I am so very behind with my "to be read" pile. I don't want to tell you how many books are in it, but just know that it is a literal pile (I officially ran of actual bookshelf space sometime in November and the situation continues to deteriorate), and it's taller than my knee, but not as tall as my hip. I try to more-or-less read them in the order that I got them, and I'm currently about three months behind. So, I'm only just reading books I got for Christmas. I didn't get many - The Haunting of Reykjavik was one, and the other two were from the Secret Santa I joined in the bookish corner of Instagram. Keen for something that would be a complete surprise, I didn't attach my wishlist. I received Malice, which definitely fits into my wheelhouse, and one called Nophek Gloss - a pure sci-fi that isn't my usual jam but I'm excited to dig into - keep your eyes peeled for that review in a few weeks.
The Banished Lands have a bloody past - where men fought giants and mythical monsters to stake their claim on the realm. For centuries, The Banished Lands have been relatively peaceful, but now worrying portents are on the rise. Ritual stones weep blood, the giants are rising up, and sightings of monsters thought long dead are reported across the Kingdoms. The God War is coming, bringing darkness to the land and throwing the world of humans into chaos. The prophecies say that two champions will arise: the Bright Star and the Black Sun, and theirs will be a fight on which the fate of the entire world rests.
As a veteran of multiple high fantasy series, I know to expect at least a fair amount of info dumping in the first 200 pages or so as we start to world-build. The very best fantasy authors don't need to do so much of this, the world is built slowly around us as we read, but unfortunately not everyone can be one of the very best, and given that this is a debut novel, I'll cut it some slack. Nevertheless, the first third or so is D E N S E, I thought I was going to have to make a noticeboard covered in red string just to keep up with all the different character names and lore that was thrust at me. Those first couple of hundred pages are slow-going, but it settles down eventually and I'd say it's worth it. If I do have a nit to pick here, it's that Gwynne isn't big on physical descriptions, so I was struggling to picture what any of the character's looked like. So much so that I couldn't help but picture Corban as someone I actually know in real life who's last name is similar, and it kept really throwing me.
This is some classic high fantasy writing, with some classic high fantasy tropes. I'm never against a trope if it's done well, after all, tropes are tropes for a reason - they do work, and I do feel like they're done well here. There's a "special" teenager with an unusual pet, dire signs of disaster to come, like bleeding stones, reappearance of mythical creatures and political unrest. The big theme however is the standard good vs evil showdown being prophesised: the Bright Star (the champion of good) will arise, to battle the Black Sun (the champion of evil) - proxies in a god war between the creator Elyon and the destroyer Asroth. Everyone will choose sides and the ramifications will affect the whole world - you know the drill. It's pretty Judeo-Christian in its mythology which is interesting, and it's pretty clear pretty early on that the identities of the proxies might not be as straight forward as you would first assume.
One thing I did really like was the mix of cultures on display in the Banished Lands - for a land that doesn't seem to be huge, there's a lot of different inspirations going on. Tenebral is clearly Roman inspired, Tarbesh is giving me Arabian vibes, while the kingdoms of the north west - Ardan, Narvon and Cambren appear to be based more on Medieval Europe - though I'd be very interested to hear if anyone has any different interpretations.
Malice is the first in a four part series - The Faithful and the Fallen and I am excited to see where this goes. If I had a wishlist for the next books (though they are already out!), it would be for certain characters to get more of a focus and more of a story, and for the characters to develop more unique voices. Veradis and Kastell are good POV characters, though Corban is my favourite of the main three, I really want to see more of the other characters. There are some really lovely relationships touched on that I want to see developed further and in more detail - family, friendship, mentorship and Gwynne is very good at making you care about these very human interactions, even in the midst of the bigger plot arc of the God War. I'd particularly like to see more of Cywen - my favourite character for sure, though I'm always a sucker for a strong female character smashing gender expectations. I'm really intrigued by her friendship with the Princess Edana - and there is a part of me that was expecting a queer relationship to blossom between them, and I have to say I was a bit disappointed when Cywen started to get the hots for a guardsman.
All in all, a great start to what promises to be an excellent series. Even better, having been stung multiple times by chronically unfinished fantasy (Patrick Rothfuss, Scott Lynch, GRRM, I'm looking at you), I'm even more excited by the fact that all four books are already out. I can finish them at my leisure without languishing in Cliffhanger Purgatory... the only thing stopping me is my looming tbr...
Comments