| Series: Eidyn #1 | Genre: fantasy |
| Date of Publishing: August 30th 2019 | Publisher: Self-published |
Quote of the Book
He stepped through the doorway into pitch black. The shutters over the only window were still intact. This was one of the smaller, more intimate nooks, as he remembered it, so there wasn’t much to explore. The ceiling was obviously hanging very low though, and the dripping was definitely getting worse. But it wasn’t the rhythmic tup tup tup that made his breath catch in his throat; it was the distinct sound of something wet, something alive, moving in the dark.
Suddenly extremely aware of how vulnerable he was, how unprepared he was for a fight, Aranok stepped carefully backwards out into the main room, never taking his eyes off the arch in the dingy light. “Nirea,” he hissed, stepping urgently back now, towards the slightly brighter section of the main bar. “Nirea!”
A sickly, wet splat, like a pig’s organs spilling onto a butcher’s floor, got her attention. She stalked quickly towards him, meeting him just in front of the stage.
“What the fuck was that?” she whispered as the sound came again. It was followed by something quiet – chittering, like insects. It didn’t sound like anything Aranok had heard before, but there was one obvious and – in these close quarters – terrifying probability.
Blurb
The war is over, but something is rotten in the state of Eidyn.
With a ragged peace in place, demons burn farmlands, violent Reivers roam the wilds and plague has spread beyond the Black Meadows. The country is on its knees.
In a society that fears and shuns him, Aranok is the first magically-skilled draoidh to be named King’s Envoy.
Now, charged with restoring an exiled foreign queen to her throne, he leads a group of strangers across the ravaged country. But at every step, a new mystery complicates their mission.
As bodies drop around them, new threats emerge and lies are revealed, can Aranok bring his companions together and uncover the conspiracy that threatens the kingdom?
Jen
Disclaimer/Personal Note
Spur of the moment choice.
Song of the Book
Something to Believe In by Young the Giant
Review
Aranok the king’s envoy, is on a mission to help return the Queen Taneithea, to Gauelle and her throne, in hopes of gaining some powerful allies in this time of unrest.
Joining Aranok are his bodyguard Allandria (who is also secretly his partner), Nirea and Glorbad (liaisons to the court), Vastin (a young blacksmith), and Samily (a young warrior). The group are finding all kinds of abnormalities among the other dangers they face during their travels; the Blackened (the people that have contracted this affliction, think zombie plague) are on the move, the Reivers are alliancing, and these new and terrifying cocooned creatures are being found in the trees and abandoned buildings.
They suspect that somehow Mynygogg, a rare two-powered Draoidh (he is a necromancer and can call forth Demons), is controlling the Blackened and the Demons, from his prison – they hope to find a way to put a stop to him once and for all.
***
So, this feels like a good old classic D&D story. There is a bit of set-up, getting to know the world, getting to know our group of adventurers and seeing them in action and the dangers they face as they set upon their mission. You think to yourself – I know this story. But, as the story you recognize moves along, you start to see things are just a tad different, not much but enough to keep your interested, and about the time you get comfortably settled into the tale, the author throws this little monkey wrench at you and you realize – maybe I don’t know this story at all.
I think that’s why this was so enjoyable for me. It takes the familiar, gets you comfortable and then messes with it, just a little. You get comfortable with this new thing, and again there it is, that little push that says no, that’s not where we are going this time! I loved that about it.
I have been reading for a long time, I do tend to get excited and occasionally think some big fabulous plot is happening, only to have it not be as grand as my imagination. So, when I do read something that pushes those boundaries and let’s my imagination run with possibilities, and after a few surprises, I feel that it just might be clever enough to be actually going in that way – then, I am impressed. I have a lot of praise for a story that can do that. So, here is me praising this story, for letting me, let my imagination, run wild.
And btw. my imagination, was totally wrong. I have no qualms about admitting the only thing I guessed correctly about the bigger mystery, was the easy part about who was involved. I can’t tell you how happy it made me to be wrong on that scale (although my imagination had a pretty grand plan, too).
A little about the characters
First, I loved the women – they became friends, they stick up for each other and they tell the men on more than one occasion when they’re being dumbasses about something. They’re smart and caring towards one another, and towards the men. I also loved the fact that Aranok and Allandria are a couple – that doesn’t happen often in fantasy and it was a refreshing change.
The men are a bit hotheaded – they butt heads a lot. These are two leaders’ personalities having to learn to work together – I found their arguments justifiable (this is where the women have to remind them that each of their points are valid and to smarten up the attitude) and fitting for who they are.
Also, Aranok is a Draiodh, which automatically comes with baggage because the Draoidh have powerful magic that in the past hasn’t always been used for the good of anyone but themselves. There is a distrust towards him and his kind, and that underlying fear doesn’t help in the dealings with others.
Everyone in the group looks out for the younger two of the group – Vastin, and even Samily (though she can easily take care of herself).
There are some big changes as the story proceeds, that shift the friendships between these people and also make me very curious to see how this new information will affect the dynamics of the group – you can already see some of it happening and it’s going to make for some interesting circumstances in the next book. I am excited to see where the author takes these friends.
Minor quibble
The end felt a little on the ‘explainy’ side, especially after how smart the rest was, some of the information felt like it could have been sprinkled into the main body without giving away the mystery; a minor gripe though in a well thought out story.
***
I really enjoyed The Lost War. It was crafty, friendships were great, and it’s told in that nice pace that kept it moving and never felt like the nearly 600 pages book it was.
TLDR:
Clever and entertaining, make time for this one!
Jen’s rating: 4.5/5
Timy
Disclaimer/Personal Note
I’ve got an audiobook code from the author in exchange of an honest review.
I put this book on my Armed with a Book bingo card, under the ‘A book you saw someone else reading‘ square.
Song of the Book
Okay, so, I had a hard time with picking a song and I’m not sure if I did well… But anyway, I stand by it and go with Go To War by Nothing More, the song which made me fall in love with this band after a few previous try.
Review
This is my first time reading anything from Justin Lee Anderson and aside from a couple of friends loving it, I had no idea what to expect from The Lost War. Definitely not what I got out of it in the end. It took me way longer than I would have liked to get hooked, but eventually I did, and I’m happy for it.
The war has just ended, Aranok, the king’s envoy and his bodyguard, Allandria just arrived back in town to rest. Or so they thought as King Janaeus has other ideas. Together with the general Glorbad and the captain of the navy, Nirea they are sent to escort a foreign queen back to her country in the hopes of building diplomatic relationships. Aranok also takes the young blacksmith, Vastin under his wings. But Aranok is not really in a hurry as he is more worried about his family in Mournside. Although the war is over against a powerful draoidh, Eidyn can’t breathe freely yet. Its lands is ravaged by the neighboring Reivers (I still have no idea who they are and how they got into the whole conflict) as well as ridden by a plague who makes people into Blackened. The cast gets completed by the White Thorn Knight, Samily and the head of the order, Meristan. Their road is quite dangerous and twisty and does not lack blood and loss.
On the surface The Lost War seems like your average adventure fantasy – a group of mismatched people go on a quest to save their kingdom while they come across dangerous creatures and enemies. And for the first half of the book, I kept wondering if there really wasn’t anything else to it. Questing is not among my favourite fantasy tropes, so I was a bit worried that I won’t see what everyone else likes about this book. Was the problem in me? The fact that I wasn’t really into the narrator – I half listened to the audiobook, half read it – didn’t help things either. It’s not like there was anything wrong with him, I think it might have been his accent? I’m not quite able to put my finger on it. One other thing that bothered me was the awkwardness of the dialogues, especially in the first half of the book. There were too many dialouge tags, especially “said” to the point it was really repetitive.
But I think my biggest issue overall was the fact that though the characters are very diverse and are well written, I just couldn’t really connect with any of them. It really comes down to the fact that there is a wide range of characters and they don’t have enough spotlight to really make us care for them on a deeper level.
Anyway, once I started to read it more than listen and it became clear there is a deeper mystery to the story, making the puzzle pieces dropped along the way slowly coming together, I got hooked. I had to know how the events will play out and who is behind the whole thing. My suspicions were proved, but Anderson still managed to surprise me with a twist toward the end. For which I tip my hat, because it was damn smartly written. It took me a while to see it and I was on the verge of just putting the book aside, I’m glad I didn’t do it.
Though I was left with questions – well, this is only the first book of a series, so that’s expected – I felt like The Lost War got a satisfying ending. Justin Lee Anderson clearly put a lot of work into the worldbuilding and it shows. There were parts I especially loved, like the time the group spent at the University or their time in that kirk – I can’t be more specific, because spoilers. I also liked how the group grew together during their journey and how they learned to trust each other. And that one of the strongest characters is one of the youngest, Samily. I admired her dedication, rock solid faith, quick wit and strength.
Although my review has been a bit on the critical side, I believe the Eidyn series has a lot of potential to become a great one. The Lost War, although an ambitious novel, fell a bit short on the execution. Felt like Anderson wanted to cram into a bit too much than it was required. Despite a rocky start, the mystery masterfully woven into the plot eventually got me hooked and then kept me glued to the pages. The Lost War is an intriguing blend of adventure, mystery and mindfuckery.
Timy’s rating: 3.5/5
Our Judgement
Group of adventurers, fantasy zombies, women supporting women… I have this book on my tbr and this review just solidified its spot! I love a book that can give me the unexpected while dealing with popular tropes!
I have somewhat mixed feelings about this book personally, so we might need your opinion to get a fully balanced picture, lol.