Summary
The Battle of Galen’s Vale is over, but the war for the Empire’s future has just begun. Concerned by rumous that the Magistratum’s authority is waning, Sir Konrad Vonvalt returns to Sova to find the capital city gripped by intrigue and whispers of rebellion. In the Senate, patricians speak openly against the Emperor, while fanatics preach holy vengeance on the streets.
Yet facing down these threats to the throne will have to wait, for the Emperor’s grandson has been kidnapped – and Vonvalt is charged with rescuing the missing prince. His quest will lead him – and his allies Helena, Bressinger and Sir Radomir – to the southern frontier, where they will once again face the puritanical fury of Bartholomew Claver and his templar knights – and a dark power far more terrifying than they could have imagined.
Review
The Justice of Kings was one of my favorite reads of 2023, it was a very unique brand of fantasy story and since I came late to the party and the third book was releasing in early 2024, I decided to wait on reading The Tyranny of Faith until the concluding novel was released. And while I ultimately ended up preferring book one to its sequel, I still enjoyed this book immensely, and was glad I had the last one on hand to jump straight in.
The Tyranny of Faith expands the world a great deal, our protagonists travel much farther than the small area we were confined to in The Justice of Kings. I loved seeing the capitol of Sova, it was a fascinating fantasy city, with some familiar elements but also plenty of new ones. They also travel to other areas of the Empire in their attempts to thwart Claver, who by the way is much more fleshed out in this book, and just generally a great antagonist. The use of epigraphs in this book is just as good as in the first, with quotes from past lawmakers adding emphasis to themes, ideas, and challenges the characters are facing at the moment.
Some of my favorite parts of the first book were the necromancy and the eldritch horror that went along with it. So I was very happy when the author took it up a notch in The Tyranny of Faith. There is much more in depth use of the necromantic arts used in this book, and the Lovecraftian vibes were again my favorite aspect of the book. Swan has a talent for writing scenes that fill you with dread, seemingly without trying. I love how he is able to keep me rooted to my seat with my heart pounding, without being overly descriptive. His economical prose, and Helena’s narration, deliver a sense of dread better than any verbose exposition ever could.
Speaking of Helena’s narration, this continues to be another one of my favorite elements of the series. Though Helena herself plays a critical role in much of the narrative, the argument could be made that Vonvalt is the real main character. I think I would have enjoyed seeing the story told from Vonvalt’s POV, but the books are elevated to another level by the author’s choice to have a future Helena narrate instead. We get a more truthful view of Vonvalt’s character and his slow deterioration as a lawman, as he tries desperately to save the Empire. We also see Helena begin to see Vonvalt in a different light, though she still looks up to him and idolizes him. Having Helena wrestle with her own feelings toward Vonvalt, and go against the things he himself taught her, provides a much more intriguing picture of Vonvalt than if were seeing things through his eyes. The eldritch elements of the book are also amplified precisely because Helena is new to much of it, and not a seasoned veteran like her master. The terror she feels is conveyed viscerally through the pages and added so much more depth to the dread I experienced in these parts.
There were areas that fell flat for me in this book though, including much of the first half of the book. The first 50% is taken up by a side quest that feels mostly like filler. Though it does come around to being relevant to the larger plot, it is certainly not important enough for the number of pages we spent on it. The result being I was spent most of the side quest wondering where we were going and why it was taking so long, and the payoff being too weak to justify the time. Probably 100 pages could have been trimmed from the book without losing anything of importance. My other big issue was a strange romantic relationship, but not really, that was developed between two characters. It felt clumsy and forced, like the author really thought that this sort of attraction would be an inevitable result of their personal relationship so he had to shove it in, but it just did not work for me in any way, and seriously detracted from the story.
One more note, more of a personal preference issue, I really missed the more investigative focus of the first novel. I understand the broadened scope and stakes of this sequel, and for the most part I enjoyed that immensely, but I would have liked more opportunities for Vonvalt to flex his many years of experience as a pseudo-detective. His talents were hyped up a lot in the first book, and then weren’t really used in interesting ways in this novel. He spent most of it frustrated about not understanding things, or not being able to do other things. I ended up longing for some of the feelings that really sucked me into The Justice of Kings.
Overall this was a very gripping novel that singlehandedly made me crave more fantasy books with eldritch horror in them. While it fell slightly short of the highs of the first book, I would still highly recommend this series to pretty much all fantasy readers. It has a fresh and exciting take on the genre and I’m sure most people will fall in love with it.