Ryan Cahill

I have only heard great things about the author’s debut novel and this prequel novella and while they don’t feel like the exact kind of books I enjoy, I still felt compelled to give this one a try first. And I’m glad my attempt wasn’t in vain.

Sitting at less than 100 pages, this novella is pretty small but it’s very surprising how much of the story the author is able to tell in such few pages, without losing the essence of this series - which is very traditional epic fantasy with show more dragons and Mages. I’m not someone who gravitate towards these books despite loving fantasy with all my heart, mostly because I prefer more emotionally engaging fantasies written by women and/or queer authors. However, I found this very action packed right from page one style of storytelling a bit refreshing, because I haven’t read something like this for a long while now. The action, the tension, the sense of loss and despair and betrayal - none of these let up right from the beginning of the story, just making us feel one thing after another, letting us sink into this very gritty world on the day it’s whole foundation crumbles - it’s the end of an era and the beginning of a new empire, but we are left to wonder who is on the right and was it all worth it.

I throughly enjoyed this short tale giving us the devastating truth behind the origins of this world, and I can’t wait to see what the author has in store for us in the first book of the series, which is set a few centuries later. I’m definitely excited for more action and ofcourse, dragons. show less

Of Darkness and Light is a marked improvement over Of Blood and Fire. It's much better written, with deeper characters, a (slightly) more complex plot, and more realistic, less wooden dialog. It's very impressive this book came out less than a year than the first novel.That said, it's hard to shake the feeling that I've read this story before.I had a great time reading this novel, but it feels a little bit like walking down a familiar, comfortable path I've been walking for years. "Eragon show more for adults" is a nice descriptor for the series. We have the unlikely Chosen One with a dragon, the dwarves, elves, and humans that make up the Resistance, the Evil Empire with the scary magician emperor, the generically comfy world. We even have "Fades" which are almost a beat-for-beat copy of Eragon's Shades.

That's not to say it's not a good book - it is, and it's impressive how quickly Cahill writes these. It's a fun a fun read and I was never bored. There are enough little bits of originality to keep it interesting. The Knights are very cool. And not every series needs to be completely original. I think in today's fantasy market there is a good amount of room for traditional epic high fantasy that's fallen out of fashion a bit the last decade or two. show less

Of Blood and Fire wears its influences on its sleeve, and it's not shy about. This is one of the most trope-filled modern books I've ever read.We've got traditional dwarves that live underground and carve stone, elves hidden in their forests, Orcs, dragons, and a resistance group going up against an Evil Empire led by a Really Bad Dude.That said, it's a really fun read, fast-paced and full of action. The book is over 500 pages long and it feels like 200. Cahill doesn't waste any time with a show more ton of worldbuilding and instead moves the plot forward constantly. The world is given some coloring, but just a little; this is a really bog-standard fantasy world.

A lot of this sounds negative, but this book was a nice palate cleanser. This style of fantasy has fallen out of favor recently and while it's unashamedly full of classic tropes, they aren't tropes you see very often nowadays. Some of the dialogue can be a little stilted, and there's quite a bit of telling instead of showing, but I'm willing to chalk that up to a new author's debut having some rough patches.

Check this series out if you're looking for something a little more popcorny if you've been reading more literary stuff. It's an easy, fun, somewhat predictable read, and sometimes that's needed. show less

A nice novella that fills in some backstory for a few characters that weren't very fleshed out in the main series.I like this scheme of interspersing bigger, multi-POV main novels with these shorter novellas that fill in gaps in the worldbuilding and character development. The Exile is probably the strongest book in the series so far. It moves at a breakneck pace with cover to cover action, and does more to flesh out its characters in less than 200 pages than the main books do in 800. show more Granted, we're working with a much smaller and more intimate cast, but the character work is much improved here.

These novellas are really required reading for the series. show less