Reckoning of Fallen Gods a Tale of the Coven Review
Publishers: Tor Books and Aural Studios (Audiobook Format – 29 January 2019)
Series: The Coven – Book ii
Length: 14 hours 37 minutes
My Rating: 4.five out of 5 stars
Prepare to return to Corona, the world of The DemonWars Saga, for Reckoning of Fallen Gods, the latest book from master fantasy author R. A. Salvatore and the second volume in his outstanding new The Coven series.
In the earth of Corona, no lands are as harsh or unforgiving equally those surrounding the massive Loch Beag. All manner of unsafe creatures live in and around the loch, including ane massive and unseen lake monster that lurks right below the surface. But for those who live in the line-fishing villages that eke out a living around the shore of Loch Beag, the biggest danger is more than human in origin. Living at the peak of the massive mountain, Fireach Speur, is a barbarian tribe, the Uscar, who constantly raid the fishing villages below. Enhanced in boxing by the crystal magic of their witches, the Uscar are ferocious warriors who consider themselves vastly superior to the inhabitants of the villages they raid.
This cycle of violence and death existed for hundreds of years until a powerful young Uscar witch, Aoelyn, attempted to change her tribe'due south ways past destroying the fossa, a demonic creature that haunted the mountain at nighttime. However, her decision volition have terrible consequences, equally ambitious members of her tribe plough against her. Equally Aoelyn endures the wrath of her tribe, her friend, the slave Bahdlahn, attempts to escape from the Uscar with help from an unexpected marry. Down at the shore of Loch Beag, the trader Talmadge, who Aoelyn saved from her tribe's brutality the night she concluded the fossa, attempts to find some sort of peace among the fishing villages who take accepted him as a friend. However, the appearance of a mysterious stranger will bring significant changes to his life.
But while those living around Loch Beag fight amid themselves, they are unaware of a much bigger threat growing in the Eastward. A lost empire of goblinoids, the Xoconai, are on the march, driven by the return of their fallen god. The Xoconai are determined to conquer all the lands of man, and the first obstruction they must overcome is the people of Fireach Speur and Loch Beag.
R. A. Salvatore is 1 of the best and most prolific authors of fantasy fiction in the world today, having a written over 60 fantasy books in his career. He is mayhap all-time known for his piece of work in the established Forgotten Realms universe and the incredibly pop character of Drizzt Practice'Urden. Yet, Salvatore has also written a series of novel prepare inside his own unique fantasy globe of Corona.
Salvatore introduced audiences to this new fantasy world in his 1997 release, The Demon Awakens, the beginning book in his ballsy The DemonWars Saga, which spanned seven books between 1997 and 2003. This universe was expanded out in 2004 with The Highwayman, the start book in his Saga of the Start King series. Afterwards the Saga of the First King series ended in 2010, Salvatore left the earth of Corona untouched for eight years while primarily focusing on his Forgotten Realms serial. However, he returned to Corona in 2018 with Child of a Mad God, the commencement volume in his new The Coven series. The Coven series is primarily set in a previously unexplored area of Corona, in the lands around the massive Loch Beag, with the start book focusing on a whole new group of characters.
I am a massive fan of Salvatore's work, having read virtually all the books featuring Drizzt Practice'Urden and his companions (click here for my review of the latest Drizzt Do'Urden book Timeless). However, before last yr'southward Child of a Mad God, I had not really gotten into his work set in Corona, having just really read The Highwayman back when information technology was kickoff released in 2004. While Child of a Mad God was not my favourite of Salvatore'south books, it did a great task introducing this new area of Corona, while also creating an excellent starting point for the series' overall plotline.
I found that I enjoyed Reckoning of Fallen Gods a lot more than the first book in the series, possibly considering the author was able to dive right in and go along several of the more intriguing plot threads from the first book. I quite enjoyed how the story progressed; all of the storylines independent within were very well paced and entertaining, coming together extremely well towards the volume'due south conclusion. I really liked the over-the-elevation way that the story ended, equally it sets upward the next book in the series with some massive stakes and makes total use of the intriguing new fantasy elements that were included within this book. A chip of a alarm virtually this series: is it substantially darker than some of Salvatore's other works. This was particularly true of the get-go volume of The Coven series, Child of a Mad God, which contained a off-white amount of torture and sexual violence. While there is a petty less sexual violence in this book, several character evolution elements are based effectually these original events and are discussed in some item. There is also some fairly dark and gruesome action and torture, which might not be enjoyable for some readers. Overall, though, this is a not bad follow-upwards to Child of a Mad God that once again highlights Salvatore's skill as a master fantasy storyteller.
Some readers may be wary about checking this book out because information technology is the second book in The Coven series and the thirteenth overall book fix in the globe of Corona. However, I found that this book to be easily accessible to new readers, with the author ensuring that relevant details from the previous book and series were like shooting fish in a barrel to understand and follow nearly right away. In add-on, there are also a lot of elements for established fans of this universe to savor, peculiarly every bit Salvatore includes a substantial character from i of his previous Corona based serial in this book. The inclusion of this character is an excellent way to necktie this new series with the author's existing works in this fantasy universe, which also highlights the importance of this story to the rest of the earth of Corona. The catastrophe of Reckoning of Fallen Gods also hints that characters and locations from the previous series may come into play in the next volume in The Coven serial.
I loved all the fantasy elements in this book. The globe of Corona is a fantastic setting for the great story that is taking shape within The Coven series. The main location for most of this book'southward plot, the lands around Loch Beag and Fireach Speur, is a substantially dark and rugged expanse with a large number of natural and unnatural threats. In Reckoning of Fallen Gods, there are a number of significant developments effectually several of these locations and creatures, some of which are pretty insane. Just like in the starting time book in this serial, Child of a Mad God, Salvatore continues to expand on the intriguing gem-based magic that is a feature of the books set in Corona. The jewel magic that was featured in Child of Mad God was somewhat different from the already established gem magic used in some of previous Corona books, such as The DemonWar Saga, and is based effectually the magic establish atop Fireach Speur. This expansion of the gem magic continues in Reckoning of Fallen Gods with the main character, Aoelyn, developing additional magical abilities. Many of these abilities are quite spectacular, and Salvatore'due south enthralling writing highlights how impressive these abilities are when Aoelyn utilises them in fights or other magical engagements. At the same time, some other character utilises some of the more traditional gemstone powers they had in i of the previous series, and it is interesting to see the differences and similarities this has with the Uscar magic.
One of the more unique and enjoyable fantasy inclusions within Reckoning of a Fallen God is the new antagonist race, the Xocanai. The Xocanai are a new race of goblinoid creatures that exist in a realm on the other side of the mountains surrounding Fireach Speur. The Xocanai are somewhat Aztecan in civilisation and their empire has been rather cut off from the balance of the world for some time. However, recent actions have immune them to come together to invade the human lands, and some of the events of Child of a Mad God may be to blame. I felt that Salvatore did an splendid job of introducing them in the current book, and he was able to build them up as a substantial antagonist in quite brusk order. I liked how the reader is able to become a good view of this new race'due south civilization and organized religion in just a few brusque chapters, while in-universe texts nowadays at the start of each department of the volume help to establish a historical past for these creatures. In the finish, they are a fantastic new inclusion to the series and the universe and serve as excellent new antagonists.
Salvatore has created some not bad new characters for this series, and many of the key characters who were introduced in the first book become through some significant and compelling character development throughout Reckoning of Fallen Gods. The primary character development occurs with Aoelyn, who, after the fallout of the events in the kickoff volume, develops a stronger sense of independence and rejects the established male hierarchy imposed upon her and all the female members of her tribe. Her friend Bahdlahn gains the courage to finally flee the Uscar and is finally able to come up to terms with his feelings for Aoelyn. At the aforementioned time, the trader Talmadge comes to terms with the tragedies in his life and is finally able to discover some semblance of peace with the people living around Loch Beag. Even the established graphic symbol from the previous series (who I am still non mentioning for spoiler reasons) has developed somewhat in this volume, equally he ruminates on the mistakes from his past that were covered in the previous series.
I have to give credit to Salvatore for creating some truly villainous antagonists for this series, peculiarly amid the Uscar characters. The principal antagonists are quite despicable, peculiarly in the way that they deal with Aoelyn and Bahdlahn, and the reader is hoping for all sorts of comeuppance for these characters. Even the Uscar characters that come up across every bit more than compassionate members of the tribe tin can nevertheless be quite dislikeable. For example, there is one character who appears to change his ways in Reckoning of Fallen Gods. However, he has a sudden and quite unjustified modify of center back to the Uscar ways towards the end of the book, and his complaining about the event that collection him to betray his friends really does not endear him to the reader. These keen antagonists serve every bit spectacular foils to the protagonists and really add a lot to the overall story.
I chose to listen to the audiobook version of Reckoning of Fallen Gods, narrated past Tim Gerard Reynolds. This was an interesting change of step for me, as I had read the physical copy of the start volume in The Coven series, and then information technology was cool to hear these characters come up to life in the audiobook format. At 14 hours and 37 minutes, this was not the longest audiobook I accept listened to recently, only information technology withal required a little scrap of time to get through. Reynolds is a spectacular narrator, and I actually enjoyed listening to him tell this story. His base of operations narration vocalism for this book was really good, and I found I was able to absorb a lot of the story through his great narration. The character voices he came upwardly with were also excellent, and I loved how the distinctive cultural/species groups within Reckoning of Fallen Gods got their own accents. For instance, he ensured that the Uscar characters had a form of Scottish emphasis, while the other groups that characteristic in the book, such as the Xocani have a noticeably dissimilar way of speaking. Because of this first-class vocalization work, I had a lot of fun listening to this book, and I will make sure to get the audiobook versions of this series in the future.
Fantasy icon R. A. Salvatore is in high form once once more with Reckoning of Fallen Gods, the second book in his new The Coven series. Salvatore does an outstanding task continuing the intriguing story he started in the first volume of the series, Kid of a Mad God, and effortlessly inserts a number of original and familiar elements to create an exciting and epic read. With some cracking characters and some inventive new ideas, this is a spectacular new addition to this darker fantasy adventure series.
Source: https://unseenlibrary.com/2019/03/09/reckoning-of-fallen-gods-by-r-a-salvatore/
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