Chains of Blood by M.L. Spencer review

 

    "History is written by the winners, unless it is written by the survivors."
    I've always been fond of fantasy that picks up years, decades, or even centuries after the events of a previous book's story. It's why I'm fond of the old Star Wars Legends universe and the current sequel trilogy (even if both had flaws). My favorite "popcorn fantasy" in the Dragonlance novels did an excellent series based around the Heroes of the Lance and their successors up until the events of Dragons of a Summer Flame. Indeed, my love of "what happens next" inspired me to write Wraith Knight and Lucifer's Star (books that are sequels to universes similar to the ones I grew up reading about).

    CHAINS OF BLOOD is the start of a sequel series to the popular indie fantasy series, the Rhenwars Saga. The Rhenwars Saga doesn't have to be read to start this book series but I highly recommend it. It is the story of a ragtag group of heroes who fail to save the world and then their successors who make things so much worse by trying to apply high fantasy logic to a more complex world. I read the entire series as it came out and reviewed each of the books.

    The sequel picks up about thirty or so years after the events of the original novels. The world's peoples are at peace-ish and the threat of magic ending is abated. However, poor Rylan Marshall opens with his son being murdered and his daughter kidnapped. He's also forced to swear his soul to the Devil-equivalent right before being given amazing magical powers. Sworn to secrecy, Rylan is soon adopted by the mages of the setting and revealed to be heir to great power. Rylan will do anything to get his daughter back and the discovery of his twisted heritage won't change that.

    I enjoyed Rylan's complicated emotional journey over one of the often-overlooked elements of fantasy that one man's hero is often another man's villain. Part of what made Rhenwars Saga so great is that it showed multiple perspectives of your typical fantasy protagonist. Sauron's human allies (and orcs for that matter) would have viewed Gandalf as a religious extremist. In Rylan's case, he grew up vilifying a character only to find out not only is he related but many people view said character as a hero.

    There are other characters that are caught up in the confusion that followed the previous war with no one really writing a single "narrative" about it. Some people believe the forces of evil triumphed and are eager to get some revenge. Others believe it was a wickedly complex thing with no good guys or bad guys. A few think that a bunch of heroes saved the day and everyone should be friends now. The complicated nature of politics mixed with storytelling and how we remember history (even recent history) is a set of themes that resonate with me.

    One of the other major characters, Gil Archer, is the son of a "hero" of the previous age. This has led him to having a strong sense of entitlement to his family's legacy as well as a racist loathing of the Muslim-themed Malikari. His teachers want to break him of the habit and broaden his horizons but he sticks to the values that are (mostly) cultural acceptable because they put him in a place of prominence. He's less than happy having to be Rylan's protector and being continually confronted with the fact his father was a complicated person in a bloody morally ambiguous war.

    In addition to all these complicated issues, there's a lot of action and sorcery as well solid character development. While this book is best read after the Rhenwars Saga, it's also something you can just pick up and enjoy on its own. There's some Wheel of Time homages throughout the book that I appreciated and the "Chained Mages" seem like they'll follow up on the Seanchan's ideas in a way that I think could be quite good for the series. Having finished this one, I'm already ready to pick up the sequel.

Available here

Darkfall by M.L. Spencer

    DARKFALL is the grand finale of the Rhenwars Saga and it's nice to have a series which ends properly even if the ending is bittersweet. M.L. Spencer is one of the new voices in dark fantasy (which I use when talking non-pejoratively about grimdark fiction). She doesn't use violence or swearing to win her accolades but a persistent deconstruction of the traditional heroic narrative.

    The premise of the series is that a ragtag band of heroes tried to save the world a 1000 years ago and failed miserably. Instead, the world has been divided into a dark and depressing hellscape as well a picturesque Gondorian paradise. You'd think this would be an easy set up for a conflict between the "good" people from the pretty lands and the bad people from the pseudo-Mordor, right? Wrong. It's much more like George R.R. Martin's Wildlings versus the North except the Watch equivalent are mages. Except in this universe, Jon Snow defects to join the side of the Wildlings and they really are going to butcher as many people as necessary to

    For the past few books, we've watched the main character of Darien struggle with his loyalties. Darien has resolved that conflict and has now decided to go 100% #TeamDarklands. The problem is that it was never about serving one side absolutely and all he's done is become a monster in service to a new cause versus recognizing the humanity of both sides. However, the other side is #TeamLightlands ad the only thing this is going to accomplish is get more people killed.

    Darien is a character who has had a magnificent and complicated journey from plucky hero to deranged fanatic. It's wrong to simply term him as a villain, though, even when he's planning on massacring every survivor of the villages he conquers in order to make sure there's enough food for his army of refugees. His decisions are irrational but he's certain he's making the most logical plans he can as both PTSD as well as stress have worn him to the quick.

    On the other side of the conflict is Kyel, who has become the mage Darien tried to be but refuses to cross the line and break his Oath of Harmony (no killing with magic). This despite the fact he's leading a massive army to exterminate the Darklanders. Kyel is the more traditionally heroic of the two but he's surrounded by people with absolutely no honor who, ironically, don't trust him because he thinks of the Darklanders as people.

    There's a third faction of individuals trying to figure out a way to deal with the "Convergence" that is coming around for a second time and potentially will render the entire war moot. I, personally, like their story most as I was always fond of its characters and don't feel comfortable spoiling all of the twists as well as turns there. It does, however, nicely illustrate the healing power of revenge. Really, what can you say about a story where murdering your closest ally in saving the world is a legitimate means of doing good?

    The series end on a bittersweet note which foregoes the nihilism of Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy and is more akin to Mark Lawrence's The Broken Empire. Some measure of redemption is achieved by a few characters while the majority of the cast doesn't make it out of the finale. It's a lot harsher than the Lord of the Rings but, ironically, I think honors its Tolkien inspiration better than most. War is a traumatizing and soul-destroying activity that never fully is recovered from. It remembers Frodo dies of a broken heart (Journey to the West aside).

    In conclusion, this is an epic ending to an epic series. Whatever her future works, M.L. Spencer has created something that I believe deserves to be read by fantasy readers throughout the world. The characters are beautifully illustrated, tragic, and well-realized. The action is amazing and full of amazing feats that would make a blockbuster movie. The morality is also ambiguous but makes real and solid points. The world-building is simple but always consistent with revelations about its structure until the last. Read this series. You won't be disappointed.

9/10

Darkrise (Rhenwars Saga 4#) by M.L. Spencer review

    DARKRISE is the fourth volume of the Rhenwars Saga (technically third with a prequel). The premise of the books is a ragtag band of misfits were given the task of saving the world from the God of Evil and a natural cataclysm of anti-magic a 1000 years ago--then botched the job horribly. Now the world is divided between the light and darkness with the two sides viewing the other as purely evil with themselves as the good guys in a typical fantasy way. The books play a lot with typical tropes of the genre and actually have their protagonist switch sides midway through the story.

    The premise of this book is Darien Lauchlin, the most powerful mage alive, has sold his soul to the God of Evil in order to free his lover from damnation. This resulted in him being given the job of making sure said God of Evil's followers are able to evacuate from a horrible disaster--which, notably, is not a terribly evil thing for said god to do. Unfortunately, his former friends and colleagues want nothing than the genocide of the refugees. Darien wants a peaceful solution for the million+ people as well as his former comrades but that seems impossible. Meanwhile, Naida and Quinlan are trying to figure out a way to prevent the end of magic and the death of everyone who uses it.

    M.L. Spencer is one of the best grimdark authors of the 2010s and has managed to establish a world where you don't need gratuitous amounts of violence, swearing, or sex to be dark as hell. Her books thrive on a more cold uncertainty about what is the right thing to do and the perhaps chilling idea that there often isn't a moral answer to problems and many people who claim to be righteous are going to be doing so in order to justify atrocities. Heroes of the previous books become monsters here but the only thing which has changed is the humanization of who the violence is being done to. It's akin to doing 3 books about the people of Gondor and Rohan then switching to the genocide of Mordor's people.

    An amazing job was done with the development of Darien as a protagonist. He started as a man who was willing to do anything to protect his people and, well, he's still that same person but his attitude has switched. The depth of his betrayal by Meiran is an interesting subversion of the usual "power of love" trope in fantasy. He was willing to sacrifice everything for the woman he loved, only to find out she immediately turned on him when she thought he betrayed their political cause. Meiran is the second major female love interest in the series to prove to be an awful-awful person and I'm starting to wonder if Spencer has a fondness for tearing apart epic love affairs.

    Indeed, the only real critique of the book I have is the fact the romance deconstruction kind of flows through the entire book. Darien is only slightly less attractive to women than Daniel Craig and has seemingly every female in the novel want to sleep with him. These are ALL toxic relationships of various kinds and the healthiest one being where they realize Darien can't return their feelings before moving on. It's an interesting display of anti-romanticism and helps ground the book in a world where everything looks like it's a typical fantasy world but the truth is much darker.

    This is the penultimate volume of the Rhenwars Saga and the set up for the finale is coming soon. I'm anxious for it as I think this is probably one of the best sagas to come out of fantasy in the past decade, especially since it didn't take years to write. It has its flaws but the story is moving and the characters interesting with a real set of themes behind the action. The fact it was all done as an indie fantasy novel budget and was self-published is the biggest surprise of it all.

9.5/10

Darklands (Rhenwars Saga 3#) by M.L. Spencer review

    DARKLANDS is the third novel in the Rhenwars series that is sort of an inversion of the Wheel of Time. The story begins with the protagonists doing their absolute best to fight the various forces of darkness as well as prevent the end of the world as their methods become more extreme, only for them to gradually come to sympathize with the so-called evil doers as their understanding of the universe expands.

    In the previous novels, we've had protagonists Branden and Darien break out all the stops in order to prevent underworld god Xerys' forces from overrunning the world. However, Branden's brother Quin and now Darien were both forced to swear unbreakable oaths to serve the hellish deity that have forced them onto the other side. Transformed into, essentially, Ringwraiths, they have been given the task of leading the people of the Darklands from their life in the eternal night.

    Rather than find a bunch of Satan-worshiping evil doers, they find an advanced culture which is always living hand-to-mouth due to the fact they have been forced to live in a desert with no sunlight. They can only survive due to the presence of magic and wish to escape their hellish domiciles. Darien's sympathy soon swells, especially as he discovered he's murdered legions of people who just wanted to secure a better life for their descendants.

    Dairen's former lover, Meiran, is troubled by this development because she has a one-dimensional view of the conflict as one between good versus evil. She's very much Wrong Genre SavvyTM in that she thinks she's in a Tolkien-esque story where the evil doers are one side where the good guys are on the ther but it's actually a grimdark tale by an author much more interested in questions those assumptions.

    In fact, the "good" guys have always been incredibly hypocritical and self-righteous in the Rhenwars books. With the invasion of the world on the horizon, the lesser kingdoms and religious orders are more interested in letting their defenders bleed themselves out rather than offering an ounce of support. The fact the mages have been reduced to almost nothing is a sign the other factions can strip them of their authority as well as power to influence them.

    There's romance in this novel but it's an interesting take on the whole "destined lovers" which we normally see in fantasy. Darien sacrificed everything, including his soul, for Meiran and she's disgusted by what he's become. Naia deeply loves Darien despite what he's become but he honestly just sees her as a friend. Quin's lover has been dead and gone for a thousand years but he still holds a torch for her. It's all nice, dark, and well-written which subverts a lot of common cliche.

    The only problem I have with Darklands is that it ends on a cliffhanger and it is the first book which doesn't give a definitive conclusion to its storyline. I was quite fond of the fact the stories were "one and done" beforehand.

9/10

Darkmage (Rhenwars Saga 2#) by M.L. Spencer review

    I very much enjoyed M.L. Spencer's Darkstorm novel, which was a breath of fresh air from the usual fantasy novels which have a massive threat to the world only for the heroes to resolve it with a laugh and a lark. So, I was very interested in picking up Darkmage which was the sequel set a millennium later. The world has managed to recover from the first book's apocalypse but bear's permanent scars. Furthermore, there are still those who would like to repeat casting opening the gates of hell to let the forces of Xerys, God of the Netherworld through.

    Which happens in the first few chapters. Say what you will about M.L. Spencer but she wastes no time in setting up the drama of the situation. The Hellgate is open the same way the Oblivion Crisis was started in The Elder Scrolls. The ancient order of mages which protected the world are wiped out in similar swift fashion and soon all of their accumulated power is trapped in a single individual who is insane with grief over his lover being sacrificed to bring about the end of the world.

    I have a bit of a complaint in that it's a bit difficult to see where the original story relates to the current one save for a few references and the obvious fact the threat of hell invading is the primary one. I really bonded with the original story's cast and it was disappointing to find out they wouldn't be returning due to the immense time skip (as well as events in the previous book). Still, I gradually warmed to Dairen, Naia, and Kyel. They are a trio similar to the original in the context of being thoroughly unsuitable to be heroes and that turning out NOT to be an asset (unlike in all other fantasy fiction where misfits are always the best opponents of evil).

    Of the main cast, I'm most fond of Dairen as he's a nice Rand Al'Thor figure (more on this later) where he's being driven insane by his powers but is willing to sacrifice everything in order to get revenge against the forces of Xerys. Unlike Robert Jordan's creation, though, the price for his actions are very upfront and clear. Everyone despises him for his status as an abomination, he will be forced to die if he's going to stop the end of the world, and he's already suicidal due to the loss of his lover Meiran.

    In fact, there's a lot of Wheel of Time influences in the book but the world is considerably darker. Good people die left and right with the "good kingdoms" being more or less content to let the borderlands bleed themselves white protecting the world. It's extraordinarily hard to take any of the figures who'd be heroes in fantasy worlds seriously with their concerns about Dairen as they'd rather he leave the Hellgate open than potentially threaten the status quo. By the end of the book, I had almost zero respect for their trust in law and goodness to win the day and that was obviously what the author was going for. This is very much an Anti-Tolkien book as the One Ring is the only way to defeat Sauron.

    Indeed, I found it quite refreshing to have a fantasy novel where the extremists and people willing to make horrible sacrifices as well as do terrible things are the ones in the right. The Oath of Harmony has a direct parallel with the Aes Sedai's oaths in that it is extraordinarily questionable as anything other than a geas meant to reign in mages from ruling the world. The fact everyone considers it a objective good when it may result in SATAN taking over the world via pacifism is not a philosophy I get behind despite my own religious beliefs.

    Bizarrely, I also give this book credit for having one of the few truly good grimdark romances. The romance between Dairen and his dead lover (i.e. his obsession with her memory as well as insane hate-filled desire to both avenge as well as join her) mixes with his uncomfortable lust for Naia. Naia is an idealistic priestess (of death) who believes there's a chance she can have a tragic but idealistic relationship with Dairen despite the fact he's recovering from his lover's horrific murder/damnation. It's such a deconstruction of typical fantasy romances that I really enjoyed it and was reminded of Crysania and Raistlin in Dragonlance's Twins Trilogy.

    In conclusion, this is a really good book for people who want some darker-than-normal epic fantasy. It's closer to Warhammer than The Lord of the Rings but that's not a bad thing and I think people will really enjoy the ending.

9/10

Darkstorm (Rhenwars Saga 1#) by M.L. Spencer review

    Darkstorm is an interesting novel because I can't help but think of a high school class of Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, and other short fantasy novel series with Rhenwars sitting in the back as the Goth chick. It's a book which superficially has a resemblance to all the fun Dungeons and Dragons "adventure" fiction where there's a threat to the world, a misfit party of adventurers, evil villains, and a ticking clock forcing everyone to put aside their personal baggage. The thing is the heroes fail miserably in trying to get their act together and it has a much more cynical take on human nature. There's also a good deal more sex, lies, and personal betrayals that make the story quite a bit more interesting than your typical dark elf with two scimitars tale.

    The premise is Merris is a young street orphan turned mage who is trying to follow her master to get some juicy details she can use to blackmail him (due to him wanting to throw her out). She gets more than she bargained for when she discovers he's become part of a cult of demon-worshipers. This results in her hooking up with two wizard brothers, one a successful battlemage while the other is a handsome but broken drunk, as well as the beautiful lover of the former.

    The battlemage, Branden, is determined to stop the cult, even when he discovers that they're using demonic magic to stabilize a cataclysm that will kill all magic users in the world. It's a plan which will permanently make worshiping their equivalent to Satan as part of their religion but most wizards are apathetic about religion anyway. Personal flaws and jealousy tear into the makeshift group even as none of them, save one, really like their need to stop the cultists.

This conversation more or less happens verbatim.

    I like the characters as they're fairly well-rounded for the short time we get to be with them. All of them are suffering from some heavy character flaws while having better qualities too. The villains' motivation is arguably far more sympathetic than the primary hero's. While doubting any plan which begins with, "harnessing the power of hell for the greater good", I find the way Branden casually dismisses of thousands of magi lives as well as the destruction of civilization even more psychotic. It strikes me as coming from a martyr complex than a genuine sympathy for the multitudes (possibly also the fact he seems to be a self-hating wizard).

    I was also a big fan of the character Quin. He is my sort of character in that he started with a mind full of high ideals and then decided to get drunk and laid a lot instead. He owns his flaws, which makes him a good deal more likable than his brother Branden. Merris starts as the plucky female protagonist, a mix of Harry and Hermione really, but goes down a much darker road as events show her to not possess a strong moral core. I really liked Merris' story in the book as too many people in fiction react to changing circumstances by putting their foot down. A lot of us adapt to survive in new circumstances, occasionally doing terrible things in the process. There's a bit of a "cliffhanger" in the middle of the book which is resolved with a cheat regarding her but I enjoyed it anyway.

    The book is full of action, mostly spell duels, and I have to say works very well as a kind of dark fantasy version of a D&D game. It just so happens to be a D&D game full of sex, lies, betrayal, and hell worship. The ending of the book is also a great deal more apocalyptic than I expected it to be and I appreciate the author didn't pull any punches. Not everyone makes it out alive and that saddened me because I actually grew fond enough of the group that I would have read an entire series about their adventures. That's a pretty hefty endorsement right there. World-building wise, everything is coherent and it doesn't get bogged down in the minutia like so many other authors. Two rival mage empires and a Mongol culture to the North. Boom. Got it.

    In conclusion, I recommend Darkstorm for someone who wants a quick easy-to-read fantasy epic. It condenses what other authors would have expanded to three novels into one and while some of the character developments feel a bit too swift, it still works enough that I wrote this review and have already picked up the second volume.

9/10