Malice

By: John Gwynne

Narrated by: Damian Lynch

Length: 23 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of the Morningstar Award for Best Fantasy Debut, 2013

The world is broken....

Corban wants nothing more than to be a warrior under King Brenin's rule—to protect and serve. But that day will come all too soon. And the price he pays will be in blood.

Evnis has sacrificed—too much it seems. But what he wants—the power to rule—will soon be in his grasp. And nothing will stop him once he has started on his path.

Veradis is the newest member of the warband for the High Prince, Nathair. He is one of the most skilled swordsman to come out of his homeland, yet he is always under the shadow of his older brother.

Nathair has ideas—and a lot of plans. Many of them don't involve his father, the High King Aquilus. Nor does he agree with his father's idea to summon his fellow kings to council.

The Banished Lands has a violent past where armies of men and giants clashed in battle, but now giants are seen, the stones weep blood, and giant wyrms are stirring. Those who can still read the signs see a threat far greater than the ancient wars. For if the Black Sun gains ascendancy, mankind's hopes and dreams will fall to dust....

...and it can never be made whole again.

Malice is a dark epic fantasy tale of blind greed, ambition, and betrayal.

©2012 John Gwynne (P)2019 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Influenced by Gemmell's Rigante and George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones ... Hell of a debut."—Conn Iggulden

"Middle Earth-ish extravaganza with all the usual thrills, chills, spills and frills ... there's plenty of action."—Kirkus

"Three-dimensional characters, a gripping plot, and a world that became real to me ... this is the type of fantasy I love to read and I truly can't wait to read the next volume in The Faith and the Fallen!"—Fantasy Book Critic

Different than the standard

I have been struggling to find quality fantasy for a while. The formula is set, and the narrative predictable. This book was different in presentation and enjoyable. Not the same level as Jordan, but a great read.

Can’t recommend this enough!

John Gwynne has made a world that feels believable and plausible and yet still fantastic. It’s an epic story that never loses its beginnings. While the performance took a bit for me to get used to, I eventually came to see the genius in the casting. Gwynne uses a lot of Irish/Celtic references/language and the voice actor is perfect.

What a start!!

This is a perfectly created first story that sets a perfect direction and cast. Well done, and look forward to the next book.

great story, a lot of characters

This story is fantastic. A coming of age without being cliche or simple. it is sometimes difficult to remember the vast number of characters the story follows, but it is well worth the mental juggling.
The narrator seemed to have a halting, stoccado style that is not my prefference,, but I was definitely able to get used to it, and really get into the story.

Great story, terrible narrator

The narrator almost made me quit. The book itself was really good. Great grimdark fantasy.

Great Book!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I’m super excited and can’t wait to read the next one!

Great book, bad narration.

The book is great, however, the narrator has an odd, unnatural cadence, with long pauses that really make this distracting and frustrating to listen to. The narrator has a good speaking voice as far as tone and does character voices well, but I can’t understand why he doesn’t read with a natural rhythm and pacing. :(

This is actual fantasy!

I read a ton of fantasy but something has been missing from all the series I’ve been mowing down… the fantasy elements! I know the genre is very broad and I love it but what drew me to this was all the classic characters. Giants, magic, wolven, drakes, prophesy and lore. I didn’t realize how much I missed these themes till I delved into this book.
This book is very tropey and you will see similarities in the story but it’s down in a marvelous way. Gwynne is a Viking and medieval enthusiast and it shows, his ability to write combat scenes is some of the best I’ve ever read. Stick with this book till the halfway mark and things really heat up.
Loved it.

Downside, the narrator… I wish he put more emotion into some scenes. When a character is yelling I expect to hear a raise in volume. But my biggest issue is his lack of pausing between paragraphs. Hard to follow. A character will be talking to someone at the stables then suddenly there in their home talking to their sister. I also have the physical copy and when listening to an audiobook those pauses are crucial!

Still excited for the rest and what is sure to be a new favorite author of mine.

Excellence

From the story full of interesting characters and places to an outstanding narrator performance. Pure excellence.

Great Start to a Series

This book was a great read. I actually would give this a 3.5 but rounded it up to a 4.

Although I found the story to be compelling and fun to engage with, there were a lot of similarities to A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. So many that it is clear where John Gwynne gets his inspiration from. There was a boy who had a wolven, which was eerily like a direwolf. His sister was like Aria and wanted to fight rather than be some proper lady. There was a character that seemed inspired by Jon Snow and someone who was labeled a Kingslayer. There was even a group of people that reminded me of the Dothraki.

Even with all those similarities, the story itself did not feel lifted from the pages of A Game of Thrones and I didn't feel like I knew what was coming because I know that story. It was just interesting to see his influences. But the story was its own and was pretty well done. There were parts where it was slower but the end was dynamic and left me with many questions and a desire to keep going in the series.