The Faith is the dominant religion of the Unified Realms, and the various orders are clergy having various roles in furthering the Faith. The Sixth Order is the one dedicated to battle, it’s soldiers being known as some of the best in the world. Boys are brought there and raised as warriors from a young age, completely cut off from their families, with their new family being their brothers in the Order. And it is here that after the death of his mother, Vaelin Al Sorna is left by his father, the Battle Lord to the king. While apprehensive at first, he fully embraces his place in the order, and does quite well for himself. However, that is only the first step. Upon completing his training, he’s thrown into a number of affairs throughout the world, ranging from politics, religion, strategy, dealing with hostile nations with vile customs, to even dealing with a being that may well bring about the end of the world itself. However, even beyond his top class combat training, Vaelin possesses a special advantage, an inner guide so to speak, known as the Blood Song, that keeps him on the right path forward.
***
This trilogy was very solid. It created a pretty interesting world with different countries, different religions, different peoples, etc. that was interesting enough on its own due to the politics, war, etc. but it then also added in some high leveled super natural elements that added another layer on top of all that, which ultimately resulted in something that changed quite a bit throughout and was hence quite interesting from beginning to end. The structure of the trilogy involves focusing solely on Vaelin in the first book, Blood Song, adding the perspectives of Reva, Lyra, and Frentin in the second book, Tower Lord, and continuing with that with the third book, Queen of Fire. Vaelin was a really strong character that was likable and grew tremendously over the course of the series. Reva took some time to develop, but by around half way through the second book she really established herself and was amazing from that point. Frentin was a complete mess, but that was in part due to the role he was given which didn’t particularly give him much room to maneuver as soon as he becomes a main character. Lyra was completely disappointing. She has a lot of good moments, and definitely shows growth, but also a lot of really bad moments. I also thought she and Vaelin made a good match, so I was somewhat disappointed it never happened, especially as how the relationship was handled from beginning to end was quite strange. All in all, I would have to say that the ending overall was disappointing as well, in that it felt more like it ended not with a bang, but with a whimper, where things got resolved too easily too quickly. Still, leading up to that, the world building, the intrigue, the politics, the battles and strategic build up to them, and everything else was very well done.
A fantasy series featuring an interesting world full of intrigue as well as an amazing primary main character, but some lack luster secondary main characters and a weak ending.
8/10
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