A review by afictionalescapist
The Blood of the Spear by Mark Timmony

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

 I am not going to lie, I was intimidated by this book from the get-go, not because it is particularly long, but because we have an intricate map at the front and a full glossary of terms in the back. I am pleased to say, although I did take a little longer than a standard 500 – 600 book to read this one, I had a really great time within these pages. 

We are dropped into a trial of sorts between Kaiel and Rolan as they race against the other to become a renowned deamon hunter. The reader is Immediately thrown into a world full of monsters, and the stakes are set super high from page one. The fast-paced trial leaving Kaiel at a loss is only the beginning. 

It becomes apparent that our buddy Kaiel is going to need a plan B, and his brother Darien just so happens to be planning to leave to join the Ciralys; A group of people who can use this worlds magic (the Asai) to wield the light of the eye. Although sceptical about Darien’s knew life path, there is a case of if you can’t beat em, join em. Their departure becomes desperate when rumours of an ancient bloodline begin to surface, rumours focusing on the two brothers, and suddenly they are being hunted. 

This is an action packed, sometimes terrifying travelling adventure, full of intriguing characters that hold their own, daemons who will not quit, and a 3000-year-old battle that has come back to follow these two brothers. 

There were a few stand outs for me in Mark Timmony’s work the first being the world building and prose. 

While it took me a fairly long time to get into the language of the novel, the descriptions and technicalities of the prose bought this world to life. There is obvious inspiration from Wheel of Time, but the author has taken great care into making this world his own. The prose here is not flowery at all, but as a visual reader, I was able to see the daemons as they were described, and there were many of them! Timmony has taken the time to craft a world at every turn of the page, there was not one creature or aspect that I felt was just written for the sake of it. 

The world is also explained slowly throughout the book, namely through action and conversation between the characters. The world, the magic and the relationships are all layered and interwoven to give the reader a full view over the course of the book. We aren’t handed the ins and outs of this world on a platter, as a reader this book invites us to pay attention, look closer and piece the larger picture together for ourselves. 

The Characters also felt real, there were real quarrels between the group we follow, it felt authentic, nothing was done as a placeholder for another event. The way our team interacted helped to move the story forward every step of the way. The author has very cleverly given us some side characters at the beginning of the book and build them up throughout the pages to become more and more important as time went by, leading into a very promising (and epic) part two. 

I will say I think some of the more technical aspects of this book were lost on me initially being fairly new to fantasy, and there were a few pages that I had to re-read to grasp. I believe this would be well suited to those who love being thrown into the thick of it when it comes to an epic fantasy adventure.