon Hollins has been in crafting this evolution in his books.
Coming to Bad Faith itself. It reminded me of Terry Pratchett's Small Gods quite a bit.
There are a lot of common elements with the previous books. There is balls to the wall action. Will Farrow's plans, even when they do not work, are properly manic and brilliant. Balur is, well being, Balur. The writing is excellent (did I not mention it before?).
There is far less humour here than in the previous books and this bummed me out quite a bit. I dearly missed this trademark humour, but, the author compensates for this disappointment by weaving a complicated plot with a lot of twists and turns. The story becomes grim and serious quite soon, which I admit, took me some time to adjust too. Some of the characters become corrupted by power with the consequences of their actions laid bare for all to see.
The climax was great and I definitely did not see the twist that was coming. The ending was mostly good (*cough* Small Gods *cough*) but I think Jon Hollins could have made it better by sticking to the tone of this book. There are some elements of magic hand waving that happens. And some characters (my favourite) do not get a mention at the end. But, these are minor quibbles in the greater scheme of things.
If you want to know whether I recommend this book, let me just share this. I had to savour each and every page and I forced myself to read slowly so that the book did not get over too fast. That's how engrossed I was.
Before I get further into the book, let us look at its precursors. Fool's Gold was great with its USP being irreverent humour. False Idols' USP was its world building and excellent characters. And now, Bad Faith has excellent storytelling & plot twists as its stand-out features. This series has been brilliant for a number of reasons and the primary one is how each book changes its tone so much while retaining the essentials - characters, writing, pacing, plot & world building. If for nothing else, you ought to read this series just to how masterful Jon Hollins has been in crafting this evolution in his books.
Coming to Bad Faith itself. It reminded me of Terry Pratchett's Small Gods quite a bit.
There are a lot of common elements with the previous books. There is balls to the wall action. Will Farrow's plans, even when they do not work, are properly manic and brilliant. Balur is, well being, Balur. The writing is excellent (did I not mention it before?).
There is far less humour here than in the previous books and this bummed me out quite a bit. I dearly missed this trademark humour, but, the author compensates for this disappointment by weaving a complicated plot with a lot of twists and turns. The story becomes grim and serious quite soon, which I admit, took me some time to adjust too. Some of the characters become corrupted by power with the consequences of their actions laid bare for all to see.
The climax was great and I definitely did not see the twist that was coming. The ending was mostly good (*cough* Small Gods *cough*) but I think Jon Hollins could have made it better by sticking to the tone of this book. There are some elements of magic hand waving that happens. And some characters (my favourite) do not get a mention at the end. But, these are minor quibbles in the greater scheme of things.
If you want to know whether I recommend this book, let me just share this. I had to savour each and every page and I forced myself to read slowly so that the book did not get over too fast. That's how engrossed I was.