Wrath (The Faithful and the Fallen, 4)

I grew up a bookworm. No, you don't understand. When I got into trouble as a kid, my parents didn't ground me from friends or TV....They grounded me from books. But unfortunately, college murdered that love of reading by throwing so many atrociously boring books in my face and assigning neverending, 30 paged papers on said boring books. I haven't been able to read a book sense. Not until this series, anyways. Now, "Malice" took me a year to read. Not that it was a bad book--quite the contrary, in fact--but I just couldn't muster the will to read period. In fact, it was only because my students have to read a book for 20 minutes every day in a certain class period that I would pick up "Malice" just to set a good example. Immediately after finishing "Malice," I picked up "Valor" and DEVOURED it in a month. Same for "Ruin." Because of the craziness of teaching in COVID-19, it took about two months to read "Wrath," and I finished it last night! This was such an intimidatingly large series, but they were so excellent that, at long last, I found my love of reading again!! Bravo, Mr. Gwynne!! The series, overall, is 5 stars, no questions asked. The character growth, the character's journies, the plot twists, the fact that even important characters die (I mean, he did warn us that "Even the brave will fall"), the humorous bits (Craf is just amazing), the superb action sequences, I mean, I can go on--but I have places to be, and I bet you do too. However, there were a few elements in "Wrath" that knocked it down to 4.5 stars for me. ****SPOILERS BELOW*** (This kind of goes for book 3 too, but it just got too much on my nerves in book 4.) I was just so disapointed in the character of Coralen. I LOVED her in her first two chapters, and...that's it. She got on my last nerve from then on. She was so promising! But ultimately she was by far the flattest main character in the series. (No, Dath, Farrell, Gar, Kulla, etc., are side characters. Side characters don't get full characterization, I get that. But Coralen was a main character with her own point of view.) It was like she was just brought in to be a love interest for our guy Corban, and just reduced to arm candy. All her thoughts ever seemed to be was that Corban was an idiot, Corban was handsome and strong, she liked Corban despite the fact that she rolls her eyes at such emotion, Corban is in danger, she has to save Coraban, and Corban is, once again, an idiot. But an honorable idiot and she loves him. And so on. Other character's descriptions of her were even all the same: she was pretty, she was always scowling and hot-headed, her red hair was always in the sun and it looked pretty. All her character's purpose seemed to be was to be your cliche, hot-tempered and pretty ginger, to save Corban when he needed it, and take up the spot of a female warrior who is as strong as any male warrior (and she'll tell you as such). Don't get me wrong, as a woman, I love seeing strong females! Especially women who can kick butt! And what I loved about John Gwynne's female characters was that they were all so strong in their own unique way, without losing their femininity, and they were all so entirely different! They were by no means weak. This man knows how to craft awesome, strong female characters. Cywen, Edana, Brina, Rhin, Fidele, Nemain, Ethlinn, and even Roisin were just joys to read about! And that's why I'm so puzzled that Coralen was just so static and flat--an empty shell for Corban to claim as a simple love interest. He could have done much better by her. If you've been hardcore shipping Veradis and Cywen like I have, you'll be very disappointed in this book. John Gwynne has been such a TEASE with these characters! And finally, when they're on the same side and safe at Corban's camp, they don't even have a conversation. No, correction: they don't even have a conversation in the entire book. Oh, Corban and Coralen can make out and you'll be stuck with mushy, teenage-ish thoughts from both of them. Maquin and Fidele have a whole dramatic love story happening. Cywen and Veradis don't even have a single conversation. They blush, they quietly acknowledge the other's presence and are very glad that they see each other. But that's it. I totally understand that this book series does not have a place in the romance genre--it's about war and the end of the world! I don't want a romance book. But having to deal with Corban/Coralen for so long, and of Maquin and Fidele's obsession with one another (but in their defense, that romance definitely moves the plot along with their storylines), the couple that has been hinted at happening since book 2, the couple that wouldn't have been overly mushy, dramatically obsessive over one another, the couple that would have been so darn COOL (the Dark Sun's loyal, right hand guy having a thing for the Bright Star's sister!), never even got a moment to have a verbal conversation. I kept waiting and waiting and waiting. I got to smile a little at the last few pages, but it was a half smile. So between these two disappointments, I'm giving this terrific book 4.5 stars. These things are minor in the big picture of such a grand series, but they really irked me as a reader.

I thoroughly enjoyed this series by John Gwynne. From the opening page of the first book it had me hooked. Truly one of the best openings of any book I've ever read. Each book in the series built upon the epic story and kept me thoroughly engaged, hungry for the next book. I highly recommend getting the audiobook and the Kindle or paper versions. Both versions added wonderfully to the experience. The narrator for the audiobook does an incredible job wirh giving characters various accents to help keep them all separated in your mind. Many of the names I would never have pronounced correctly without the audiobook. There were many other nuances that the narrator picked up on that would have been lost on me. The Kindle/Paperback versions are needed to sort out who is talking sometimes. There also big time leaps that happen mid-page with a small sapce on the page. The narrator continues on reading from one paragraph to another with barely a pause and if you are on audiobook you'll be scratching your head wondering how the story jumped weeks ahead with no indication of time passing. Also some nicknames would be hard to grasp if not for the Kindle version. Cywen/Cy was a big one for me as the audio pronounces it CO-WEN and CUR and I would have never thought it was the same person with those pronunciations. This series has everything you could want in a medieval fantasy: heroes and villains, angels and demons, friendship, love, loss, betrayal, revenge, trickery, and of course 4 books filled to overflowing with epic combat and warfare. It could be a bit too graphic and bloody for some but it didn't bother me. I highly recommend this entire series.

First off, although I am going to try my best to avoid spoilers, do be aware that this is book 4 in a series, and I may inadvertently let something slip from one of the previous books. If you are thinking about reading this series, though, you really need to start with book 1. There are some important character transformations in this series (Veradis, the leader of a group of soldiers and a nobleman's younger son, being prime among them) and you won't be able to fully appreciate those unless you start from the beginning. The characters in this book are archetypes in a lot of respects -- the old witch/healer (Brina), the young boy from a small village with a DESTINY (Corban), the skilled fighter who teaches the young boy (Gar), the grizzled fighter bent on revenge (Maquin), the young queen trying to establish her reign (Edana), the skilled woodsman (Camlin), the manipulative otherworldly beings (Meical and Calidus), etc. (and plenty more where those came from). You have probably seen these characters before if you have read much fantasy at all. That being said, I was kind of looking for something familiar when I picked this up, so I don't mind the character types. But, if you are looking for something new and different, this may not be for you. This is a book where there aren't many gray characters, so when there is some moral ambiguity, it stands out. Something Meical says at the end of book 3 puts him in the gray character camp, I think. Lykos, leader of the Vin Thalun (think pirates/Viking raiders and you'll be close enough), is a nasty guy but has some interesting internal monologue that puts a different spin on things -- he does care about men he loses in battle and takes to drink rather than dealing with things (but then, you're never really in doubt that he's a bad guy). Nathair, a young king and friend of Veradis, also kind of fits this role, although he makes a conscious decision that keeps him on the darker side. A minor character, Trigg, makes a bad decision in a previous book and has to deal with the consequences. But by the time I get to Trigg, I am reaching. No, most characters are either good or bad, without much in between. I think it is still possible to like a book with non-gray characters. You do find yourself rooting for Corban, Gar, Cywen (Corban's sister), and crew. You're sad when they lose allies. They're easy to like and their struggles are easy to understand, to sympathize with. I spend so much time on the characters because that seems to me to be the primary focus of the book. The setting is generic medieval. What's nice for a change is that there aren't a lot of big towns. There are small towns near castles and there are holds and fortresses. But mostly people are traveling in small groups through the woods, or as big armies. I'm kind of grateful for the lack of taverns, inns, minstrels/bards, jousting, and the like. Although the overarching plot is a battle of good versus evil, there are a lot of side plots that are more character-focused. These can be repetitive. I kind of lost count of the number of times Camlin and Rafe encountered one another (Rafe is a kid who grew up near Corban but who chose the opposite side in the war). And similarly, Maquin's storyline got a bit old. He has two people against whom he wants revenge. He is successful with one of those quests midway through the book and then his storyline devolves into a series of encounters with his other target that also gets a bit repetitive. I suppose it is possible to argue that Camlin and Rafe hadn't been established as a rivalry through multiple previous books, but Maquin and his two rivals most definitely had been, pretty much since the beginning. The writing style has its quirks. There are lots of battle cries in ALL CAPS. A person will refer to his or her "old mam" every so often. Perhaps this is how people talk where the author is from? Or he perceives it to be how people would have talked. It kind of stands out to me. But then again, it is one of the only phrases that stuck with me in this way, so that's not too bad. Mostly the writing just sits back and does its job of telling the story. I do have to applaud the author for how he writes battle scenes -- I thought these were well done. I understood what was going on. Considering the state of medicine at the time, perhaps a few too many people survive wounds that ought to have killed them. But there are quite a lot of deaths in the book as well (most saved for the final battle; none are particularly shocking. though you will likely find some of them sad). There are a lot of daring rescue attempts (sometimes of people, sometimes of objects) and as I sit back and think about them, they are all a little different. And some of them are not successful, or someone is lost in the attempt, etc. So this was mostly well done, also. Anyway, overall I was entertained. There were a few things (discussed above) that kept this from being perfect for me, but I do think it was a good overall conclusion to this series and if you like rather traditional hero's journey stories with lots of fighting woven into the narrative, you will probably enjoy this series overall.

The time is upon us. The God-War is reaching its end, moving towards its last great battle, which will decide the fate of this land, and all who dwell within it. So, we’ve come to the end of the line with Corban and his motley warband. I can safely say that no other series I’ve ever read, EVER, has moved me to shout “Damn it!!” so many times while reading. Reading this series has been an exercise in the power of taking deep, cleansing breaths and this book was no exception. And just like last time, it’s taken me several days after finishing the book to process my feelings enough to sit down and write a review. There’s no time lost in picking up the action from the last book. None. By the seventh page I was already nervously biting my nails. Our characters are still spread out across the banished lands and hope, having taken a beating via betrayals, disillusionment, and threats, seems a dim thing. In many ways, this is the busiest book in the series. Any character who has ever had a POV in previous books has POV chapters in this one, providing they were still alive at the end of book three, so it’s a 360 degree view of the final months in this God-War. Final choices are being offered…accepted in some cases and soundly rejected in others. “All choose a side,” he said. “If you choose not to fight against Asroth, then you have already chosen him. Doing nothing does not absolve you of choice.” The sides of this war are being firmed up and it’s not just the forces of good that are spread thin. Team Asroth also finds itself separated by many miles though the goal of bringing Asroth into the world as a flesh and blood being is still intact. And so it is that all heads begin to turn towards the Fortress at Drassil, which is now destined to become ground zero, and the race is on to see which side can get the upper hand first. If you’ve read the previous books then you know what to expect. It is alliances made and broken, love and hate as driving forces, epic battles shattering bodies and emboldening souls, soft words of love and echoing battlecries, suffering torment and finding peace, enemies forged across centuries and friendships of a lifetime. It is light and dark, a hand extended and a hand snatched away, an oasis and a warzone, endings and beginnings. And it is enough. I’d rather have been standing with my loved ones, but if this is where I die…then so be it. And let’s see who I can take with me. It’s been one hell of a ride, this book, this series. I’ve enjoyed getting to know Corban, his family, friends, and allies. As for the rest, well, I don’t think I’ve ever rooted so hard for death before. Though it’s time to leave the Banished Lands for now, the author has a new series coming out this year that will, from my understanding, explore the long term after-effects from this God-War. I’m expecting another “Damn it!” fest. Truth and courage, fellow readers.

Wrath, the final book in John Gwynne’s Faithful and the Fallen series, delivers an unforgettable conclusion to an epic saga. It felt like reading The Lord of the Rings, but with new characters to love and a fresh adventure to savor. John Gwynne has created a world that is vast and vivid—filled with heroes and villains, loyalty and betrayal, sacrifice and hope. Corban’s journey feels heavier here; he shields his heart, stepping into the man he chooses to be, not the tool others expect. He carries the weight of success and failure, of expectations from others and himself. We watched him grow up. John takes us on a journey that is enormous and complicated. Each scene has weight, emotion, and purpose. Now that the story has ended, there is a spot in my heart where the characters live on, beyond the written pages: In my imagination, Corban, Gar, and Coralen are ever watchful. A place where Cywen and Veradis love one another. One where Maquin and Fidele experience happiness forever. Camlin won’t turn away; he’s found that he’s good and cherishes his new family. And one where the Ben-Elim, led by the fearless Meical, learned to become truly loyal friends and staunch allies. But this is only in my dreams—the book may or may not deliver on these dreams. I recommend this book to those who love a deeply layered epic fantasy. One where worlds come to life in your mind without a screen. Where character dynamics are surprising yet real and relatable. Sworn enemies? Or just a lie to keep you hating? Mistakes become lessons of growth and strength. It’s a worthy journey—one that will reshape your expectations of fantasy. Just now, thinking about it, I want to pick up book one and start the journey again.

This series gets a whole 10/10 for me! I enjoyed this series so much and I am actually sad it is over, but I am more sad that it has taken me this long to read this series! I should have started this years ago! Everything is finally getting wrapped up. The main battle is finally coming and good v. evil is finally going to have its epic fight. All odds appear to be against Corban and his warband, but they are willing to fight to the end. Calidus is doing all he can to bring Asroth through from the Otherworld and Corban is trying to gather his allies. I do have some minimal complaints from the series, and my main one is that I wish the bad guys would not have mostly all been saved for the end of the series. There were too many scenes where some of them should have died, but they kept evading death or running away. But I will say, the evil characters were done right, they are the epitome of evil. (especially Lykos, Calidus, Rhin, Morcant, and a few others) Another thing that bothered me, and this is so minor, is the repetitive use of the word “belly” during fight scenes. I do not know why but this word just did not work for me. Say stomach or gut, but belly just felt like an odd choice of words. Finally, do we get the endings of characters we have been wanting (good and bad characters) but we also get some endings of characters, that I did not want. There are some deaths that I still have not recovered from. This series was such a joy to read. It is exactly what I enjoy in epic fantasy. Amazing characters, good v. evil, animal companions, different fantasy races and creatures, epic fights, and some amazing character relationships are formed. I loved all the bonds formed between the multiple characters. There were a few romantic relationships, but it is so minimal to the story, the bonds formed are mainly ones where they are willing to die for each other. Again, I am so sad this series is over, I am going to miss Corban and Storm and his band of amazing friends. I loved this journey and I am so glad I finally picked up this series.

Let me get the good stuff out of the way first. I read this series end to end in about a week, breaking only for work or family. The story is action packed and I loved most of the POV characters, good or evil. The world building is awesome with enough fantastical beasties being introduced but not so many that they got in the way of the story. The Law vs Chaos aspect is exactly the way I imagined they would work in Ye Olde D&D. Almost everything in this series was fantastic! I was never bored reading these books But (Herein are my complaints) I was frustrated and angry at times at the writing. I found the capture, escape, capture, escape stuff to be jarring. Multiple people are captured or kidnapped multiple times just to (it seemed to me) set up an escape or chase. It really killed my suspension of disbelief at times. At times, I almost hoped that the main characters in question were summarily killed because that's what would happen after angering evil peeps after thwarting their plans. I also wonder if "Even the brave will fall" should be restated to "Only the brave will fall". I get that being gritty required killing off the good guys but seriously, how many times can an expert bowman miss that one important shot so that an evil character (in dramatic fashion) avoids being killed? Don't fall in love with your bad guys so much. Other than those quibbles, I thought the series was amazing and will be on the lookout for more John Gwynne books!

WOW. I couldn’t put the book down. It all builds up to this. An amazing final battle. Gut wrenching twists and losses of amazing characters. This is one of the best books I’ve ever read.

It was an excellent finale to a great series. Each novel is packed with so much tension that it isn't easy to put it down at all. Finished the four book series in a month and it was time well spent. Thanks Book Cob.

Consegna puntuale come sempre. Ottimo questo libro che conclude degnamente la saga. Non vedo l'ora di leggere altre opere di questo autore,

This will not be a very long review since I literally just now turned the last page of Wrath, there are only a few things I would like to share... This series has easily become one of my all time favorites and I loved every book in it. Wrath... just wow...!! It completely lived up to my (very) high expectations. The ending, with tears and a smile, for me, is perfect. I need a few moments now to completely come back from the Banished Lands, but I'm certain I will return!

One of the best modern fantasy series, an excellent blend of classical and modern fantasy tropes and characters. The characters mostly quite black and white, a surprisingly enjoyable break from the morally grey characters we tend to see more often in fantasy these days. You will love the heroes, you will hate the villains. Extremely action-packed series, the fourth and final book Wrath almost all action, but that makes perfect sense, as the entire series had been building up to this epic final battle of good vs evil. However, while I absolutely love John Gwynne’s battle scenes and action sequences, it did feel like an action overload and an absolute bloodbath towards the end. I found it hard to eventually keep track and remember the final fates of several characters, including who died / survived. One side quest in particular got especially annoying and dragged on a bit too long. The series has some memorable characters, fantastic duels, and the best animal companions. There is plenty of loss and heartbreak, but in the midst of it all, truth and courage stand tall. Another thing I love about Gwynne’s writing is that there’s no painful wait, each book immediately starts where the previous one left off. Unlike a particular series I love, that will remain unnamed for now, which involves painfully long set-ups with the payoff perhaps two or three thousand page books later, with Gwynne, the satisfaction / resolution is almost immediate. Though the good folks, being too nice at times, perhaps drag certain conflicts a bit too much. Despite a massive cast of characters, it was never difficult to keep track or get confused, as Gwynne writes each character well and makes them memorable. Overall, a four-star ending to a five-star series. With Faithful and the Fallen, John Gwynne is now easily one of my favourite fantasy authors. Very highly recommended in general, but specially for A Song of Ice and Fire / Game of Thrones fans.

Wrath by John Gwynne is exactly how a great fantasy series should end—epic in scale, emotionally charged, and deeply satisfying. From start to finish, this book delivers nonstop intensity. The stakes are at their highest, and you can feel it in every chapter. Gwynne doesn’t hold back—there are moments of triumph, heartbreak, and shocking twists that genuinely keep you on edge. What really stood out is how well everything comes together. Character arcs that have been building across the series reach meaningful and often unexpected conclusions. You feel the weight of every decision, and the emotional payoff is huge. Some moments hit hard—in the best way. The battle scenes are outstanding—fast-paced, vivid, and easy to follow, even when multiple storylines are colliding. It all feels cinematic without ever losing clarity. Highlights: A truly satisfying and well-earned conclusion Strong emotional impact—both uplifting and devastating Memorable character payoffs and growth Epic, well-written battles that keep you hooked It’s rare for a long fantasy series to stick the landing this well, but Wrath absolutely does. If you’ve made it this far in the series, you won’t be disappointed. An incredible finale and a must-read for any epic fantasy fan.