I've been wondering when best to post this, as the book's official release won't be until January 2018. But then, I've had a very early review copy, and could gush about it for days. If you're reading this now, it means my excitement won against my patience. Either way, I'd recommend this novel wholeheartedly, with the caveat that if you have not read John Gwynne's The Faithful and the Fallen series, you damn well should do that first. There's still time to pull it off and be ready for launch!
Beware! With A Time of Dread being set well over a century after the conclusion of The Faithful and the Fallen, there will be spoilers in here. Come back once you read the rest of John's books!
Beware! With A Time of Dread being set well over a century after the conclusion of The Faithful and the Fallen, there will be spoilers in here. Come back once you read the rest of John's books!
The Story:
"The Ben-Elim, a fierce race of warrior-angels, burst into the Banished Lands over a hundred and thirty years ago. They were in pursuit of their eternal enemy, the Kadoshim demon-horde. On that day a great battle was fought, the Ben-Elim and Kadoshim joined by allies from the races of both men and giants, and a great victory was won.
Now much of the Banished Lands is ruled by the Ben-Elim, who have made this world their home, extending their influence and power as they swallow ancient kingdoms into the protective grasp of their ever-extending borders. But peace is fragile within the realm and the Kadoshim that remain are now amassing on the edges of the empire....
Threats long in the shadows are about to strike."
Now much of the Banished Lands is ruled by the Ben-Elim, who have made this world their home, extending their influence and power as they swallow ancient kingdoms into the protective grasp of their ever-extending borders. But peace is fragile within the realm and the Kadoshim that remain are now amassing on the edges of the empire....
Threats long in the shadows are about to strike."
Disclaimer
I loved John Gwynne's The Faithful and the Fallen series and reviewed all four books. John happened to like my reviews and messaged me on Goodreads about whether I'd be okay with him forwarding them to his publicist, Don Shanahan. That was way back in April 2017. In late September, Don emailed me with an offer for a very early review copy for A Time of Dread - this book right here. Of course I jumped at that offer, considering Wrath was my favorite novel of 2016. I received my copy in early October. Despite getting to read it for free this early, I still have the retail paperback edition preordered anyway, because it was just that good and I actively want to vote with my wallet.
Make of that what you will, I'm just trying to be transparent about how this came about and how much I love John's works to date.
Make of that what you will, I'm just trying to be transparent about how this came about and how much I love John's works to date.
The Review:
A Time of Dread is a fantastic novel through and through. It feels immediately familiar if you've read The Faithful and the Fallen - which you should - while being more focused than the former, due to a simpler political landscape and fewer point of view characters.
There are no slow or dull chapters in Dread, which should excite readers who thought that the previous series' opener, Malice, meandered a bit too much and switched points of view too frequently. The count of point of view characters is down to a mere four, whereas Malice had seven. On top of that, the characters feel more and more connected to the ongoing core plotline, whereas in the early TFatF books, things felt more separate for a time and the hero and villain of old prophecies did not actually meet until very late in the series.
A Time of Dread sidesteps those growth problems by virtue of having a central threat from the start: The Kadoshim, the dark lord Asroth's brood. On the flipside, the Ben-Elim of Elyon have made the Banished Lands their new home, and despite their angelic appearance, they have been turning the various kingdoms into a nation of their own, while intent on hunting down what Kadoshim remain in the world. This, in turn, causes tensions as they conquer old, independent nations and exert tithes from their flock to maintain the war effort against their dark cousins.
There are three important factions in this one, rather than the various kingdoms of the previous series, from Ardan over Cambren, Isiltir to Tenebral. Instead, the Land of the Faithful, the Ben-Elim's domain, covers about half the map to the east, whereas the west hosts the kingdom of Ardain, which has good relationships with the Order of the Bright Star, founded by Corban after the events of The Faithful and the Fallen.
As a reader of the previous series, you'll find a lot to love here, although we don't see much of Dun Seren, the Order's home, just yet. A lot of details made me very nostalgic, though, and there are even some surprise cameos.
As you might imagine from TFatF, the Order and the Ben-Elim aren't on the greatest terms. Despite their shared enemy, the Kadoshim, they are filled with mistrust for one another, which is also independently reinforced here through a shared battle, which three of the four point of view characters connect to. Yes, this time around there's more connective tissue between the primary cast, whether they're aware of it or not. Either way, I really enjoyed reading the various tellings of said battle from different sources. It added depth to a conflict we only hear about, while providing different, biased perspectives to reinforce the ongoing strife.
The last faction of note are, obviously, the Kadoshim and their cultists. While they have been in hiding for a long time, their presence is still felt throughout the Banished Lands, both through the terror they project on villages and travelers and via the way their mere existence in the physical realm provokes the Ben-Elim into establishing a (benevolent) tyranny. Sometimes it was hard to really decide whether the Kadoshim really are the worst thing the world has to offer now... until characters you've grown to love start getting hurt. And it isn't like the Ben-Elim don't have their own troubles here either.
Through the resurgence of the Kadoshim's nefarious activities, we follow Sig of the Order - a giant who should be familiar already -, Bleda, taken in by the Ben-Elim as a child to force a peace between the rival tribes of Arcona, Riv, a young White-Wing aspirant living in the Ben-Elim's capital city of Drassil, and - my personal favorite of the four - Drem, son of a trapper in the northern Desolation, whose life gets a lot more complicated very quickly.
All of these characters are, of course, accompanied by other interesting people throughout their plotlines. Drem's father, Olin, for example, has a lot of life lessons to teach and his relationship with Drem and their circumstances living in the north are some of my personal highlights. There is real emotion here, along with the catalyst for future greatness. Interestingly, Drem shows signs of compulsive behavior and is, if anything, naive. He's probably closest to filling the farmboy-bound-for-greatness trope, as he starts with very little and throughout the novel learns more about the world, past conflicts and his place in all of it, while showing compelling personal growth and initiative.
Riv, meanwhile, is born into a strict regime built on faith and obedience. She aspires to filling the shoes of her mother and sister by becoming a White-Wing, the elite of the Ben-Elim's Land of the Faithful. She knows where she wants to be in life, yet struggles with her own wild emotions and the sneers of her peers. Riv is a bundle of energy and ambition. Her plotline was, to me, the most predictable though - which I cannot point out as a flaw, however. Gwynne managed to foreshadow her destination pretty well and it all connected satisfyingly while leaving many mysteries for the following books. Her's is the last scene in the book, and damn me did it make me want to read on already.
Bleda, in contrast, is basically a hostage of the Ben-Elim. Where Riv revels in dreams of serving the angelic host, Bleda is all too aware of his status as a ward in Drassil. He is being groomed, alongside his tribe's rival clan's heir Jin, as a pawn of his hosts, taught the ways of Elyon and history yet kept as a hostage to keep the clans of Arcona under control. Next to Olin and Sig, Bleda and his companion Jin offer the most critical view of the Ben-Elim - and the most direct one. Where Riv's chapters often depict the Ben-Elim's rule as natural and a good thing in general, Bleda's presence allows the author to show us the downsides of their reign.
Bleda's tribe values a lack of expression outside of the comfort of family, and even then, which puts him at odds with the White-Wings at times. His dynamics with both Jin and Riv ended up pretty interesting and I can't wait to see how his values will be tipped over the coming books.
Lastly, Sig the giant hunts the Kadoshim to the west and is accompanied by Cullen, an overeager descendant of a certain Bright Star, a huntsman with his wolven-hounds and, at times, a speaking crow called Rab. This one's a working team already, despite Cullen's rashness and desire to prove himself. Sig has seen it all, so this is where we get a bunch of soft flashbacks. Her role throughout makes a lot of things clear about the past century and more and does a good job bringing the reader up to speed on things. And yes, she rides a bear.
This bunch of heroes, young and old, really grew dear to me quickly. They're exciting to read about and hold some key roles this time. I also admit that I loved the easter eggs / references to the old series that this point of view character allowed for - I couldn't get enough of it! Sig's presence as a focal character also contrasted nicely with the three youngsters who have barely begun their adult lives. She unmistakenly fills the mentor role this time, reminding me of Gar and Brina in some ways. There are a bunch of really touching moments here, too.
I honestly struggle to find things wrong with this one. The pacing was steady from start to finish, it held my attention well enough to get me through some lengthy waiting room hours sitting at the doctor's, and all plotlines flowed well and complemented each other. Things quickly fell into place as details and perspectives added up to provide me with a full view of the ongoing conflict.
Even the internal conflicts of the protagonists are believably written and close to heart. I believe I actually teared up twice while reading, too. John managed to make me care for the entire cast really damn quickly and all of the four major characters had their own arc to pass through and a satisfying climax.
The antagonists are, in my opinion, creepier and even more inhuman than when we last saw them, showcasing just how bad having the Kadoshim in the world actually is, even when their liege-lord is effectively dead. There are a bunch of horrific scenes this time around, making it clear that the agents of evil are out in force. Where The Faithful and the Fallen had the antagonists slowly building up their power and influence, A Time of Dread starts with the long game almost at its conclusion, effectively skipping the preparation phase that the preceding series went through. The dangers of this new war feel more immediate and terrifying than the God War, where much of the early conflict was entirely human in nature.
A Time of Dread had a lot to live up to, with Wrath being my favorite novel of 2016. I crashed right through Malice, Valour and Ruin in record time in early 2016, too. It could have messed up the time skip - 130 odd years are no little thing - and changed too much, or felt like too much of the same. It could have banked too hard on fanservice. It could have had boring characters or conflicts. Yet it didn't do any of those things. It was gripping, felt familiar where it needed to while presenting new ideas and new landscapes, offered exciting new characters who felt like real, relatable people, and managed to focus its scope in an excellent way.
You can easily tell that John Gwynne's improved his skills when it comes to opening novels to a series in general. And if the plot hooks left for the sequels to explore are anything to go by, this trilogy will be a bloody good time for me, as a reader, if not necessarily for the protagonists...
If I had anything to complain about, it'd be that it is "just" a trilogy this time, rather than a four novel series, and that the novel was a bit shorter than a Faithful and the Fallen book. Which, of course, goes hand in hand with a lot of things I praised so far.
I am yearning for the next installment already. A Time of Dread officially releases on January 9/11, depending on your region. I'm already resigned to the fact that Amazon.de will, once again, mess up my preorder of the retail edition (because of course they will!), but at least this time I got a headstart... Not that it makes me any less impatient for the following two books of the Of Blood and Bone trilogy!
Thanks again to both John Gwynne and Don Shanahan for getting this one to me a few months early! It is much appreciated.
There are no slow or dull chapters in Dread, which should excite readers who thought that the previous series' opener, Malice, meandered a bit too much and switched points of view too frequently. The count of point of view characters is down to a mere four, whereas Malice had seven. On top of that, the characters feel more and more connected to the ongoing core plotline, whereas in the early TFatF books, things felt more separate for a time and the hero and villain of old prophecies did not actually meet until very late in the series.
A Time of Dread sidesteps those growth problems by virtue of having a central threat from the start: The Kadoshim, the dark lord Asroth's brood. On the flipside, the Ben-Elim of Elyon have made the Banished Lands their new home, and despite their angelic appearance, they have been turning the various kingdoms into a nation of their own, while intent on hunting down what Kadoshim remain in the world. This, in turn, causes tensions as they conquer old, independent nations and exert tithes from their flock to maintain the war effort against their dark cousins.
There are three important factions in this one, rather than the various kingdoms of the previous series, from Ardan over Cambren, Isiltir to Tenebral. Instead, the Land of the Faithful, the Ben-Elim's domain, covers about half the map to the east, whereas the west hosts the kingdom of Ardain, which has good relationships with the Order of the Bright Star, founded by Corban after the events of The Faithful and the Fallen.
As a reader of the previous series, you'll find a lot to love here, although we don't see much of Dun Seren, the Order's home, just yet. A lot of details made me very nostalgic, though, and there are even some surprise cameos.
As you might imagine from TFatF, the Order and the Ben-Elim aren't on the greatest terms. Despite their shared enemy, the Kadoshim, they are filled with mistrust for one another, which is also independently reinforced here through a shared battle, which three of the four point of view characters connect to. Yes, this time around there's more connective tissue between the primary cast, whether they're aware of it or not. Either way, I really enjoyed reading the various tellings of said battle from different sources. It added depth to a conflict we only hear about, while providing different, biased perspectives to reinforce the ongoing strife.
The last faction of note are, obviously, the Kadoshim and their cultists. While they have been in hiding for a long time, their presence is still felt throughout the Banished Lands, both through the terror they project on villages and travelers and via the way their mere existence in the physical realm provokes the Ben-Elim into establishing a (benevolent) tyranny. Sometimes it was hard to really decide whether the Kadoshim really are the worst thing the world has to offer now... until characters you've grown to love start getting hurt. And it isn't like the Ben-Elim don't have their own troubles here either.
Through the resurgence of the Kadoshim's nefarious activities, we follow Sig of the Order - a giant who should be familiar already -, Bleda, taken in by the Ben-Elim as a child to force a peace between the rival tribes of Arcona, Riv, a young White-Wing aspirant living in the Ben-Elim's capital city of Drassil, and - my personal favorite of the four - Drem, son of a trapper in the northern Desolation, whose life gets a lot more complicated very quickly.
All of these characters are, of course, accompanied by other interesting people throughout their plotlines. Drem's father, Olin, for example, has a lot of life lessons to teach and his relationship with Drem and their circumstances living in the north are some of my personal highlights. There is real emotion here, along with the catalyst for future greatness. Interestingly, Drem shows signs of compulsive behavior and is, if anything, naive. He's probably closest to filling the farmboy-bound-for-greatness trope, as he starts with very little and throughout the novel learns more about the world, past conflicts and his place in all of it, while showing compelling personal growth and initiative.
Riv, meanwhile, is born into a strict regime built on faith and obedience. She aspires to filling the shoes of her mother and sister by becoming a White-Wing, the elite of the Ben-Elim's Land of the Faithful. She knows where she wants to be in life, yet struggles with her own wild emotions and the sneers of her peers. Riv is a bundle of energy and ambition. Her plotline was, to me, the most predictable though - which I cannot point out as a flaw, however. Gwynne managed to foreshadow her destination pretty well and it all connected satisfyingly while leaving many mysteries for the following books. Her's is the last scene in the book, and damn me did it make me want to read on already.
Bleda, in contrast, is basically a hostage of the Ben-Elim. Where Riv revels in dreams of serving the angelic host, Bleda is all too aware of his status as a ward in Drassil. He is being groomed, alongside his tribe's rival clan's heir Jin, as a pawn of his hosts, taught the ways of Elyon and history yet kept as a hostage to keep the clans of Arcona under control. Next to Olin and Sig, Bleda and his companion Jin offer the most critical view of the Ben-Elim - and the most direct one. Where Riv's chapters often depict the Ben-Elim's rule as natural and a good thing in general, Bleda's presence allows the author to show us the downsides of their reign.
Bleda's tribe values a lack of expression outside of the comfort of family, and even then, which puts him at odds with the White-Wings at times. His dynamics with both Jin and Riv ended up pretty interesting and I can't wait to see how his values will be tipped over the coming books.
Lastly, Sig the giant hunts the Kadoshim to the west and is accompanied by Cullen, an overeager descendant of a certain Bright Star, a huntsman with his wolven-hounds and, at times, a speaking crow called Rab. This one's a working team already, despite Cullen's rashness and desire to prove himself. Sig has seen it all, so this is where we get a bunch of soft flashbacks. Her role throughout makes a lot of things clear about the past century and more and does a good job bringing the reader up to speed on things. And yes, she rides a bear.
This bunch of heroes, young and old, really grew dear to me quickly. They're exciting to read about and hold some key roles this time. I also admit that I loved the easter eggs / references to the old series that this point of view character allowed for - I couldn't get enough of it! Sig's presence as a focal character also contrasted nicely with the three youngsters who have barely begun their adult lives. She unmistakenly fills the mentor role this time, reminding me of Gar and Brina in some ways. There are a bunch of really touching moments here, too.
I honestly struggle to find things wrong with this one. The pacing was steady from start to finish, it held my attention well enough to get me through some lengthy waiting room hours sitting at the doctor's, and all plotlines flowed well and complemented each other. Things quickly fell into place as details and perspectives added up to provide me with a full view of the ongoing conflict.
Even the internal conflicts of the protagonists are believably written and close to heart. I believe I actually teared up twice while reading, too. John managed to make me care for the entire cast really damn quickly and all of the four major characters had their own arc to pass through and a satisfying climax.
The antagonists are, in my opinion, creepier and even more inhuman than when we last saw them, showcasing just how bad having the Kadoshim in the world actually is, even when their liege-lord is effectively dead. There are a bunch of horrific scenes this time around, making it clear that the agents of evil are out in force. Where The Faithful and the Fallen had the antagonists slowly building up their power and influence, A Time of Dread starts with the long game almost at its conclusion, effectively skipping the preparation phase that the preceding series went through. The dangers of this new war feel more immediate and terrifying than the God War, where much of the early conflict was entirely human in nature.
A Time of Dread had a lot to live up to, with Wrath being my favorite novel of 2016. I crashed right through Malice, Valour and Ruin in record time in early 2016, too. It could have messed up the time skip - 130 odd years are no little thing - and changed too much, or felt like too much of the same. It could have banked too hard on fanservice. It could have had boring characters or conflicts. Yet it didn't do any of those things. It was gripping, felt familiar where it needed to while presenting new ideas and new landscapes, offered exciting new characters who felt like real, relatable people, and managed to focus its scope in an excellent way.
You can easily tell that John Gwynne's improved his skills when it comes to opening novels to a series in general. And if the plot hooks left for the sequels to explore are anything to go by, this trilogy will be a bloody good time for me, as a reader, if not necessarily for the protagonists...
If I had anything to complain about, it'd be that it is "just" a trilogy this time, rather than a four novel series, and that the novel was a bit shorter than a Faithful and the Fallen book. Which, of course, goes hand in hand with a lot of things I praised so far.
I am yearning for the next installment already. A Time of Dread officially releases on January 9/11, depending on your region. I'm already resigned to the fact that Amazon.de will, once again, mess up my preorder of the retail edition (because of course they will!), but at least this time I got a headstart... Not that it makes me any less impatient for the following two books of the Of Blood and Bone trilogy!
Thanks again to both John Gwynne and Don Shanahan for getting this one to me a few months early! It is much appreciated.
