Rosie’s #Bookreview Of Epic #Fantasy THE LOST WAR by Justin Lee Anderson @authorjla #TuesdayBookBlog

The Lost War: Eidyn Book One by Justin Lee Anderson

4.5 stars

The Lost War is an epic fantasy tale, and book one of the Eidyn series.

It opens in the country of Eidyn as it recovers from a great war. The evil Mynygogg is currently trapped in Dunn Eidyn castle, while King Janaeus attempts to repair the damage to his kingdom.

Aranok is the king’s envoy and, together with his bodyguard Allandria, he is given a mission to help a deposed queen regain her throne so that she may become a useful ally to the new king, thus helping him create a solid ruling platform.

Following the popular quest trope of this genre, the pair set off with a small band of companions into a land to face magic, demons, Reivers, and the Blackened—violent victims of a wasting plague.

Although this isn’t a genre that I regularly read, I was drawn to this after reading the opening chapter. The author’s style grabbed my attention with a winning opening hook and it had me wanting to know more. I thought the dialogue, often quite coarse, suited the overall tone of the story, and I could easily picture the settings and the characters, which is always a tick in my book.

Aranok is a draoidh, like a wizard, but his skills make some people mistrust him. However, as the king’s envoy, he must be respected, so the two labels cause conflicting responses from folks during their travels.

The author chose to make several of the main female characters warriors. Alliandra, Aranok’s bodyguard, is a brilliant archer. Nirea is a pirate captain and excellent sword fighter, as is Samily, a knight of the notorious White Thorn order. I thought they worked really well.

There was plenty of conflict which kept the story interesting and moving at a good pace and I enjoyed the other story threads which evolved as the band travelled through Eidyn. Looking back there were several scenes which I particularly enjoyed and if I had to choose just one it would be during the ghost town visit at Caer Amon.

Overall a good tale in this genre and if you like any of these fantasy elements: magic, demons, ghosts, zombie types, interesting characters and well -written twisted storylines, then this might be for you.

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The war is over, but something is rotten in the state of Eidyn.

With a ragged peace in place, demons burn farmlands, violent Reivers roam the wilds and plague has spread beyond the Black Meadows. The country is on its knees.

In a society that fears and shuns him, Aranok is the first magically-skilled draoidh to be named King’s Envoy.

Now, charged with restoring an exiled foreign queen to her throne, he leads a group of strangers across the ravaged country. But at every step, a new mystery complicates their mission.

As bodies drop around them, new threats emerge and lies are revealed, can Aranok bring his companions together and uncover the conspiracy that threatens the kingdom?

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