REVIEW: The Path of Pain and Ruin by Joel Glover
I came across Joel Glover’s The Path of Pain and Ruin somewhat by chance in the post-Christmas haze of sales and discounts everywhere. Marketed as “fast paced, brutal dark fantasy” and at a slim total of 94 pages, I thought ‘why not?’ and clicked to buy it. I do not regret that decision. The Path of Pain and Ruin is proof that, sometimes, a gut feeling and an impulse purchase are all you need for a great bit of grimdark entertainment.
The action kicks off immediately as Glover throws the reader into a dark, bleak world, endlessly scarred with violence. The protagonist, nameless, is forced to undertake a journey across the ruins of an empire seeking answers and revenge. The word that springs to mind most readily to describe The Path of Pain and Ruin is unrelenting. Everything about this story is all-go and it doesn’t let up.
Our protagonist, known to some as The Last General, to others as our Lady of Flames, is one of the Hundred Blessed; a devastating force that were gifted superhuman abilities by forging themselves together with angels. Each angel has a different power, and so each of the Hundred Blessed has different abilities. This joining of mortals with angels offers some interesting exploration of destiny, belief and faith – in amongst all the smouldering bodies left in the wake of the MC.
With one angel that lets her see moments into the future and another that allows her to control fire, alongside a long history of violence, tragedy and survival, the Lady of Flames is a ruthless and effective killer. Her tendency is to take the offensive; burn first, talk later. She meets up with old allies from the Hundred cohort to establish who is behind the order to end her life. In following the trail across the continent, they throw themselves into hopeless fight after hopeless fight until an epic, fiery conclusion.
Splitting the timeline between past and present, The Path of Pain and Ruin gives you a lot of world-building and backstory, which is tantalisingly dark and brutal. If you’re looking for a short but explosive novella to squeeze in between chunkier tomes without sacrificing on the grimness levels, The Path of Pain and Ruin is ideal. If you find yourself in need of more from this world, Glover also has Paths to Empires’ Ruins released, and the two novellas seem to be building up to something bigger in ‘The Gods’ Paths’ series.
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