The first in a new, dark epic fantasy

Many years ago, Sir Aelfric and his nine companions saved the world, seizing the Dark Lord’s cursed weapons, along with his dread city of Necrad. That was the easy part.

Now, when Aelfric – keeper of the cursed sword Spellbreaker – learns of a new and terrifying threat, he seeks the nine heroes once again. But they are wandering adventurers no longer. Yesterday’s eager heroes are today’s weary leaders – and some have turned to the darkness, becoming monsters themselves.

If there’s one thing Aelfric knows, it’s slaying monsters. Even if they used to be his friends.

Gareth Hanrahan’s The Sword Defiant is a strong opening book in a new series. Great world-building and characters, and an intriguing mystery — I enjoyed this novel.

The novel hits the ground running, which I very much appreciated — in recent years, I’ve been rather disinclined to start new (epic) fantasy series, because of my waning patience for hundreds of pages of world-building. It was therefore interesting that Hanrahan, who is widely praised for his world-building, has done such a good job of just dropping readers into the world, and then building our impression of the world and its various factions as the novel progressed.

I very much enjoyed the premise: the Big Bad has already been vanquished, and the vanquishers have grown older, dispersed, and mostly moved on from their brutal campaign against the dark lord. Aelfric, however, is struggling a bit in this new reality — he’s never fully moved on from the fight, and has spent the years continuing to clear out the beasts and monsters that continue to live in Necrad’s caverns and sewers. He’s also now the wielder of Lord Bone’s sword, which keeps up a running, critical commentary for a lot of the novel. After a surprising, troubling discovery at Bone’s tomb, events for Aelfric — and, unbeknownst to him for much of the novel, his family — start to get out of control. The various alliances that created a modicum of peace after Bone’s defeat start to fray, and a new, dark force rises in the wilds, threatening everything.

Despite finding a lot that I liked in The Sword Defiant, there were also moments when I thought the novel was being drawn out a little bit. Your mileage may vary, here, if you are a devoted fan of the genre — for me, though, I wish there had been a bit more focus on the plot, and fewer pauses. When the plot is advanced, I found myself easily swept up in the narrative; so it was frustrating when the momentum dipped. Nevertheless, Hanrahan’s prose and characters pulled me through, and I finished the novel still wanting to read the sequel (The Sword Unbound, which is out next week).

Despite this niggle, The Sword Defiant is a strong start to a new fantasy series, and I think a lot of fantasy fans will find plenty to enjoy here. I hope to get to book two very soon, and I’ll post that review as soon as I can.

*

Gareth Hanrahan’s The Sword Defiant is out now, published by Orbit Books in North America and in the UK.

Also on CR: Interview with Gareth Hanrahan (2019); Annotated Excerpt from The Sword Defiant; Review of The Gutter Prayer

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, Twitter
Review copy received via NetGalley