The Faithful and the Fallen
The Faithful and the Fallen series is set in the various kingdoms contained within the Banished Lands, think Westeros or dark ages Europe and you won’t be too far away. Back in the day there was a bit of a disagreement between some angel types who split into two factions, eventually they started squabbling and the inhabitants of the Banished Lands got dragged into the resulting conflict. When the god type saw what was going on, he dished out the usual godly punishments, fire, brimstone, death, carnage, etc. The angel types cleared off to continue their war in the Otherworld and the Banished Lands were left to fend for themselves. Fast forward several thousand years to current times and things have settled down, the various Kingdoms of the Banished Lands co-exist in relative harmony but, remember those angel types, turns out they’re still at it and for some reason need to get the Banished Lands involved again.
Here’s the thing though, there’s a prophecy, in a slight twist this prophecy reveals that there are two chosen ones rather than the standard one, one chosen for good and one chosen for evil. Like most prophecies this one takes some deciphering (why aren’t prophecy writers more specific, it would save an awful lot of trouble), it’s not massively obvious which portents relate to which chosen one and it is therefore open to interpretation.
The Faithful and the Fallen is epic fantasy light, it starts with a handful of perspectives and gradually introduces further viewpoints as the series develops. This approach also applies to plotlines and provides the reader with a solid grasp of the characters, histories, and geography before expanding to encompass greater events. The various strands are handled deftly by the author and the story ticks along at a good pace. A few of the characters and plotlines may feel a little cliched to fantasy veterans, but the author uses the ambiguity of the joint prophecy to good effect, generating enough uncertainty regarding those cliches to make the story compelling. The author further increases the intrigue by undermining the readers ability to judge the morality of protagonists’ characters through a variety of means. One other thing which the author handles with aplomb are the action scenes, both individual combat and battle sequences make for nail-biting reading and there are no guarantees that your favourite characters will make it to the other side, plenty don’t.
The Faithful and the Fallen is a very strong series, elements of the story are similar to the Chronicles of Prydain or the Belgariad, but the writing and themes are slightly more mature. Fans of epic fantasy will find plenty to get their teeth into here as well, the scope isn’t as wide as some series but on the other hand it is finished!
- Malice (2012) – Amazon – Book Depository
- Valour (2014) – Amazon – Book Depository
- Ruin (2015) – Amazon – Book Depository
- Wrath (2016) – Amazon – Book Depository
Of Blood and Bone
- A Time of Dread (2018) – Amazon – Book Depository
- A Time of Blood (2019) – Amazon – Book Depository
- A Time of Courage (2020) – Amazon – Book Depository
Bloodsworn
- The Shadow of the Gods (2021) – Amazon – Book Depository