This was great!

We are thrust in to the world of Crache. A world once ruled by nobility. But that had been replaced with a systeem with no one ruler.

I love the different perspectives is the world. The different characters all have distinct personalities.

Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

Well paced and exciting novel with intriguing world creation. The savages are the poor, the unwanted, the desperate and lost people that are gathered and then thrown at the nation's enemies in mass suicide attacks. If they live they continue to be thrown into battle until they die and are replaced. But the nation has many more dark secrets that support their empire, secrets that are slowly peeled away.

Matt Wallace’s Savage Legion is the first book in his epic fantasy series, Savage Rebellion. An inventive fantasy with brilliant fight scenes, diverse and inclusive characters, and intricately done world-building.

Set in Crache, a utopian government led by nobility before a revolution took place and the Gen system was introduced where everyone contributes resources. Everything looks good in Crache but in reality, there is rot and corruption in the government and the secret police are keeping the citizens ignorant.

We follow the story of three women: Evie, a drunken brawler who was forced into the Savage legion, a ragtag group considered expendable in battles. Evie’s POV is the most exciting; this is where the action happens. Gore everywhere. The fight scenes are incredibly done and detailed.
Next is Lexie, a leader of a Gen that is helping the poor living at The Bottom. Her husband is presumed dead or treasonous and her House is being forced to shut down. We follow her as she navigates the politics in Crache.
Lastly, Dyeawan, a crippled girl taken from the street to work behind the scenes for a secret society filled with inventors. She’s given a wheelchair and started working as a messenger until they discovered that she’s too intelligent for it and put her to test to find what she’s good at.

I wasn’t invested when I started Savage Legion, the first part was dragging. The world-building was slow and it took a bit of time to understand things. The story did pick up halfway, things started to get interesting and I just can’t stop reading. Matt Wallace is an amazing storyteller, his prose is gripping and elegant. It’s easy to visualize the scenes and the world he crafted is complex and intricately done. I can’t wait to start book 2!
I highly recommend it for fans of Game of Thrones and The Traitor Baru Cormorant.

Thank you, Matt Wallace, Gallery Books, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read Savage Legion.

This was a dense read. The worldbuilding is lush and quite complex, with a plethora of names and locations and figures. This is definitely up my alley, but it did take some time to gather what was going on. The main characters are well-written, particularly Evie, and we get introduced to their backstories and motives along the way. But again, it does take some time to get into their heads and see what exactly is happening, not to mention that switching between so many characters is challenging to keep track of. You start in Evie's head for some time in the beginning but then suddenly you switch to a totally different person.
Overall a great read, but definitely not a simple or a "quick" one.

This story throws a welcome curveball into the fantasy genre tropes with thrilling action/fight sequences, and adds a political intrigue that affects the status quo of a society.

Listen to the interview with Matt about SAVAGE LEGION:
https://www.writersafterdark.com/writers-after-dark-62/

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

I didn't realize that this story would follow three widely different storylines – from the summary, you think you're only going to get Evie's (a Savage fighter looking for an old love) perspective. Instead, the chapters were split up in a wide variety of POVs, ultimately following Evie, Lexi (the aforementioned old love's wife and a look into the political scene), and Dyeawan (a disabled girl with a penchant for invention).

In my opinion, however, the storylines don't mesh well together. There are a few connections made between Evie's and Lexi's, but Dyeawan is just kinda off in her own world and not really connecting to the other two. I also found myself really enjoying Evie's POVs, liking Dyeawan's POVs, and skipping Lexi's entirely. I didn't feel an emotional attachment to her and didn't really find her POV interesting enough to read. It was full of political worldbuilding that I felt like I was slogging through.

Right at the beginning of the novel, you are blasted with worldbuilding and tons of information that is super overwhelming to the reader. I struggled to make sense of the first 30% before it eased up a bit. I think it could have been spread out a bit better throughout all of the POVs, instead of just being jampacked in Lexi's POV.

And the ending was just not satisfying to me. It just kinda....ended. I felt like there was barely any resolution. It wasn't really a cliffhanger, the narrative just stopped without any final battle or confrontation or anything like that.

Overall, I didn't dislike this book but I'm not sure if I'd pick up the second novel.

At its surface, Crache could be seen as a utopia, but it is very far from it. Savage Legion is an epic fantasy book with an incredible amount of world building, a good heaping of political intrigue, and a cast of characters that keep it interesting the whole way through.

The Savage Legion themselves are Crache’s lower class army made up of criminals and the dregs of their society. Well, according to what is on paper anyways. Evie, when she finds herself conscripted into the Legion, quickly realizes that it is more of an army of what their society deemed not useful to them – a very broad term. The Legion is used mostly as fodder before sending in what is their ‘proper’ army and it is clear that for the majority, their first battle is often their last.

For Lexi, a Gen of the upper side of society, the sudden disappearance of her husband has set into motion events that would upheave all she has grown to know. Crache is dirty, but how deep does the rot go?

The final main character, Dyaewan, has been plucked from the streets in much the same way Evie was. The big difference here is that instead of finding herself fighting for her live in the Legion, she awakens to the fascinating halls of the Planning Cadre. For Crache, this group helps to invent and improve the city.

Multiple viewpoint format isn’t new, especially in fantasy. It’s not always my favorite and I come across it so often that I sometimes find that it takes away from the overall story by jumping around so much. However, I found it to work quite well here. Each person’s perspective serve as pieces to a whole picture. It all begins to slot together as the book progresses.

As to my negatives, some phrases started to get repetitive. I had taken note of several instances of a particular one regarding ‘a story being the most dangerous thing in the world’. It stuck out to me enough that I wrote myself a note on it. Additionally, the commentary on societal failings was sometimes more than a little in your face. Did it make sense in the story? Sure. And I’m not even disagreeing with said failings either, but trying to hammer it home again and again became a bit much.

Still, I did enjoy this book as a whole enough that I’m apt to pick up the next installment to see where everyone’s story goes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for the free copy in exchange for a honest opinion.

Unfortunately my copy of this book expired before I was able to read it, so I'm unable to give feedback on it.

2.5 stars

I have no idea why the synopsis doesn't tell you that this is a book with multiple POVs. There are three, to be exact. So when I read that one woman/warrior was about to infiltrate the Savage Legion to find the man she loved and more (which is a great premise to me), I had a clear vision in my head and I thought that what I was listening to was the same woman but it wasn't. One of the POVs is actually the wife of the man while the warrior is more of an old love.

The titles of each chapter (on my audible app, at least) didn't have the name of the POVs so I was left confused and disoriented for a little while unfortunately. By the time I cleared up my confusion, this book didn't manage to hold my attention for long. I was a little bored and kept drifting off and overall, I'm sorry to say that this book didn't impact me like I hoped it would.

<i>(Thank you for letting me read and review an ARC) Psst, yes I listened to the audiobook because I was late reviewing it and I wanted to catch up! The audio is the best way for me to do that.

I predict that Savage Legion will be one of my favorite novels of the year.

Three threads that threaten to cross at some point in the narrative… Evie (see cover) has been sent to fight with the Savage Legion, a group of outcasts used to destroy the first line of the enemy’s defenses, but in reality the majority of this force is regularly killed and becomes blood on the battlefield.

Dyeawan is a young woman who is plucked off the streets where she did her best begging for change. She is brought to an island of knowledge just off the coast. There she is given a powerful gift of a wheelchair that empowers her and makes he feel comfortable and appreciated. She becomes part of the secret society that lives there and see.

Lexi is a political leader as her party or Gen is in charge of helping the poor of the Crache living in what is known as The Bottoms. The greater powers in the government know that Lexi’s husband has disappeared and see this as a chance to upend her role. But she is determined to hunt her husband down. Her nonbinary bodyguard Taru is there to help her along the way.

Evie fights with with her bloodied sword. Dyeawan fights with her mind, passing the tests to contribute her ideas. And Lexi needs the political will to stay in the fight. Believe me, she a contributor. Just give her chance!

These three POVs are just about perfect representations to see the shoddy utopian government for what it is. And you can understand the ways each character winds themselves about the manipulations of those in power. They will all wield great power themselves in time and it was so much fun guessing how these transitions would work.

I loved this book. Great worldbuilding combine with unforgettable characters make Savage Legion one of my favs of 2020.

Thank you to NetGalley, Saga Press, and the author for an advanced copy for review.

Savage Legion is a good solid read. It isn't one that can be finished in one sitting due to its length and how plot packed it is. There are many times where contemplation before continuation is needed. I would recommend it for adults who prefer science fiction looking for a new realm to read. I gave it four out of five stars.

Complex, creative worldbuilding and intense, fascinating characters turn Matt Wallace’s Savage Legion into a brutal, violent delight. I haven’t read anything like this novel in a very long time; it will leave you stunned and speechless. It’s a raw, unfettered portrayal of a world built for maximum efficiency, where only the useful are important. It is an unflinching look at ableism, poverty, privilege, gender, and corruption wrapped up in a blood-drenched box. It’s whip-smart, full of political intrigue, heartbreak, and a plot twist that will punch a hole through your sternum like a cannonball.

Savage Legion is a magnificently torturous book that’s been on my radar for a long time. It was a real stunner. From the cover to the contents it didn’t fail to impress. This is the first book in the Savage Rebellion series, and it’s following multiple perspectives which I didn't expect. Though the cover only spotlights one character, we do get to see others. So let's talk about Evie first. The so-called Savage Legion is an army of conscripted people. The condemned. The murderers. The worst of the worst, right? Evie finds herself part of this ragtag group, no real soldiers among them. Their country, Crache, sends them hurtling at the front lines of their enemy, in chaotic, blood-drenched attempts to soften the opposition up before sending in the real soldiers.

It's absolutely horrendous, and it’s all done in secret. In fact, that’s a huge theme of the book, and it’s a startling reflection of what’s going on in our world today. The idea of Crache, the image that the powers-that-be have created of it, is all a closely guarded, violently protected secret. One of the other main POVs is a character named Dyeawan. She’s a young girl, pulled off the streets of Crache, and thrust into a world of invention, science, intrigue, and of course, Very Dark Secrets. This is a brilliant girl who comes from nothing, and seems poised to be a central character in the remainder of this series.

Wallace did a great job of creating a diverse, inclusive cast of characters for Savage Legion.
It does feature a couple nonbinary characters, one of whom is a major secondary character, Taru is their name, and they’re a bodyguard-type character, and just an overall a very developed character who goes through so much growth.

Get ready to be swept up in a whirlwind of emotions and action. It is a brilliant read.

I was torn between 3 and 4 stars on this one. Let's begin with what it has going for it: Matt Wallace's 'Savage Legion' is a good fantasy series opener that will appeal to fans of violent, bloody combat and political intrigue. The titular concept behind the Savage Legion is an interesting idea with a unique explanation for how the dubiously conscripted citizen warriors/cannon fodder are kept under control. The narrative perspective cycles through several characters who are each involved in exploration/investigation of different but intersecting sections of the overarching societal structure: economic, political, bureaucratic, military. This offers enough opportunity for worldbuilding to keep things interesting, without getting bogged down in the tedium and minutiae that sometimes hampers high fantasy. The novel is also refreshingly inclusive of lead characters with disabilities/physical differences, non-binary gender identity and sexuality, and female perspective.

Now for the shortcomings: the author's use of third-person voice sometimes seemed to waiver between that of a removed narrator/observer, and an "inside the character's head" perspective. This inconsistency was occasionally confusing, and had the overall effect of making it difficult to become fully invested in the characters, which was a shame, because they were generally well-written and enjoyable (if teetering a bit on the edge of infallible). This effect was best exemplified when one of the point-of-view characters abruptly revealed a drastic shift of motivation/personality, which felt a bit like a betrayal because I was under the impression that I had been "in the character's head" during the character's narrative POV passages up to that point. The author no doubt intended that sense of betrayal to drive a plot twist, but it felt a bit cheap, as if he were "breaking the rules." A contributing factor to my generally underwhelming level of investment in the characters was the absence of a real palpable or believable chemistry between many of them. I think this may have been the result of the author doing a bit too much "telling" rather than "showing" in his character development. Similarly, some of the motifs pulling together the narrative, such as critical commentary/examination of socio-political structures, overt/covert oppression, morality, propaganda, and biases toward marginalized groups, came off as a bit 'on the nose'. This may or may not be your cup of tea; personally, I thought the messaging in this novel would have actually come off stronger with a bit more subtlety.

Overall, this novel had a lot of the ingredients I love: a compelling premise, interesting, likeable, characters with good inclusivity/representation, balanced action, and strong, important messaging. Unfortunately, in this instance these ingredients did not combine to yield a whole greater than the sum of its parts. That said, I settled on 4 stars, because despite its faults, it does have many redeeming qualities, and I do still want to see where the story is going and what happens to the characters. Wallace has written what may well end up being a novel-length prologue to a story with the opportunity for richer development and deeper intrigue. Here's hoping.

Synopsis: A politician’s got lost in the secretive world of a superficially happy state. Behind the curtains, there are ugly ghettos, and a police state with hidden dictatorial rulers. The three main characters find their way through the impenetrable surface in different angles:

See that armed girl on the cover? Red and fiery is Evie’s part, just like the cover indicates. She is a drunk brawler forced into the eponymous Savage Legion, cannon fodder in the battles for the expansion of the country.

Lexie represents the upper society in a Council of States. Her husband is missing in action, and her House is endangered of being shut down. She needs to counter the political maneuvers and wants to find her husband.

Slider nearly found her way into the Savage Legion, as she was grabbed from the city’s slums. Lucky for her, the crippled girl was put into service of a cloister filled with inventors. They find that she’s too intelligent for messenger services and put her under a few tests to find out where she’s really good at.

After a longer while, the three threads start to interleave.

Review: “Hugo Award Winner” is a true statement, but shouldn’t be confused with novel awards – Mark Wallace has got one for Best Fancast, i.e. best non-professional audio/video periodical devoted to SF&F. The author is well connected and loved in fandom but that has nothing to say of his qualities as an author.

Having said that, I nearly DNFed the book after some 25%, as I started to skip half pages. I was too confused and even bored by the novel, couldn’t relate to the characters. Usually, that ends in a DNF, but this book is the rare exception, as it made an astonishing comeback with my reading attention. Somehow, it started to get interesting, and from 50% onwards, I was in a reading flow and didn’t stop.

Evie’s scenes dive deeply into military fantasy. The fighting descriptions are very detailed, and the author doesn’t hold back with guts&bloods&brains dangling from opponents’ remains. If you like some splatter, there it is. At least, the author spares us pornographic scenes, the rare sexual encounters are far more reluctant than the fights, and that is a blessing; I’d call this a mild romance suspension.

Chapters with Lexie concentrate on the Urban and social criticism – police state vs. underclass, and a kind of Council of States. It doesn’t go very far there, and the whole construction with the rulers behind the secretive police state isn’t very believable.

Slider’s chapters are funny with all their innovations and tests. They fulfill a classic trope of trainee going through stages. But it took a very long exposition, after which it takes a harsh short cut and took different turns. The outcome didn’t work for me.

There are a couple of interesting side characters. The only one I didn’t understand was Lexie’s husband who got a prominent role as a motivation for the whole book, but was given a shallow place in the background only. His relation with other actors was slippery and didn’t come to fruition, and I had to scratch my head where I should place him. Maybe he’s up for a more prominent and interesting part in the second volume?

One other support character, Lexie’s bodyguard Taru, fills a shallow LBGT+ role: an impressive fighter is challenged at every police inspection, as they are “Undeclared”, i.e. non-binary gender, which is frowned upon in the oppressive state. I understood this role quite well after the first or second iteration, but could have lived without more repetitions of challenging calls and explanations.

An additional thing that I noted were the awesome, hillarious chapter titles: “The Mourning After” indicates Evie’s hangover, followed by “The Knight Before“. Most titles don’t give much away but are funny in retrospective.

I love it when first books in a series are kind of standalone, when they close most of their threads, don’t have cliffhangers, and open up in complete different ways for the next volume. This start of the series “Savage Rebellion” hasn’t got that quality, and it is very clear that it asks for reading the next – yet unnamed – volume.

In summary, the novel has its problems with pacing. But I really enjoyed the second half and I’m glad that the book took its chance to persuade me and suck me in again. Recommended for fans of gory military action fighting for an oppressive country. Just give the story a while to unfold its treasures.

Thank you Gallery Books and NetGalley for allowing to read an eARC in exchange for an honest review. I've given myself about a week for my thoughts to sink in before writing this review. I will continue to the series even though the hype I allowed to build up was not met. The book follows three main point-of-views: Evie a member of the Savage Legion, Lexi a Gen member, and Dywean a member of the planners and builders of the society that the book is centered. There were many intriguing parts of the book and its worldbuilding that focused around gender identity, female rights, disabilities, the police state, and the poor, which were done very well. However, I felt there were issues with pacing between the three parallel story lines. The chapters tended to rotate between the three POVs, but in some cases there was little timeline progression in one POV while in the next POV a lot of time progressed. While I enjoyed the characters, I felt the development of them was at times too drastic.

In the end, I'll come back to this world for more and hope that some of the first book's flaws are corrected in Savage Rebellion.

An excellent epic fantasy that kept hooked till the last page. Great world building and plot, interesting characters.
It's highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

I am not sure what this about but from the title I thought it was some type of military fantasy. It is that I think but it is certainly more than that. The political aspects of this are enough to have you debating the wrongs and rights of the system and trying to figure out how this system really works. I kept thinking of it as bureaucratic dictatorship. Some people also will enjoy figuring out what cultures this book is based on maybe. I can see the comparisons of this world's government with governments of the world present and past in real life. I didn't really feel invested in any of the characters but they were not badly written or anything just didn't connect with them. They need time to grow on you and more depth given to them. On a second read that could happen and certainly want to see how they progress in future books. The combat was written rather simple and straight forward I think and I liked that. It could have done with a little a more detail in certain combat scenes but not every one of them. I am of course trying not to go to in depth as I want to describe more things about this book but I don't want to spoil anything for someone who will read this book.. I think people will enjoy the pacing, action and the characters in this book but it may not be for everyone's taste. I almost want to start reading again but I just finished so will just wait a few months and read it again or wait until the next in the series comes out before reading it again.

I didn’t realize when I first started this book that this was the author of the Sin du Jour books. If I had known that neither the amount of violence nor the high quality of writing would have been a surprise to me. This is also the second book I’ve read this week that’s starting a series with an evil empire and a plucky band of disparate heroes looking to cast down the darkness yada yada... This is the better of the two.
So, if the description of the book sounds good to you and you don’t mind your books dark this is a good bet for a few hours of entertainment. If you like food and cooking and have a strong stomach for grossout scenes you should try his Sin du Jour books as well.

I appreciate a lot of the tropes and ideas this book is playing with but for me it was somewhat over written so I wasn't able to absolutely enjoy it as much as I wanted to.