A Time of Courage by John Gwynne (Of Blood and Bone #3)

The story arc that was started in Malice and concluded in A Time of Courage is a tale of good and evil told by the many adored and despised voices of the Banished Lands. The book culminates in a battle that is so intensely evocative both physically and aurally that I had to put the book down several times just to digest everything I had experienced. My hands were squeezed tightly around my kindle during the spectacular conclusion, and my heart was beating too quickly. I read certain passages repeatedly because I was unsure whether something had actually happened or whether a character had truly, irrevocably vanished.

if they deserved it, cheering their departure; if not, sobbing. After all, this is John Gwynne, and nobody is safe. It all happened, and I’m still in awe of it. And it was impossible to avoid discussing it. In order to share our experiences of the key events we had just read, my fellow readers (Petrik, TS, and Eon) and I had several Whatsapp conversations going at once. We frequently checked in to see where one another were in the book. When we had all done, our conversation became frenzied and full of comments; it was a catharsis that lasted for two days. We couldn’t even think about reading anything else.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed the first two novels in the Of Blood and Bone series, I found it difficult to feel anything for the characters. Save Byrne, who is unquestionably one of the best written female characters in fantasy, and Drem, who was immediately captivating. There seemed to be a similar lightness to this series, which was made worse by the constant reflection on what had come before. In part, this was because my heart was still with Corban, Storm, and the other characters from the Faithful and the Fallen. All the allusions to the past seemed to be nothing more than painful reminders of what had been lost—a trauma that affected both the reader and the Banished Lands.

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Nothing like that existed here. The earlier volumes, in my opinion, seemed to rely on the past for their significance, whereas this one built on those roots and developed into something more, something that combined the two storylines while also being unmistakably its own. The heroes whose deaths I found so difficult to accept were present in spirit, serving to motivate this younger generation with their deeds of valour. But more than that, it became obvious how deeply the two groups were connected by their quieter moments of friendship, devotion, and love; these ties gave them the strength to be heroes and fight for the future and one other. There wasn’t even the slightest prospect of remoteness.

This novel and all of the people in it demand your time, attention, and every emotion from the very first page. And you get ten times your investment back. I’ll stop writing after that; the rest is up to you to find out. But if you find yourself travelling alone, keep in mind that those of us who have reached the finish line are available if you require a virtual shoulder to weep on.