Valour - John Gwynne

There is nothing worse than sinking your teeth into a good fantasy series, falling in love with the first one or two or three books in the series... and then finding out that the author isn't showing any signs of publishing the next instalment beyond teaser after teaser on social media. I've been waiting 11 years now for the next Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss, 9 for the new Gentleman Bastards by Scott Lynch, and of course George R R Martin goes without saying. Eventually, you just lose interest, and give up hope. Maybe one day all those long awaited books will be published, but will I care enough about them by then to buy them? It's so disappointing. Imagine then, my joy when I was introduced The Faithful and The Fallen quartet by John Gwynne. Not only did I love the first book, Malice but the quartet is already complete. I have all four in my hands already and I won't have to wait till I enter my next decade to read them. The dream!

The God War has begun, and the Banished Lands have been plunged into conflict by the army of High King Nathair and his holy crusade for domination. Nathair and his army sweep across the land searching for the hidden treasures that can open the door to the Otherworld and the forces within. In the West, Corban and his band of exiles are on the run, fleeing from their conquered homeland and searching for sanctuary. While Mountains, armies, giants and wolven stand in their path, Corban struggles to come to terms with the role everyone expects him to fulfil - the Bright Star, saviour of humanity.

Most of the issues from book one are straightened out here. Now that the storyline and the characters are already established, the density of the first book has dissipated. There are a couple of new POVs but they're scattered in amongst existing characters, or from existing characters themselves, and they settle in quickly. With the foundations from the first book already laid, Gwynne is free to focus on the best part of the book in my opinion - the character development. Despite the action and the conflict that rages throughout, the real strengths of the story are the relationships - friendships and family, with dynamics that range from touching to powerful. Different personalities stand out clearly and there are lots of great little insights into the characters' motivations and values - like a scene in which Corban is briefly kidnapped by the enemy, and his first thought is how upset his mam is going to be. There's very little romance, which is a nice change from a lot of modern fantasy, though there is a slow burn coming between a couple of characters so there will probably be more in book three - check back with me on this one.

My favourite character is still Cywen, though Coralen, giant-slaying bastard daughter of the Domhain King is creeping up to a close second. Although the majority of characters and POVs are male, Gwynne is very good at creating strong female characters, which is still, unfortunately, a rarity in fantasy.

The second best thing about Valour is the action - it's almost non-stop. Where Malice moved quite slowly, laying down exposition and initiating political movements, Valour picks up exactly where the first book left off, but moves at a break-neck pace in comparison. With Corban and his friends on the run, and the God War already kicking off the world has begun its descent into chaos at the hands of the Black Sun, and the pace reflects this. A lot of quest based fantasy has long periods of down time while characters travel from one place to another, but Valour just doesn't let up. Battle scenes are gripping and intense with emotional moments that swing the reader from triumph to heartbreak. Given that the excellent character development has already gotten me pretty attached to quite a few of the players, I should probably start mentally preparing myself for more heartbreak in books three and four.

All in all this fantastic instalment in a series that promises to be a favourite, with no sign of the dreaded second book syndrome. Since the last couple of high fantasy books/series I've dived into haven't lived up to the hype (in my opinion), this is a breath of fresh air, and I'm very excited to see where it goes.