The War God's Own

Equally light, entertaining, and aimless as its predecessor, The War God's Own is saved from being a total retread by an accurate, if unsubtle, examination of privilege from inside the head of one so blessed. Several of the loosely-connected excursions are also good fun, and while the last one seems utterly unconnected to the rest of the "plot" of the book (I use the word advisedly,) it does neatly set up the much more coherent sequel.

A lot more political - the first one is pretty pure action/adventure. This one, although there are adventure episodes - another demon! - there's a lot more of the why - motivations behind actions - and consequences of choices laid in. The end is pretty satisfying, although they're just about to set out on the next step of the trip. And the final exchange between Bahzell and Vaijon is just lovely - as good as his banter with Brandark. Lots of new characters, all well-drawn (some more sketchy than others, but enough for the part they have in the story). And Brandark finally admits what he's looking for…doesn't _find_ it, but it's a step.

This book is the sequel to Oath Of Swords, which is the first book in the series. Although you can read War God's Own on its own, it's far better to read it after Oath of Swords, as you then will understand how the two main characters (Bahzell and Brandark) have ended up where they are.

War God's Own is just as entertaining as Oath of Swords; I honestly don't know which of the two books I prefer. Of the two, Oath of Swords is funnier, but War God's Own is a little more complicated. Bahzell is now a Champion of Tomanak, the War God (having signed on after being nagged into it) and he's about to start having to deal with the reality of what this means.

In Book One, Bahzell and Brandark were pretty much operating as free agents; now Bahzell show more has Responsibilities, and he's part of the Order of Tomanak, which comes as a bit of a nasty shock to him, and also to the Order. In fact, the only person who seems to be at all happy with the situation is Tomanak himself...

So Bahzell has to deal with his new colleagues' reaction to having a hradani (Weber's sort of orc-equivalent, which is what Bahzell and Brandark are) Champion foisted on them by their deity, and he also has to deal with his own misgivings about being a part of a big organisation and his responsibilities and privileges in it.

Once the initial bumps are dealt with, Bahzell and Co have to return to the hradani city states to deal with one of the Dark Gods who has set up a secret temple there, and this occupies the rest of the book.

As side issues, we see a bit of unofficial diplomacy and trade negotiations; the hradani are poor and backward compared to the other Races of Man, but Bahzell's father (prince of one of the city-states) has a vision for the future and the drive and intelligence to make it work. How is this going to affect, or be affected by, Bahzell's sudden and unaccountable acquisition of Religion, especially since hradani in general (having been comprehensively used and betrayed by the gods in the past) have no use for gods either Light or Dark... show less

Bahzell Bahnakson is War God Tomanak's newest Champion, but he's also a Horse Stealer Hradnai - and doesn't that just set the cat among the pigeons of the Order of Tomanak. But Bahzell doesn't have much time to waste on fighting prejudice, not if he's to successfully crush the foothold the dark god Sharna has gained among the Hradnai.

It's a race against time with a bloody battle at the finish, and of course, a few new verses for Brandark's Lay of Bahzell the Bloody Hand.... Solid, enjoyable epic fantasy.

I particularly like the flow to this one. Very well executed, and great connection to the characters.

An interesting continuation that is 100 pages longer than it needed to be.

This book was a good continuation of the adventures of Bahzell and Brandark. It was exciting and moving in many places, and where it wasn’t it was humorous. Definitely a keeper.