Take a photo of a barcode or cover
scottsforayintofriction 's review for:
The Coward
by Stephen Aryan
How to start this review….?
I purchased this book nearly a year ago with all the intentions of reading it as soon as I got it.
For a number of reason this hasn’t happened and I’ve been waiting for the perfect opportunity to pick this up.
Enter is the Oasis Discord with their buddy reads…light blub moment…this is the perfect opportunity, so I switched my April TBR around and jumped straight in.
Let’s start by looking at a little back story to the main story.
Kell Kressia is a hero, or is he? When Kell was only 17 he set out with a band of hero’s to venture into the Frozen North and defeat the monster(s) lurking there.
Now to the main story, Fast forward 10 years and Kell is living a quite farmer’s life, that is until the weather starts to turn again and a summons from King Bledsoe thrusts Kell back into the action.
We follow the story mainly through the eyes of our protagonist Kell, but there are plenty of chapters allocated to the “heavenly” Revered Mother. On top of these two main POVs we receive the odd chapter from some side characters like Gerren and Princes Sigrid. Which was great as I love to see a story from many perspectives.
The main focus of this story is Kell’s long dangerous journey to the Frozen North to see who or what is causing the shifting weather.
Upon his journey he is joined by a ragtag band including a ambitious fame hunting young man, a bard, an Alfár (Willow) and a mad islander king, all with their own reasons for going on this dangerous journey. Which you will have to read the book to find out!!
Together they have to navigate the extreme weather, wild array of monsters to make it to their final destination.
This journey story was really fun to follow with each character bringing a different element to the party.
We get to see each character going through some tough times and see how each person one of them manage the changing landscapes and many challenges they will face along the way.
Stephen has managed to bring to page a great band of characters, all who are unique with different back stories. My favourite was Alfár, if she doesn’t like a question she just ignores you. This felt like a lot of people I know!!!
My one issue with this book was up until the final 25% I was really struggling to see where the story was heading. At no point was I thinking this would cause me to DNF this book, absolutely not, I was enjoying the book very much. Was my impatience to get to the end of the story causing this, maybe, was this me missing key plot trends, most likely.
Either way, if someone asks me about this book, I will still recommend it as it’s still a great book!
What Stephen did do for me though was he satisfyingly tied up a lot of my lingering questions/guesses I gathered in my head during the first 3/4 of this book. I suspect this may be the same for some people, I will say though, stick with it as the ending has a great pay off and sets up really well for book 2 - The Warrior.
The pacing of this book was pretty steady throughout the first half but really ramps up as our would be hero’s journey towards the Frozen North comes to its conclusion.
If you like a journey stories with lot of action, horrible monsters and religious intrigue, this is definitely the book for you.
I’m really excited to see where Stephen take the story in the next book - The Warrior!!
7.5/10 ⭐️ Rating
I purchased this book nearly a year ago with all the intentions of reading it as soon as I got it.
For a number of reason this hasn’t happened and I’ve been waiting for the perfect opportunity to pick this up.
Enter is the Oasis Discord with their buddy reads…light blub moment…this is the perfect opportunity, so I switched my April TBR around and jumped straight in.
Let’s start by looking at a little back story to the main story.
Kell Kressia is a hero, or is he? When Kell was only 17 he set out with a band of hero’s to venture into the Frozen North and defeat the monster(s) lurking there.
Now to the main story, Fast forward 10 years and Kell is living a quite farmer’s life, that is until the weather starts to turn again and a summons from King Bledsoe thrusts Kell back into the action.
We follow the story mainly through the eyes of our protagonist Kell, but there are plenty of chapters allocated to the “heavenly” Revered Mother. On top of these two main POVs we receive the odd chapter from some side characters like Gerren and Princes Sigrid. Which was great as I love to see a story from many perspectives.
The main focus of this story is Kell’s long dangerous journey to the Frozen North to see who or what is causing the shifting weather.
Upon his journey he is joined by a ragtag band including a ambitious fame hunting young man, a bard, an Alfár (Willow) and a mad islander king, all with their own reasons for going on this dangerous journey. Which you will have to read the book to find out!!
Together they have to navigate the extreme weather, wild array of monsters to make it to their final destination.
This journey story was really fun to follow with each character bringing a different element to the party.
We get to see each character going through some tough times and see how each person one of them manage the changing landscapes and many challenges they will face along the way.
Stephen has managed to bring to page a great band of characters, all who are unique with different back stories. My favourite was Alfár, if she doesn’t like a question she just ignores you. This felt like a lot of people I know!!!
My one issue with this book was up until the final 25% I was really struggling to see where the story was heading. At no point was I thinking this would cause me to DNF this book, absolutely not, I was enjoying the book very much. Was my impatience to get to the end of the story causing this, maybe, was this me missing key plot trends, most likely.
Either way, if someone asks me about this book, I will still recommend it as it’s still a great book!
What Stephen did do for me though was he satisfyingly tied up a lot of my lingering questions/guesses I gathered in my head during the first 3/4 of this book. I suspect this may be the same for some people, I will say though, stick with it as the ending has a great pay off and sets up really well for book 2 - The Warrior.
The pacing of this book was pretty steady throughout the first half but really ramps up as our would be hero’s journey towards the Frozen North comes to its conclusion.
If you like a journey stories with lot of action, horrible monsters and religious intrigue, this is definitely the book for you.
I’m really excited to see where Stephen take the story in the next book - The Warrior!!
7.5/10 ⭐️ Rating