The Sword Defiant

I dnf'd this book. Not necessarily because it's bad; but because it read like it was simply a written version of someone's DnD campaign. Which is perfectly fine for those who like that style, but it was overly simplistic for me, and after the first couple of chapters I wasn't at all engaged.

I'm not giving a star rating, because I don't think it's a BAD book, it's just not a book for me.

“The sword cares not who it cuts.”

That's the tagline for this book. This book is a sword that will cut you over and over and have you begging for more! Quite simply, this is THE Fantasy Book of the Year! In fact, it's in the Top 10 Fantasy Books of all time and it's one of my favorite books! Oh, and one more thing... A TALKING SWORD!!!

I love fantasy books that are highly fantastic and full of imagination. Author Gareth Hanrahan has to have one of the most creative and imaginative minds. This book has everything you could ever ask for in a fantasy novel. The world building is next level!

Imagine if you will, that the in the Lord of the Rings, there were no Hobbits. But the Fellowship still formed and they were able to win! Then imagine what happens after the book ends. That the stories, poems, and songs all tell of the mighty heroes and their victory and they all lived happily ever after. But what if it wasn't happily ever after? What if life still goes on? This is what this book is.

Alf is such a great character and his companion, the talking sword, Spellbreaker is also a fantastic character. Alf keeps putting Spellbreaker away but I wanted more of this talking sword. Olva, Alf's sister, is the character we can relate to. She's the normal person who gets introduced to the world in all its beauty and horrors. I wondered why she was included in this tale, but it works itself out. She really represents us getting to discover this world.

The prose also deserves a mention. It's kind of written in a classical fantasy-type prose that I really enjoyed. It's not at all difficult but it fit this world perfectly! Also, the cover is amazing. Just look at it! Oh... and there's a dog!

I have a new favorite author and a new favorite book. I can not hype up this book or love it any more than I do! Waiting for book two is a bummer but it will be an instant buy, as will any book this author writes!

I really wanted to like this more than I did. Don't get me wrong, I do think this is a good, well written book. I love Gareth's Black Iron Gods series - the weird twisted setting with mad gods and gaslamp fantasy. And to a certain extent the world here was also the star, a place where the dark lord has been overthrown and people are trying to pick up the pieces. The concept here is definitely good enough to draw me in.

What went wrong for me here then? The problem for me was one of the POVs. Alf, the grizzled old member of the crew who overthrew Lord Bone always stole the limelight (in particular his sword stole the limelight), and I constantly spent the other POVs time wishing that we were instead with Alf. The second story, following the mother of an abducted son just was no way near as engaging to me. This was either one too many POVs or too few POVs - if there had been additional stories for it to get mixed in with it would have been less obvious how unengaged I was with that particular story line. It was a narrative choice that just flopped a bit for me. That being said it was not awful. It was still very readable and everything else in the story really was well done.

Whilst this leans heavier on classical tropes than the Black Iron Gods series, The Sword Defiant does do a good job of bending them in interesting ways. Take the idea of undying elves. In this world they literally cannot die. They become revenants if slain and are eventually reborn. They can turn to vampirism to sustain themselves when mortally wounded. All this is some wonderful twisting of standard fantasy race tropes. There are clever twists on who the actual monster here is as well, through both current plot and allusions to the past (Lord Bone was a human lording it over the elves for example). Themes of prejudice are well dealt with. The world building really is top notch.

The central theme of the fading of the fellowship is also cleverly realized. The original heroic band who overthrew the dark lord are gradually dwindling - what happens then? It is some interesting questions to ask that take us away from standard fantasy plotlines.

I remain interested in what happens in the series, and as the story went along and the POVs converged the differentiation in my interest between them did lessen. I am intrigued to see where this goes so I do intend to continue the series. The world building really is up there with the best of the best! Hope we get more time with the sword and Alf going forward though!

As soon as I started reading this book I knew I was going to love it. And it was amazing.
The Dark Lord trope is used as backstory and I loved it! With a DND vide I was sold on this classical feel of the story. Oh, and the talking sword.

I enjoyed the characters and where the story went. I do wish that the female lead while well written wouldn't come across as damsel in distress. I Would have enjoyed her storyline more otherwise. I want more murderous mummy!
I will add the other side female characters were well written and strong, even is they didn't get a lot of page time.

The deeper into the story I went the sense of a wider world and plot encountered in the best way. I wanted to know more about the gang who destroyed the Dark Lord years ago.

A really enjoyable tale with an expansive world.
I Highly recommend if you like First Law but at not as grimdark and the kings of the wild with a splash of DND.

Enjoyed this book from start to finish. It really has everything: very reluctant questing, conflicted guilt ridden heroes with a heaping of self imposed duty that only serves to make them feel more guilty and conflicted, bad ass moms, vampires!!, talking swords, and soo much more!

There are so many intriguing characters in this story (kind of to the point I'd often forget who was who for a second but still great) and they all feel very flushed out background and motive wise. The couple flashbacks we get through out the story definitely help with giving them more depth as well.

My favorite characters were Bor and Alf aka The Suffer Bros. The two never meet in the story but they go along similar paths of living through the guilt and consequences of the things they've done in life. They're actually pretty heartbreaking now that I'm thinking about it

Years ago, Alf and the rest of The Nine defeated Lord Bone. The Nine are heroes. If not for them, Lord Bone would've spread his evil across the land.
After killing Lord Bone, the Nine took over his city of Necrad and vowed to clear all the evil from it, and remain there to protect the city. Most of them stayed, but some did not.

Years later, a new threat is brewing and the Nine must reunite to fight against it.

This book is fantastic! I have never read anything by this author, but I plan to buy all his works after reading this. The writing is amazing. The cast of characters is top-notch! I loved this world so much. I could just picture the necromiasma hanging over the city. I can't say enough great things about this book. I loved it!

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an e-arc.

4/5 - This review is after a reread before I continue onto the next book. On a reread I enjoyed it much more.

Hanrahan's Black Iron God book are some of my favorite books and when I first picked this up I was hoping for his creative world building. It was then a little jarring to come into a world so full of LOTR and DnD tropes. In my first read through it was distracting to encounter the aftermath of A DnD campaign in a LOTR copy and a few odd choices like calling the dark lord Lord Bone. On the reread I was able to ignore these elements and enjoy the story knowing it gets to new and interesting places.

This book really felt like a setup book to bring the setting from the typical end of the story everybody knows, the group of adventurers takes down the dark lord, to the story the author really wants to tell. That being what happens when to occupy the dark lords domain and the start of a civil war in the "good" alliance.

Alf's POV is the stand out in this book, he has the more interesting plot in the book and the better side characters to interact with. Especially the talking sword which is just always a fun concept. Alf is also a bit of a refreshing character as his backstory, age and personality make his displayed power feel earned rather than a chosen one trope.

Olva's POV suffers from being the audience surrogate. She has from stories and legends essentially the same knowledge that the reader can assume from the setting. In her chapters we get to see where the stories were wrong or exaggerated and that evil was not ended defeated with the dark lord. Her chapters were very slow, a large portion of her chapters are her waiting, being captured or traveling and only really useful to give the audience information for Alf's chapters.