This was a miss the first book was so much better however this was a hard read to slog through but I did it. Im going to read the next maybe it will be better.

I dropped a star this only because it took me a long time to get back into the story. The beginning of the book is a lot of talking and moving about, but ultimately sets the stage for the rest of the story. When I started this series I was unsure of how Mr. Ryan would be able to write another character as well done as Vaelin was. He accomplished it. Alwyn is his own character and is growing into one that will be another of my all time favorites. I can’t wait for the ending of this series but will be sad it’s over.

I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience. Note: I ended up purchasing a final copy to read in the future.

Times have changed for Alwyn Scribe. Once an outlaw, he’s now a spymaster and sworn protector of Lady Evadine Courlain, whose visions of a demonic apocalypse have earned her the fanatical devotion of the faithful.

Yet Evadine’s growing fame has put her at odds with both Crown and Covenant. As trouble brews in the kingdom, both seek to exploit her position for their own ends.

Sent to the Duchy of Alundia to put down a rebellion, Alwyn must rely on old instincts to fight for his new cause. Deadly feuds and ancient secrets are laid bare as war erupts, a war that will decide the fate of the Kingdom of Albermaine and, perhaps, prevent the coming of the prophesied Second Scourge.

Rate : 4 out of 5
Thoughts : A very solid book two within a trilogy! I'm so so in love with the characters and their journey.
Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy!

5/5 stars.

*spoilers for The Pariah, as this is a sequel*

Alwyn born in a whore house, became an outlaw, and then became a scribe in the depths of a pit mine, had already lived a life before he ever encountered the Lady Evadine. He joined her ranks to avoid the hangman's noose but the consequences continue to ripple from there.

This second installment then saw the Lady Evadine elevated to the rank of The Risen Martyr and she is now so much more than just a leader of her host, she's become a religious symbol transcending the land. The Second Scourge marches ever closer and visions haunting the Lady Evadine drive her to prevent the impending horror.

My favourite section of this installment find Alwyn living temporarily amongst a people he didn't know much about before. He uncovers histories and a different way of being that I think really change him and his outlook on the entire situation.

Anthony Ryan displays masterful character work throughout and I immediately jumped into the Traitor after finishing this one. I listened to it via audiobook and Steven Brand did a great job with it.

Book 2 of The Covenant of Steel delivers a similar exciting gut punch of a experience similar to Book 1.

Where Ryan excels is the chatacter work. Alwyn is an especially intriguing and gripping pov to follow.

Highly recommended.

Once again, thank you NetGalley and Orbit for giving me the chance to read this series. I really appreciate it. Unfortunately, I've come to the conclusion that this series as a whole just isn't working for me.

Once again, this is another long book that feels like it's so many pages just for the sake of it. While the first one was long and pointless, this one DID have more action, but I had zero investment and even the fight scenes just lacked so much emotion and detail, that while they were abundant, I still just didn't CARE.

In book one, I complained that Alwyn did not sound like a teenager, and somehow this one was worse. Because now, not only is he older, he has also become dryer and even more boring. I don't know, I just feel so dissatisfied with the entire reading experience.

There is a magic system of sorts, but at this point, I'm two books into a series and I still don't fully comprehend how it works.

If I gave the first book two stars, this would be more of a 2.5. While the second half of the book was better than the first, the ending once again felt too rushed and I just don't CARE what is happening. I will not be continuing in the series.

Before I get to talking about anything else, let me just say: WHAT AN ENDING! Anthony Ryan managed to pack a banger of a cliffhanger into one sentence, and I audibly gasped when I read it. Did I see it being a possibility? Sure! But did it shock me all the same? Yes!

This book was a long, wild ride. Alwyn has cemented himself as one of my favorite characters of all time. He’s loyal but deliciously devious when he needs to be, and I love that! His character progression has been so organic and well done, and he’s easily the most dynamic in the series. At times I do wish we got another POV, just to liven things up, but Alwyn is so capable that that feeling didn’t come up often.

My only gripe with this book was its length. I found my interest flagging in the first half, simply because the pacing wasn’t justifying the length. It seemed to drag. But after certain events on a mountain, I was more forgiving. Being in a new locale was fascinating, and seeing Alwyn interact with people who weren’t part of Evadine’s army was thrilling. The new character that was introduced and became a part of his world was a good addition. It was nice to get another female character after a certain someone was missing from this installment!

I can’t wait to get my hands on the last book in the series, so, Orbit, if you’re reading this please approve my Netgalley request! Lol

Awesome follow up to last years The Pariah. Ryan has the ability to engage readers by the quality of his writing. Def recommended!

3.75
Thank you to Orbit Books and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book to read and review. I thought this was a nice continuation of where book one left off and it was quick to dive back into action. The characters were described so well and they were developed really nicely. I liked the medieval sort of military fantast vibe this series gives off and I really enjoyed Alywn's tone and narration. The pacing was a bit slow for me at times, but parts of the book definitely had me wanting to know and understand more of what was happening. The characters that were introduced in this installment were a nice addition and I liked what they brought to the story. Sometimes Evadine was hard to follow and hard to like but I think she made for a nice contrast overall. I'm intrigued to see where the final book in the trilogy will end up.

I received an ARC of The Martyr from Orbit Books in exchange for an honest review.

The second entry in Anthony Ryan’s Covenant of Steel series—some of the best low fantasy currently on the market—picks up where the first left off, with Alwyn Scribe in the service of Lady Evadine Courlain. The Martyr maintains much of what made The Pariah so good: Ryan’s rich and tactile prose, his compelling (and morally questionable) characters, and the bloody, brutal world they inhabit. But it also adopts a very different story structure, a choice which is beneficial in that it makes the book feel fresh…at the expense of stripping agency from Alwyn. One step forward, two steps back.

The prose here is still sharp, and it is in the moment-to-moment reading experience that The Martyr shines most brightly. Ryan scratches the George R.R. Martin itch in a way few other fantasy writers can—the world he has created is a down-and-dirty, rough-and-tumble sort of place where a bump on the head can be lethal, where magical remedies are hard to come by and always come with a cost. It’s great stuff. (One minor complaint: Ryan does have an annoying overreliance on the word “consented,” at least in the ARC I received.)

The cast of characters is another highlight. Although a fan favorite from The Pariah does not make an appearance here, there are plenty of fascinating fresh faces to be found, and those who do return from the previous book continue to develop different dimensions. Evadine herself, who drives most of the conflict but remains something of a cipher, is at least present for much of the novel, and I am most curious to find out where Ryan takes her in the third book.

I appreciated the structure of The Martyr, which bears almost no resemble to its predecessor. Gone is the episodic approach. Gone is the tight focus on a single character (this is still Alwyn’s first-person narrative, but here he takes a backseat in his own story; more on that in a moment). This is a bigger tale, not epic in scope but with more moving parts, and the action is no longer pushed forward by Alwyn—he is along for the ride, but he doesn’t have a lot of agency until circumstances change in the second half of the novel.

This was a significant disappointment for me. I am interested in active characters, characters who make choices, and that interest is amplified in single-POV first-person narratives. Alwyn’s lack of agency contributes to a mild case of middle-book syndrome. The structure of the novel is clean and precise, but it still feels incoherent in the most literal sense of the word. What is Alwyn’s arc? What is the theme? Did this novel do anything other than get me from The Pariah to The Traitor?

The first third or so of the book concerns the repair and defense of a ruined castle by Courlain’s company; that’s the extent of what I knew plot-wise going in, so I was pleased when that story concluded (which is fun, but feels mostly like a diversion that doesn’t sufficiently develop the characters proportionately to its pagecount) and the novel struck out into uncharted territory. The second half is more dynamic, surprising, and textured. But the ending—as in literally the last line—is comically bad, a dun-dun-dun payoff with no setup, and it falls flat because Ryan does not sufficiently establish the role fantastical elements play within the world he has created.

The Pariah was a striking opener to the Covenant of Steel series. Although The Martyr isn’t as immediately memorable and didn’t engender the same fondness for me, it remains an enjoyable continuation of the story, and I am still very much looking forward to The Traitor. Let’s end on a positive note: The Martyr is preceded by a delightful recap of The Pariah, and the summary is authored by an in-world character (similar to Fire & Blood’s Archmaester Gyldayn), which brought me an immense amount of joy in addition to creating tension and fleshing out the fictional history. Authors, take note: if you’re going to recap previous books in your series, do it in-world. It works wonders.

Alwyn, Alwyn, Alwyn...

This was a decent book two. There were times I was really focused on the plot because I enjoy learning about the magic system that is only partially kinda sorta explained. (Which is fine, it's the ambiguity that always gets me, because I wanna know more!). But in some of the battle scenes it was dragging a smidge. I do really like the overall picture that Anthony Ryan is putting together. It's very intriguing and I will be waiting somewhat patiently for the next installment.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Orbit for an e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Martyr is a solid sequel in The Covenant of Steel series. I liked the continuation of Alwyn Scribe’s story. The story is an action-packed military fantasy that captivates early and kept my attention to the last page.

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit Books for the eARC.
#NetGalley #TheMartyr

Just like this author’s previous books, this was a hit. Great plot. Beautiful writing. Had me turning the page as fast as I could. Just felt like there was something lacking. But overall very well done.

Wow, I mean it's anythony ryan right? You know what youre getting when you pay the entry fee. That being said this is shaping up to be some of his best grim dark gritty work and I'm along for the ride. Fans of Abercrombie and and the Gentlemen Bastards should follow suit and join the cult of The Covenant of Steel.

This was an excellent sequel to The Pariah, I found myself more and more compelled by Alwyn's actions and the story he told the further I read. This book felt like the slow, dread-filled ascent on a rollar coaster and ended right on the precipice of that drop (except this one seems to be a straight plummet down with no tracks continuing on to assure some modicum of safety). I loved Evadine's character and the slow churning turmoil that is seeming to build inside her, how the belief in her own legend and greatness is slowly twisting her actions, and how all this is viewed from Alwyn's perspective now years later as he writes this. I can't wait to see the disaster these two characters create together in book 3, which I feel like could alternately be titled "Well if it isn't the consequences of my actions" by Sir Alwyn Scribe.

To be honest, I didn't finish this book. I tried many times to read it, but I just couldn't get into it. It wasn't terrible, I just realized that I didn't care about the characters or the struggle they faced. Many other people loved the first book (I liked it), so they'll probably love this book, too: it's just not for me.

The one thing I did really like though was the prologue/"previously on" section at the start. Unlike most novels with a "what happened before" section at the beginning, Anthony Ryan made the recap of the previous book a report from someone who'd read Scribe Allwyn's writing & was critical of Allwyn's description of events from The Pariah. I wish more authors would do something similar: it was an entertaining way to remind readers what happened in the first book without making it boring or a chore to slog through.

9.0 / 10 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2022/07/31/the-martyr-by-anthony-ryan-review/

<b>Devotion is inherently nonsensical</b>

Once an outlaw and vagabond, Alwyn Scribe has moved up in the world. Former scribe of the Covenant Company, he now serves as spymaster and sworn protector of Lady Evadine Courlain, the Risen Martyr, whose visions of the apocalypse—called the Second Surge—have divided the kingdom around her.

Evadine’s status as a living martyr has put her at odds with both the Crown and the Faith. Though behind her stand rank upon rank of her converts; barely fed, untrained, fanatics. The Crown and Covenant possess enough of a standing army to make a bloody fight of it, should it come to blows.

Which it has not—yet—as Evadine remains a loyal subject. It seems there exists a plan to see her dead without a bloody revolution, as soon Alwyn and the company are dispatched to Alundia to quash a rebellion; a faith that sees Evadine as more of a whore and heretic than her own. Here they are set up in a ruin and commanded to raise the King’s banner, distribute a list of traitors for deliverance, and hold until the King arrives with his army. Such is basically a death-sentence and all know it. But what choice do they have?

Here Alwyn finds more than just a war for the faith, a division of kingdoms. While he’s never been sure what to think of Evadine—whether she is a sycophant or insane—he knows she remains sworn to a better future. Despite their link, (or because of it) maybe that is something he can follow, to the end.

—

<i>I have often reflected upon the notion that the worst thing about having true friends is missing all of them when they’re gone.</i>

—

The Pariah was one of my favorite books of 2021, an introduction to Alwyn Scribe: outlaw, pariah, prisoner, scribe, liar. The Martyr takes Alwyn in a different direction. Heck, it opens with him as a knight. Well, kind of a knight. In fact, it actually opens with him laid up with a cracked skull and a hallucination taken up residence in his head. It’s quite an up and down for old Alwyn, beginning at the outset of the Pariah, and I am happy to report that it carries on throughout the second book. Never a dull moment.

A nicely paced novel cobbled together with solid world-building, fascinating characters, and an interesting premise—yeah, it ticks all the boxes for me. There is a slight pacing issue over the second half, and the story took me a good while longer to get into this time around, so I didn’t love it quite as much as its predecessor—but all in all it’s another marvel. The mystery of the Sack Witch grows to another level, as does Evadine’s status and what it means for the continent. Alwyn’s status, on the other hand, often changes chapter to chapter. Never a dull moment, as I said.

And… yeah. I’m not really sure what else to say about this. It’s good. Read it? I mean, that’s pretty much my recommendation, especially if you enjoyed the previous one. And if you didn’t enjoy the previous one… why not? Read it again and enjoy it this time. Then read the Martyr. I cannot wait to see where the story goes from here!

Thank you to Orbit Books and Netgalley for the complementary eBook and physical ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

I'm going to start off by saying that I was NOT a fan of the first book, 'The Pariah'. it was decent, but I felt like I had to drag myself through multiple portions of it, and it really made me dread having to read 'The Martyr'. Luckily all that dread was for naught, and I wish I would have started reading 'The Martyr' right after 'The Pariah', because WOW did it take me by surprise and blow me away!

This book was INTENSE, and I could not put it down. I found myself flying through it effortlessly. The pacing and flow were spot on, the story got even better with higher stakes and even better character development, and the entire thing just felt so cinematic. Bloody, brutal, hard core, page gripping, etc. 'The Martyr' had everything I wanted from 'The Pariah' and more.

I loved Alwyn so much in this sequel and was glad to see the amount of growth he continued to go through. Reading 'The Martyr' actually made me like 'The Pariah' a lot more than I initially did, because I could see and understand the epic-ness that the first book was building up to.

Normally you hear about 2nd or middle book being the slowest one. Not in this case. In 'The Covenant of Steel', it looks like Anthony Ryan got all of the needed slowness and exposition out of the way in the first book so that we could hit the ground running with the second book. This gave me a lot more appreciation for his work in 'The Pariah'.

I'm hoping the following book keeps up with this momentum, and I can't wait to read it!

I added Anthony Ryan to the shortlist of authors whose next books I automatically read after the Raven's Shadow Trilogy. He is currently at the top of his form in writing the excellent Seven Swords series of novellas and the continuing the Covenant of Steel trilogy. I obtained ARCs of the Pariah and the Martyr in return for an honest review.

It will come as no surprise to anyone on this forum that A Song of Ice and Fire is only the most prominent of fantasy novels that borrow liberally from and exaggerates British medieval history (the War of the Roses, the Black Wedding, the civil war between Matilda and Stephen of Blois). Unlike Tolkien's myth inspired works, history is a potent resource in delivering verisimiltude, grit, world-building, sex, politics to feed the modern imagination.

The Covenant of Steel takes as its inspired premise the collision of Robin Hood from the English imagination and Joan of Arc from French history. Robin Hood is made real: an outlaw in gritty medieval England who is an abandoned orphan with a knack for ferreting out the truth, while Joan of Arc is a formidable warrior as well as a religious zealot. Their story is set against the background of the collision of the twin powers of Crown and Church. Both profess devotion to a faith that seems largely cant, but may contain glimmerings of truth. Meanwhile, the world contains forces that traditional religion cannot or will not comprehend, including the abilities our protagonists are gifted with.

Ryan is a medievalist and it shows. HIs world-building is excellent, and the enormous power (and enormous corruption) of the Church is brought vividly to life. It is easy to forget, in our atheistic age, the enormous power of faith, for good and ill. The depiction of monarchical power is a little bit more one-dimensional, but the challenges of medieval kingship are there for all to see. If sometimes kings make decisions that seem odd (remaining unmarried, fighting in personal combat), the extraordinary range of skills needed for the job - being a ruthless warlord and a skilled politician being only the start, are brought home.

But, at the end of the day, the novels are character-driven rather than plot-driven (and this is a good thing). Joan of Arc sets fire to the imagination because she combined purity, ambition, conviction, and martyrdom. She transformed, even though she was victim to, stereotypes about feminine capability. Ryan's spin on her makes her bolder and brighter and puts at her side an outlaw as cunning as a bag of serpents. If some of the plotting is a little pedestrian or predictable, the tension between these two, and their irreconcilable world views, carries the story forward remarkably well. I recommend these books.

https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/160804-what-if-robin-hood-met-joan-of-arc-review-of-the-covenant-of-steel-by-anthony-ryan-with-mild-spoilers/

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4860787094