Malice

Malice by John Gwynne, narrated by Damian Lynch

As I have been reading more fantasy in the past few years, I have been seeing the Faithful and the Fallen series by John Gwynne recommended by many people. When I was looking for my next audio book to read, then, I thought that Malice would be a good listening experience since, while I struggle to listen to some genres as audiobooks, I usually find fantasy a good audio genre. Although I enjoyed Malice and will definitely be continuing the series, I actually think that I would preferred to physically read it since with the multitude of characters and perspectives I did find myself getting a little lost from time to time. That aspect aside, I found Malice to be an entertaining and absorbing novel with strong character voices and an interesting narrative.

Malice follows the perspectives of multiple characters in a time where strange sightings are occurring and old creatures are re-emerging. The primary character is Corban, a teenager who is training to become a warrior in the midst of rising tensions across the Banished Lands and who may play a much greater role in the times to come than he is aware. Meanwhile Veradis, rising up the ranks to become first-sword to Prince Nathair, finds himself in an increasingly murky political landscape with allies and enemies that he did not expect. In the third major plotline, Kastell attempts to distance himself from his cousin Jael, leading him to join with warriors who plan to take on one of the biggest re-emerging threats: the giants.

These three main plotlines, seen not only through the perspectives of Corban, Veradis, and Kastell, but a number of other characters in their vicinity, are very separate in the early parts of the novel, with strands of the narratives only coming together towards the end. Although the three main perspective characters are not in the same place, by the end of Malice all three narrative threads have crossed in some way, shape, or form. The isolation of each narrative did create a bit of dissonance every time the perspective changed, particularly since I had characters that I enjoyed reading from and other characters that I was finding a little more frustrating. However, being able to see how Malice is setting up these narratives finally coming together in the future became more and more exciting as the novel continued, and it made me excited to read on in the series to see what happens next.

Given the high level of setting up future storylines which Gwynne is doing in Malice, it was important that the reader becomes invested in the characters quickly. The large cast of characters means that there were plenty of options of characters to like and characters to dislike. Personally, I preferred the characters populating Ardan, seen mostly through the perspective of Corban and Cywen: I found the characters and relationships depicted in this narrative to be the most sympathetic and accessible. The perspective that I struggled with the most for a large portion of the book was Veradis, purely because of how much I disliked the character of Nathair, whom Veradis idolises. However, Veradis was an interesting character, particularly in the ways in which he is trying to prove himself to his family and navigate the political world he finds himself in as someone who prefers being a warrior.

Although it took me a long time to listen to Malice and I did find myself getting lost at times, I did enjoy this introduction to the Faithful and the Fallen series. I was really invested in Corban’s narrative and his relationships with those around him, which led to some emotional moments as the novel drew to a close. The character that I disliked was a character that I believe the author is intending for the reader to dislike and as such it did not take me out of the narrative too much, although it made the perspectives of those around him more difficult to read. I would recommend this for those who enjoy fantasy, but I would probably not recommend it as a starting point for someone looking to get into fantasy. Overall, I’m glad that I have read Malice and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series.