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A review by novoaust
Blood Song by Anthony Ryan
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book encapsulates everything that I love about epic fantasy. At first, I was worried. I had recently finished Ryan's Covenant of Steel trilogy and found it pretty underwhelming, and I went into this one expecting it to be a standard, trope filled fantasy. While all the expected tropes are present, they are handled well, and overall, the book felt very unique.
For most of the story, we follow Vaelin Al Sorna. Brother of the Sixth Order, Sword of the Realm, Beral Shak Ur, Hope Killer, Young Hawk, Dark Blade, and more. Vaelin is known by many names, and Blood Song is told in a Name of the Wind style narrative, taking the reader on a journey where we learn where he came by these titles.
It has been a long time since I read a story paced this slowly that has also gripped me the entire way. Ryan will sink his talons into the reader with his unique worldbuilding, rich prose, and interesting plot. I hear it took him 12 years to write this, and those years have paid off.
Vaelin was a great character to follow. While he can be slotted into a chosen one sort of role, he is a character with depth, and his inner turmoil paired with the outward struggles he faced made him easy to root for. His struggles regarding loyalty, love, and devotion felt realistic and were easy to relate to.
I did have some minor struggles with this one. The timeline of this book is stretched, often done with time jumps and fast travel, which did hinder the story a little for me. Just pulled me out of an otherwise immersive experience. I didn't love how women were depicted in this one, and seeing that women were rarely part of the story, I wish they were written better. I felt that a lot of the male characters felt like carbon copies of each other and the romances in this one were way too rushed. These were all minor issues though, and I loved the story as a whole.
I hear that the sequels can be quite disappointing, but I am eager to get to them nonetheless.
For most of the story, we follow Vaelin Al Sorna. Brother of the Sixth Order, Sword of the Realm, Beral Shak Ur, Hope Killer, Young Hawk, Dark Blade, and more. Vaelin is known by many names, and Blood Song is told in a Name of the Wind style narrative, taking the reader on a journey where we learn where he came by these titles.
It has been a long time since I read a story paced this slowly that has also gripped me the entire way. Ryan will sink his talons into the reader with his unique worldbuilding, rich prose, and interesting plot. I hear it took him 12 years to write this, and those years have paid off.
Vaelin was a great character to follow. While he can be slotted into a chosen one sort of role, he is a character with depth, and his inner turmoil paired with the outward struggles he faced made him easy to root for. His struggles regarding loyalty, love, and devotion felt realistic and were easy to relate to.
I did have some minor struggles with this one. The timeline of this book is stretched, often done with time jumps and fast travel, which did hinder the story a little for me. Just pulled me out of an otherwise immersive experience. I didn't love how women were depicted in this one, and seeing that women were rarely part of the story, I wish they were written better. I felt that a lot of the male characters felt like carbon copies of each other and the romances in this one were way too rushed. These were all minor issues though, and I loved the story as a whole.
I hear that the sequels can be quite disappointing, but I am eager to get to them nonetheless.