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Wraith Knight #2
Wraith Lord
"Can you save the world with war or will you only doom it?" Jacob Riverson has assumed the mantle of the King Below and now rules over all the Shadowkind races. However, his desire to break the cycle of violence between the peoples of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms is doomed. The Nine Heroes will not rest until not just the Dark Lord is slain but all of his followers.Jacob thus sets out on a daring but foolhardy mission to a great northern city in order to recruit an army of allies. He hopes to break the Nine Heroes' army gathering there before it can be used against him. Unfortunately, that may divide his own forces. The Shadowkind, his wives, and secretive forces beyond his own control want a war every bit as much as Jacob's enemies.What's a Wraith Knight to do?
- GenresFantasy
294 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 12, 2019
4 people are currently reading
56 people want to read
About the author
C.T. Phipps
91 books671 followersC.T Phipps is a lifelong student of horror, science fiction, and fantasy. An avid tabletop gamer, he discovered this passion led him to write and turned him into a lifelong geek. He is a regular reviewer on Booknest.EU and for Grimdark Magazine.
He's written the Agent G series, Cthulhu Armageddon, the Red Room Trilogy, I Was A Teenaged Weredeer, Lucifer's Star, Psycho Killers in Love, Straight Outta Fangton, The Supervillainy Saga, and Wraith Knight.
Blog: http://unitedfederationofcharles.blog...
Website: https://ctphipps.com/
C.T. Fanclub: https://www.facebook.com/groups/14917...
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ctphipps
He's written the Agent G series, Cthulhu Armageddon, the Red Room Trilogy, I Was A Teenaged Weredeer, Lucifer's Star, Psycho Killers in Love, Straight Outta Fangton, The Supervillainy Saga, and Wraith Knight.
Blog: http://unitedfederationofcharles.blog...
Website: https://ctphipps.com/
C.T. Fanclub: https://www.facebook.com/groups/14917...
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ctphipps
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
July 7, 2019
Audible July 6-7 5 stars
Wraith Lord
Wraith Knight, Book 2
By: C. T. Phipps
Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
This is an audible book I requested and the review is voluntary. I have read the ebook version but wanted to hear the audible version since I love these books! Berkeley voice is perfect for this book! Wow! I can't imagine anyone else performing it! Just perfect!
This book continues book one by a few years. Jacob has his two wives, a mage and a warrior. He has to use magic to have a body otherwise he is mist. Jacob is battling to stay Jacob and not give in to be the Trickster. There so many twist and turns in this book! If you are looking for a hero you are not going to find one here! It is a matter of who is the least villainous. His wives sure are not! Lol! It is exciting and totally unpredictable, on the darker side of the fantasy scope but it is also has plenty of humor sprinkled throughout the story to lighten the load! Phipps knows balance!
There are deep battles plans, intrigue, the battle of self, but no real heroism. Very intense at times but I loved it!
Ebook April 8-11. 4 stars
Wraith Lord (Wraith Knight Book 2) by C. T. Phipps is a book I requested and the review is voluntary. This continues the story of the Wraith Knight turned God of Below. He has two wives and they have different views to his approach on dealing with the South. Love the dragons, the wit, the interplay between characters. Fresh fantasy!
Wraith Lord
Wraith Knight, Book 2
By: C. T. Phipps
Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
This is an audible book I requested and the review is voluntary. I have read the ebook version but wanted to hear the audible version since I love these books! Berkeley voice is perfect for this book! Wow! I can't imagine anyone else performing it! Just perfect!
This book continues book one by a few years. Jacob has his two wives, a mage and a warrior. He has to use magic to have a body otherwise he is mist. Jacob is battling to stay Jacob and not give in to be the Trickster. There so many twist and turns in this book! If you are looking for a hero you are not going to find one here! It is a matter of who is the least villainous. His wives sure are not! Lol! It is exciting and totally unpredictable, on the darker side of the fantasy scope but it is also has plenty of humor sprinkled throughout the story to lighten the load! Phipps knows balance!
There are deep battles plans, intrigue, the battle of self, but no real heroism. Very intense at times but I loved it!
Ebook April 8-11. 4 stars
Wraith Lord (Wraith Knight Book 2) by C. T. Phipps is a book I requested and the review is voluntary. This continues the story of the Wraith Knight turned God of Below. He has two wives and they have different views to his approach on dealing with the South. Love the dragons, the wit, the interplay between characters. Fresh fantasy!
May 25, 2020
Wraith Lord was a decent sequel to C.T. Phipps Wraith Knight. Back in my review for the first book I described the series as a bizarre parody of both the classic traditional fantasy stories of old and of modern grimdark fantasy stories. I also mentioned it was a decent parody that was a little over the top, at times, but was full of melodrama and fun while still managing to retain a darker edge to the story that would appeal to fans of the grimdark genre. I still feel that way after reading this sequel but have to admit that books with evil "heroes" and grey villains seem to be pretty much the new standard for a lot of the fantasy I've read in the years between reading both instalments of this series so the story feels more standard fare to me now that it did back when I first read the first instalment of the series.
The plot for this second book was decent. We got a 5 year time jump between books but that actually benefited the story as in that time our protagonist Jacob Riverson had managed to establish his rule over the Shadow Races after assuming the mantle of Dark Lord at the end of the first book in the series. Things pick up when it becomes clear that the "good guys" are getting ready to launch another purge of the Shadow people and get rid of the latest Dark Lord.
The story was fun enough. Jacob was not all that interested in going to war (unsurprisingly ruling ones own kingdom, being worshipped as a God by his people, churning out magical inventions for fun, and lounging around with his two hot wives made for a fairly full and fun lifestyle and launching a war was going to put a real crimp in all that!) but he got dragged into one anyway when it because clear that an assassination attempt on one of his wives was but the start of a planned invasion. Jacob had to deal with some moral quandaries as he had to ponder attacking first or waiting and just defending his own kingdom when the inevitable invasion came. I thought that made for some fun personal conflict for Jacob who had to weigh up the wishes of his wives and people with his own personal desires.
The action was OK and as always for a Phipps book there was a good mix between the drama and the humour. My personal favourite moment was the time when some random fish guy basically told Jacob to stop his chronic whining as it was not like life was all bad for him considering the fact that he was a God and had all those other things going for him as well lol. Jacob is mostly a likeable character who is easy to root for despite his sometimes questionable and hypocritical moral outlook but he can get a little whingey at times!
The secondary characters are not a great strength of this series. The three main ones are Regina, Sara, and the old spectre of the (supposedly) dead old Dark Lord. The old Dark Lord is a bit of an ass but he can be quite amusing with his observations and I do think it is hilarious that he seems to irritate Jacob no matter what he is saying. I'm not a giant fan of Regina as a love interest, she is a bit fanatical for my liking, but I did enjoy the fact that the later half of this story explored that issue and that she even managed to show a bit of character growth towards the end. I do like Sara, the other love interest. I quite like the fact that Jacob's relationship with her is very different from his relationship with Regina and I enjoy the fact that she seems more established in her own right as a character. Which is to say it feels like she does not just exist to prop up Jacob but has an actual life of her own and would get by fine without him if she had to. I feel like that is something that not a lot of fantasy authors manage to establish in their tales.
I did feel like this instalment fleshed out a few of the lesser characters and introduced a few fun new villains which was a plus.
I'm a little burnt out on harem romance in general (blame the self-published fantasy and LitRPG genres for going nuts with the volume of them in the last few years!) but I should mention the fact that I feel like this romance trio is better than what we get in most books. For one it is not a traditional harem and more of a three-way romance. The other fun thing about it is the fact that Regina is the focal point rather than Jacob. That balance makes this a more palatable romance than we get in other tales as it feels more balanced relationship. There is a more liberal tint to the wish-fulfilment lol! Looking at Phipps books/series as a whole I always feel like it is a bit of a pity we never got a gay or bisexual male lead character. Phipps books are pretty liberal in their views and always slam homophobia (as well as many other types of bigotry) but always stop short of having gay male leads. I guess selling wish-fulfilment tales to male readers is a harder sell when they are confronted with males rather than females who show an interest in the same sex. I only mention it because a lot of Phipps females tend to be bisexual and his books generally tend to mix wish-fulfilment fantasy with a liberal viewpoint pretty well so only touching on the existence of gay males seems to stand out more. It is not a flaw though and more of an observation as this series does actually have a few minor gay or bisexual male characters that pop up. Which probably means the homophobes have already been scared way from the series lol.
All in all this was an OK instalment of the Wraith Knight series. It was probably slightly more fun than the first book in the series. This might the weakest of the Phipps series I've read but it is still solid 3.5 star stuff and readable enough.
Rating: 3.5 stars.
Audio Note: Peter Berkrot did an OK job with the audio. His female voices are a little wanting and his dialogue could be better in general but his general narration voice is pretty good.
The plot for this second book was decent. We got a 5 year time jump between books but that actually benefited the story as in that time our protagonist Jacob Riverson had managed to establish his rule over the Shadow Races after assuming the mantle of Dark Lord at the end of the first book in the series. Things pick up when it becomes clear that the "good guys" are getting ready to launch another purge of the Shadow people and get rid of the latest Dark Lord.
The story was fun enough. Jacob was not all that interested in going to war (unsurprisingly ruling ones own kingdom, being worshipped as a God by his people, churning out magical inventions for fun, and lounging around with his two hot wives made for a fairly full and fun lifestyle and launching a war was going to put a real crimp in all that!) but he got dragged into one anyway when it because clear that an assassination attempt on one of his wives was but the start of a planned invasion. Jacob had to deal with some moral quandaries as he had to ponder attacking first or waiting and just defending his own kingdom when the inevitable invasion came. I thought that made for some fun personal conflict for Jacob who had to weigh up the wishes of his wives and people with his own personal desires.
The action was OK and as always for a Phipps book there was a good mix between the drama and the humour. My personal favourite moment was the time when some random fish guy basically told Jacob to stop his chronic whining as it was not like life was all bad for him considering the fact that he was a God and had all those other things going for him as well lol. Jacob is mostly a likeable character who is easy to root for despite his sometimes questionable and hypocritical moral outlook but he can get a little whingey at times!
The secondary characters are not a great strength of this series. The three main ones are Regina, Sara, and the old spectre of the (supposedly) dead old Dark Lord. The old Dark Lord is a bit of an ass but he can be quite amusing with his observations and I do think it is hilarious that he seems to irritate Jacob no matter what he is saying. I'm not a giant fan of Regina as a love interest, she is a bit fanatical for my liking, but I did enjoy the fact that the later half of this story explored that issue and that she even managed to show a bit of character growth towards the end. I do like Sara, the other love interest. I quite like the fact that Jacob's relationship with her is very different from his relationship with Regina and I enjoy the fact that she seems more established in her own right as a character. Which is to say it feels like she does not just exist to prop up Jacob but has an actual life of her own and would get by fine without him if she had to. I feel like that is something that not a lot of fantasy authors manage to establish in their tales.
I did feel like this instalment fleshed out a few of the lesser characters and introduced a few fun new villains which was a plus.
I'm a little burnt out on harem romance in general (blame the self-published fantasy and LitRPG genres for going nuts with the volume of them in the last few years!) but I should mention the fact that I feel like this romance trio is better than what we get in most books. For one it is not a traditional harem and more of a three-way romance. The other fun thing about it is the fact that Regina is the focal point rather than Jacob. That balance makes this a more palatable romance than we get in other tales as it feels more balanced relationship. There is a more liberal tint to the wish-fulfilment lol! Looking at Phipps books/series as a whole I always feel like it is a bit of a pity we never got a gay or bisexual male lead character. Phipps books are pretty liberal in their views and always slam homophobia (as well as many other types of bigotry) but always stop short of having gay male leads. I guess selling wish-fulfilment tales to male readers is a harder sell when they are confronted with males rather than females who show an interest in the same sex. I only mention it because a lot of Phipps females tend to be bisexual and his books generally tend to mix wish-fulfilment fantasy with a liberal viewpoint pretty well so only touching on the existence of gay males seems to stand out more. It is not a flaw though and more of an observation as this series does actually have a few minor gay or bisexual male characters that pop up. Which probably means the homophobes have already been scared way from the series lol.
All in all this was an OK instalment of the Wraith Knight series. It was probably slightly more fun than the first book in the series. This might the weakest of the Phipps series I've read but it is still solid 3.5 star stuff and readable enough.
Rating: 3.5 stars.
Audio Note: Peter Berkrot did an OK job with the audio. His female voices are a little wanting and his dialogue could be better in general but his general narration voice is pretty good.
August 23, 2019
A man named Charles Phipps wrote this book. You can tell a lot about a person by the books they write. You can see what they care about, you can see what they love. Many writers write the things they want to see. I have a friend who is a middle school art teacher and he says he has one rule when dealing with his class and his students. His one rule is, “Make it Cool.” Charles and my friend would get along.
This is a cool book. It is filled with scenes you can just geek out on. Every amazing thing about fantasy is at work in this book. Let’s talk about a few of them.
He has dragons, swords, wizards and races. All these things you can expect from a fantasy novel, but often a writer will hold back when creating it. They will make one rule system for their magic. Charles ignored that part. He has about five different kinds of rules for about eight different kinds of magic. Many writers will come up with a unique type of metal. Think Wolverine and his adamantium skeleton. Impressive, huh? Not Charles. Let’s throw in about six different kinds of metal. Each one has a different kind of magic and each one has a different effect on the others.
Races, four, maybe five. Let’s detail about two of those and allude to the rest. Not our man Phipps, let’s make twelve. They all have a different history, they all collapse in on each other and puff out. Let’s make what they wear important, too. Let’s make a bunch of them hate each other and throw them all together.
Technology is a thing. A lot of fantasy books have technology. Charles Phipps has mashed those different magics together and interwoven them with machinery. Why not?
I asked myself a few times what he was doing, what he was thinking, and by the end of the book I realized he was just having fun. He was just making it cool.
And it is cool. It is very cool. It sounds like a cluster, as I sit here writing this, I realize I am making this book sound chaotic and overwhelming. I realize I am making it sound as if you would be lost in the details. But aren’t you kinda supposed to be? In a real, large and functioning world, aren’t there supposed to be things that at times feel out of control? Aren’t you at times supposed to step back and say, “Man, there is a lot here.”
Three Worlds is like that. You get a handle on a section and a new bit gets mentioned that lets you know that you can’t see it all. This world is big, it is intricate, and it is moving around you. The world building is done at a scale that is mythic.
So what else can you expect from a fantasy novel? Heroes, Villains. These are solid foundations to stand on. This is a buoy to grip to in wild and rolling waters. Yeah well, Charles decided to make that cool, too. So let’s make our heroes hideous fiends. Let’s make our good gods horrors and our bastions of light pits of darkness. Why not let our villains be the reader’s only hope and let us do what we really love to do anyway: Root for the villain.
Which one of you doesn’t love to root for the villain? Well Charles has built a book for you so you can feel really good about rooting for the darkest forces in the world. We are not talking about Antiheroes. We are talking about real villains who are saving the day.
This book would have been a five-star book for me, easy, except for the dialogue. There was a lot of it. A lot of backstory and a lot of explaining. I think I would have liked to be a little more lost in this world. Off balance and confused. It would have made the experience more unsettling for me.
But I’m not sure, if I had those things, not totally sure, if I had the confusion I ached for if it would have been so cool.
If you are a fantasy geek like me, and you are looking for something to stare at like a kid wide-eyed in wonder, go pick yourself up a copy of Wraith Lord.
It’s a really cool book!
This is a cool book. It is filled with scenes you can just geek out on. Every amazing thing about fantasy is at work in this book. Let’s talk about a few of them.
He has dragons, swords, wizards and races. All these things you can expect from a fantasy novel, but often a writer will hold back when creating it. They will make one rule system for their magic. Charles ignored that part. He has about five different kinds of rules for about eight different kinds of magic. Many writers will come up with a unique type of metal. Think Wolverine and his adamantium skeleton. Impressive, huh? Not Charles. Let’s throw in about six different kinds of metal. Each one has a different kind of magic and each one has a different effect on the others.
Races, four, maybe five. Let’s detail about two of those and allude to the rest. Not our man Phipps, let’s make twelve. They all have a different history, they all collapse in on each other and puff out. Let’s make what they wear important, too. Let’s make a bunch of them hate each other and throw them all together.
Technology is a thing. A lot of fantasy books have technology. Charles Phipps has mashed those different magics together and interwoven them with machinery. Why not?
I asked myself a few times what he was doing, what he was thinking, and by the end of the book I realized he was just having fun. He was just making it cool.
And it is cool. It is very cool. It sounds like a cluster, as I sit here writing this, I realize I am making this book sound chaotic and overwhelming. I realize I am making it sound as if you would be lost in the details. But aren’t you kinda supposed to be? In a real, large and functioning world, aren’t there supposed to be things that at times feel out of control? Aren’t you at times supposed to step back and say, “Man, there is a lot here.”
Three Worlds is like that. You get a handle on a section and a new bit gets mentioned that lets you know that you can’t see it all. This world is big, it is intricate, and it is moving around you. The world building is done at a scale that is mythic.
So what else can you expect from a fantasy novel? Heroes, Villains. These are solid foundations to stand on. This is a buoy to grip to in wild and rolling waters. Yeah well, Charles decided to make that cool, too. So let’s make our heroes hideous fiends. Let’s make our good gods horrors and our bastions of light pits of darkness. Why not let our villains be the reader’s only hope and let us do what we really love to do anyway: Root for the villain.
Which one of you doesn’t love to root for the villain? Well Charles has built a book for you so you can feel really good about rooting for the darkest forces in the world. We are not talking about Antiheroes. We are talking about real villains who are saving the day.
This book would have been a five-star book for me, easy, except for the dialogue. There was a lot of it. A lot of backstory and a lot of explaining. I think I would have liked to be a little more lost in this world. Off balance and confused. It would have made the experience more unsettling for me.
But I’m not sure, if I had those things, not totally sure, if I had the confusion I ached for if it would have been so cool.
If you are a fantasy geek like me, and you are looking for something to stare at like a kid wide-eyed in wonder, go pick yourself up a copy of Wraith Lord.
It’s a really cool book!
April 26, 2019
Jacob as the new King Below, Trickster, and heir to the dark followers of the face of Evil as it is known; is troubled. He is long tired of war. But just as peace is supposedly desired by all, it is impossible. Eventually his enemies will attack as they gain more and more power. Something must be done.
Wraith Knight is a heroic yet harrowing tale of war and ideologies. People fighting in the names of insane gods not realizing they are just pawns on a board. This is powerful sword an sorcery at its finest with a little philosophy thrown in for good measure.
Concepts of Good and Evil are merely just words as the supposed "Good" commit atrocities and the "Evil" try to minimize suffering. Wraith Lord is a fantasy novel of epic proportions; where the greatest combatants of the age come together to fight for an unknown future. Both inspiring and horrifying, this is fantastic fantasy and extremely well planned storytelling.
Wraith Knight is a heroic yet harrowing tale of war and ideologies. People fighting in the names of insane gods not realizing they are just pawns on a board. This is powerful sword an sorcery at its finest with a little philosophy thrown in for good measure.
Concepts of Good and Evil are merely just words as the supposed "Good" commit atrocities and the "Evil" try to minimize suffering. Wraith Lord is a fantasy novel of epic proportions; where the greatest combatants of the age come together to fight for an unknown future. Both inspiring and horrifying, this is fantastic fantasy and extremely well planned storytelling.
September 18, 2022
imagine Sauron is good and Gandalf was evil.
This book flips the script on its head when it come to fantasy novels. Imagine if Sauron from lord of the rings was all about freedom and self determination, and Gandalf was about tyrannical rule of law. what's classically thought of as good goes out the window and is instead replaced with a fanatical religious organization that seizes power and ruthlessly goes about enslaving and murdering the common people, in the name of peace and law and order. while the evil god king figure embraces freedom and saving the common person. its a very enjoyable book for the different perspective it gives and i loved it.
Also props to the narrator for a awesome job.
This book flips the script on its head when it come to fantasy novels. Imagine if Sauron from lord of the rings was all about freedom and self determination, and Gandalf was about tyrannical rule of law. what's classically thought of as good goes out the window and is instead replaced with a fanatical religious organization that seizes power and ruthlessly goes about enslaving and murdering the common people, in the name of peace and law and order. while the evil god king figure embraces freedom and saving the common person. its a very enjoyable book for the different perspective it gives and i loved it.
Also props to the narrator for a awesome job.
September 8, 2019
Review to come.
April 14, 2019
WRAITH LORD is the sequel to arguably my best work in Wraith Lord. The Wraith Knight series is about a ghostly warrior enslaved by the King Below centuries ago, who has only regained his freedom after the death of said Sauron-like figure. However, victory for the good guys is only the start of the problems as the heroes have since divided the whole of the Southern Kingdoms among them. Armed with the power of right, they may be worst villains than the King Below ever was. So, our protagonist finds himself being the villain to be the hero.
I had a lot of fun wriiting this one with Jacob Riverson, Regina Whitetremor, and Serah Brightwaters journeying to the furthest city of the South in order to spark a revolution. We got into a lot of the nitty gritty details of my world and I think any fan of the first book is going to be a huge fan of the sequel. I think it's the original book's superior in every way.
I had a lot of fun wriiting this one with Jacob Riverson, Regina Whitetremor, and Serah Brightwaters journeying to the furthest city of the South in order to spark a revolution. We got into a lot of the nitty gritty details of my world and I think any fan of the first book is going to be a huge fan of the sequel. I think it's the original book's superior in every way.
May 15, 2019
Like I said with book one, this isn't my usual genre, hut I'm a fan of Phipps and his books never disappoint! Wraith Lord was even better than Wraith Knight! It picks up right where book one left off. Jacob and his two wives try to put together an army large enough to take out the army of the nine heroes. Yes, two wives! Both are just as powerful as Jacob since he shared his powers from the king below with them equally. I can't wait to see what's to come in book three, Wraith King! Great narration by Peter Berkrot! He really brings the characters to life!
May 9, 2023
Yeah, I don't know. This really isn't holding my attention. Also, I thought it was a trilogy. Not potentially five books long haha. I think I'll pause here, maybe I'll return to the series another day. There's definitely some interesting ideas here, and some cool world building, the combat is here the author shines. I just don't care for the characters and dialogue all that much.
May 22, 2019
I often mention in my reviews the sophomore slump, that tendency of a second book in a series to be a bit of a letdown after an especially good series debut. I can happily say that Wraith Lord suffers no letdown from Wraith Knight, and is equal to or surpasses it in every measure, whether it be worldbuilding, depth of characters or action and pacing.
The story starts five years after the end of Wraith Knight, and Jacob Riversson, former commander of the Shadowguard, former involuntary Wraith Knight and now inheritor of the mantle and power of the god of evil, The King Below, is living in the Shadowlands with his two wives, the warrior Regina ni Whitetremor and the sorceress Serah Brightwaters, as they struggle to unite the shadow races into a unified force. Not the easiest thing since the King Below kept them in line through terror and slavery. That’s not how Jacob intends to rule. Also, he has less power than the King Below, since he split the power three ways with Regina and Serah. While his brides both want to raise up their armies and go invade the Southern Kingdoms and kill the Nine Heroes who usurped the empire, Jacob, while he spent 2 and half centuries as a Wraith Knight (think Ring Wraith), has no real desire to wreak all that death and destruction on the South.
Events start in motion, though, when a figure thought dead re-enters Regina’s life, chased by a figure from Serah’s more dubious past, Fel Hellsword, one of the Nine Heroes, and a powerful Archmage. This new person causes a change in plans, since they now have an idea of where Jassamine, the leader of the Nine, and Saint of the Alessian Empire and The Lawgiver, the god of that empire, is planning to strike next: Kerifas, a city traditionally at the center of territorial disputes. It seems the Imperials are forcing all the non-human’s in the city into ghettos in an attempt to get them to rise up. Since the cities Fir Bolgs (blue skinned nd antlered humanoids) are already living in those ghettos, they aren’t happy having some of their blood enemies such as Jotuns and Boggans forced into their territory. This revelation forces our antiheroes to discover what the Nine’s plan is, and try and stop it before a small scale genocide can be brought to fruition, ending in a climactic battle of bad vs. worse, since no one in this story has clean hands.
One thing I loved about Wraith Knight was the grimdark sense of moral ambivalence, the sense that the “Hero” wasn’t so much an anti-hero, and more an anti-villain, fairly amoral and very much and ends justify the means character. This book increases that trend, as all three of the triumvirate of Dark Gods are morally flexible at best, and power hungry potential despots at worst. Still, in comparison to the truly evil Nine Heroes, they come across pretty well. The worldbuilding is top notch, with The Shadowlands expanded upon, as well as adding Kerifas as a setting, with its huge disparity in rich and poor quarters, and it’s long history as disputed territory. The new and expanded creature types are interesting, and the added characters, especially Ketras, really add to the story. All these characters seem like real people in the worst situation, with their flaws magnified by the stresses placed upon them, and some of them rising above it to do the right thing, whatever that may be. The action scenes are well written, and the final battle scene has so many twists I just didn’t see coming.
The narration is ably handled by the talented Peter Berkrot. He has a real gift for creating unique voices for the various characters, changing, tone, pitch, accent and cadence on the fly, all while keeping a good narrative flow. The narrations never suffers from monotone, or speed changes that don't fit the story. He has a way of inflecting even when doing the narrative parts that set him apart from the average narrator. One of my favorite narrations of the year.
Overall, its more of what made Wraith Knight such a grimdark gem to read, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. any fan of dark, gritty fantasy can find something to love here, while not being overwhelmed with a gloomfest, since there is humor sprinkled throughout.
The story starts five years after the end of Wraith Knight, and Jacob Riversson, former commander of the Shadowguard, former involuntary Wraith Knight and now inheritor of the mantle and power of the god of evil, The King Below, is living in the Shadowlands with his two wives, the warrior Regina ni Whitetremor and the sorceress Serah Brightwaters, as they struggle to unite the shadow races into a unified force. Not the easiest thing since the King Below kept them in line through terror and slavery. That’s not how Jacob intends to rule. Also, he has less power than the King Below, since he split the power three ways with Regina and Serah. While his brides both want to raise up their armies and go invade the Southern Kingdoms and kill the Nine Heroes who usurped the empire, Jacob, while he spent 2 and half centuries as a Wraith Knight (think Ring Wraith), has no real desire to wreak all that death and destruction on the South.
Events start in motion, though, when a figure thought dead re-enters Regina’s life, chased by a figure from Serah’s more dubious past, Fel Hellsword, one of the Nine Heroes, and a powerful Archmage. This new person causes a change in plans, since they now have an idea of where Jassamine, the leader of the Nine, and Saint of the Alessian Empire and The Lawgiver, the god of that empire, is planning to strike next: Kerifas, a city traditionally at the center of territorial disputes. It seems the Imperials are forcing all the non-human’s in the city into ghettos in an attempt to get them to rise up. Since the cities Fir Bolgs (blue skinned nd antlered humanoids) are already living in those ghettos, they aren’t happy having some of their blood enemies such as Jotuns and Boggans forced into their territory. This revelation forces our antiheroes to discover what the Nine’s plan is, and try and stop it before a small scale genocide can be brought to fruition, ending in a climactic battle of bad vs. worse, since no one in this story has clean hands.
One thing I loved about Wraith Knight was the grimdark sense of moral ambivalence, the sense that the “Hero” wasn’t so much an anti-hero, and more an anti-villain, fairly amoral and very much and ends justify the means character. This book increases that trend, as all three of the triumvirate of Dark Gods are morally flexible at best, and power hungry potential despots at worst. Still, in comparison to the truly evil Nine Heroes, they come across pretty well. The worldbuilding is top notch, with The Shadowlands expanded upon, as well as adding Kerifas as a setting, with its huge disparity in rich and poor quarters, and it’s long history as disputed territory. The new and expanded creature types are interesting, and the added characters, especially Ketras, really add to the story. All these characters seem like real people in the worst situation, with their flaws magnified by the stresses placed upon them, and some of them rising above it to do the right thing, whatever that may be. The action scenes are well written, and the final battle scene has so many twists I just didn’t see coming.
The narration is ably handled by the talented Peter Berkrot. He has a real gift for creating unique voices for the various characters, changing, tone, pitch, accent and cadence on the fly, all while keeping a good narrative flow. The narrations never suffers from monotone, or speed changes that don't fit the story. He has a way of inflecting even when doing the narrative parts that set him apart from the average narrator. One of my favorite narrations of the year.
Overall, its more of what made Wraith Knight such a grimdark gem to read, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. any fan of dark, gritty fantasy can find something to love here, while not being overwhelmed with a gloomfest, since there is humor sprinkled throughout.
June 27, 2019
With Wraith Lord, I plunged back into the world created by CT Phipps that I was introduced to in Wraith Knight. Wraith Lord continues the story of Jacob Riverson, a former knight turned wraith turned wraith knight turned Lord of Evil. Only, it seems that his continued progression from lowly mortal to King of all Shadowkind only spells bigger problems for him. The story kind of follows the old adage “be careful what you wish for,” even though Jacob didn’t wish for any of this.
On the surface, Jacob seems to have what every man in the world must want: two godessy-glorious wives that are just as much in love with him as they are with each other. He has power, an infamous reputation, dragons, tons of followers.
And tons of enemies, who want him removed from his job…and all of his shadowy followers removed from the world.
I probably will never get enough of Phipps’ delivery of darkish fantasy served with likeable antiheroes and a side of (usually) self-deprecating humor. Even in the darkest circumstances, Phipps’ heroes have the talent of not taking themselves—or their world—too seriously. Which really makes for fun fantasy. Some of the elements Phipps incorporates in this book are quite dark, and might weigh another book down. But Phipps doesn’t let that happen; just when you think things are going to end tragically for all parties involved, the old Phipps humor comes out, and everything is made right again.
I think this book is perhaps Phipps’ best work to date. It’s hard to say that, as I really enjoyed Lucifer’s Star and Cthulhu Armageddon. But there’s something about Jacob Riverson that makes me really love him. He is a great Dark Lord—just an uncommonly noble and heroic one ready to risk everything to squash his enemies, the Nine Heroes, and protect his fellow Shadowkind. The book really reminds me of the cable TV series Penny Dreadful, where the dark lord is the champion of all the broken and misunderstood creatures of shadow. And, like Penny Dreadful, the good guys in Wraith Lord are far from good.
Will evil prevail in the end?
The reader can only hope.
On the surface, Jacob seems to have what every man in the world must want: two godessy-glorious wives that are just as much in love with him as they are with each other. He has power, an infamous reputation, dragons, tons of followers.
And tons of enemies, who want him removed from his job…and all of his shadowy followers removed from the world.
I probably will never get enough of Phipps’ delivery of darkish fantasy served with likeable antiheroes and a side of (usually) self-deprecating humor. Even in the darkest circumstances, Phipps’ heroes have the talent of not taking themselves—or their world—too seriously. Which really makes for fun fantasy. Some of the elements Phipps incorporates in this book are quite dark, and might weigh another book down. But Phipps doesn’t let that happen; just when you think things are going to end tragically for all parties involved, the old Phipps humor comes out, and everything is made right again.
I think this book is perhaps Phipps’ best work to date. It’s hard to say that, as I really enjoyed Lucifer’s Star and Cthulhu Armageddon. But there’s something about Jacob Riverson that makes me really love him. He is a great Dark Lord—just an uncommonly noble and heroic one ready to risk everything to squash his enemies, the Nine Heroes, and protect his fellow Shadowkind. The book really reminds me of the cable TV series Penny Dreadful, where the dark lord is the champion of all the broken and misunderstood creatures of shadow. And, like Penny Dreadful, the good guys in Wraith Lord are far from good.
Will evil prevail in the end?
The reader can only hope.
January 2, 2020
I listened to the audiobook version of this story. It continues a bit after Wraith Knight leaves off, with Jacob Riverson now taking the place of the King Below, married to both Serah and Regina, and generally wreaking havoc wherever he goes.
The strong points of this story remain the same as book one. The characters remain consistent, they are like-able without being *too* like-able, and just as before, are prone to pronouncements of undying friendship and love for each other.
The story itself meandered a bit, and took awhile to get its footing. Once it did, I enjoyed the pace, the monsters, the mayhem, the magic... all of it. Poor Jacob keeps trying to avoid war and killing, but it just won't stop following him wherever he goes. Serah stirs trouble and keeps secrets, to the detriment of Jacob's cause. Regina is, well, Regina. She's prone to being a bit emotionally wayward, hot then cold, then hot again. What's a husband to do?
The real sweet spot that Phipps seems to hit out of the park is wit, snark, and relate-able characters even in a fantasy setting that is dark and gloomy.
My complaints are two-fold - the narrator just isn't my favorite (perhaps I would have enjoyed it more to read it). And second, it really was difficult at times to figure out what exactly the end-game is in all of this. I'm really curious to see if Book 3 brings a little more clarity to the plot; perhaps, like many fantasy stories, it's best to read it as a whole, and see the story as parts in that whole, instead of books. Either way, I enjoyed this and will look forward to the next chapter in the Wraith Knight story.
The strong points of this story remain the same as book one. The characters remain consistent, they are like-able without being *too* like-able, and just as before, are prone to pronouncements of undying friendship and love for each other.
The story itself meandered a bit, and took awhile to get its footing. Once it did, I enjoyed the pace, the monsters, the mayhem, the magic... all of it. Poor Jacob keeps trying to avoid war and killing, but it just won't stop following him wherever he goes. Serah stirs trouble and keeps secrets, to the detriment of Jacob's cause. Regina is, well, Regina. She's prone to being a bit emotionally wayward, hot then cold, then hot again. What's a husband to do?
The real sweet spot that Phipps seems to hit out of the park is wit, snark, and relate-able characters even in a fantasy setting that is dark and gloomy.
My complaints are two-fold - the narrator just isn't my favorite (perhaps I would have enjoyed it more to read it). And second, it really was difficult at times to figure out what exactly the end-game is in all of this. I'm really curious to see if Book 3 brings a little more clarity to the plot; perhaps, like many fantasy stories, it's best to read it as a whole, and see the story as parts in that whole, instead of books. Either way, I enjoyed this and will look forward to the next chapter in the Wraith Knight story.
July 4, 2019
It can be easy to dismiss the series, but it can be thought provoking well beyond any parody. I enjoyed the second half of the first audiobook immeasurably and the narrator takes off from there and tightened his performance.
I believe in several years time people will look back on this book, look at what was going on in the world at that time and see how perfectly the author nailed current events in the manner Pratchett did with Jingo.
A flawed hero/anti-hero... Jacob often comes across as feckless. While it may be surprising he can get out of bed and walk upright the reason why is mentioned in passing. His desire to retain himself subtly permeates the book and allows his wives to do the heavy lifting. Their way.
I enjoyed the story, the end seemed a tad easy, but the convoluted muddying of sides and good and evil makes for an entertaining and twisted premise. Book three can’t come soon enough.
I believe in several years time people will look back on this book, look at what was going on in the world at that time and see how perfectly the author nailed current events in the manner Pratchett did with Jingo.
A flawed hero/anti-hero... Jacob often comes across as feckless. While it may be surprising he can get out of bed and walk upright the reason why is mentioned in passing. His desire to retain himself subtly permeates the book and allows his wives to do the heavy lifting. Their way.
I enjoyed the story, the end seemed a tad easy, but the convoluted muddying of sides and good and evil makes for an entertaining and twisted premise. Book three can’t come soon enough.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 21, 2019
Audible:I enjoyed this follow up to Wraith Knight.Now the 'King Below' Jacob can hardly recognise himself anymore.With his wives by his side he ventures to clear the land of the Dark Lord and his followers. Peter Berkrot was a fine narrator. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
December 4, 2020
Solid book. Loved the old school DnD / sword-and-sorcery feel to this series. Don't rate it quite as highly as I did Wraith Knight as I felt this book suffered from the second-book-in-a-trilogy syndrome (there is probably a witter name for this). Progressed the story but little resolved - essentially a bridge to the concluding chapter. Entertaining though!
July 13, 2022
What is evil? Who are the hero's? What are gods? Wraith Lord continues expanding the world introduced in Wraith Knight in an excellent manner. It is a fantasy adventure with all the classical elements, intrigue, battles, love, dragons, monsters, gods and heroes whilst asking questions about the nature of good and evil, right and wrong. A great read.
January 15, 2020
DNF. I decided to return this book after listening to the first few chapters. The love triangle was just too weird. I'm sure someone will enjoy this book.
September 16, 2022
The plot thickens!
This is by far my favourite CT Phipps series so far! There are so many layers that it's hard to know where to begin! Just get the book!
This is by far my favourite CT Phipps series so far! There are so many layers that it's hard to know where to begin! Just get the book!
June 12, 2023
Set approx. 5 years after the events of Wraith Knight, Wraith Lord continues the story of Jacob Riverson and his 2 wives Regina and Serah. Jacob has become a god, the new King Below, the personification of Death, his wives immensely powerful warriors and sorcerors. But he has kept his sense of humour, plus the previous guy is still around in Jacob's head offering unhelpful advice. If you enjoyed Wraith Knight's snarky banter and over-the-top magical battles then you'll love this.
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