Malice cover art

Malice

Award-winning epic fantasy inspired by the Iron Age

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Malice

By: John Gwynne
Narrated by: Damian Lynch
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About this listen

'It gets faster and more fascinating' – Conn Iggulden, author of Empire

An epic coming-of-age fantasy inspired by mythology and the Iron Age, Malice by John Gwynne is the first in The Faithful and the Fallen series.


Young Corban watches enviously as boys become warriors, learning the art of war. He yearns to wield his sword and spear to protect his king’s realm. But that day will come all too soon.

The Banished Lands has a violent past where armies of men and giants clashed in battle, the earth running dark with their heartsblood. Although the giant-clans were broken in ages past, their ruined fortresses still scar the land.

But now giants stir anew, the very stones weep blood and there are sightings of giant wyrms. Those who can still read the signs see a threat far greater than the ancient wars.

Sorrow will darken the world, as angels and demons make it their battlefield.

Then there will be a war to end all wars.

Continue the epic fantasy series with Valour.

Praise for John Gwynne:

'Reminds me of why I became a fantasy enthusiast in the first place' – Robin Hobb, author of Assassin's Apprentice

'One of the modern masters of heroic fantasy' – Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of Children of Memory

'Exciting, well-written swords and sorcery. Try it on for size' – Mark Lawrence, author of The Broken Empire

Dystopian Epic Fantasy Science Fiction War Heartfelt Royalty

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Critic reviews

Influenced by Gemmell's Rigante and GRR Martin's Game of Thrones - two good strands of DNA. Great characters and plot - it gets faster and more fascinating by the page. All I want now is for the author to put everything else aside, including his health - and write two or three more as fast as humanly possible. Hell of a debut: Highly recommended (Conn Iggulden)
With all manner of battles, betrayals and revelations. I particularly enjoyed the battle scenes and duels ... If it sounds like your thing, then it probably is (Mark Lawrence)
With its warring clans, sleeping giants, Banished Lands and omens and portents . . . is a strong contender for the “if you like Game of Thrones, why not try this?” award.
It’s exciting when you find a strong new voice ringing out through the halls of fantasy, and John Gwynne hits all the right spots in his epic tale of good vs evil, the first in the Faithful & The Fallen series . . . there’s a lot of pleasure to be had in this debut novel; Gwynne is definitely one to watch.
Malice is easily one of the best fantasy novels I read this year, and one which will appeal to most fans of the genre.
With three-dimensional characters, a gripping plot, and a world that became real to me, John Gwynne’s Malice is a great debut. In short, this is the kind of fantasy I love to read and I truly can’t wait for the next volume in The Faithful and the Fallen!
All stars
Most relevant
The story is decent. The stuff involving Corbyn is much more interesting than the other, passive, characters. The narration doesn’t help.

While it’s mostly fine the narrator uses inconsistent voices for characters which makes it hard to track which character is which. This isn’t helped by the fact that some characters are mentioned and not heard of again for hours. I found that when they came back up I had no idea who they were. It wasn’t until I re-listened to some parts that I realised who some characters later in the story were.

I came from the Bloodsworn Saga with high hopes. I’ve heard the rest of this series is good so I’m pushing through.

Decent story, narration makes it hard to follow

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The narrator needs to learn how to seperate narration from character voices.. It's very distracting at times and at others causes him to unintentionally reach the end of his breath. So what he's saying isn't clear.

The narrator needs to learn how to seperate narration from character voices..

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A little slow paced, a little generic och a lot of names to keep track of.
I'm glad It picked up some pace the last third and I really enjoyed the action scenes.
over all a pretty good listening.

Love the action!

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I have no words - get past chapter 30 and it’s non stop!!! The first 30 chapters are slow but necessary stick with it and you won’t be disappointed

Just wow

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Did I enjoy this book?
The start and the end but the middle was a slog.

Do I recommend it?
If you love high fantasy, give it a go but know that it is flawed.

Any criticisms?
Yes. I have two main problems with this book. The first and the biggest one is the number of points of view. If I have counted correctly there are 7. 7! Now I don’t like multiple points of view anyway and if I had known there were so many before I wouldn’t have read the book. I found it hard to connect with the characters and it took me about 70% of the book before I felt like I had a good grip on who was who. I also irked me that of the 7 points of view only 1 is a female character.
The second problem is the pacing. I enjoyed the start because it felt as if I was witnessing the start of something big. However, it takes so long for everything to come together that I lost interest in the middle of the book. I nearly DNFed, but kept reading because it was a buddy read. They kept telling me to wait until the last few chapters. The ending was good but for me it doesn’t make up for the slog it took to get there.

This book annoys me. I think because I could have loved it. There is so much potential for an epic fantasy. The writing is excellent with interesting and complex characters. There is one character’s journey that I loved and some real heart-warming moments. The world building is top notch, and the battles scenes really stuck with me. I could write a dissertation on the flaws and strengths of this book but I will spare you. If you like epic political fantasy then I would say try it. But keep a pen next to you so you can keep track of who is who.

Will I read it again?
I don’t think so. I would have to be in a very specific mood.

Will I read the sequel?
No. I have been told there are even more points of view in the next book so I am out for that reason alone. However, I will give some of Gwynn’s’ other series a go as I see a lot of potential.

For fans of:
Game of Thrones
The Pariah
Lord of the Rings
Assassins Apprentice

The narration was excellent and I will be looking to see what else they have narrated.

To many points of view!

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