Malice

I cannot believe it has taken me this long to read a John Gwynne book, but I finally have and I enjoyed this so much! I have had this series on my shelf for years and I could not put it off any longer, I had to give it a try. The book follows multiple point of views with multiple story points. The main story is about the coming of a God-War which essentially encompasses the good side who are the followers of Elyon and the bad side who are the followers of Asroth who was imprisoned. All tying into this main story are all the side plots taking place with the multiple characters. Corban is a young boy who is trying to become a warrior. He tries to protect those he loves and has a great family support system. The stablemaster helps him to learn to defend himself and prepare for his warrior trials. Along the way he makes friends and enemies and must learn how to grow into himself. His sister, Cywen also provides a point of view and she has her own strength that has not fully come to fruition yet. She desires to fight as well and she is fiercely loyal to Corban. Evnis provides insight to the plotting and betrayals occurring as he is on Asroth’s side. This is clear from the beginning and he is working on the side to undermine his king. He is further motivated by pride and vengeance. Veradis is a major character (same with Corban) and Veradis is an amazing swordsman. He has become Prince Nathair’s first-sword and he is 100% loyal to Nathair even at the cost of his family. He believes, along with Nathair, that Nathair is the champion of Elyon and believes that Nathair can do nothing wrong. Kastell has a few scenes with Veradis, but Kastell follows his own path of trying to find where he fits in. He is a nephew to a king but his cousin despises him, leading Kastell to try to get away from his home. These characters are all fleshed out and unique in their motives, thoughts and abilities. At first I found the multiple point of views to be confusing but after a few chapters, I grew to enjoy all the multiple point of views. I started to enjoy every character and chapter since each character’s story was fast-paced and there was constantly something to look forward to. There is so much going on with this world and the story moves quickly. I had a feeling there was going to be a lot of death and betrayals, and I was not disappointed (unfortunately), but all I want now is to continue on to the next book. I recommend giving this series a try if you haven’t but I know I am late to the game myself, so I am assuming a majority have already read and enjoyed this! If not though, definitely give it a try especially if you are an epic fantasy fan!

Malice is a good start to a very popular series, and I almost DNF’d this early on, but I went ahead and pushed through in hopes that either my mood or whatever it was going on would change, because this is what inspired Ryan Cahill’s Of Blood and Fire, that I absolutely love. Malice is also in my wheelhouse of stories that I enjoy reading, but for whatever reason, I just couldn’t get into it until after the mid-way point. I feel like part of my issue may have been that I just wasn’t in the mood for a story such as this or maybe my mind was just distracted from the hectic month. While my grade isn’t what I expected it to be, what I do know that can’t be denied, is that this book is beautifully written. Gwynne has such a fantastic way of telling a story and making the reader feel as if they were in the world themselves by drawing us in one sentence at a time. The slow building is something that Gwynne does very well, getting to watch the characters from where they started at the beginning to see their stories unfold to where they are at the end. The character work was incredible, but again, whatever was going on with being distracted or just not in the mood for this kind of story I just couldn’t get into really any of the characters other than maybe Corban and his wolven, Storm, everyone else just really felt like I was just having to wait until I got back to the part that I liked. This did change later in the book, as I started to like some of the other characters, but it definitely was a lot harder at the beginning. “Black Sun will drown the earth in bloodshed, Bright Star with the Treasures must unite.” I knew going into this from reading The Bloodsworn saga, that Gwynne loves to kill his characters, though some deaths really didn’t hit me as much as I felt like they should’ve, and that could be more to go with just how many characters there were so early on. There wasn’t really a lot of time to invest and that made the deaths, while tragic, a little less of a heart stop of sadness for me. That’s a bit too much negativity, so here is a great positive, the last quarter of Malice is absolutely 5 star worthy. Once the characters were in place, the story took over and had me reeling. It’s all I wanted to do, was to see what would happen next to them all. Each storyline from that point on was gratifying in every single way, which makes me feel really good about how Valor will be. I expect that to have a much higher grade than Malice. The other thing that I can’t quite put my hand on, is the narration by Damian Lynch. Part of me thought the narration was great, the characters all had voices and accents that ranged all over the place leaving there any doubt to who was speaking, the emotion he was able to put out in some scenes was very good, but on the other side, there was a part of me that just felt like the narration was just, meh. I think that part of me, is the part that couldn’t get into the first three quarters of the book, so it affected the narration as well, because once I got into it, I felt the power of the narration. It’s very hard for me to grade this, because I honestly don’t know if it was my mood, maybe not ready to go back into this type of novel after reading a sci-fi series, or just not into it. But whatever the case, it did seem to clear up at the end, and I came away feeling that my original grade I was thinking of, deserved to get a bump up.

This book was so good and I cant believe I waited so long to read it. First off when reading any fantasy story remember world and character building are important for the plot. That being said yes the beginning was slow but still tons of action happening. The reason for all this is to build the plot and get you invested in the characters and their development. We get several povs and personally I love fantasy books that do this. The whole time you are rooting for certain characters and even certain side characters. At first I really didnt get what the plot was and as I kept reading getting to know the characters we finally understand what all of it was for. This book was epic and reminded me of other books with similar action like Lord of the Rings but it's own epic vibe. This has already ruined me and it's only the first book. Im already sad that it will end after four books because it is that good! Im starting the second one (Valor) and Im ready to go back to The Banished Lands and find out what happened to Corban,Cywen, Gar, Kastell and Veradis. The ending was so good and the battle scenes are so descriptive I felt like I was there!! This is worth your time and I hope more people read this because it is just that amazing!

Great Read!!! The start of an epic story! Reminds of wheel of time. There are so many stories in this chapter can’t wait to read the next!

I was overwhelmed at first with the amount of character povs, I almost stopped to write them all down with descriptions of who they are...but the author did a great job of quickly developing who they are and how they fit into this world. There is A LOT going on in this book but very quickly you see how it is all starting to weave together in an all out explosion of an ending. I have anticipation for the next book and can tell this story of heroes and gods and warriors and giants and all kinds of creatures is a story I'm going to be absorbed in!

A great start to the series. Interesting characters, a solid dose of treachery, and a heavy dose of dramatic irony keep the story interesting. There were characters I loved to hate, loved to love, and hated to hate. The book is interesting on its own, but you will almost certainly rush to get the second book after finishing book 1, as I did. (What a finish to book 1!) To give a bit of context, I happened to be listening to Phil Dragash's LOTR audiobook at the same time as reading this, but had to postpone listening so I could finish this book. And I plan on postponing it further as I start book 2. The most recent fantasy book I read before this was Paolini's Murtagh and, to be honest, this was better. As for kid friendliness, there are dark themes and obviously there will be violence, but there is no nudity or explicit sexual content. The author draws heavily on Judeo-Christian themes to form the mythos of the world. There are positive themes and, unlike a lot of modern fiction, the main protagonist's family is both competent and refreshingly close and loving.

Story is compelling but full of cliche and plot armor. Also maybe I’m just dumb but do we need 1000 named characters whose names all start with c? How many times will our hero be saved at the last minute by another group who happens to be in the area? To be fair, it’s easy to criticize and not create something better. It’s a good read. I fully reccomend the book, but it did annoy me. How long will the dudes just hang out and let the plot armor protected people just waltz out an open door? Oh, there were 200 ppl in this room, only the named characters made it out. Seems legit. Also always gotta have the cliche vague prophecy to drive the foreshadowing and plot. Like I said. Good read. I do recommend it. It could be better tho.

Sometimes a book reminds you why you fell in love with fantasy in the first place. John Gwynne’s Malice, the first volume in The Faithful and the Fallen series, is exactly that kind of book: a love letter to the genre's greatest hits, but one that doesn't just coast on nostalgia. Instead, it confidently builds its own world, full of rich characters, high stakes, and enough betrayal and heartbreak to make Westeros flinch. On paper, Malice has all the classic fantasy ingredients: a chosen one, a grizzled mentor disguised as a humble stablemaster, and a bond between boy and beast (in this case, a wolf that makes direwolves look underfed). There are giants. Magic artifacts. Prophecies. Even the looming sense that an ancient evil is stirring once more. Sound familiar? It should. But what Gwynne does so well is take those well-worn tropes and inject them with energy and sincerity. This isn’t parody, and it’s not cynicism wrapped in a grimdark cloak. It’s classic epic fantasy, played straight, but with just enough unexpected twists to make it feel like you’re reading it all for the first time again. The book's rotating POV structure works wonders here. Not only is it briskly paced, it also gives the reader insight into multiple corners of the conflict without ever overstaying its welcome. You know that feeling when a new chapter begins and you sigh because it’s that character again? Not here. Gwynne’s cast is strong across the board, and everyone has a compelling arc, whether it’s the wide-eyed farm boy learning hard truths or the scheming noble with shifting loyalties. It’s like Game of Thrones with slightly less nihilism, with politics and intrigue woven tightly into the personal stakes. What really lands, though, is the emotional resonance. Gwynne writes with heart. Beneath the swords and secrets, this is a story about loyalty, sacrifice, and the ache of growing up in a broken world. The ending is, in a word, touching...and not just in a “well-done plot twist” kind of way. It earns your tears. Malice might not be reinventing the genre, but it doesn’t need to. It’s the rare kind of fantasy that feels comfortingly familiar without ever feeling stale. It’s like coming home to a story you didn’t know you were missing. Five stars. Highly recommended for anyone who still believes that old-fashioned fantasy can still pack a punch...and a whole lot of heart. Looking forward to the rest of this series.

Nur vor ab: Ich habe die Serie bereits fertig gelesen, möchte aber eine Rezension zum ersten Buch schreiben, um anderen Lesern mitzuteilen, was sie erwartet. Nachdem ich einige Genre-Granden wie Tolkien, Martin, Rothfuss oder Salvatore nun zu genüge konsumiert habe, wollte ich meinen Fantasy-Horizont ein wenig erweitern und bin dabei auf die "Faithful and the Fallen" Reihe von Gwynne gestoßen. Obgleich er den direkten Vergleich mit den vorgenannten Autoren nicht ganz standhält - dieser aber auch ein wenig unfair ist - hat mich die Reihe sehr gut unterhalten. Gwynne zeichnet ein authentisches Mittelalter-Setting und füllt es mit weitgehend gut-geschriebenen und meist tiefen Charakteren. Die Handlung bewegt sich dabei auf einer ziemlich polaren Linie in der sich Gut und Böse gegenüberstehen, weswegen man keine unvorhergesehenen Storytwists erwarten sollte. Auch der Schreibstil ist eher direkt und kommt ohne übertrieben langen Szenerieumschreibungen aus, ist dafür aber sehr zugänglich und lädt zum Marathonlesen ein. Obgleich die Geschichte nicht die originellste ist, schafft es Gwynne, solch spannende Charakterkonstellationen und -Entwicklungen zu erzeugen, die eine unheimliche Spannung erzeugen und es mir schwer gemacht haben, das Buch wegzulegen und das Licht auszumachen. Fanatsy-Fans werden mit der Reihe keinen neuen Höhepunkt, dafür aber einen wirklich gut-erzählten und unterhaltsamen Narrativ finden.

Apparently, John Gwynne is the best kept secret in modern fantasy. This book moves like it’s grim-dark, it’s fast and gritty and dark. But it’s actual plot is more epic fantasy, with clear lines drawn between good and evil. I cannot begin to explain how surprised I was by the quality of this book I’d never heard of. I devoured it in days and cannot wait to start its sequel. This is a perfect marriage between the grime of George R. R. Martin and the sweeping world of Jordan or Sanderson. Do yourself a favour fantasy fans, just read it.

uno de mis libros favoritos no decepciona en nada me encantó

livro incrível! conheci o autor com a obra “The Shadow of the Gods” (inclusive é sensacional, fica a dica) e me apaixonei pela escrita, agora comecei essa série dele muito aclamada lá fora e hoje já afirmo que esse é um dos meus autores favoritos da atualidade, ele tem o domínio da escrita.

Fantastic book enjoyed every moment.