A Time of Dread: 1 (Of Blood & Bone)

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I haven’t read the Faithful and the Fallen series, but after reading this book I’m very much a fan of John Gwynne’s writing and I’ll have to go back and read the original series set in this world 120 years before the events in this book. Where Malice used a white background, A Time of Dread used black; this captured the tone of the book perfectly. I think that was another point where Drem’s storyline was left a little weak: we never followed any perspectives that allowed us to see him from the outside as someone else would. Gwynne’s writing is as great as usual and I loved it and there was so much that I can quote from the book! I feel like Riv’s story was told so well, and I was able to get a really clear idea of her life from the beginning until where we are now and that just wasn’t the case for Drem – ultimately because Drem didn’t really know that much about his own history so we were learning with him.

The book reignites all the sparks that made the previous book excel in quality; betrayal, familial love, the friendship between humans and animals, wars, deception, a few hilarious interactions, and many more. The history Gwynne has created is epic when describing events some readers will know from 120 years before, as are the revelations regarding important actions and battles that have happened since. We welcome respectful dialogue related to speculative fiction in literature, games, film, and the wider world.The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.

The very uncertainty about each group's motivations that keeps you guessing throughout the novel is precisely what gives Gwynne the latitude to let you trust in his heroes. So that means fewer characters, fewer places and the events connect the characters pretty fast which is cool! As for the world that these characters are presented in - it is much the same and yet much changed from what we came to know in tFatF. disclaimer: this series is a spin-off to The Faithful and the Fallen Series by John Gwynne – be warned if you haven’t read that this review will spoil you on that series and nothing I say will make any sense to you. The Ben Elim have banned warfare between human factions, their reasoning being the numbers are needed for something more important, enforcing this with an iron hand and some decapitation.

Let it be known that Gwynne is in fact the only author on my list to earn the perfect streak of top quality achievements from me.

John Gwynne’s books are starting to get a lot more popular around the SFF community and I couldn’t be happier.

Wrath was an awe-inspiring, frenetic finale to one of the all-time great fantasy series – The Faithful and the Fallen – and I’d just finished reading it when I heard John Gwynne’s new project would also be set in the Banished Lands, but a few generations into the future. But there were a lot of satisfying arcs here, so I finished the book with the feeling of anticipation for the next one, but not with any frustrations about extreme cliff hangers. It’s not an exaggeration to say that it will be extremely hard for Gwynne to create a series that tops my love for his first series. A Time of Dread is that rare sort of epic fantasy that not only appeals to fans of the genre, but also embraces new readers. While they could be read before you read those, you will be missing out on some key information that will help your appreciation for this series all the more.

Excited was not the word; Wrath ended perfectly, and whilst I knew I would miss the characters I’d come to know and love, I also knew that to spend too much time with them after such an epic conclusion would put the relationship at risk of growing stale.Page after page though, this sense of unease slowly escalates as the story marches on to it’s pulse-pounding climax, relentless, never wavering. Bleda is a prince of a human clan and taken as ward by the Ben-Elim ( winged angel people) to ensure that his tribe is peaceful. R. Martin, and Brandon Sanderson with what he has achieved with A Time of Dread and his previous series. Whether it’s in the form of their descendants or, in one case, as one of the main POV, I found all the protagonists endearing and the villains despicable.