The Wulver’s Library‘s Review of Malice by John Gwynne
Malice is the first book I’ve read by fantasy author John Gwynne and it is perhaps the best foundation of a breath-taking saga that is flowing with cliches that I’ve read recently. We are treated to the ultimate battle of Good vs Evil that is shown throughout Malice. The narrative follows a knowledge of the God-War; an age-old war that is close to starting. A mythical race worshipped two gods; Asroth and Elyon. It is foretold that both sides will have a champion knows as Black Sun and the Bright Star.
We follow multiple points of view and this makes for an interesting perspective. Gwynne plays a heavy hand in showing us a dark and deceptive land where good people are pledging to be the main focus. There is a constant mystery of who the Black Sun and Bright Star are and Gwynne plays the Chosen One and Prophecy tropes really well against each other in ways that make this not another cliche fantasy story.
Steering away from the actual plot, outcomes and characters is hard because these are pivotal however you need to read this series if you are a fan of fantasy at all. Gwynne has crafted a culmination of spell-binding story that does finish with events being nicely tied up.
This book is brutal, devastating and even unpredictable at points but the characters make such a stand out that Gwynne has forced us to care. There is attachment, hurt yet focus to keep moving forward and Gwynne has really earned a new fan with this one book so far.
The biggest compliment I can give is that Gwynne has earned the rank of one of the favourites amongst Sanderson, Le Guin and Rothfuss for me and I can only see this series getting better.
