- SPOILER ALERT * SPOILER ALERT * SPOILER ALERT *
Many thanks to the author for sending me a free copy in exchange for an honest review!
"Mother of many, Mother of none, a Queen will fall and a Warrior will come in a rain of fire and from the ashes of destruction, a Daughter shall rise."
I was first introduced to epic fantasy during my teen years (my mum worked at a bookstore and would often use her staff discount to buy us books) with authors like Goodkind & Brooks and I was hooked from the outset.
Since this genre is my jam, I was super happy when Peter reached out to me and asked me if I'd be interested in reviewing his book, Vengeance Of Hope.
The story starts with a bang and just takes the reader on a rollercoaster ride of intrigue and mayhem, of backstabbing and betrayal, of loyalties made and broken, of battles and wars and skirmishes.
Even though the world that Peter built for this story is impressive, it is still quite medieval and barbaric; in this regard, as well as the fact that this book can become heavy reading, it is quite similar to Game of Thrones (which I couldn't get into no matter how hard I tried).
Benvikka has been populated with many peoples, cultures and religions, which all lead to intrigues and drama between them all; the driving factor of all these things being a prophecy that gets misinterpreted by every nation, with each leader positive that the prophecy is about them. This even sparks a religious crusade.
I do like the author's writing style, which is clear and informative, but he focusses on too many irrelevant details (like what each person was wearing every time we see them) that becomes quite tedious to slog through when all you want is to know what's next...
Even though this story is told in a thousand different ways, there are a few things that stand out for me:
- Strong female characters, like Silrith and Ezrina,
- An unexpected LGBT relationship,
- Adrenaline pumping action from start to finish.
- A glossary was added in the front with a map.
"With vivid imagery, a punchy writing voice, detailed worldbuilding and an unapologetically fast pace, Vengeance of Hope has everything an epic fantasy novel needs."
What I didn't like:
- There is an insane amount of characters to keep track of, which wouldn't be nearly as hard to do if the names were pronounceable; this also includes the names of places and towns and the Deities.
- The character growth is not as defined as I would have liked it to be; for example, Yathud shows some excellent growth while Silrith shows none at all - Silrith is a more important character.
- Even though Silrith professes to be the exact opposite of the man she's trying to dethrone, she is just as cruel as her male counterpart - this she sees (justifies) as showing strength as a leader.
- Even though it is great that the author added a glossary, he didn't add how one was to pronounce the names - trying to pronounce names as I read them, people or places, made me stumble many times, my brain not allowing my eyes to read further until I find a way to either pronounce the name in a decent way or to find an alternative name.
- The multiple POVs are fantastic but each chapter deals with too many of these, making it so much harder to keep track of the characters and confusing the reader.
- I felt that the book was a little under edited; the sentences are so long that they're more like paragraphs; even a small thing like using justification on your document can have an impact on us readers.
Overall, this is a solid debut and an entertaining first book in a series.
I've always found that companion novels to any series opens up the fictional world more than ever in the books and the Silrith is no exception; however, instead of having a companion book or two, the author has added a portal to his website, called Silrith's Portal, and contains additional character backstories and further information on places and towns and the noble houses.
Silrith's Portal: https://www.pjbermanbooks.com/the-bennvikan-world
Every month, 4 new articles will be added which will open the world up even more.
The site runs smoothly and sports some amazing character art and I have already learned a great deal about some of the characters, like Prince Shappa, for example.
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