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Sam is Currently Reading

Sam is currently reading

Malice (The Faithful and the Fallen, #1)

by John Gwynne (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: fantasy, read-2017, currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

read in January 2017

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Sam said: " This book started off around a 3 star for me and kept building till it ended at a 4 star note. I'm feeling generous and I'm going to give it the stars it ended on.

This is pure epic fantasy. Lots of POVs, a very slow burn of plot, a large world scope, This book started off around a 3 star for me and kept building till it ended at a 4 star note. I'm feeling generous and I'm going to give it the stars it ended on.

This is pure epic fantasy. Lots of POVs, a very slow burn of plot, a large world scope, and the threat of doom of a God-war lingering over everything. As the front of the book says "Even the brave will fall." But as it goes with epic fantasy, the very things the genre is known for can sometimes work against itself.

I had a hard time getting into some of the POV characters. Corban's chapters are my absolute favorite. He's the typical coming-of-age fantasy character. There's something "more" to him even if he doesn't know it yet. Plus he's got the wolf... er wolven pet and the fantastic horse. Totes sold. I loved his chapters and always looked forward to getting back to him. I think his viewpoint felt the most fully developed. Lots of great side characters: Cywen, Gar, Brina. The story felt well-paced and really flowed from chapter to chapter.

I never fell for Kastell. I didn't understand his point in the whole book and I honestly had to look up his name again. That K-guy. I feel like his whole involvement in this book was just to set up characters for later in the story or to expand the world out so we can see what's happening elsewhere. He felt kinda whiney and his struggle was only vaguely etched out.

Veradis grew on me slowly. He's a very conflicted character who experiences a lot of growth (for better or worse) throughout the book. He starts out a young warrior looking to make a name for himself and ends up a First Sword leading warbands. I might not be liking his actions but his chapters got to be more and more interesting as the book went on. He's someone I would like to hit upside the head, and yet at the same time, I don't want anything bad to happen to him.

Nathair. I do not like you. You're shady af and I'm pretty sure you did it.

I'm super intrigued by the world the author has built and the plot. Like I said, it's a slow burn, but the ending really packs a punch. I would have appreciated a little bit more immersion into the over-all plot of the God-war earlier on in the story. The book kinda hard punches you with the prologue, but then it takes a long time to get back to seeing the over-arching plot develop. I had such a hard time getting into the book because it was just riding from here to there and fighting this or that. I get the buildup needed to introduce the world and the players in it, but I just wasn't super engaged. I really only felt the flow with Corban's chapters because they stayed local and had a great supporting cast. Even if the hints about him being more than meets the eye didn't come until later on, I could already get that sense as a reader since its the classic fantasy trope of the young boy and his mentor.

The last half or last 1/3 of the book is definitely much more engaging, and since this is a debut book, it may just have taken time for the author to hit his stride in writing and get the background out of the way. Everything starts to come to a head - mostly by people losing theirs. I'm excited to see how the plot develops and whether some of the theories I'm beginning to form are correct or if my mind is going to get blown away by a twist. I really like that nothing is concretely known yet and most of the characters seem to tread a morally grey line. As a reader, we know the prophecy, but we're in the dark about who it's referring to. For some reason I'm just not trusting the hints thrown to us so far and I really like getting to draw my own conclusions.

This book is a total recommend for me. Beware that it may take some time getting into it although that also might just have been a personal problem for me. It didn't blow my mind but it's a rock-solid start to a series. I can't wait to get to the rest of the books although I'm worried about the fates of my favorite characters. ...more "

progress:

(page 178 of 672)
"Back to epic fantasy." — Jan 05, 2017 12:55PM

Jan 09, 2017 03:17PM · see review

Sam is currently reading

The Counterfeit Countess: The Jewish Woman Who Rescued Thousands of Poles During the Holocaust

by Elizabeth B. White

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Jul 19, 2025 07:14AM

Sam is currently reading

Finding Arthur: The Truth Behind the Legend of the Once and Future King

by Adam Ardrey

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Apr 09, 2025 04:14PM

Sam’s Quotes

“Witch. The word drifted across his mind. We call such women so, because we have no other name.”
― Katherine Arden, The Girl in the Tower

tags: russian-fairy-tales, vasilisa, vasilisa-the-brave, witch, witches, women

270 likes

“If someone’s takeaway from this story is “Felicia Day said don’t study!,” I’ll punch you in the face. But I AM saying don’t chase perfection for perfection’s sake, or for anyone else’s sake at all. If you strive for something, make sure it’s for the right reasons. And if you fail, that will be a better lesson for you than any success you’ll ever have. Because you learn a lot from screwing up. Being perfect . . . not so much.”
― Felicia Day, You're Never Weird on the Internet

78 likes

“The breath hitched in his throat. His hand caught hers, but he did not untangle her fingers. "Why are you here?" she asked him. For a moment she thought he would not answer, then he said, as though reluctant, "I heard you cry.”
― Katherine Arden, The Girl in the Tower

54 likes

“Forgetting... is a beautiful thing. When you forget, you remake yourself... For a caterpillar to become a butterfly, it must forget it was a caterpillar at all. Then it will be as if the caterpillar never was & there was only ever a butterfly.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, City of Stairs

64 likes

“Every time you take one path, you must live with the memory of the other: of a life left unchosen. Decide as seems best, one course or the other; each way will have its bitter with its sweet.”
― Katherine Arden, The Girl in the Tower

377 likes

More of Sam’s quotes…