In many ways this novel was so much stronger than The Faithful and the Fallen series – particularly the characters and the pacing, and the atmosphere overall felt darker which feels right with this kind of Fantasy. But boy did this book lack a compelling villain!
You can see the growth of Gwynne as a writer but I couldn’t feel like some things actually digressed.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I walked into the novel expecting it to be a prequel to The Faithful and the Fallen and quickly discovered that was not the case. It was great to see characters who were descendants of people in Gwynne's 1st series, as well as some of the long-life characters we met along the way in the 1st series.
The development of the world and the progression of the conflict was very much a large part of what I enjoyed about this novel. Gwynne has a way of writing scenes and describing things that pulls you into the story and world in a way that you don't even realize until it's too late. I was concerned with the large cast of characters in this story and that I wouldn't be able to remember who these new people were. But as I continued with the story, that issue fell away and I was immersed and reading quickly to get to the next chapter. As with his 1st series, the fight scenes in this novel are so descriptive that they have visual appeal, even though they are written. I loved this story and cannot wait for the next one.
Unfortunately, I was approved for the e-book after I had already purchased a print copy and was not aware that my approval went through until months later. So I was unable to get this review posted in a timely manner.

This novel had a slow start with not enough background information given. I didn't realize this series follows another series, The Faithful and the Fallen series. However, even though everything is explained throughout the novel I still felt like I was missing important details, like why the Ben-Elim having a dark side was so terrible.

The plot was okay, there was a good amount of action and suspense. The foreshadowing/prophecy elements integrated into the novel were very well written. I didn't like the characters are I found them one-dimensional and stupid overall. Most of their actions I was questioning as they were out of character for themselves or just nonsensical.

In conclusion, this is an okay epic fantasy with great emphasis on swords and battles and little attention given to magic or romance. Not my favorite fantasy genre, hence the lower rating.

Thanks to Pan MacMilian and Netgalley for the ARC.

A Time Of Dread by John Gwynne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is my first time reading John Gwynne and I seriously debated whether or not to read the original trilogy before picking up a tale hundreds of years after the events there. It was a close thing, but I decided the strength of his writing would either wow me or it wouldn't.

As a matter of fact, his characterizations while not too varied or unusual for the fantasy genre at all, are still rather well done for all that. Time and effort are taken, drawing out familial relations and emotional impacts and a broad setup for the oncoming war, getting to know all the players through the individuals within it. I've seen much worse epic fantasies, but I will admit he does improve on a lot of the classics. For example, the farmboy with a destiny trope was given a lot of time and care and it was quite believable and impactful DESPITE being one of the oldest tropes in the book. The rest of the character threads were also quite entertaining.

I was tantalized by the past, of course, and enjoyed seeing what kind of races filled this book, from angels and demons cohabitating the land, giants, and even mounted bears. The action is plentiful, dark, and bloody.

He pulls off the trick with gray areas quite nicely. It's not so clear who are the good guys and who are the bad. For that, I think I enjoyed the book even more. I wouldn't quite call this grimdark, but it's definitely a series I'll consider continuing!

I received an ARC of this from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The deeper I got into this book, the more I enjoyed and appreciated it. There is so much detail in the characters and the world building is just awesome. I have to admit that at first, I was a bit overwhelmed with all of the characters, so I literally clung to the character list at the beginning of the novel. As I read further, the characters took on a life of their own and I admit that I was hooked. I was waiting with anticipation to see how all of these stories would connect and whose story lines would cross in this first book and I wasn't disappointed. This was the first book that I've ever read by this author and I absolutely cannot wait for the second book in the series. I would definitely recommend it and I'm going to be reading his other series taking place in the same world.

4.5 stars

This is another series set in the Banished Lands, but about 100 years after the events in The Faithful and the Fallen book series. Most of the Banished Lands is ruled by the Ben-Elim, the warrior angels that helped fight and banish the Kadoshim. As they conquer ancient kingdoms to extend their rule, the Ben-Elim force humans into submission, promising peace in the land. But peace is fragile and when the Kadoshim are discovered raiding the edges of the empire, panic ensues.

This book is told from the perspective of several new, interesting characters. Riv is a young girl with a fierce temper desperate to become a warrior in the Ben-Elim's peacekeeping force. She and her family live in the Ben-Elim stronghold and are loyal to the angels.

Drem is a young man in the north that discovers his father's secret past just as the Kadoshim begin their attacks. His thirst for vengeance will take him down dangerous paths.

Sig is a member of the Order of the Bright Star in Dun Seren. She is tasked with investigating Kadoshim sightings.

This first book has sufficient world building for first time readers to follow the story even if they haven't read The Faithful and the Fallen book series. This book is riveting, with plenty of action and twists and turns. I couldn't put it down and can't wait to read the next book in the series.

I received a free copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I had a really hard time getting into this book. It honestly started with page one, I read 'upon" about six times on that first page. And from that moment on I just could not for the life of me, stay invested with this book. Not to mention that I don't really like third person narrative, and all the character names were just a touch too weird for me. There's nothing wrong with using "common" names for characters.

This is the first book I have read by this author, and I don't know if it was a good one to start with. His writing style isn't my favorite. There was nothing that really stood out to me, nothing that really drew me into the story or the world.

Continued thanks to the publisher, especially for the ALC of 'A Time of Dread' in exchange for an honest review. I would also like to personally thank John Gwynne for this phenomenal story he has given us. Lastly, Damian Lynch, a name I was very unfamiliar with but has quite a library to his name (including Mike Carey's 'Felix Caster' series), killed the narration and I look forward to his (hopeful) return to the series.
I need to preface my review by saying this: I have only read one other book by Gwynne and that was Malice (The Faithful and the Fallen, #1), which I finished earlier this year. I read it mostly out of anticipation for this novel, which had an immense amount of hype surrounding it, and rightly so. While AToD takes place around 120 years in the future, after the events of The Faithful and the Fallen series, I didn't feel like I had missed out on a ton while not having finished the first series. Though it would have been nice to have seen the concluding events from Wrath (The Faithful and the Fallen, #4) to see just how we got to this point, Gwynne manages to fully capture the Banished Lands for new and old readers alike and delivers another truly epic beginning to a series. There are also subtle flashbacks and stories that will either give old readers the feels or new readers a glimpse into the past.
The Ben-Elim, the race of warrior angels that crushed the Kadoshim, now hold dominion over the Banished Lands. In their strong-hold, Drassil, with peace seemingly restored and with their foe having been defeated - its leader, Asroth, frozen in metal and kept under constant guard - some within have plans of their own and the enemy may be closer than they thought.
Asroth's faithful stay hidden in the shadows, gathering more servants to replenish the horde before returning for their master. Moans and screams are twisted between the trees of the dense forests, demonic creatures being crafted from meat and bones of the innocents caught straying away from the path.
Caught in the middle are two young individuals, Riv (in the South) and Drem (in the North), that carry with them information that could change the Banished Lands forever. But will they be able to find help in time before another war is started?
Though there are similarities to Malice, AToD serves up darker and more sinister undertones than its predecessors. One way you can tell before even cracking the book open is taking a gander at the cover. While the TFatF series of books were all white covers, AToD is set on a black background (not quite sure if this was planned, but it sure worked). The Faithful and the Fallen series shows true distinction between who is good and who is evil, this time around the lines are little more skewed and painted a darker shade of grey.
There are also fewer characters to keep up with this time around as the focus is on only four (4) POVs and their impact on the Banished Lands. These characters are all-new, so perfect for new readers, but fans of Gwynne's will rejoice with the re-introduction of a few characters from his previous series. I believe that our four (4) main characters all bring something new to the table and each one of them created a deep engagement with me as the reader, which just goes to show how great Gwynne's characterizations are. You'll laugh with, cry for, become frustrated with, and root for each of them, and that is why John is one of the best in the business.
Again, even if you have never read The Faithful and the Fallen, if you are a fan of epic fantasy, A Time of Dread needs to be on your wish-list. I will also state that this is not grimdark, in case that is an instant turn off for some readers. While it does portray a great evil and the Banished Lands have an overarching sense of dread, our characters are inherently good and do have redeeming qualities It is full of intense fight scenes, dramatic plot twists, rich world-building, and characters that demand your attention. It absolutely has the makings of an excellent series and I cannot wait to see the journey Gwynne takes us on.

I’ve spoken often of what I call “book vibes”, the strong pull that an unknown-to-me story exerts on my imagination from the first time I see its cover: I have no idea what it is that calls out to me so strongly – after all a cover is nothing but an image – but still, nine times out of ten, that siren song leads me toward a story I end up loving. This was the case with A Time of Dread, and it’s an even more extraordinary event because this novel’s core theme is about the conflict between angelic and demonic figures, a subject I’ve always been somewhat wary about, and what’s more this story comes as a sequel to a previous series, so I feared finding myself lost in a strange land. Well, I should not have worried on either count, because this book literally swept me off my feet and left me wanting for more – and deeply curious about the previous series, that I mean to read as soon as possible.

First things first, if you are a John Gwynne newbie like me, you should not worry about getting your bearings in this story: the beginning of the book and its leisurely pace seem tailor-made for readers who have no prior knowledge of previous events, so that characters’ recollections and dialogues can ease you into the history of this world, and what came before. What’s even more important, from my point of view, is that the “good vs. evil” battle is not so clean cut as its main players might make you believe: if the Kadoshim, the devil-like creatures threatening to overcome the land through evil, are a clear enemy, the Ben-Elim, the “angels”, are not quite perfect, leaving plenty of room for some grey areas in their characterization and objectives.

The Land of the Faithful is enjoying a relative peace after the brutal conflicts of several decades before, when the Ben-Elim and their human and giant allies defeated the Kadoshim and their leader Asroth, now frozen in a metal-like substance in Drassil, the Ben-Elim’s main fortress. Still, an enemy who was not completely vanquished is fated to return, and the titular dread is indeed a pervasive feeling as many apparently unrelated occurrences stir trouble and lead the guardians of the land toward preparations for a new war. Through the four main point-of-view characters, the situation unfolds under the readers’ eyes, steering them toward the momentous climax that brought as many revelations as clues for the story’s future developments. All four points of view were equally engaging, and the skillful management of their individual threads made for an accelerating pace that often made it difficult to close the book, but even though they were all on an equal footing, I could not avoid picking favorites…

Riv is a young warrior-in-training with the White Wings, the Ben-Elim’s elite fighting force. Strong and determined to emulate her mother and older sister in military prowess, she tries too hard and ends up failing the final test that would have marked her official enlistment in the army. Prone to bouts of blinding anger, she struggles between the need to belong to the forces of good and the powerful drive to explore some strange occurrences, a curiosity that, together with her anger-management issues, might cost her the goal she’s been pursuing all her life. Much as I was interested in Riv’s journey, given that her inquisitive nature allowed me to discover more of this world, I struggled to warm up to her because of some personality traits that felt too much YA-oriented for my comfort, especially in her attraction to Bleda and the pointed rivalry with Jin, Bleda’s future wife. Nevertheless, the last chapter of the novel opens a new road for her, one I can’t wait to explore and see where it leads and that might help me overcome my (albeit slight) misgivings.

Bleda is another character with some YA overtones, but I found it less difficult to like him than I did with Riv: he’s the only surviving son of a war chieftain, taken to Drassil by the Ben-Elim as a hostage to insure the continuing truce between his people and their neighbors. He is an interesting character, because he starts as a virtual prisoner of the Ben-Elim, at first resenting them for taking him away from a life of freedom in the wilderness, then learning to see their merits and finally risking his life in their defense during a surprise attack by the Kadoshim and their followers, and this causes him to doubt his loyalty to his people and to question himself and his motives. Not unlike Riv, Bleda is driven by the need to fit in, to find his place in the world, and his being in a state of flux might bring unexpected developments I am eager to learn.

As for Sig, the giantess allied to the Ben-Elim, who rides to battle atop a huge bear, I liked her immediately, always looking forward to her p.o.v. chapters: long-lived like all her people, she has accumulated a store of wisdom that she blends with subdued humor, two traits that make her character an instantly likable one, especially in the dealings with some of her more enthusiastic human comrades in arms. Sig is like a window on the past, and through her I was able to glimpse what came before and to understand how the present alliance for good is not exactly one based on blind faith, but rather on necessity borne of the need to battle a greater evil.

The other character I most cared about is Drem, little more than a boy who grew up in the wilderness with his father, trapping animals for their skins. Drem is an interesting mix of guileless innocence and strength, of deep sense of integrity and fierceness that it’s impossible not to like him, to suffer for his losses, share in his desire for justice or more simply to feel a deep kinship with him.

While these main characters, and the secondary ones that move alongside them, are the backbone of the story, what truly drew me in was the constant, relentless buildup leading toward the breathless final part of the novel: it was like listening to a crescendo of suspenseful string music, the kind we know heralds great portents, or great tragedies. A Time of Dread offers both, thanks to a story that is epic in scope and at the same time quite focused on individuals and their journey. If you have not yet read anything by John Gwynne, be prepared to be (happily) ambushed by this story and to be taken captive – not that I feel any need to escape, because I’m firmly on-board for the duration and can’t wait to know what will happen next.

Before starting my review, I will first confess that I have not read Gwynne's The Faithful and the Fallen series. I have it up at the top of my 'want to read' list (it's a mental list, sure, but's still a list!), but this is coming out really soon and Orbit sent me a copy, so... I had to read this one! Rest assured, it is not necessary to have read the previous series (Gwynne says this himself), but it would help to provide some backstory.

A Time of Dread takes place in the Banished Lands, the same world as his Gwynne's previous series, but it takes place about 130 years after the events of those books. To take a quite from John Gwynne himself answering a question about this book, "just as if you were reading a history book, you could read about the Fall of the Roman Empire without knowing all about Julius Caesar, but if you did, it would make the reading experience a little richer and deeper." And this is why I plan to go back and read the other series, because I have no doubt that it will be brilliant if it has even half the skill and wonder of A Time of Dread.

What I loved the most about A Time of Dread was that it felt really unpredictable. I truly could not anticipate many of the events that occurred in this book, and that is starting to become a rare event; it is also a surefire way for me to know that a book or series has great potential and that an author really knows that they are doing. There was something unique about this book that really captured my interest and made me genuinely curious to find out what would happen in this world and with these characters.

Along with the unpredictable nature of Gwynne's story, I also found that Gwynne's writing was much simpler than I expected--and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible. Fantasy often has a tendency to become bogged down with extraordinary large amounts of extra information about the world, gods, magic, etc. etc. that, although interesting, can sometimes make things confusing or a bit of a slog to get through. I think Gwynne found a really solid line between having an incredibly rich, intriguing world and having a world that is understandable and also interesting. It felt as if I was given information about the world in simple bits, but at the same time it was still very deep and full of information that made this world incredibly vibrant and satisfying. In fact, it is partly because of how he presented this world and concept that I am so incredibly eager to read his first series that takes place in this same world--I truly want to know more about the Banished Lands and the history of this world.

Another area of excellence is with the characters. We follow the perspectives of Drem, Sig, Bleda, and Riv, and each one is fascinating. I won't go into much detail about each one in order to avoid the chance of any possible spoilers, but suffice to say that I found myself enmeshed in each character's life. I particularly liked how much development occurred around each character, including both larger dynamic changes and smaller ones. Some, like Drem, discover large secrets and a new, unexpected purpose to their life; others, like Riv, also unearth shocking secrets, but also learn to focus their minds on the goals that they have been training for all of their lives. All in all, I actually enjoyed each perspective (and as you may or may not know by now, I am not always a huge fan of shifting perspectives), particularly that of Sig's and Drem's.

A Time of Dread is also very dark, bloody, and violent--which, I mean, the cover alone really conveys this idea well enough. There is indeed a lingering sense of dread that follows both the characters and the reader as we journey through each page together and uncover the darkness that seems to always be lurking around the corner.

One last area I'd like to applaud is Gwynne's depiction of battle and fights--these were bloody brilliant (no pun intended). As I've mentioned in previous reviews, I tend to find myself easily lost in long battle scenes that have an exorbitant amount of action and movement--something about the spatial aspect tends to get messed up in this tangled head of mine. As a result, a lot of battle scenes sort of become blurs and may or may not get the skim treatment when I try to read them... except, fortunately, for Gwynne's. I was able to actually follow these fights. Gwynne describes everything so well and so carefully that I could truly picture what was happening and I found myself actually enjoying the scenes of action, which is really pretty rare for me.

Overall, I've given A Time of Dread five stars (surprise, surprise), and I truly can't recommend it enough to any fantasy fan---or anyone simply looking for a good book!