Gods of the Wyrdwood
Ratings22
Average rating4.2
"Ours is a land of many gods, and we are a people with the ability to pick the worst of them. Cahan du Nahare is known as the forester - a humble man who can nonetheless navigate the dangerous Deepforest like no-one else. But once he was more. Once he was a warrior. Udinny serves the goddess of the lost, a goddess of the small and helpless. When she ventures into the Deepforest to find a missing child, Cahan will be her guide. But in a land at war, in a forest full of monsters - Cahan will need to choose between his past life and the one he leads now - and his choice will have consequences for his entire world."--Publisher.
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1 primary book#1 in Forsaken Trilogy
Forsaken Trilogy is a 1-book series first released in 2022 with contributions by R.J. Barker.
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Fantastic. Reminds me why high fantasy will always be my home genre.
RJ Barker’s superpower is his creative world-building. How every universe he breathes to live is so different from our real world and somehow also so unique from each other but still infused with humanity. From The Wounded Kingdom Series to The Tide Child Series to this new one.
Adrian Tchaikovsky author of the Children of Time series was quoted to say, “ One of the most interesting and original fantasy world I’ve seen in years” in reference to the Tide Child series and somehow the same can be said for this entry into Barkers newest universe.
It’s astounding.
One thing I’ve noted about Barker’s writing in the past is that the first books of his series do not do justice to how good the whole thing actually is. That is not the case at all for this book. Gripping from the start and hopefully til the end.
Still, that is not to say it’s without it’s flaws. The beginning of the book is a tiny bit messy, though this only lasted the first couple of chapters. Also, the dialogue can be cheesy at moments but I can let it all slide because I had so much fun with the story.
600 pages isn’t enough. I need Sanderson level page counts.
I eagerly wait for book 2. (I am frothing at the mouth.)
As a big fan of R.J. Barker's Bone Ship trilogy, I was excited to sink my teeth into his follow-up series. Here he trades guillame for gasmaw, shipwife for skyraft, and hag for hetton. I was impressed by Barker's ability to once again conjure up an entirely new world filled with distinct and fascinating flora and fauna.
We're dropped directly into this fully-formed world and left to puzzle out what is going on with Cahan, our main character with a dark and mysterious past. The subsequent events are mostly a means to unravel Cahan's background and set up how he's positioned to reshape the world of Crua.
The action and buildup are satisfying, but the quieter moments are not as engaging and the story beats sometimes feel repetitive. That said, the ingredients are definitely here for a compelling series. With an opportunity to build upon the groundwork laid down in the book, I'm very intrigued to see where the next books will venture.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
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