Blood Song by Anthony RyanMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Enthralling start to a series
This book captivated me from the moment I started it. This is actually my second reading of the book. I decided to re-read the series in advance of Anthony Ryan’s new book coming out next month, which follows on from the end of this series. I can say that the second read of the book reassures me that my impression of the first read in 2014 was accurate and this is a very good book.
Anthony Ryan has carefully created an interesting world of empires and realms, of kings and warriors, of religion and faith. He lays out the social aspects of this world carefully alongside a magical system that intrigues.
The book is told, in a series of very lengthy flashbacks, from the perspective of Vaelin, a great warrior guilty of killing ‘The Hope’ the heir to an Empire. He is on a ship on the way to take part in a ritual combat that is intended to kill him after his 5 years of imprisonment. He is accompanied by an historian who draws his story from him.
The flashbacks start from his entry into the 6th Order, the armed branch of "The Faith" as a boy, taken by his father 2 months after the death of his beloved mother. He becomes a brother and starts to learn to become a warrior. During his time in training he comes friends with several boys who become his family. During the brutal training which, over the course of the years, cost this group half of their number’s lives, the remaining brothers become tightly bound together. Facing death together binds them closer than they imagined at the start of their journey and this binding is tested over the course of the coming years.
As the son of the former Battle Lord the King has an interest in Vaelin and during their encounters he comes into contact with Princess Lyrna, a remarkably beautiful and intelligent young woman, who is as manipulative as her father the King. Vaelin finds himself bound by the King’s will as he is sent around the Realm, even into the neighbouring Empire. Accompanying him throughout all his trials is the Blood Song, the magical ability that is considered "The Dark" and evil by the people of the Realm. He keeps it secret, never revealing it, but it steers his hand in battle and in life, trying to keep him true to a path that he never truly understands, but knows to be right.
This complex world of Kings, Warriors and Faith is Vaelin’s entire world, and he navigates it with the help of his fierce intellect, skill of sword and his Blood Song.
I love the characters that Anthony Ryan writes. Vaelin is a complex and clever character. The author is a master at never revealing his hand until he last minute and he employs these techniques not only in his plot, but also in his character building. We often do not understand a characters actions until much later in the book and we are blind in the same way that Vaelin is to the motives of others.
The characters that surround Vaelin, from his brothers to the men he encounters in battle, are fully realised and not purely background noise. For me, as a reader, if I believe the characters are real I will always read to the end because they drag me into their story so deeply I cannot escape until the last page. This author achieves that in spades.
I know I will enjoy re-reading the next book in the series and can’t wait to get stuck in.
Buy on Amazon UK
Buy on Amazon US
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