The Bloodsworn Saga by John Gwynne
Genre: Adult Epic Fantasy
Rated 4.38 Series Average on Goodreads
My Ratings:
Book 1:
Book 2:
Book 3:
Spoiler Free-Plotline of the Bloodsworn Saga
Starting off on Shadow of the Gods, the story line begins with 3 people set in the world of vikings. The first is a farmer who sets off on a journey after tragedy strikes to save her family. The second is a newly freed slave who wishes to avenge his sister. The third a noble woman who wished to escape her fate of forced marriage into a life of freedom and meaning. Following all three perspectives, the first book sets out with an adventure for all three with battle, blood, and gore that is not shy of gruesome.
The storyline focuses on power-hungry rulers who seek out ways to raise God’s from the dead. Those who are and were enslaved are considered “thralled” due to having some power of these God’s within them. These power driven rulers attempt to seek out the Gods in order to keep their power for their own selfish reasons.
This story is an epic fantasy that has been well thought out and planned out by author John Gwynne, where the plotline is always engaging due to the brutal war scenes. Because this is a story about vikings and their brutality, Gwynne saved no mercy for his readers in providing detailed content and bloody scenes to keep readers wanting more from the story.
My Takes
Like most epic fantasies, the first book is the slowest in the series which prompted my 4 star rating. I did very much enjoy the detail given in the first book and the journey it took me on. However because of the slow pacing, I took a break for other series in between before coming back to the second book. I was struggling to hook onto characters, mainly Elvar through the first book, but I immediately fell in love with Varg and Orka.
The Hunger of the Gods however, really grasped me into the story and the characters. You unlocked two new points of views in book two, of which are antagonists. The character development and progression the characters made had me sold on the series to be one of my favorites and gave me much more appreciation to the slow and detailed first book. Through the second book, I kept thinking to myself “I will never be able to read this for the first time again” and that made me sad to even continue reading.
I immediately jumped into The Fury of the Gods unlike I did from the first to second book. I had to see where the story would continue, and I wasn’t disappointed. It has been a long time since a book had me cheering and mourning for characters. I felt this book was “everyones” book, meaning the characters each got redemption in their own way. War scenes were brutal and non-stop through the finale, and the ending was very satisfying given a quick closure.
Something Notable
I read the author’s notes because I feel like I can find valuable information about the series within them, sometimes interviews in other books. But this series was different.
I found that John Gwynne has the support of many friends and family as well as his managers and publisher. Turns out, this series was almost never completed due to tragedy in John’s life.
The Fury of the Gods was written in the middle of mourning as a way to cope with loss. In this, you can see the portrayal of mourning and grief in the writing of the final book of this series.
Not only do I, a reader and writer, have so much respect and appreciation for John Gwynne’s series, but also the writing and publishing team. I have respect for his manager for not pressuring him to write, as well as Orbit as a publisher, for not putting pressure to even finish the series. Mind that John Gwynne has already published his other series at this point, however, this really opened up a different side to publishers and writers for me.
I beg of everyone to read his author’s notes through the series to see the development of his writing, because it really did add to the story once you could reflect on it.
The whole trilogy has become one of my all time favorite reads. I think this is such a good edition on a fantasy lover’s shelf.
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