Author
This month saw the release of the Heirs Of War series boxset. It is available in kindle, KU, and in audio on amazon and audible.
Coming in at 1400 pages, or over 40 hours, it’s a great deal and a great way to catch up on my most recent series.
It’s been a busy 7 days and I’ve just realised I haven’t officially announced the release of A Crucible of Fire and Steel on the website. So now I have.
A week on and the release is going well. Book One has a temporary price reduction on the eBook for January if you are new to the series. As for Book Three, this one is in the very early stages of the writing process and I don’t anticipate serious progress until later in the year.
That said, I do have a release of something else scheduled for the summer and some big news around that, so stay tuned. For more regular updates than this blog, make sure to sign up to my newsletter which is my primary method of communication. This is an email delivered to your inbox, around once or twice a month, depending on news.
Woot! SO pleased with my latest cover. A Crucible of Fire and Steel is book 2 of Heirs of War, releasing on 10th January. It is also something of a milestone, since it’ll be my tenth book to be published.
Bastien has outdone himself again with the beautiful, medieval style illustrations. Depicted are Liesel and Peyre who, along with Sanc, made up the point of view characters in book one. All three return for book two, along with some new points of view… Crucible is even more epic in scale than Inheritance, since Sanc has been sent to a new world. He finds himself drawn into the conflicts of this realm, while Liesel and Peyre must navigate the growing unrest in Dalriya.
Oh, and the geometric shape at the top is a nod to the Bastion, the royal fortification in Valennes.
Excited and a little bit nervous to finally be releasing the first book of my new series, Heirs of War, now available to buy in eBook, paperback, hardback, plus available through kindle unlimited.
With An Inheritance of Ash and Blood I return to the setting of my first series, Dalriya. Fifteen years have passed since Diis was destroyed. No, he’s not back-but a new god has arrived. He has enslaved the Lippers and the people of Dalriya, godless, find themselves unable to stop him.
We follow Sanc, who begins the novel aged 12, as he first becomes aware of the sorcerous powers he has been given. Where they come from, he doesn’t know. But in a world where sorcery is dying out, they mark him out as an important figure in the coming conflict.
Here are some details about the book:
Until now, my omnibus title, The Weapon Takers Saga Books 1-3, has only been available as an eBook or Audiobook.
I’m pleased to say it is now available in paperback, too! Featuring three maps and clean formatting I’m really pleased with the way it has come out. It IS a bit of a brick, so check you have space on your bookshelf first! Or, just keep it by your bed and it can double as a weapon to stop intruders.
Wrath by John Gwynne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Being book 4 of a 4-book series, this review of Wrath is inevitably also a review of the entire series.
The Faithful and the Fallen does little, if anything, new. Instead, it is almost a love letter to the heroic fantasy genre. In hitting the tropes and doing everything very well, it succeeds in meeting reader expectations and deserves to stand as one of the most popular series in recent years.
Characters
There are so many, and Gwynne does a fantastic job of paying attention to each one, generously giving them the space and time in the story to grow. For one writer to keep in their head so many characters and storylines is an impressive feat. So, we have heroes operating in different areas of The Banished Lands, as well as the villain point of views. And yes, most of them fall into the good and evil categories fairly early on. I enjoyed the fact that the female characters had just as much agency and personality as the male.
The series, then, needs to be recognised as an ensemble performance. This isn’t a single character study and so we don’t get the character depth that we might from a single or three pov series. And honestly, no single character really stood out for me. Corban, the YA male hero was a little vanilla for my tastes – very much the farm boy model so common to the traditional, big series in the genre. But for someone coming to this genre fresh, no doubt a great lead character, for the others to work off. And I always got the sense with this series that Gwynne was at least in part thinking of a teenage audience when he was writing this. The animal characters arguably steal the show. With all the attention on grimdark in recent years a bit of simple heroism, loyalty and Truth and Courage is refreshing.
Worldbuilding
The Banished Lands have I would suggest a sort of Dark Age setting that I enjoyed. Technology is limited, there are no great cities. There are various human kingdoms and the remnants of the previous civilisation to enjoy power – the Giants. Other than that, no other creatures (in the world itself). The political, social and military aspects all made sense. All in all, it leant historical authenticity to the setting which allowed me to settle into the story.
Magic plays a role in the storyline, but it’s kept low key and mysterious. Gwynne makes some attempt to introduce a basic magic system, but he doesn’t go on about it. Few pov characters have magic themselves.
Most characters, therefore, contribute with their military skill – we have swordsmen, axemen, archers, knife-wielding cage fighters etc. This is where Gwynne’s interest lies and it’s in this area I would argue that he excels. Combat feels real and gritty. One-on-one duels, ambushes, through to large-scale warfare with set piece shield wall battles are all handled with real skill and these (for me) are the exciting moments.
Plot
As indicated, there is a good-evil storyline at the heart of this, with some decent twists along the way. The return of good and evil gods and what could perhaps be called a spirit realm or at least another dimension enter the story from time to time and of course come into the finale – a familiar epic fantasy device. This part of the story was perhaps the least successful for me and fortunately wasn’t over-used. It is when Gwynne is dealing with quite brutal, real situations – like Maquin and his revenge storyline – that his writing comes alive.
The search for the seven weapons gives the plot some momentum and requires the characters to travel around the world. There are also political upheavals as kings and queens are overthrown and replaced. With so much going on, Gwynne manages to keep the whole thing action-oriented and fast-paced. Of course, the enemies need to come together for regular showdowns and the grand finale. But there were moments, including in the final book, when I felt the plot became a bit forced or unrealistic and lacked the grand scale of Lord of the Rings or A Song of Ice and Fire.
All in all, this is a great series, epic in every respect. There are no real weaknesses, and I would say every definable aspect would score at least 8/10. It’s in the combat scenes that I would argue it sticks its head above its peers.
Wow, time flies, and I note that I haven’t added a new post to the website in a while.
I have been busy, though. The big news is that I have finished the final book of my fantasy series, The Giants’ Spear. This series has taken so much of my time and effort in recent years that it’s strange to say it’s over. When I say it’s finished, I’m talking first draft, so there’s still work to do. I think fans of the series will find the ending suitably epic. At the moment it’s come out at around 110,000 words, so exactly the same length as books 1 & 2. Odd, how 3 of the 4 books have ended up the same length like that.
The aim is to get it published by the end of the year. As a way to introduce new readers to the series I will also be releasing an eBook box-set of books 1-3 (cover above). The release date for this is 28th October.
There is more news to come and I will aim to update the website with it. If you would like more regular updates you can subscribe to my newsletter, which gets emailed once or twice a month.