'Malice' by John Gwynne

 Malice by John Gwynne is a high and epic fantasy novel seemingly inspired by medieval and viking influences. It follows several characters growing and changing as a war between gods grows ever closer.   

There’s violent and chaotic giants, enormous wyrms, large Wolven that lurk in dark, bandits that call the forest their home, and angels and demons attempting to trick and recruit people for their own purposes. 

This novel weaves political drama, a coming-of-age narrative about a young boy and his Wolven, his sister who wants to fight alongside her brother, a prince blinded by pride, and several other enigmatic characters that you won’t want to stop reading about. 

What I liked about Malice

Every single character in this novel was one that I wanted to read about. There was never a moment where I was annoyed by the POV character a new chapter was about. This made for a really enjoyable reading experience. 

The characters all have well structured and organic character arcs. You can really see and feel just how much each one changes from the first time we meet them to the last chapter we read about them. I can’t wait to see what happens to them in the rest of the series.

One really attractive thing about Malice is the intricate yet easy to understand and follow plot. The author has clearly taken the time to get the balance of this novel perfectly level. An art form that is hard to achieve, especially when writing a narrative with multiple POVs. 

The novel has a familiarity about it that welcomed me into the story and the world it’s set in from the very first page. It was so familiar in fact that I often wonder if the author and I have read the same books before. This is not to say that Malice was unoriginal in any way; it’s characters and story are unique and interesting in their own right. But, rather, that the novel contains features we all know and love with high and epic fantasy: sword fights, gritty battles, drama, fantastical creatures, castles, betrayal and sabotage, murder, bandits, magic, prophecies, etc. Reading this novel took me back to my childhood and all the stories I loved back then just with John Gwynne’s own twists and style.

And don’t forget the Wolven - giant wolves. I absolutely love wolves, so any mention of these in a story makes me happy 🙂🐺

There were many more things that I loved about this novel, but cannot write about them without spoiling the book for you.

What I didn’t like about Malice

Although I loved reading about every character, sometimes I had to put the book down for a few hours or a day and when I came back to the book, it could be difficult to immediately remember who each of the characters were. This was because of the amount of POV and supporting characters involved in the story. 

Would I recommend this book? My final thoughts on Malice

Yes, I definitely recommend this novel as it is one of the best fantasy books I have read. Malice is the first book of the ‘The Faithful and the Fallen’ series. I will be reading the full series (can’t wait to get stuck in!) and posting a review about this as a whole soon.

Have you read this book before? Or plan to do so following this review? Please comment below. I would love to hear what you thought of the book!