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

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An audiobook is a recording that is primarily of the spoken word as opposed to music. While it is often based on a recording of commercially available printed material, this is not always the case. It was not intended to be descriptive of the word "book" but is rather a recorded spoken program in its own right and not necessarily an audio version of a book. The characters in A Time of Dread are fantastic, with Drem being a particular favourite of mine. He is the son of a trapper but has grown up knowing very little about his mysterious father or long-dead mother. He is a good and honest young man, full of doubts about his own self worth and, rather endearingly, displays a few unusual coping mechanisms, like taking his own pulse to calm himself down and constantly reminding himself that his raw honesty is rarely appreciated. I can’t help imagining myself in this sort of situation, and I hope that I would have the strength of conviction and the moral compass Drem displays when looking after his friends and family. There is an earnestness to him, and Sig sums him up to a T: The characters in this book and the classic fight between "good" and "evil" has much greater blurred lines in this book as compared to his previous works, and while the idea of writing "morally grey" characters is a popular thing in fantasy currently, Gwynne does an incredible job here and really making the reader question their preconceived notions about who is right and who is wrong.

I liked how his arc showed what everyday life was like in Dressel and how the new threat on the horizon was affecting the Ben-Elim, it showed their long-term goals also in terms of the human tribes and how they are trying to control all of them. I live on the south coast of the UK with my beautiful wife, three sons and my daughter, and an assortment of animals (at the moment three dogs, a horse and a lamb who thinks she's a dog). Fans of epic fantasy have something to cheer about: A Time of Dread is marvellous. Gwynne's writing is superb, delivering not only twists and turns but also nuance and complexity Source: Sebastien de CastellJohn Gwynne must be a sorcerer because A Time of Blood is one hell of a monumental book. This sequel leaps straight into the action, and begins directly after the climax of the first book, A Time of Dread. Immediately there is plenty of tension and some more bloody and amazing battles which continue throughout. I was literally glued to this book and didn’t want it to end. All I want to do is shout GO READ THIS! After the initial opening battle scene, this has rather a slow start - but it takes a long time to build a world so wonderfully crafted. I felt fully immersed, and knew everything I needed to about the lay out of the lands and its vast history and cultures. I hadn't read anything by Gwynne before, and in some respects I felt I may have missed out on some of this rich past and history that readers of previous novels would relish to read about. This never detracted from my immense enjoyment however, but I definitely felt I could have had an even better reading experience if I'd started with Malice. This shows the quality of the writing here, as it takes a clever writer to be able to create such a colourful world and gently guide us through hundreds of years of history without confusing the reader and allowing themselves to get distracted by meandering side stories. Everything that is written here has a purpose, whether that's to develop a character or flesh out the storyline.

Per his usual, Gwynne's characters are fantastic here. They're well developed, and their motivations and actions make sense. There's nothing worse than characters that betray their development for the sake of surprise in a story. These characters and their actions influence the plot as much as the plot influences them, which I love. Bleda is the son of one of the clan chiefs seen in the opening battle. Taken as a ward by the Ben-Elim as punishment, he is raised under their watchful eyes in the hopes he will one day return to his clan as leader and a dedicated follower to the Ben-Elim's cause. Bela's storyline I enjoyed the least, and I felt we see the least progression in his character, although I liked that he's so insecure about his nature. There's often an internal struggle between the culture he was raised in, and the need to withhold all his emotions, and the obvious respect he holds for his captures. This leads to a lot of self doubt. It's his growing relationship with Riv however that I found the most interesting, as they're at heart such opposing characters. The hot headed Riv and quiet and thoughtful Bleda. Their blossoming friendship over a bow is great to see unfold, and there is potential for it to grow as events develop further down the line. Another masterpiece from John Gwynne - an author who seemingly is incapable of writing a book that isn't absolutely marvelous. And how could I ever forget? A Time of Dread served as a brutal and stunning reminder that Gwynne is one of the greatest modern fantasy writers.The only criticism I have is the slow pacing of the first half, but quite honestly, it’s a common enough pattern when it comes to epic fantasy series openers, so I’m certainly not going to hold that against the novel too much. There was also a lot of world-building to establish and plenty of characters to introduce, so the extra time spent on these details was necessary, not to mention the fascinating tidbits of lore revealed from the previous series also made it all worth it. In any case, if you know John Gwynne then you know that things end on a pretty dire note. And perhaps you also realise how much of an understatement that is. I think I can get away with saying that there are insane battles. That nobody is safe. And that I really hope John Gwynne knows how he’s going to get people out of this goddamn mess, because I sure don’t… A Time of Dread reminds me of why I became a fantasy enthusiast in the first place. Fantasy can be an escape from reality, but some stories carry the reader to an enhanced reality, a place where the world seems to have brighter colors and sharper contrasts."— Robin Hobb I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher (Orbit) in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. I loved A Time of Dread and read it from cover to cover in two days. I couldn't put it down."— Miles Cameron

I loved all the POVs and though I preferred one POV at first (Drem) I ended up loving all POVs almist equally later in the book! The book plot does make sense and I loved that it was darker than the first series! I did expect some of the events because I am more used to Gwynne’s writing now but I was still surprised by some twists at the end and Gwynne always choose the best plot line anyway, so even if it is expected, it does not make it any less interesting! The Banished Lands are my version of an alternative, mythological Europe. If The Faithful and the Fallen was inspired by the rise of Julius Caesar and his Gallic Wars, as well as Milton's Paradise Lost, this new series is inspired by Attila the Hun, the Fall of the Roman Empire, the Volsung Saga and the Book of Enoch. So, just as if you were reading a history book, you could read about the Fall of the Roman Empire without knowing all about Julius Caesar, but if you did, it would make the reading experience a little richer and deeper. We have a cast of mainly new characters who had no part in the events of the first series. This makes perfect sense, seeing as over a hundred years have passed. But we do have a couple of carry-over characters, which made me incredibly happy! I won’t tell you who they are, because I don’t want to spoil anything, but anyone who loved TFatF will be pleased to see some familiar names. Gwynne did a great job with his four point-of-view characters; they all brought something different to the table and showed four very different views of their world in its current state. Three of these characters, Bleda, Riv, and Drem, are new and young, and have been raised on stories of past. The characters of the original series are legends to these three, which is always an interesting leap for readers. Also, Gwynne continues to write wonderful animal characters, and great relationships between man and beast. That was one of my favorite aspects of the first series, and I was very happy to see that continued in this book. The main feeling of the book to me is fun, not in the Kings of the Wyld comedic way, but in the way that I enjoyed the fantasy books of my youth. It's straight forward fantasy expertly executed. I would say that Gwynne is definitely the closest we have to an inheritor of David Gemmell's mantle, and I am a big fan of Gemmell's books. As a matter of fact, his characterizations while not too varied or unusual for the fantasy genre at all, are still rather well done for all that. Time and effort are taken, drawing out familial relations and emotional impacts and a broad setup for the oncoming war, getting to know all the players through the individuals within it. I've seen much worse epic fantasies, but I will admit he does improve on a lot of the classics. For example, the farmboy with a destiny trope was given a lot of time and care and it was quite believable and impactful DESPITE being one of the oldest tropes in the book. The rest of the character threads were also quite entertaining.

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Fans of epic fantasy have something to cheer about: A Time of Dread is marvelous. Gwynne's writing is superb, delivering not only twists and turns but also nuance and complexity."— Sebastien de Castell

The very idea of good versus evil strikes me as one of the most pernicious notions ever devised by human beings. It lets us burn a brand into the very soul of those we dislike and gives us the moral freedom to use whatever means, no matter how vile, to vanquish them. It turns our enemies into Tolkien's orcs – the infinitely abusable physical personifications of all we revile. Many fantasy authors nowadays, well aware of the clichéd baggage that comes along with "good versus evil" try to posit instead a kind of moral equivalency. It's a tactically useful device for modern fantasy, but one that's often unsatisfying because it removes any kind of real moral tension from the reader's experience. We're all bad. We're all good. So who cares? Just tell me who the enemy is and let’s go kill him. We live our lives by Truth and Courage. Love and loyalty, friendship and honour are our guiding lights.”’ The story is a slow buildup to certain turning points. Weather it be a turning point for a character, or the story itself. It is very easy to stay engaged and as I said above, very hard to put down. The pacing, characters, and overall atmosphere of the book is a true testament to a great fantasy read. Mr. Gwynne is one of the best and I look forward to reading more of his books in the years to come. I was tantalized by the past, of course, and enjoyed seeing what kind of races filled this book, from angels and demons cohabitating the land, giants, and even mounted bears. The action is plentiful, dark, and bloody. A Time of Blood is the second book in John Gwynne's new fantasy epic of warring angelic beings, their demonic nemeses, and, most of all, the people caught in the middle. It's a tale of good versus evil, but not the kind I was expecting, which is why this book is so damned good.The book reminded me in the very best way of the sort of fantasy I loved in years gone by. Exciting, well-written, swords and sorcery. Try it on for size.