He is surrounded by several characters who are in-the-know and who carefully manipulate his action towards their desired end goals. The brief chapters aren’t enough to ruin the novel but it turns what could be a great novel into one that is “merely” good.Īs in Malice, Nathair is the avatar of the main villain though in a clever twist this is a fact that is hidden from him he believes himself the hero.
I would definitely like to see more depth rather than breadth when it comes to characters and Gwynne definitely has fertile ground to work with as many of the main characters are vibrant and multidimensional not to mention the fact that spending longer with each individual would help deepen the impact of some of the more intensely emotional arcs that many of the characters experience. There are enough character points of view in the novel that I never really felt like we spent long enough with any single perspective to really get a handle on it. I’m not sure if this is a function of copy editing or not but the short chapters which take place from an individual perspective often feel too short. To an extant Valor is also a novel that is hampered by its brisk pacing.
#JOHN GWYNNE BOOK OF ARMAGH SERIES#
By and large this is an excellent continuation of the series managing a brisk pace while simultaneously deepening the lore of the world that Gwynne has created.
There is violence in the novel but nothing over-the-top though Valor delves a bit further into murky waters when it comes to sexuality a fact I’ll touch on later. There is a darkness to Valor, with the odds stacked against the heroes and with the people (at least some of them) firmly on the “villainous” side of things not necessary villains themselves. As in Malice, Gwynne walks a nice middle ground with his prose.
Valor picks up mere moments after the last novel as Corban, Edana, and the handful who escaped the taking of Dun Carreg make their getaway. Malice, the first book in The Faitful and the Fallen series was an entertaining debut to a new series.
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