Valour

Valour by John Gwynne, narrated by Damian Lynch

Although I had enjoyed my experience listening to the audiobook of John Gwynne’s Malice last year, I had struggled to keep track of the characters and various narrative threads since I was not physically reading the names. It might be surprising, then, that I chose to consume the second instalment in the Faithful and the Fallen series, Valour, in the same medium that did not work particularly well for me before. However, I found my experience of Valour to be vastly different and, with more familiarity with the world and characters now, I did not have the same struggles that I did with Malice. I found Valour to be an exciting second instalment in the series that developed the characters and narrative threads well and surprised me with some of the turns which the narrative took.

The narrative of Valour begins where Malice ended, with Corban and his companions heading away from their now overrun home and the battle taking place there. As they attempt to ensure the safety of Princess Edana, they find themselves in increasing amounts of danger and in hostile territory. Meanwhile, the High King Nathair is desperately searching for Corban, believing him to be the prophesied Black Sun and using the trapped Cywen to find him. Veradis returns to Nathair after the defeat of the giants, with the first inklings of doubt in his heart as to whether Nathair really is the Bright Star, doubts prompted by the fate of Maquin, who has vowed to kill those who betrayed his friends.

The characters of the Faithful and the Fallen feel much clearer to the reader in Valour as Gwynne develops their voices and motivations. Veradis, whose perspective I did not particularly enjoy in Malice due to his proximity to Nathair, was much more engaging in Valour as he began to think more for himself, rather than simply accepting what Nathair told him. I am interested to see where his narrative goes in the future, as it has the potential to be very interesting. I had enjoyed Corban and Cywen’s perspectives in Malice but it was interesting to see them developed further in Valour, and seeing the siblings’ separation from both points of view made their searching for each other even more poignant. In addition, the perspectives of Maquin and Uthas helped to expand the world of the Banished Lands, revealing more of the wider picture to the reader and, particularly in the case of Maquin, revealing a much darker world than was seen before.

Whilst Malice felt at times a little slow or as though there was a lot to set up before the narrative started moving, Valour maintains a steady pace throughout. With the majority of the characters either running away from their enemies, or hunting down their enemies, even in quieter moments it still feels as though the narrative is moving forward. I was not expecting Corban’s identity to be revealed so soon into Valour, and I thought that this particular plot point was handled realistically, with his own denial of the fact and then his friends’ disbelief. In addition, Nathair and Calidus’ true roles being revealed in the climax of the narrative was not something I was expecting, given that there are two more novels in the series.  

Overall, this was an exciting second instalment in a series, with a much darker tone and more developed characters. Whilst I enjoyed Malice, it did not necessarily make me excited to immediately pick up the rest of the series, whereas Valour did make me look to see if the audiobook of Ruin was available in my library. It is hard to recommend a series when you are still in the middle of it, but I do think that I would recommend the Faithful and the Fallen series to those who enjoy traditional fantasy with multiple perspectives. However, it may not be the easiest entry point for those who are new to the fantasy genre. I am looking forward to continuing on in the series and, since I could not borrow the audiobook of Ruin, I may well switch to finish the series in physical format.