THE WOLF'S CALL: BOOK ONE OF RAVEN'S BLADE

(THERE ARE NO SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW)Anthony Ryan's hugely popular "Ravens Shadow" trilogy spanned three books - Blood Song (Book 1), Tower Lord (Book 2) and Queen of Fire (Book 3) - all of which are excellent reads, particularly Blood Song, and the trilogy "officially" ends at the finale of Queen of Fire.Although this book "The Wolf's Call" and the follow up "The Black Song" are a stand alone duology and separate stories in their own right, they are essentially Books 4 and 5 of the Ravens Shadow trilogy and take place a few years after the closing events at the end of Queen of Fire.Many of the characters, including the main character Vaelin Al Sorna in Raven's Shadow, are in or referred to in The Wolf's Call and it's great to see how they have developed - or regressed in some cases. The world building is very similar, although the events in these books mainly take place in the Far West - a region not visited in Raven's Shadow - but in the same world. The best way to describe it would probably be an equivalent to feudal Japan, which is broken down into several merchant kingdoms.These kingdoms come under a substantial threat from the "Stalhaast" host from the frozen North, whom you could liken to the Mongols or perhaps mounted Vikings - fierce warriors and utterly ruthless, being led by one of their clan chiefs who has professed himself as a living god, whose sole ambition is to conquer and rule all of the Merchant Kingdoms - at any cost.In a nutshell, the story focuses on Vaelin Al Sorna finding out about this, trying to stop this, and what happens when he tries to do so.Being firmly aimed at adult readers, It's a fast paced read with good dialogue and prose, and the action sequences are first class - visceral, bloody and hugely violent. There are parts which are also very dark and sinister which I personally really like, but might not be for everyone. There is also "magic" which is referred to as "the dark" but forget any Harry Potter type of wand waving - the dark is a lethal weapon used to devastating effect by those who wield it, and often with a harrowing or sinister edge. The book also ends on one of the best nail-biting cliff-hangers I have read for a long, long time, and will have you panting to start the second book immediately (which I did!!)In summary, if you are new to Anthony Ryan these are great books and can be read on their own merit without any prior knowledge or reading of his previous work. With that being said, you will definitely have a greater depth to the characters by knowing their back stories and why they are like who they are if you've read Raven's Shadow - either is fine, having read the preceding trilogy will certainly enhance these books, but likewise isn't essential by any means.A great read for newcomers and existing fans alike - dive right in, you won't be disappointed if you love adult fantasy novels.

All I can say is I dreaded the moment I would read the last page. Best series, best writer, please do not miss this book (and the previous three books in this series)

Para quem leu a trilogia anterior, essa é uma ótima leitura. Muito interessante saber o que aconteceu com a vida de Al Sorna ao desistir da sua canção e destruir a pedra.

In 2015 a funny thing happened. Somehow I stumbled upon a little book named Blood Song by Anthony Ryan, a British author I hadn’t heard much about. Picking the book up I didn’t expect much out of it, believing it to be standard fantasy fare, hero is called, hero finds big sword, discovers he’s the chosen one gathers a band of brothers, kills the villain and saves the world. Ra Ra. However, with Blood Song, I couldn’t have been more wrong. I didn’t just love Blood Song, I adored it, rereading it as soon as I finished. What drew me to the book wasn’t the world-building, (though solid) or in particular the plot ( which could be termed a standard coming of age novel) no it was the characters all of which were extremely well written. However, one character stood above the rest, that being the main character Vaelin Al Sorna, one of my favorite characters ever to grace the written page. Unfortunately, the other two books in the series, Tower Lord and Queen of Fire couldn’t live up to the high bar set by Blood Song but with Ryan’s latest entry into the world created in his first novel, A Wolf’s Call, I have to say the author has rediscovered his mojo.The primary problem with Tower Lord and Queen of Fire can be summed up into one simple phrase, not enough Vaelin Al Sorna. Sure, Vaelin was a POV character in both novels, but until the climax, he was given very little to do in Tower Lord, his treatment going further downhill in Queen of Fire, a novel where he at best played a peripheral role. Blood song’s strength was that it was undeniably Vaelin’s story, the world-building, the characterization, the battle sequences all tailored to molding him into a fully fleshed character. That was all lost in the follow-ups, the plot dispersed for better or for worse across a myriad of POV characters to mixed effect, some more interesting and fleshed out than others. Paradoxically, by opening up his world, Ryan unintentionally watered down my favorite part of his saga, Vaelin.Well, I’m happy to report that’s all gone. Whether this was the plan or not, Ryan heard the criticism from the last two entries in his series and fixed the primary issue with this last two works. He got back to basics and gave us Vaelin Al Sorna. No longer are there any competing POV characters blundering from one uninteresting problem after another, gone are the pages upon pages of mystical and nonsensical mumbo jumbo that weighed down Vaelin’s POV in the previous works. Sure, this is a fantasy novel so there will be a touch of magic in it, I mean that is part of the fun, but Vaelin’s story this time around is no longer weighed down by the lore that turned one of my favorite characters into a bore.This is a story that mostly gets back to basics and boy is it good, the plot brushing over the events of the last two novels and focusing instead on two lingering plot points from Blood Song, the fate of Vaelin’s long lost love Sister Sherin and the Stonemason Ahm Lim. That these two never showed up again in Tower Lord and Queen of Fire surprised many including myself but that is all water under the bridge now. What follows is a tale of desire and regret, forgiveness and betrayal, a tale full of visceral combat with twists upending the reader’s expectations about what could and should happen. The last battle, in particular, is epic in every sense of the word and Ryan shows his writing chops, expertly playing on the readers’ expectations to deliver a climax that defies the expectations of longtime fans of the series. I literally thought one thing was going to happen only to have the opposite occur again and again. Well played sir.At the onset of the novel, Vaelin having returned from the ‘Liberation War’ in Queen of Fire is back in the North, firmly ensconced as the Tower Lord of the Northern Reaches of the Unified Realm. Though scarred by the war, Vaelin and his companions go about the thankless task of policing the Northern Reaches of the Realm while also ensuring the gold mines in the region are operating at peak efficiency for the benefit of the Queen. In the midst of ruling the realm, we run into quite a few old faces from the previous novels, all irrevocably changed by the war and the losses suffered therein. This is in keeping with a general theme in the entirety of Ryan’s work, the ugly and nasty nature of warfare, tearing apart the romanticism normally associated with war and instead highlighting the damage conflict inflicts on both the victors and the vanquished. All is seemingly ok until Vaelin receives word from a prisoner that his former love Sister Sherin is not only alive but is in danger in the west. Feeling a kinship and a responsibility for his former flame whom he sent away, Vaelin drops everything he is doing, gathers a motley crew of fellow adventurers and sets off on a journey to the Far West to save his former love.Ryan does a fairly decent job with the Worldbuilding in this novel, crafting a world centered around the challenges of a sedentary society in conflict with a people of the Steppe. The Merchant Kingdoms of the far west are based on China, the Ancient Middle Kingdom, whereas the Iron Horde the Stalhast are based on any number of Nomadic Steppe Peoples, be t the Xiongnu, Yuezhi, Turks or the dreaded Mongols. I found the change of setting refreshing, invigorating in fact and I always enjoy when fantasy authors drift out of the stuffy confines of medieval Europe to explore medieval China. In fact, if one summed up this novel as Vaelin goes to China in search of his lost love, that wouldn’t be entirely incorrect.That being said, the world-building though good is not perfect as the plot, being what it requires a fair bit of wandering as Ryan gets all his pieces in play. Unfortunately, this all proved to be a bit of a bore, but the story moves along quickly enough that it isn’t a major problem. Likewise, Ryan introduces several interesting concepts and characters only to criminally under use them as the story goes on. This, unfortunately, was a byproduct of the author’s laser-like focus on Vaelin, sacrificing the depth of his world for readers like me. I get it, but unfortunately, as a result, many of the characters and ideas presented in the novel are not as fully fleshed out as they could have been giving the impression at times that Ryan almost forgot about them, sprinkling them in every now and them just for good measure. For sure, Ryan introduces a lot of interesting characters, Chien, Shao Tsai, Kerran, etc but many of them disappear for lengths of time and we don’t really get to know them. For instance, in the final battle scene, I had to remind myself a few times who certain characters were and why they were even there in the first place which is not a good thing. Overall though, I found the world-building a strength, but I would be remiss if I didn’t say that the characterization outside of Vaelin and a few characters could have been stronger.The Villain of the story is also a plus in the work and I enjoyed learning more about him and the world he came from. If Blood Song was a coming of age story for our hero Vaelin, Wolf’s Call could be termed a coming of age story for its primary villain, Kehlbrand, a cunning, intelligent, megalomaniacal antagonist who drives the plot forward. Everything that occurs in this work is a result of his actions and our heroes reacting to him. Many may find Kehlbrand a sadistic brute, but I found him fascinating, a cautionary tale of what happens when the dream of a better way turns rotten. Perhaps Kehlbrand was always doomed to villainy given his early penchant for pride and narcissism, (he does craft a religion centered on himself after all), but a subtle argument throughout the work is whether it was power that ultimately corrupted Kehlbrand, or did his power simply give him an avenue to reveal his true nature. Who knows? Yet it is this question and Kehlbrand’s petty rivalry with Vaelin, the “Thief of Names”, that drives the narrative forward as Kehlbrand twists an entire people into his tool for destruction.Yet the star of the novel is our hero Vaelin Al Sorna. In the words of that wise philosopher, Wolverine, Vaelin is simply the best at what he does and what he does is not pretty. What draws me to Vaelin is his abject acceptance of who he is and what he has brought to the world. There is a line in the novel that is fairly self-aware, a line where Nortah, Vaelin’s sole surviving brother from his childhood order, comments that Destruction is their sole gift to the world. Vaelin in a self-aware moment overlooks the destruction and comments, yes, but salvation also. In short, this is a man who is simultaneously haunted by his bloody past yet he knows that his martial skill is the only gift he has to protect everyone and everything he cares for. This self-awareness is at the center of his conflict with his former love Sherin who despise Vaelin’s trade but gains a small acceptance of its necessity.The Wolf’s Call is a great return to form for Anthony Ryan. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and I cannot wait until the next book in the series. If the Tower Lord and Queen of Fire turned you off from this series, you can feel confident to take the plunge once again. Yes, The Wolf’s Call is that good. Enjoy!

...is still Vaelin, now with a few more backaches than in his younger years. I enjoyed this book very much, having read the previous trilogy twice within a relatively short period of time. That said, my memory of the characters and events of the latter was still quite fresh, and I am not sure how much I would have enjoyed the Wolf's Call without that background knowledge. If you are not familiar with the Raven's Shadow trilogy, I can only recommend starting with the Blood Song before considering the current book.