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). Those looking for that constant gritty edge we've come to associate with Grimdark fantasy won't find it here. While it still can be seen as a battle between Good and Evil, you will encounter a few factions whose intentions are not entirely clear and aside from a few exceptions, you will be seriously questioning some key characters’ intentions. John Gwynne has proven himself once again to be the constant harbinger of superlative epic fantasy that only the greatest of authors can achieve.

There was also less humor and relief, for this is indeed a time of dread, with nothing except the bittersweet, warm memories and the unbreakable family links to alleviate the darkness.If you've been following my reviews for the past year, you know I'm a huge fan of John Gwynne and the world he created in his original series "The Faithful and the Fallen. 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. Drem's character development was great, I enjoyed seeing another side of Drem and learn more about his past. A Time of Dread contains amazing action scenes, shocking betrayals, intense battles, and a huge death count.

This sequel leaps straight into the action, and begins directly after the climax of the first book, A Time of Dread. Do know however that it’s not only the new characters that stole the spotlight in the book; some characters from Gwynne’s previous series do make an appearance here. Whether it’s in the form of their descendants or, in one case, as one of the main POV, I found all the protagonists endearing and the villains despicable.The fact that I finished reading this book in less than a day should say enough about how addictive it was. Starting any new series in the same world as an established series always strikes me as a highly precarious prospect. The novel starts slowly as the characters, their allegiances and the history of the world are gently and cleverly massaged into the reader's mind.

I always thought that this series was a prequel to the first series for some reason and it turns out that I was wrong and that it is actually a sequel. They are using these forces to attack in the hopes that they can free their dark lord Asroth from his entombment. In the west, the giantess Sig investigates demon sightings and discovers signs of an uprising and black magic.The book reignites all the sparks that made the previous book excel in quality; betrayal, familial love, the friendship between humans and animals, wars, deception, a few hilarious interactions, and many more. The following three books in the series - Valour, Ruin and Wrath, were all shortlisted for the David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Fantasy Novels of 2014, 2015 and 2016, with Wrath winning the 2017 BookNest Awards for Best Traditionally Published Novel. John Gwynne really is hands down an amazing fantasy author and you’re really missing out if you haven’t read anything by him yet.