The Shadow of the Gods (Bloodsworn #1) by John Gwynne

 A John Gwynne book is a matter of celebration. Period. 

Because with John, you know what you are getting into. Heroic Fantasy built on the back of some brilliant world building, amazing cinematic fight sequences, well-rounded characters you will love to follow unto the depths of hell, non-stop pacing and the pulse-pounding gut-wrenching action. Did I mention action? Maybe I didn't. So let me state that clearly for you - John writes the best fantasy action sequences ever. 

With the new book, The Shadow of the Gods, John has clearly outdone himself and I am so so so...much in awe of his writing. This one's the opening salvo in a trilogy named Bloodsworn - and right there, in the name itself, John has made it very clear that this one's going to be bloodier, darker and colder. Set in a Norse-mythology inspired fantasy world called Vigrid, men and women live in the shadow of Gods. Because eons ago, the Gods died in a brutal destructive war. It's the kind of war where siblings had lined up against each other, brothers and sisters deceived each other and sons and daughters chained up their parents.  The Snake, the Wolf, the Eagle, the cunning Fox, the cheating Rat and even the mighty Dragon, all have fallen. Now the world has to contend with the Jarls jostling for power, makeshift Queens looking to expand their empires, and several bands of mercenaries looking for glory and gold. 

But there is magic left over in this world - the traces of the Gods' powers among men and women, 'Tainted' by the touch of God. And then there are the witches and the wizards known to harness the power of ancient forgotten magic, divine the future, connect with the dead souls, a talent little understood and much feared. The normal folks don't want anything to do with these Tainted and the Jarls have introduced a system of slavery, where the Touched are forced to wear the Thrall collars and obey the commands of their masters. Nothing more than instruments of war or destruction at the whims of power-crazed individuals. 

The story spins out from the POV of three central characters. There's Orka - mother to ten-year old Breca, wife to the jovial Thorkel, living on their own farm away from the rest of the village. Her world is turned upside down when a few outsiders start raiding their village and steal away their children. 

Varg is a thrall who wants nothing but revenge against those who have wronged his sister, a runaway from his master's farm, who accidentally joins up a famous bunch of mercenaries known as the Bloodsworn. He has his own vested interests in joining with this gang of course, but he willingly takes up the mantle, the training and is thrust into the hot forge of bloody battle, standing shoulder to shoulder, shield to shield with his new found brothers. 

Elvar rounds up the main character set, another mercenary within a group known as the Battle-Grim, out on a mission to capture a dangerous Tainted for their Jarl. But this mission sets her life off in a different direction as they realise that the captured man, his wife and son are hiding bigger secrets than what the Jarl had sent them to uncover. 

As with most John Gwynne books, it doesn't take long before the bone-crunching action starts out, blood,  bone and bits spraying everywhere. But John sets his time building up this new world, oh so well. The myths, the monsters and the sagas - are all real and believable. A cold, grey brutal world where violence is the way of life, valour, glory and blood-spilling are the driving factors that sustain the men and women. It's a tough, bleak existence for the normal men and women having to content with the power-crazed Jarls butting into their everyday life. And then there are the monsters they need to ward off on almost a daily basis - myriad number of them (like the sneaky nasty little Vaesens who horde the teeth of the dead people like the squirrels horde their nuts! and lots more, each more frightening and scarier than the other) They all live literally in the shadow of the erstwhile Gods ( On one of the islands of Snakavik, there is this entire city and fort built within the skull of the dead Snake God! Absolute nutters!) the old tales of war always looming large. And the magic, here is very cleverly entwined with the Gods' themselves manifest in the form of the Tainted, who could be a berserker Bear or the enraged Wolf and like. 

Apart from the most exquisitely written fight sequences that leap off the pages with cinematic frenzy, the best part about his books are of course the characters. Now in this first book of a new series, I felt it was a daunting task. Having created memorable and absolutely stunning characters in his previous two series over seven books, it was going to be tough to start from ground zero. But John in his inimical manner gives us three well-fleshed out characters whose thoughts, motivations and actions drives the narrative of this story. Among the three, personally for me, Orka was hands-down the most compelling character. A mother bear out to rescue her cub from the marauders, her chapters were both strangely sad and moving and at the same time, charged with the kind of buzzing kinetic energy that keeps you on your toes. The anticipation of something bad to befall, at every turn she takes. She's a badass in all her avatars - be it a mother or the absolutely amazing warrior she is - armed with her seax and the long-axe. There are just brief interludes where we get to catch our breath as Orka is hard on the trail of the captors of her son but time and again, we are thrown headlong into these scenes where impossible odds are stacked sky-high against her, scraps and fights, bursting at the seams with violence and blood. And she just wades into it, no fear. I know there are some big secrets about her about to be spilled in Book-2, so cannot wait!  

The other two characters, Varg and Elvar both part of two different mercenary bands, on two different missions, somehow didn't measure up to Orka, that intensity and bestial ferocity with which she sets about going after achieving her goals. Both the characters have pretty interesting backgrounds and I am hoping all of this will come to fore as the various storylines intertwine. Apart from these main characters, there are plenty of others with their own sets of story-arcs and motivations that drive the overall storyline ahead. The leaders of both mercenary bands - Agnar and Glornir, both courageous driven men, who swear by valor, glory and of course the gold and the band-mates themselves, each of them with their own set of quirks and memorable journey-arcs. The character-journeys hit epic proportions as we realise the storylines are starting to connect and will be feeding off each other. 

And the dragon you ask? That big bad motherfucker on that BEST COVER-ART of 2021? Yeah, bide your time, is all I can say. 

The stage is set for bigger face-offs, the myths are coming alive, the bards' sagas are starting to look bloodier and brutal in real life and the monsters are all too real. The world balance is tilting now and gut-wrenching truths are being revealed. This opening salvo in this grey, cold brutal world of myths, magic and monsters ,is John Gwynne writing at the peak of his form. Another winner from this master-class storyteller. Immersive, dark and epic in all the sense of that word. If you like fantastically set up, visceral battles (think shield-walls, long axes and more guts than glory!) compelling characters who are broken, flawed and all too real and one of the most amazing norse-mythology inspired worlds brought alive, The Shadow of the Gods is destined to  become one of your favorite books of the year. It certainly is mine!