What sets it apart is that John Gwynne is MUCH more straightforward in his writing. The way this book is written, it TRULY reminds me of A Song of Ice and Fire. I love that we get multiple POVs and most of the chapters are short because it keeps the story really fresh and fast moving. There’s a lot of politicking going on in Malice and truly nobody is safe. There’s supposed to be certain races of people/creatures that are servants of the sides of good and evil, but these aren’t always as they seem. We have characters that we see committing heinous acts while truly believing they are doing things for the greater good. I can only assume that this line will keep getting thinner. What I found interesting about this book, is that while the characters are pretty easily distinguishable be tween good and bad, the concept of good and evil itself rides the grey line.

Behind the other, the Unholy, dread Kadoshim, who seek to cross the bridge, force the world to bended knee.” Behind one, the Sons of the Mighty, the fair Ben-Elim, gathered ’neath the Great Tree. Beside one rides the Beloved, beside the other, the Avenging Hand. Before one, storm and shield shall stand before the other, True-Heart and Black-Heart. ‘One shall be the Tide, one the Rock in the swirling sea.

“Black Sun will drown the earth in bloodshed, Bright Star with the Treasures must unite.’ Again he stopped, carefully turned more pages, eventually continued his halting reading: ‘By their names you shall know them – Kin-Slayer, Kin-Avenger, Giant-Friend, Draig-Rider, Dark Power ’gainst Lightbringer.’ And so he went on: read, pause, search. This first book revolves around a prophecy that the world will be divide into two sides, basically your classic fight between good and evil. On goodreads, I rated it a 5/5 stars without a second thought. Malice by John Gwynne lives up to the recommendation.

First, I wanna thank Petrik for recommending this book to me. “Two born of blood, dust and ashes shall champion the Choices, the Darkness and Light.”