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

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I'm also a Viking re-enactor and enjoy nothing more than standing in the shield wall with my three sons, who are as passionate about swords and axes as I am (when I'm not stuck in my coat of mail; it's harder than it looks). He is the son of a trapper but has grown up knowing very little about his mysterious father or long-dead mother. After that there was no stopping- a different take on the Angels and Demons theme (a very different take). The author has to do a lot of things right such as making sure the story will feel different and at the same time, retaining the elements that made his previous work magnificent in the first place; there’s nothing to worry about here because Gwynne achieved all that.

He has a lot of insight into how the Ben-Elim politics work and how they use fear and their strength to almost hold every human tribe in servitude to them.

With likeable characters, it hits so much harder should bad things happen to them but unfortunately, they do. Drem, a trapper, finds people who have been brutally killed and discovers there is something dreadful going on.

One thing I particularly enjoyed this time out was the lack of ‘bloodline of destiny’, ‘foretold one’ or any prophecy that could have been invented or changed, etc. Gwynne drops a lot of clues throughout, to the point that I saw the twist coming, but the reasoning why certain events occur are definitely left for later books to explain.The nock of arrows, the clashing of steel, the explosion of blood, the formation of shield walls; his action scenes have always been very cinematic, intricate, immersive and dynamic, and this book is no exception. 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. I would however, strongly encourage everyone to read the Faithful and the Fallen at some point because the series is just amazing! e. set in a completely fictional world with supernatural/mystical creatures and usually magic) but usually focused more on the life or coming of age of the main character.