Name: A Time of Blood
ISBN: 9780316502276

John Gwynne

Acclaimed epic fantasy author John Gwynne's second book in his Of Blood and Bone trilogy, an epic fantasy perfect for fans of George R. R. Martin, Brandon Sanderson, and David Gemmell. For more from John Gwynne, check out: The Faithful and the FallenMaliceValorRuinWrath Of Blood & BoneA Time of Dread

A Time of Blood

Defy the darkness. Defend the light. Drem and his friends flee the battle at Starstone Lake to warn the Order of the Bright Star. They've witnessed horrors they'll never forget, such as magic warping men into beasts. But worst of all, they've seen a demon rise from the dead - making it even more powerful. Now Fritha, the demons' high priestess, is hunting Drem's party. Concealed in Forn Forest, Riv struggles to understand her half-breed heritage. She represents the warrior angels' biggest secret, one which could break their society. And when she's found by the Ben-Elim's high captain, he swoops in for the kill. As demonic forces multiply, they send a mighty war-host to overthrow the angel's stronghold. This could decimate the fractured Ben-Elim. And their allies in the Order may be too overwhelmed to send aid - with Fritha and her monstrous beasts closing in. Like heroes of old, Drem and the Bright Star's warriors must battle to save their land. But can the light triumph when the dark is rising? A Time of Blood is the spectacular follow-up to John Gwynne's A Time of Dread.

Sade A

Waffling between i don't like this book and it was okay so, 🌟.5 STARS

What makes a good solid book? 
This is the question I ask myself when I read highly rated talked about books that everyone swears is the most epic of all epic books. While i firmly believe book tastes are subjective and someone can love a book which you might not particularly gel toward, i do also like to acknowledging obvious weakness of a book whether in the plot, characterisation, world building or whatever. 
I mean i could go, you know what the plot of this book definitely raises some eyebrows or the world building is kind of meh but heck, it just works.

This book however, has so many GLARING contrived and device plots that are inserted just to steer the story in a certain direction, that I have honestly struggled with wrapping my head around why this book is as highly lauded as it is.

Surely, personal enjoyment level aside, there are some structures for plot and characters that just have to be in place for a book to be this highly lauded as one the most epic of all epic fantasy tales?
Although🤔, maybe personal enjoyment trumps everything else?

 
BY THE WAY:

 

🖤
Have to say, even though book 1 didn't work for me (it really was far from what i would expect from a supposed epic fantasy series), book 2 is even worse & I'm now more than ever, struggling to understand why a new 3 book series was needed to finally close up the story from the previous 4 four book series.

Anyway, i begin my highly unpopular review of this apparently beloved series with the one thing that really really bugged me for the most part in this book: THAT WHITE BEAR!!!!
Oh yeah, also, #PropsToTheLastChapterThough #StillNotEnoughToSaveThisMess

🖤🖤
HOW DID A RARE WHITE BEAR KEEP BUMPING INTO DREM AND CO?
A time of blood opens up immediately where book 1 lets off. Sig supposedly buys Drem & Co. time to make an escape. However, for some reason that makes sense to people urgently fleeing horrendous monsters, they hop to Drem's house to 
1. Get supplies because the road is tough and you need supplies i guess🤷🏽‍♀️.
2. Eat. Because again the road out there is tough and who knows where the next meal will come from?

Where are the supposed horrendous creatures who logically should be giving chase to these weakened characters? Why, burying their dead of course. Because you know, burying your dead demon spawns trumps catching people that can potentially wreck your 'take over the world plan' but never mind that, let's give them time to escape by giving dead demons a befitting burial. 

No one can say John Gwynne doesn't work hard when it comes to plot continuation that's for sure. 
and boy does the plot get even more inorganic with all the 'gifts' that keeps coming to Fritha from that quite frankly, illogical and contrived plot choice. 

Did you think this was going to answer the question about the white bear?

🖤
IS THE WHITE BEAR ELYON IN DISGUISE?

Back at Drasil, everyone is trying to fix the shit that went down in book 1. We read major bombshells that will make any makjang kdrama writer proud. 
I was somewhat phased, but i have been baptised into the makjang kdrama life so i took it in stride.

Riv still has anger literally coursing through her veins for some reason Gwynne hasn't seen fit enough to tell us. But then again, a grown ass human sprouted full blown wings before you could say jack and people seem to be cool with that part of the story line so anger coursing through someone's veins' must be small fry.

Bleda just sort of hangs around, waiting for his moment to shine... 
Come to think of it, I'm not exactly sure what Bleda's aim in this series is to be honest. 
🤔The steadfast boyfriend? 
🤔The King who unites the race of men to fight for their freedom against Kadoshim and eventually Ben Elims?
🤔 The character you need to spur another character into villainy? 
🤔the catalyst to unleash a jealous bitch?
Endless possibilities, dear readers.

While we're on possibilities, Gwynne isn't content to let Jin's character be the jealous bitch. The book gods forbid such pedestrian attitude in female characters, so he was probably like add some:  
and then, (view spoiler)[she and her peeps are out and siding with the Kadoshims' and you know what? at this point, I'm honestly curious as to what sort of onboarding pitch those kadoshims give that makes anyone think they're actually agreeable beings. Even more so than the Ben Elims. (hide spoiler)]

None of this actually tells you if the white bear is Elyon in disguise by the way.

🖤🖤
DO WE RUN INTO THE WHITE BEAR IN BOOK 3?
(view spoiler)[Asroth is back bitches. Not sure why no one thought to just make a star stone sword from the thing holding Asroth and Meical (sounds like Angel Michael in my head) and just end the shit. For that matter why couldn't they end Asroth once and for all in the first series and what exactly has changed that they will be able to do it now? (hide spoiler)]

I haven't read book 3 but I'm 100% sure the white bear will be there.

When you're done reading this book, your appropriate reaction should be: 
 
because many many revelations were made and marvelous things happened. 
You are also, dear readers, astounded at the brilliance of the plot, the magnificence of the writing & a 4.41 average book has to be all that.

TRUTH AND COURAGE GUYS ✌
 
P.S: Call me when the 3rd book is 99p. 
John Gwynne is like the Sarah J. Maas to my book life now. Such fun😊

Celeste Richardson

You can find this review and more at Novel Notions. 

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher (Orbit) in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Oh man. I wish time travel was a thing so I could dart into the future and get my hands on the last book of this trilogy. I need the final installment immediately. 

“We live our lives by Truth and Courage. Love and loyalty, friendship and honour are our guiding lights.”

I absolutely adored The Faithful and the Fallen. The entire quartet was insanely epic, and each book was better than the last. I was crazy excited to get my hands on A Time of Dread, the first book of Gwynne’s followup series Of Blood and Bone. As much as I enjoyed it, that book had more of a grimdark feel to it than the original series, which saddened me and kept me from loving it to quite the same extent, though I see now that it was a necessary writing decision. A Time of Blood more than made up for that. While still dark and definitely bloody, this second installment had more of the optimism that made TFatF so wonderful, shining a light into the darkness and fighting to overcome it. I was ecstatic to feel the return of that hopefulness even in the midst of dark and terrible times. Something that Gwynne does wonderfully well is balance sorrow with hope. We should mourn and avenge our fallen, but we should also preserve our memories of them and honor them by living life to the fullest.

“Life is harsh, and complicated…To survive each day and be with the ones you love, that is becoming enough for me.”

One of my favorite elements of TFatF was Gwynne’s inclusion of animal characters, and how he gave them loads of personality. The close ties between man and beast in the Banished Lands has proven incredibly moving, and I very much appreciate the crows and bears and wolven-hounds as they’ve been showcased. Not only do these animals seem like important characters in their own right, but their loyalty to and friendship with their humans is absolutely beautiful. When one of these animals dies, they are mourned just like any other fallen comrade. There’s a special place in my heart for Gwynne’s crows, the only animal characters with speaking lines. I love how very crow-like their dialogue reads, managing to convey thought and personality without ever seeming human.

“Moments like that, when you act when there is no room for thought, they show the truth of a person.”

Another element of TFatF that I absolutely loved that was carried into Of Blood and Bone is the almost Judeo-Christian feel of the war between good and evil. The Ben-Elim appear very angelic, and the Kadoshim are their malevolent counterparts. However, they are not so cut and dried as that. As we come to see in A Time of Dread and A Time of Blood, the Ben-Elim have flaws of their own, despite their apparent moral superiority and lovely white-feathered wings. Especially in A Time of Blood, we see how the Ben-Elim have not practiced what they preached, and have kept certain darker parts of themselves hidden. These darker parts are now coming to light, and suddenly they don’t seem all that different from their demonic rivals. In fact, through the eyes of one of our perspective characters, we see a loyalty to the Kadoshim that seems to be missing from the Ben-Elim. I love the spiritual warfare feel that this story brings, but I love even more that things aren’t as straightforward as they appear.

“War makes monsters of us all.”

Speaking of that perspective character, Gwynne did a great job crafting a disturbingly evil individual whose backstory nearly justifies their actions. As I always choose to do when reviewing Gwynne’s work, I won’t be naming names, but that character is among the most twisted sympathetic characters I’ve ever encountered. I found them demented and misguided and brilliant, and I truly felt for them and could see the reasoning behind their decisions even as I was horrified by them.

“Sometimes, dark deeds must be done to accomplish great ends.”

As always, Gwynne did a brilliant job of crafting his battle scenes. They were easy to follow and completely consuming. He does a wonderful job of conveying the emotions flowing through his characters in the midst of battle, and showing how those emotions must be dealt with quickly so that the characters can focus on the matter at hand. We see characters push through fear and rage and physical pain to continue fighting for what they believe in, and I have immense respect for that. 

“Fear is not the enemy, it is the herald of danger, and that is only wisdom.”

It’s been a while since I’ve read a book that left me this desperate for the next book, with no word of when that book will be published. The third installment of this trilogy is a book that I will be eagerly awaiting and will start reading as soon as I can get a copy. Everything else will have to wait. There was nothing about A Time of Blood that I would change. Not a single solitary thing. Gwynne has become on of those rare authors whose books I will immediately preorder as soon as they’re available. If he writes it, I’ll read it, no matter what it is. I don’t think I can give an author higher praise than that.


  Truth and Courage!


All quotations are taken from the advance copy and are subject to change upon publication.