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The Edan Trilogy #1
The Way of Edan
The Kingdom of the Eternal will awaken when the Way of Edan holds sway over all of Eormenlond. So say the prophecies. With unrivalled power in the gift, the Supreme Priest Bledla leads Torrlond and its mighty army to convert rival kingdoms by the sword and by the fang.
Among the gathering resistance is the sorceress Sequara, whose mission is to protect her island and her Andumaic faith from the Torrlonders’ aggression.
As holy war looms over the kingdoms of Eormenlond, a chance encounter bestows a terrible curse upon a young man. Dayraven’s curse may decide Eormenlond’s fate. But first, with the help of unlikely friends, he must survive the shattering of his world.
Equal parts epic and lament, The Way of Edan is the lyrical opening of The Edan Trilogy.
Among the gathering resistance is the sorceress Sequara, whose mission is to protect her island and her Andumaic faith from the Torrlonders’ aggression.
As holy war looms over the kingdoms of Eormenlond, a chance encounter bestows a terrible curse upon a young man. Dayraven’s curse may decide Eormenlond’s fate. But first, with the help of unlikely friends, he must survive the shattering of his world.
Equal parts epic and lament, The Way of Edan is the lyrical opening of The Edan Trilogy.
539 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 17, 2023
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July 10, 2023
ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
In The Way of Edan, Philip Chase has weaved a lyrical fantasy debut that will highly appeal to fans of classic and modern fantasy.
Before I begin my review, I will give my full disclosure first. When I review an ARC or review copy, I usually say I receive the book in exchange for an honest review. I leave it at that. But in this case, I need to be more specific with my transparency. Philip Chase, the author, is a fellow book reviewer, booktuber, and my friend. He is a friend I respect, and I need to mention first I have no qualms about giving a negative rating to an author I know as a friend. I befriended many authors in the past six years, and it has never stopped me from giving my honest thoughts, for better or worse. Assuming that I DO finish reading the books, of course. Look at my review on The Fall of Babel by Josiah Bancroft, Ash and Bones by Michael Fletcher, or The Garden of Empire by J.T. Greathouse, and more. If you think I have been giving more positive ratings/reviews to books than before, it is because I tend to DNF books I dislike due to my overwhelming TBR pile. When that happens, I leave no review. But if I finish a book with many issues I dislike, like the examples mentioned earlier, you bet I will be giving my criticisms. It is up to you to believe the credential of this review or not. I am not here to change your mind. This long introduction leads me to say my respect toward Philip Chase has increased further after reading The Way of Edan. There were a few minor hiccups in the writing that were not suitable to my reading preference, but overall, this is a marvelous debut penned by a seemingly veteran author with a lot of love for the genre.
The Kingdom of the Eternal will awaken when the Way of Edan holds sway over all of Eormenlond. So say the prophecies. With unrivaled power in the gift, the Supreme Priest Bledla leads Torrlond and its mighty army to convert rival kingdoms by the sword and by the fang. Among the gathering resistance is the sorceress Sequara, whose mission is to protect her island and her Andumaic faith from the Torrlonders’ aggression. As holy war looms over the kingdoms of Eormenlond, a chance encounter bestows a terrible curse upon a young man. Dayraven’s curse may decide Eormenlond’s fate. But first, with the help of unlikely friends, he must survive the shattering of his world.
This is the premise of The Way of Edan. And it did not take long for the story to grab my interest. In fact, right from the exciting prologue. Contrary to some opinions stating prologues should not exist in fantasy, I must respectfully disagree. I love reading a great prologue that functions as a glimpse into the kind of story you are getting in the rest of the book. I believe Chase nailed that nicely. Immediately from the prologue, you can tell this is a fantasy novel that does not shy away from explicit violent scenes with plotlines revolving around prejudice, faith, and religious zealots. It is true that fantasy books with conflicts centered on faith and clash of ideals are easy to find. They are common. Not only in fantasy or books actually, countless disputes (on multiple levels) in our daily lives, sad to say, happen because of religion and differences in faith. When we look back to our past as a human, myriad recorded wars with staggering casualties have been accomplished in the name of religion, greed, and self-righteousness. Having these in your books does not mean it will instantly sap the quality of the story and writing just because they have been done many times before. It always comes down to the execution, and Chase implemented these conflicts into his story so damn well.
I have often stated how much I enjoyed reading modern epic fantasy novels that implement elements and tropes popular in classic fantasy series into their books. A few examples of this would be The Faithful and the Fallen by John Gwynne, The Bound and the Broken by Ryan Cahill, and The Five Warrior Angels by Brian Lee Durfee. And speaking of The Five Warrior Angels, even though done differently, both The Five Warrior Angels and The Way of Edan adapt brutal fanaticism and unhinged religious zealots as one of the key driving force of the story. So if you liked the topic of faith in The Five Warrior Angels by Brian Lee Durfee, there is a good chance you will enjoy the story in The Way of Edan. And vice versa. The way the novel is written and told, it is more precise to say The Way of Edan is a magnificent mix of classic and modern fantasy. As far as I know, Chase took decades to write and polish the trilogy. And having the honor to befriend the author for two years now, I know Chase's passion for the genre is undeniable, and it shows in his writing.
But nothing I just said would matter much to me if I did not feel invested in the characters. And fortunately, Chase's protagonists were easy to like. Chase uses multiple third-person POV chapters to tell the story, but Dayraven is the dominant main character of this tale. At least as far as the first book of the trilogy goes. Dayraven, on his own, was already likable as a character. You know the drill by now. A kind-hearted young protagonist, unbeknownst to practically anyone, has an uncontrollable power. And an unfortunate incident forced him to leave his village. In other words, the chosen one trope. Yes, prophecies and chosen ones are tropes used infinitely in the genre. Although I do not have any issues with these tropes in fantasy, it is admirable how Chase's lyrical prose (somehow) made the narrative feels fresh and engaging. I did not feel like The Way of Edan was a copycat of any specific fantasy book I read. There were a few sections and events that reminded me of The Lord of the Rings, but it felt inspired and natural to the plotline, like the passage below:
If you have read The Lord of the Rings, you will know which scene that passage reminded me of. And it worked incredibly well to the scenes in the book after all the momentum building. It truly helps that Dayraven was not the only character I cared about. I am a reader who cherishes the portrayal of inspiring friendship and brotherhood, and Dayraven's brotherhood with Imharr impactfully remains one of my favorite parts of the novel. Their friendship and their brotherhood with one another felt genuine and believable. The struggles they faced in The Way of Edan strengthen their connection with one another, including my connection with Dayraven and Imharr. And it's not only both of them; along their journey, they met plenty of likable characters such as Urd, the two Dweorgs, Orvandil, and Sequara (one of the main POV characters of the book) that made the book more compelling to read.
But enough about the protagonists, I will let you read and find out for yourself. I like to mention one more thing I totally appreciate about the characters. Chase included the POV chapters of the villains. I have frequently said in my reviews that this should practically be a staple in epic fantasy with multiple POV characters. It gives extra depth to the villain when done right, and it adds variety to the narrative. Chase succeeded at doing this. Bledla, the supreme priest of Edan, was absolutely insane. His willingness to do everything in the name of his religion was obsessive and terrifying. Bledla is the kind of character with absolute belief and is fearless in exposing unbelievers to violence and death to achieve his goal. At the same time, despite all his cruel actions (I never liked him), I understood from the text why he did the vile things he did. It is all well-written. There were other antagonists with respective believable motives, but I think I'll let you read about them in your own time than hearing from me.
Please note that although The Way of Edan may contain a few explicitly violent scenes, it is not a grimdark fantasy novel. It is a lyrical and traditional epic fantasy oozing with some mythical quality due to its world-building. This is another reason why I mentioned Tolkien earlier. There is a relatively higher learning curve due to the many names of the characters (in the present days or history) appearing in the book and many similar-sounding location names, all ending with ond. The world of Eormenlond is plagued with centuries of hatred, tragedy, pain, and glory. It is immersive and rich in history. And there are meanings behind every location name here. But speaking of Tolkien, one aspect that did not gel with me too well in The Way of Edan, just like in The Fellowship of the Ring, was the songs. This is definitely a subjective experience, and even though I would love to read more bards in epic fantasy, I am also not a fan of having too many songs in an epic fantasy novel. Not when they appeared many times, anyway. The Kingkiller Chronicle is one of the few series where I felt the songs were a delight to read. But overall, this slight disruption in the pacing of my reading experience is not that big a deal. Chase has wonderfully balanced the plot movement, characterizations, soft magic, actions, and world-building details such as lore, weaponry, armory, and settings. And not gonna lie, it is hard to resist reading a beautifully written fantasy novel imbued with such a crystal-clear devotion to reading. Like this passage:
The Way of Edan might become my favorite fantasy debut of the year. We are still in March, so it's still too early to tell. I still have some other fantasy debuts of 2023 I want to read. But the potential is certainly there. Whether you are a fan of the classic, the modern, or both fantasy, there are many things to love in The Way of Edan. The themes and writing evoked a timeless quality, and the small battles or the one big war sequence were engaging. The book won't be suitable for those inching to read a grimdark fantasy or fantasy books with a hard-magic system, but beyond that, I think The Way of Edan can be enjoyed by many epic fantasy readers. Congratulations to Philip Chase for this great debut, and I expect the remaining two books (both will be published this year, too) in the trilogy to be better than The Way of Edan. There are a lot of setups being established in The Way of Edan, and I have a good feeling the payoffs in the second book, The Prophet of Edan, and of course the final book as well, will be rewarding.
You can pre-order this book from: Amazon UK | Amazon US
The quotes in this review were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.
You can find this and the rest of my reviews at Novel Notions | I also have a Booktube channel
Special thanks to my Patrons on Patreon for giving me extra support towards my passion for reading and reviewing!
My Patrons: Alfred, Anastasia, Andrew, Andrew W, Annabeth, Arliss, Barbara, Brad, Cade, Casey, Chris, Diana, Dylan, Edward, Elias, Ellen, Gary, Hamad, Helen, Jesse, Jimmy Nutts, Joie, Kristina, Luis, Lufi, Melinda, Meryl, Michael, Michael, Miracle, Nicholas, Radiah, Samuel, Sarah, Sarah, Scott, Shawn, Teri, Tracy, Wendy, Wick, Xero, Yuri, Zoe.
In The Way of Edan, Philip Chase has weaved a lyrical fantasy debut that will highly appeal to fans of classic and modern fantasy.
“The old tales take us to faraway times and places, but they’re also where we come from. They tell us how we got here.”
Before I begin my review, I will give my full disclosure first. When I review an ARC or review copy, I usually say I receive the book in exchange for an honest review. I leave it at that. But in this case, I need to be more specific with my transparency. Philip Chase, the author, is a fellow book reviewer, booktuber, and my friend. He is a friend I respect, and I need to mention first I have no qualms about giving a negative rating to an author I know as a friend. I befriended many authors in the past six years, and it has never stopped me from giving my honest thoughts, for better or worse. Assuming that I DO finish reading the books, of course. Look at my review on The Fall of Babel by Josiah Bancroft, Ash and Bones by Michael Fletcher, or The Garden of Empire by J.T. Greathouse, and more. If you think I have been giving more positive ratings/reviews to books than before, it is because I tend to DNF books I dislike due to my overwhelming TBR pile. When that happens, I leave no review. But if I finish a book with many issues I dislike, like the examples mentioned earlier, you bet I will be giving my criticisms. It is up to you to believe the credential of this review or not. I am not here to change your mind. This long introduction leads me to say my respect toward Philip Chase has increased further after reading The Way of Edan. There were a few minor hiccups in the writing that were not suitable to my reading preference, but overall, this is a marvelous debut penned by a seemingly veteran author with a lot of love for the genre.
“The truth is, it’s easier to see the justice in people you deem to be like you, and far easier to find the wrong in those who differ.”
The Kingdom of the Eternal will awaken when the Way of Edan holds sway over all of Eormenlond. So say the prophecies. With unrivaled power in the gift, the Supreme Priest Bledla leads Torrlond and its mighty army to convert rival kingdoms by the sword and by the fang. Among the gathering resistance is the sorceress Sequara, whose mission is to protect her island and her Andumaic faith from the Torrlonders’ aggression. As holy war looms over the kingdoms of Eormenlond, a chance encounter bestows a terrible curse upon a young man. Dayraven’s curse may decide Eormenlond’s fate. But first, with the help of unlikely friends, he must survive the shattering of his world.
This is the premise of The Way of Edan. And it did not take long for the story to grab my interest. In fact, right from the exciting prologue. Contrary to some opinions stating prologues should not exist in fantasy, I must respectfully disagree. I love reading a great prologue that functions as a glimpse into the kind of story you are getting in the rest of the book. I believe Chase nailed that nicely. Immediately from the prologue, you can tell this is a fantasy novel that does not shy away from explicit violent scenes with plotlines revolving around prejudice, faith, and religious zealots. It is true that fantasy books with conflicts centered on faith and clash of ideals are easy to find. They are common. Not only in fantasy or books actually, countless disputes (on multiple levels) in our daily lives, sad to say, happen because of religion and differences in faith. When we look back to our past as a human, myriad recorded wars with staggering casualties have been accomplished in the name of religion, greed, and self-righteousness. Having these in your books does not mean it will instantly sap the quality of the story and writing just because they have been done many times before. It always comes down to the execution, and Chase implemented these conflicts into his story so damn well.
“Putting death in Edan’s hands was like closing one’s eyes in the darkness and pretending it was not there. Joruman was no such fool. He did not need religion as a false comfort to cloak the stark truth from him. The Kingdom of the Eternal was a childish fabrication, a ridiculous fantasy that weak-minded people told themselves they trusted in because they could not face the permanence of death. To be sure, the Way was a convenient means to control the populace. Those in power pandered to the delusion that after their corpses had rotted, the people’s miserable lives might continue if only they would believe hard enough in Edan. Armed with such faith, they would go to war and kill and die.”
I have often stated how much I enjoyed reading modern epic fantasy novels that implement elements and tropes popular in classic fantasy series into their books. A few examples of this would be The Faithful and the Fallen by John Gwynne, The Bound and the Broken by Ryan Cahill, and The Five Warrior Angels by Brian Lee Durfee. And speaking of The Five Warrior Angels, even though done differently, both The Five Warrior Angels and The Way of Edan adapt brutal fanaticism and unhinged religious zealots as one of the key driving force of the story. So if you liked the topic of faith in The Five Warrior Angels by Brian Lee Durfee, there is a good chance you will enjoy the story in The Way of Edan. And vice versa. The way the novel is written and told, it is more precise to say The Way of Edan is a magnificent mix of classic and modern fantasy. As far as I know, Chase took decades to write and polish the trilogy. And having the honor to befriend the author for two years now, I know Chase's passion for the genre is undeniable, and it shows in his writing.
“‘My power shall be reborn in the one who awakeneth and beholdeth the world anew. It is this one who shall save Eormenlond from destruction, and such will be the true Prophet of Edan.’”
But nothing I just said would matter much to me if I did not feel invested in the characters. And fortunately, Chase's protagonists were easy to like. Chase uses multiple third-person POV chapters to tell the story, but Dayraven is the dominant main character of this tale. At least as far as the first book of the trilogy goes. Dayraven, on his own, was already likable as a character. You know the drill by now. A kind-hearted young protagonist, unbeknownst to practically anyone, has an uncontrollable power. And an unfortunate incident forced him to leave his village. In other words, the chosen one trope. Yes, prophecies and chosen ones are tropes used infinitely in the genre. Although I do not have any issues with these tropes in fantasy, it is admirable how Chase's lyrical prose (somehow) made the narrative feels fresh and engaging. I did not feel like The Way of Edan was a copycat of any specific fantasy book I read. There were a few sections and events that reminded me of The Lord of the Rings, but it felt inspired and natural to the plotline, like the passage below:
“Dayraven looked over the heads of the soldiers in front of him at a knoll rising above the plain. Atop the knoll, like a god surveying his creation, a figure rode a magnificent white steed. And though the distance was not small, Dayraven knew the figure was King Earconwald. Now he understood whose will the drumbeats called them to obey. With this realization, he perceived the great pride illuminating the determined faces around him. In the eyes of his fellow soldiers glowed a strange joy. They were ready to kill and die, to leap into an abyss to get at the foe. They were waiting for the man on the horse to tell them to do it.”
If you have read The Lord of the Rings, you will know which scene that passage reminded me of. And it worked incredibly well to the scenes in the book after all the momentum building. It truly helps that Dayraven was not the only character I cared about. I am a reader who cherishes the portrayal of inspiring friendship and brotherhood, and Dayraven's brotherhood with Imharr impactfully remains one of my favorite parts of the novel. Their friendship and their brotherhood with one another felt genuine and believable. The struggles they faced in The Way of Edan strengthen their connection with one another, including my connection with Dayraven and Imharr. And it's not only both of them; along their journey, they met plenty of likable characters such as Urd, the two Dweorgs, Orvandil, and Sequara (one of the main POV characters of the book) that made the book more compelling to read.
“His father’s words about the dread before combat came to him. Every man feels it. Do not seek to crush it, but let it flow out and fuel you. Keep control of your mind, but let the fear loose at the same time.”
But enough about the protagonists, I will let you read and find out for yourself. I like to mention one more thing I totally appreciate about the characters. Chase included the POV chapters of the villains. I have frequently said in my reviews that this should practically be a staple in epic fantasy with multiple POV characters. It gives extra depth to the villain when done right, and it adds variety to the narrative. Chase succeeded at doing this. Bledla, the supreme priest of Edan, was absolutely insane. His willingness to do everything in the name of his religion was obsessive and terrifying. Bledla is the kind of character with absolute belief and is fearless in exposing unbelievers to violence and death to achieve his goal. At the same time, despite all his cruel actions (I never liked him), I understood from the text why he did the vile things he did. It is all well-written. There were other antagonists with respective believable motives, but I think I'll let you read about them in your own time than hearing from me.
“Expect cheating in battle… Men hacking at each other and screaming and dying. It’s no tale of valor and prowess for children. Blood and guts and shit. No rules, and few die with glory.”
Please note that although The Way of Edan may contain a few explicitly violent scenes, it is not a grimdark fantasy novel. It is a lyrical and traditional epic fantasy oozing with some mythical quality due to its world-building. This is another reason why I mentioned Tolkien earlier. There is a relatively higher learning curve due to the many names of the characters (in the present days or history) appearing in the book and many similar-sounding location names, all ending with ond. The world of Eormenlond is plagued with centuries of hatred, tragedy, pain, and glory. It is immersive and rich in history. And there are meanings behind every location name here. But speaking of Tolkien, one aspect that did not gel with me too well in The Way of Edan, just like in The Fellowship of the Ring, was the songs. This is definitely a subjective experience, and even though I would love to read more bards in epic fantasy, I am also not a fan of having too many songs in an epic fantasy novel. Not when they appeared many times, anyway. The Kingkiller Chronicle is one of the few series where I felt the songs were a delight to read. But overall, this slight disruption in the pacing of my reading experience is not that big a deal. Chase has wonderfully balanced the plot movement, characterizations, soft magic, actions, and world-building details such as lore, weaponry, armory, and settings. And not gonna lie, it is hard to resist reading a beautifully written fantasy novel imbued with such a crystal-clear devotion to reading. Like this passage:
“The words were seared into his heart, and he could have recited them without the book, but he stroked the letters with his fingertips on the page and smiled at them, at the beauty of their expression and their truth. Ink on vellum. The bark of hawthorn branches processed with wine and iron salts to make the ink. The flesh of a calf, cleaned and bleached and stretched and scraped, to make the vellum. All to form words, which were nothing more than metaphors agreed upon to contain and convey truth. Such were the elements, mundane and intellectual, of the volume before him. Yet, brought together in this particular form to convey these particular truths, they became something far greater. They became sacred. Imbued with Edan’s truth. Nothing was as familiar and dear to him as the book he now read from. In fact, Bledla had bound his soul to the words of the tome, words so established in his mind that he might have written them himself.”
The Way of Edan might become my favorite fantasy debut of the year. We are still in March, so it's still too early to tell. I still have some other fantasy debuts of 2023 I want to read. But the potential is certainly there. Whether you are a fan of the classic, the modern, or both fantasy, there are many things to love in The Way of Edan. The themes and writing evoked a timeless quality, and the small battles or the one big war sequence were engaging. The book won't be suitable for those inching to read a grimdark fantasy or fantasy books with a hard-magic system, but beyond that, I think The Way of Edan can be enjoyed by many epic fantasy readers. Congratulations to Philip Chase for this great debut, and I expect the remaining two books (both will be published this year, too) in the trilogy to be better than The Way of Edan. There are a lot of setups being established in The Way of Edan, and I have a good feeling the payoffs in the second book, The Prophet of Edan, and of course the final book as well, will be rewarding.
“Courage is when you fear shame more than death.”
You can pre-order this book from: Amazon UK | Amazon US
The quotes in this review were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.
You can find this and the rest of my reviews at Novel Notions | I also have a Booktube channel
Special thanks to my Patrons on Patreon for giving me extra support towards my passion for reading and reviewing!
My Patrons: Alfred, Anastasia, Andrew, Andrew W, Annabeth, Arliss, Barbara, Brad, Cade, Casey, Chris, Diana, Dylan, Edward, Elias, Ellen, Gary, Hamad, Helen, Jesse, Jimmy Nutts, Joie, Kristina, Luis, Lufi, Melinda, Meryl, Michael, Michael, Miracle, Nicholas, Radiah, Samuel, Sarah, Sarah, Scott, Shawn, Teri, Tracy, Wendy, Wick, Xero, Yuri, Zoe.
March 21, 2023
Released TODAY 21st of March!
Reading Chase’s debut, The Way of Edan, has put me in mind of the works of a number of other (fine) writers, both modern and old.
Chase’s writing and novel have shades of (in chronological order):
J.R.R Tolkien: there’s a gravitas about much of it, a touch of the mythic, and respect for the history and languages of the setting, and … songs! Yes, we get several songs, one two-pages long.
Katharine Kerr: Something about the style, along with the lands and people described.
John Gwynne: Again, a combination of style and focus, attention to weapons and armour, inclusion of monsters like trolls and such.
The Way of Edan is an engaging story of nations at war, driven by religious and political ambition. Whilst the “bad guys” include some rather unpleasant individuals at the top, Chase doesn’t fall into the trap of making them all moustache twirling villains – the worst of them have reasons for their actions (albeit “bad” reasons) and the upper ranks contain a variety of individuals with competing ambitions and divergent takes on the faith at the heart of it all (the eponymous Way of Edan).
The magic is more of the handwaving sort than bound to a rigid system, and feels fairly standard, but with the interesting aspect that practitioners can recognise and gauge each other’s power, a fact that’s used in various ways.
The story is seen through several points of view but focuses strongly on that of our young hero, Dayraven. Dayraven is a kind of “chosen one” but the manner of the choosing, combined with its ambivalent nature and obscure goals, keeps this from being generic.
We get exciting swordplay and adventure on the small scale, along with grand battles on the largest scale. All in all it’s an interesting and engaging fantasy tale that has an old school vibe to it without feeling old.
Chase has a distinctive narrative voice that I really enjoyed and should appeal to many others. Definitely worth taking a look at.
Join my Patreon
Join my 3-emails-a-year newsletter #prizes
..
Reading Chase’s debut, The Way of Edan, has put me in mind of the works of a number of other (fine) writers, both modern and old.
Chase’s writing and novel have shades of (in chronological order):
J.R.R Tolkien: there’s a gravitas about much of it, a touch of the mythic, and respect for the history and languages of the setting, and … songs! Yes, we get several songs, one two-pages long.
Katharine Kerr: Something about the style, along with the lands and people described.
John Gwynne: Again, a combination of style and focus, attention to weapons and armour, inclusion of monsters like trolls and such.
The Way of Edan is an engaging story of nations at war, driven by religious and political ambition. Whilst the “bad guys” include some rather unpleasant individuals at the top, Chase doesn’t fall into the trap of making them all moustache twirling villains – the worst of them have reasons for their actions (albeit “bad” reasons) and the upper ranks contain a variety of individuals with competing ambitions and divergent takes on the faith at the heart of it all (the eponymous Way of Edan).
The magic is more of the handwaving sort than bound to a rigid system, and feels fairly standard, but with the interesting aspect that practitioners can recognise and gauge each other’s power, a fact that’s used in various ways.
The story is seen through several points of view but focuses strongly on that of our young hero, Dayraven. Dayraven is a kind of “chosen one” but the manner of the choosing, combined with its ambivalent nature and obscure goals, keeps this from being generic.
We get exciting swordplay and adventure on the small scale, along with grand battles on the largest scale. All in all it’s an interesting and engaging fantasy tale that has an old school vibe to it without feeling old.
Chase has a distinctive narrative voice that I really enjoyed and should appeal to many others. Definitely worth taking a look at.
Join my Patreon
Join my 3-emails-a-year newsletter #prizes
..
April 1, 2023
THE WAY OF EDAN IS OUT TODAY. MY ADVICE.... PICK IT UP NOW!
Every element of storytelling comes together to weave an engaging and immersive story that is an absolute joy to follow. This is a book that combines the best of classic fantasy and pairs that effortlessly with what we love about modern fantasy. It feels effortless to read, making it so easy to get lost in a whole new world that is brimming with life and mystery.
If you want a book that feels fresh but contains so much of what we love about the genre at the same time, then I cannot recommend The Way of Edan enough. The beginning of an epic fantasy series that I am sure will become one of my favourites of all time.
BookTube channel with my awesome brother, Ed - The Brothers Gwynne
My personal BookTube channel - William Gwynne
Every element of storytelling comes together to weave an engaging and immersive story that is an absolute joy to follow. This is a book that combines the best of classic fantasy and pairs that effortlessly with what we love about modern fantasy. It feels effortless to read, making it so easy to get lost in a whole new world that is brimming with life and mystery.
If you want a book that feels fresh but contains so much of what we love about the genre at the same time, then I cannot recommend The Way of Edan enough. The beginning of an epic fantasy series that I am sure will become one of my favourites of all time.
BookTube channel with my awesome brother, Ed - The Brothers Gwynne
My personal BookTube channel - William Gwynne
November 6, 2023
My complete review of The Way of Edan is published at Grimdark Magazine.
Every word is worth savoring in The Way of Edan, the masterful debut epic fantasy from Philip Chase and the first volume in his Edan Trilogy.
J.R.R. Tolkien’s influence is evident throughout The Way of Edan, starting with the circuitous path taken by Philip Chase toward publication of his debut. Following in Tolkien’s footsteps, Chase first established himself as a prominent medievalist and professor of English before devoting many years to develop his own fantasy world, Eormenlond. Like Middle-earth, Eormenlond feels fully realized, with The Way of Edan only scratching the surface of its history and lore.
Chase also shares Tolkien’s love of the Old English epic poem, Beowulf, which Tolkien translated into modern English in the 1920s. Chase describes Beowulf as a lamentation for the past: “It’s about how the things that are so precious to us in the present moment won’t always be around — the people we are with and the things we surround ourselves with. There is a kind of impermanence to life, which is what makes it precious.” This sentiment also pervades The Lord of the Rings, and Chase has captured the same feeling with sorrowful beauty throughout The Way of Edan.
Like The Lord of the Rings, Chase’s novel is epic in scope but has a personal feel. Chase smoothly shifts third person narration among several point of view characters in The Way of Edan, seeing the world through their eyes and helping the reader develop strong attachments to each of the main characters.
The time and care that Chase has spent writing The Way of Edan is evident throughout the novel. The Way of Edan is the most perfectly conceived and executed debut fantasy that I have read since The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Like Rothfuss, Chase’s writing is lyrical and evocative, without any of the stiffness sometimes associated with modern fantasy novels that strive too hard to achieve a classic feel.
Religion plays a pivotal role throughout The Way of Edan, as the kingdoms of Eormenlond descend into holy war. The title of the novel refers to the path of the god, Edan. Chase expertly captures the uneasy alliances that form between religious and political leaders, each seeking their own goals by taking advantage of the other.
I love a good soft magic system, and The Way of Edan delivers in spades, featuring mind melds, nature magic, miraculous healing, and much more. The scenes of magic instilled a sense of awe and mysticism that recalled the first time I read The Lord of the Rings as a child. There is a strong overlap between magic and religion in The Way of Edan, but religion does not have a monopoly on the magical arts.
The Way of Edan is surprisingly dark. Chase grabbed my attention from the opening prologue, giving realistic depictions of religious zealotry and violence. There are also a number of truly terrifying creatures dwelling in Eormenlond. Chase maintains an even pacing throughout the novel, introducing characters and worldbuilding in a natural fashion. I felt fully immersed in the story without ever becoming lost or confused, despite the complexity of the world and its large cast of characters. Grimdark fans will appreciate the gray morality embodied by several of the characters, in addition to those who appear objectively good or evil.
The Way of Edan strikes the perfect balance between modern and classic epic fantasy. Philip Chase manifests his deep love of literature in The Way of Edan, a lamentation that distills the best of fantasy from classics, such as Beowulf and The Lord of the Rings, through modern masterpieces like The Name of the Wind. Mercifully, Chase won’t make readers wait long for the next two volumes of his Edan Trilogy, which will be published later this year.
Every word is worth savoring in The Way of Edan, the masterful debut epic fantasy from Philip Chase and the first volume in his Edan Trilogy.
J.R.R. Tolkien’s influence is evident throughout The Way of Edan, starting with the circuitous path taken by Philip Chase toward publication of his debut. Following in Tolkien’s footsteps, Chase first established himself as a prominent medievalist and professor of English before devoting many years to develop his own fantasy world, Eormenlond. Like Middle-earth, Eormenlond feels fully realized, with The Way of Edan only scratching the surface of its history and lore.
Chase also shares Tolkien’s love of the Old English epic poem, Beowulf, which Tolkien translated into modern English in the 1920s. Chase describes Beowulf as a lamentation for the past: “It’s about how the things that are so precious to us in the present moment won’t always be around — the people we are with and the things we surround ourselves with. There is a kind of impermanence to life, which is what makes it precious.” This sentiment also pervades The Lord of the Rings, and Chase has captured the same feeling with sorrowful beauty throughout The Way of Edan.
Like The Lord of the Rings, Chase’s novel is epic in scope but has a personal feel. Chase smoothly shifts third person narration among several point of view characters in The Way of Edan, seeing the world through their eyes and helping the reader develop strong attachments to each of the main characters.
The time and care that Chase has spent writing The Way of Edan is evident throughout the novel. The Way of Edan is the most perfectly conceived and executed debut fantasy that I have read since The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Like Rothfuss, Chase’s writing is lyrical and evocative, without any of the stiffness sometimes associated with modern fantasy novels that strive too hard to achieve a classic feel.
Religion plays a pivotal role throughout The Way of Edan, as the kingdoms of Eormenlond descend into holy war. The title of the novel refers to the path of the god, Edan. Chase expertly captures the uneasy alliances that form between religious and political leaders, each seeking their own goals by taking advantage of the other.
I love a good soft magic system, and The Way of Edan delivers in spades, featuring mind melds, nature magic, miraculous healing, and much more. The scenes of magic instilled a sense of awe and mysticism that recalled the first time I read The Lord of the Rings as a child. There is a strong overlap between magic and religion in The Way of Edan, but religion does not have a monopoly on the magical arts.
The Way of Edan is surprisingly dark. Chase grabbed my attention from the opening prologue, giving realistic depictions of religious zealotry and violence. There are also a number of truly terrifying creatures dwelling in Eormenlond. Chase maintains an even pacing throughout the novel, introducing characters and worldbuilding in a natural fashion. I felt fully immersed in the story without ever becoming lost or confused, despite the complexity of the world and its large cast of characters. Grimdark fans will appreciate the gray morality embodied by several of the characters, in addition to those who appear objectively good or evil.
The Way of Edan strikes the perfect balance between modern and classic epic fantasy. Philip Chase manifests his deep love of literature in The Way of Edan, a lamentation that distills the best of fantasy from classics, such as Beowulf and The Lord of the Rings, through modern masterpieces like The Name of the Wind. Mercifully, Chase won’t make readers wait long for the next two volumes of his Edan Trilogy, which will be published later this year.
Read
May 5, 2023Will be reading in April. Review to come!
March 21, 2023
A solid debut fantasy novel. It had many callbacks to the classics of the genre while still taking some left turns to make it stand out. Specifically I enjoyed that groups of people/factions were introduced in one way and then slowly revealed to have more nuance than is at first obvious. The writing itself was very solid and never became too purple or too plain for me. I think there were pivotal moments that catapulted our main character down a path that should have maybe had more time to develop, but it’s rare to say a fantasy book maybe needed more pages haha.
Overall I had a great time with this book and living in this world! I am excited for the next book. I’m hoping this setup takes up places we least expect while continuing to develop a good cast of characters.
Overall I had a great time with this book and living in this world! I am excited for the next book. I’m hoping this setup takes up places we least expect while continuing to develop a good cast of characters.
October 20, 2023
A fun tropey adventure story that shows promise for the rest of the trilogy. Full review coming soon...
March 27, 2023
My full review!
https://youtu.be/X41OdTwTaZY
https://youtu.be/X41OdTwTaZY
March 30, 2023
I read my favourite booktuber's fantasy debut and....
It was good! This is a classic fantasy done right! If you are looking for Tolkien-esque kind of book that analyses themes of religion, loyalty and identity - pick up this book! Also, it has scary elves!
3.5 🌟
I've done a full spoiler-free review on my channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgCB_...
It was good! This is a classic fantasy done right! If you are looking for Tolkien-esque kind of book that analyses themes of religion, loyalty and identity - pick up this book! Also, it has scary elves!
3.5 🌟
I've done a full spoiler-free review on my channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgCB_...
Read
March 17, 2023Here is my spoiler-free review: https://youtu.be/Rhdx4TrCN8E
April 5, 2023
Gemmell's characters have invaded the landscape of of Tolkien in this immersive, addictive, poetic read. An instant classic that will have fantasy and historical fiction fans desperate for more.
What an amazing beginning to Dr Fantasy's trilogy! The Anglo-Saxon influences, the classic fantasy meets modern style, the Middle-Earth-feeling world, it all comes together to weave a breathtaking story with grey characters and top-notch action. Such a fun read and one that will stay with me for a long while.
What an amazing beginning to Dr Fantasy's trilogy! The Anglo-Saxon influences, the classic fantasy meets modern style, the Middle-Earth-feeling world, it all comes together to weave a breathtaking story with grey characters and top-notch action. Such a fun read and one that will stay with me for a long while.
April 23, 2023
Before reading it I saw The Way of Edan compared a lot to Lord of the Rings, and Faithful and the Fallen. I see where those are coming from, especially since it is known that Phillip likes Gwynne, and well...more than likes Tolkien. However, I got to say that to me the reading experience is by far the most similar to The Eye of the World, and The Great Hunt. Not The Wheel of Time, just the first 2 where Rand was overwhelmed by the situation, they were running from danger with his best friend, going to inn's, being in danger because chosen one. Getting out of danger because chosen one. With a background story of political tension, and brewing wars between various factions. And some long descriptions of buildings.
This description obviously tells you nothing about how good I think it is, and I am not in any way trying to say that The Way of Edan is an Eye of the World rip off, only that they share a similar vibe.
Also, worth prefacing, that Phillip Chase is a friend, and guess what, he is also an adult. He is not going to get mad at me if I give his book a lower rating, if you think that makes my review less trustworthy you can move on.
To me The Way of Edan was a slightly mixed, but overall positive reading experience. I struggled a bit with the first couple chapters, and it took me some time to get used to the writing, and early on I would sometimes have to reread passages, and found it a bit difficult to get immersed. However I thought the inciting incident really ratcheted stuff up, and my brain adjusted to Phillip's style.
This also brought in one of my favorite aspects of this novel, which is the magic, and supernatural elements. I found the concept of having it connect magic users to the emotions of others to be really unique, and to add a lot to scenes where magic was used, other than it just being cool. Also the execution and writing managed to leave it mysterious and wonderous, without straying into Deus ex Machina.
This book also had a number of plotlines and PoVs, and hopped between them with a deft hand, making sensible PoV hops that added to the story, and to me were not confusing. I found the way the various plotlines came together to be quite satisfying, and Phillip was on multiple occasions able to create tension due to knowledge I had that whichever PoV I was in did not.
Also, I like the dwarves.
One thing that definitely hurt my enjoyment, is just the sheer quantity of descriptive writing. I know Phillip likes descriptive writing, but it definitely hurt the pacing and my enjoyment from the sheer quantity. Hence the comparison to Eye of the World, although if I had to guess an even larger percentage of the word count in this would be dedicated to describing buildings and landscapes. While I can certainly enjoy descriptive books, to me in this novel they took away more than they added, and I sometimes found myself asking what this added to the story. I guess the result was I could picture things decently well, but usually that would be based on a couple individual lines standing out, and my imagination filling in the rest.
I do think Phillip has said that he often enjoys descriptive writing for its own sake, but for me only a couple authors can pull off a page long description of a building that we spend 2 pages in, and make it immersive.
The cast of characters will obviously make or break basically any novel, and I thought there were definitely some interesting ones. The antagonist has PoVs, and he was in my opinion the most interesting character and arc. I see seeds planted on where his character will go, and see him try to continue down his path without doubt, despite doubts best efforts to creep in. One thing that maybe made me slightly less engaged, is that I just wasn't strongly invested in disliking the people I was supposed to hate. There are characters who I can see are bad people, but fail to draw the seething, tangible rage I feel towards many of the genres best antagonists.
I like Dayraven though, I have seen some people say they found him the least interesting, and hey people tend to find Rand the least interesting in Eye of the World, but I like both.
Lastly, the chain mail.....and armored helmets sure seem to get cut through relatively often when non protagonists are wearing them. You wound me Phillip.
Overall though, I still thought the novel was solid, the last act was exciting, and the world well fleshed out. I'm sure people will see me give this a slightly lower score than some of Phillips other friends, and assume they are being dishonest. And if you are thinking of doing that, please rethink your life choices. They are also being honest, guess what, people are not all going to think the same thing about a book.
6/10
This description obviously tells you nothing about how good I think it is, and I am not in any way trying to say that The Way of Edan is an Eye of the World rip off, only that they share a similar vibe.
Also, worth prefacing, that Phillip Chase is a friend, and guess what, he is also an adult. He is not going to get mad at me if I give his book a lower rating, if you think that makes my review less trustworthy you can move on.
To me The Way of Edan was a slightly mixed, but overall positive reading experience. I struggled a bit with the first couple chapters, and it took me some time to get used to the writing, and early on I would sometimes have to reread passages, and found it a bit difficult to get immersed. However I thought the inciting incident really ratcheted stuff up, and my brain adjusted to Phillip's style.
This also brought in one of my favorite aspects of this novel, which is the magic, and supernatural elements. I found the concept of having it connect magic users to the emotions of others to be really unique, and to add a lot to scenes where magic was used, other than it just being cool. Also the execution and writing managed to leave it mysterious and wonderous, without straying into Deus ex Machina.
This book also had a number of plotlines and PoVs, and hopped between them with a deft hand, making sensible PoV hops that added to the story, and to me were not confusing. I found the way the various plotlines came together to be quite satisfying, and Phillip was on multiple occasions able to create tension due to knowledge I had that whichever PoV I was in did not.
Also, I like the dwarves.
One thing that definitely hurt my enjoyment, is just the sheer quantity of descriptive writing. I know Phillip likes descriptive writing, but it definitely hurt the pacing and my enjoyment from the sheer quantity. Hence the comparison to Eye of the World, although if I had to guess an even larger percentage of the word count in this would be dedicated to describing buildings and landscapes. While I can certainly enjoy descriptive books, to me in this novel they took away more than they added, and I sometimes found myself asking what this added to the story. I guess the result was I could picture things decently well, but usually that would be based on a couple individual lines standing out, and my imagination filling in the rest.
I do think Phillip has said that he often enjoys descriptive writing for its own sake, but for me only a couple authors can pull off a page long description of a building that we spend 2 pages in, and make it immersive.
The cast of characters will obviously make or break basically any novel, and I thought there were definitely some interesting ones. The antagonist has PoVs, and he was in my opinion the most interesting character and arc. I see seeds planted on where his character will go, and see him try to continue down his path without doubt, despite doubts best efforts to creep in. One thing that maybe made me slightly less engaged, is that I just wasn't strongly invested in disliking the people I was supposed to hate. There are characters who I can see are bad people, but fail to draw the seething, tangible rage I feel towards many of the genres best antagonists.
I like Dayraven though, I have seen some people say they found him the least interesting, and hey people tend to find Rand the least interesting in Eye of the World, but I like both.
Lastly, the chain mail.....and armored helmets sure seem to get cut through relatively often when non protagonists are wearing them. You wound me Phillip.
Overall though, I still thought the novel was solid, the last act was exciting, and the world well fleshed out. I'm sure people will see me give this a slightly lower score than some of Phillips other friends, and assume they are being dishonest. And if you are thinking of doing that, please rethink your life choices. They are also being honest, guess what, people are not all going to think the same thing about a book.
6/10
Read
May 26, 2023I can’t get passed the dumb arse names!!
Beautiful cover of course!!
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
Beautiful cover of course!!
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
April 15, 2023
Philip Chase’s debut novel is a wonderful combination of classic and traditional fantasy written with an impressive modern prose and a handful of twists that kept me eager to read on. I did find that it took me a little bit to get invested in the story and one or two characters fell a little flat development-wise, but as the story continued to build, the strengths of this novel really stood out. The incorporation of religion in this world through the Holy War and the storyline of Supreme Priest Bledla and others was incredibly engaging and unique. Philip Chase also spends a lot of time developing the history of this world, introducing a lot of the different races and factions, and answering a few questions while leaving a number of big ones unanswered, making me eager to pick up the second book. The prose is engaging and serves the story well, the action is well written, and the plot really built into something I’m excited about. Overall, I had a great time reading The Way of Edan and I’m really looking forward to seeing where the story goes from here.
April 3, 2023
To say I was excited to read The Way of Edan would probably be the understatement of the year. Though at the same time, I have to admit that I was also a bit nervous to dive in because of the Beowulf influences and frequent Tolkien comparisons. I’ll be the first to admit that I am fairly easy to please as a reader, but I do generally tend to favour the more inventive and modern approaches to fantasy over the traditional and Tolkienesque type of stories. So… did our dear Dr. Fantasy manage to win me over? Let’s find out.
This story is set in the world of Eormenlond, which is threatened by a holy war that is on the verge of breaking out. While we follow a plethora of interesting characters on all sides of the conflict, the focus lies mostly on three central figures who all end up having a pivotal role to play in the brewing war.
I personally immediately latched onto all of these characters, which I honestly wasn’t expecting. In my experience, traditional/classic style fantasy tends to not have the most nuanced and compelling characters, but the opposite couldn’t be more true here. Yes, we have a pretty typical young and naïve chosen-one hero, but then we also get a strong and cunning sorceress who is heir to a queendom and a morally complex priest who is blinded by his faith. And even though I maybe would’ve liked to see a bit more character development for some of them and wasn’t as emotionally invested in them as I prefer to be, there’s just no denying that they were absolutely fascinating to follow.
Also, while I definitely had a favourite character (Sequara, obviously!!), there wasn’t a single moment where I wished to be reading from another perspective. Each of these characters had a very strong and distinct voice, so I was always immediately engaged again after a POV shift. And even though I just said that Sequara was my favourite character, which I stand by, I also really loved getting a close look into the minds of the antagonists of this story. It really added a layer of nuance and depth to the story that I greatly appreciated, because it perfectly showcased that there is no simple good vs. evil situation here, it’s truly all a matter of perspective. Now, I am not saying that you will find yourself rooting for the ‘bad guys’, but I think you will be surprised by how easily you can understand their motivations and (vile) actions.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the level of darkness in this story, which was immediately introduced in the gripping and shocking prologue. Don’t get me wrong, this is absolutely not a grimdark novel, but there were definitely some gory scenes and terrifying creatures that really unsettled me in the best way possible. I mean, scary elves? Who wouldn’t love that?
Also, heavy themes of religious fanaticism, prejudice, bigotry, greed, hatred and fear are very prominent in this story, but they never felt on-the-nose or overbearing. And that’s not just because they were subtly and masterfully woven into the narrative, but also because the weight of those heavy themes was beautifully balanced out with more wholesome themes of friendship, empathy, loyalty, compassion, found family and love.
This book was just incredibly spellbinding on all kinds of levels, from the immersive worldbuilding, to the compelling character- and themework, to the tense political and religious conflict, and finally to the lyrical and entrancing prose.
I have said many times that I am not a visual reader and often struggle to get fully immersed, but Chase just has a magical way with words and I was totally transported into the world of Eormenlond. You can just feel the love, passion and effort that has gone into the creation of this world, which I really enjoyed. The soft magic system also filled me with wonder and added an air of mystery and intrigue to the story that I really appreciated.
And even though there were some lulls in the pacing, especially around the middle section, I was always happy to be reading this book because I just loved spending time in this world. In the end, I think the slower parts actually really paid off, because it all built up to an incredibly action-packed and explosive ending that has me super excited for future instalments.
So, safe to say I am deeply impressed by this debut novel! And now I am almost ashamed to admit that I initially felt nervous to start this book. From the moment I started reading, I knew I should never have doubted Chase’s ability to write a compelling and nuanced story. Seriously, don’t let the fact that this is more of a traditional/classic fantasy put you off if that isn’t your usual preference, because this book really stands out from the crowd and I think there is something to love here for any type of fantasy reader. I can’t recommend it highly enough!
This story is set in the world of Eormenlond, which is threatened by a holy war that is on the verge of breaking out. While we follow a plethora of interesting characters on all sides of the conflict, the focus lies mostly on three central figures who all end up having a pivotal role to play in the brewing war.
I personally immediately latched onto all of these characters, which I honestly wasn’t expecting. In my experience, traditional/classic style fantasy tends to not have the most nuanced and compelling characters, but the opposite couldn’t be more true here. Yes, we have a pretty typical young and naïve chosen-one hero, but then we also get a strong and cunning sorceress who is heir to a queendom and a morally complex priest who is blinded by his faith. And even though I maybe would’ve liked to see a bit more character development for some of them and wasn’t as emotionally invested in them as I prefer to be, there’s just no denying that they were absolutely fascinating to follow.
Also, while I definitely had a favourite character (Sequara, obviously!!), there wasn’t a single moment where I wished to be reading from another perspective. Each of these characters had a very strong and distinct voice, so I was always immediately engaged again after a POV shift. And even though I just said that Sequara was my favourite character, which I stand by, I also really loved getting a close look into the minds of the antagonists of this story. It really added a layer of nuance and depth to the story that I greatly appreciated, because it perfectly showcased that there is no simple good vs. evil situation here, it’s truly all a matter of perspective. Now, I am not saying that you will find yourself rooting for the ‘bad guys’, but I think you will be surprised by how easily you can understand their motivations and (vile) actions.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the level of darkness in this story, which was immediately introduced in the gripping and shocking prologue. Don’t get me wrong, this is absolutely not a grimdark novel, but there were definitely some gory scenes and terrifying creatures that really unsettled me in the best way possible. I mean, scary elves? Who wouldn’t love that?
Also, heavy themes of religious fanaticism, prejudice, bigotry, greed, hatred and fear are very prominent in this story, but they never felt on-the-nose or overbearing. And that’s not just because they were subtly and masterfully woven into the narrative, but also because the weight of those heavy themes was beautifully balanced out with more wholesome themes of friendship, empathy, loyalty, compassion, found family and love.
This book was just incredibly spellbinding on all kinds of levels, from the immersive worldbuilding, to the compelling character- and themework, to the tense political and religious conflict, and finally to the lyrical and entrancing prose.
I have said many times that I am not a visual reader and often struggle to get fully immersed, but Chase just has a magical way with words and I was totally transported into the world of Eormenlond. You can just feel the love, passion and effort that has gone into the creation of this world, which I really enjoyed. The soft magic system also filled me with wonder and added an air of mystery and intrigue to the story that I really appreciated.
And even though there were some lulls in the pacing, especially around the middle section, I was always happy to be reading this book because I just loved spending time in this world. In the end, I think the slower parts actually really paid off, because it all built up to an incredibly action-packed and explosive ending that has me super excited for future instalments.
So, safe to say I am deeply impressed by this debut novel! And now I am almost ashamed to admit that I initially felt nervous to start this book. From the moment I started reading, I knew I should never have doubted Chase’s ability to write a compelling and nuanced story. Seriously, don’t let the fact that this is more of a traditional/classic fantasy put you off if that isn’t your usual preference, because this book really stands out from the crowd and I think there is something to love here for any type of fantasy reader. I can’t recommend it highly enough!
July 22, 2024
Reading this, I realized two things. These things were already known but are now further cemented:
1. There is no great Booktuber book;
2. Writing is hard.
I am disappointed because there is what should be a strong pedigree for a debut novelist. Chase is mature, intelligent, a true lover of fantasy fiction, and from his website, "a medievalist with a PhD in English Literature, Philip Chase has taught courses on writing, medieval literature, and fantasy literature." (All true; he's been on faculty for over 20 years at County College of Morris in New Jersey, where "graduates realize a $14 to $1 return on investment" according to their website.) He extolls the value of developmental editing, and his book received the full scope of editing and design services, an unfortunate rarity in self-publishing. He was a client of a high-tier literary agent, and only self-published after they failed to sell his book. The agent representation preceded his booktube channel so it was because of the book and not his current following. Reviews are mostly positive, even discounting those by other booktube community figures. I'm aware of Chase's youtube oeuvre and appreciate that he has genuine conversations with knowledgeable people about fantasy, with nary a book haul or clickbait video in evidence, but I don't think I've ever watched a video of his in full because I'm generally still bored by the content. So, I don't consider myself a fan of the author and I read the book without any positive prejudice. I may have had some negative prejudice because I'm extremely wary of most self-published material based on sound experience, and I knew traditional publishers had turned this book down. Even so, I've been marvelously surprised on occasion.
I gave it a shot. The temptation to stop reading started around the 20% mark, but I persevered, then finally gave up at 50%.
Mostly I think it was the writing itself. The content seemed fine if largely unexciting. It's a traditional fantasy story, with a reasonably original application of magic, standard character types, over-the-top slavering religious zealots for villains. The first problem that stuck out for me was a lack of flow on the page; it simply didn't have the smooth rhythm and economy of prose that makes scenes pop for me with skilled writers of similar material. It was slow; often in a particular scene, the destination was clear long before the words got us there and then it was a drag waiting for the words to catch up. There was no confusion, no sloppy sentences, it merely didn't pop the way it needed to in order to convince me that yes, this man can write.
Multiple annoyances stacked up along the way too. One was the mentioned villains, so uncomplicatedly evil and power-mad. One of these is named Bagsac, fitting because he is indeed a scrotum. Songs written out, meh, we all skip those anyway, no big deal, but the full text of the magic words to accompany every spellcasting became tiresome. World lore was delivered organically enough to avoid the dreaded 'info dump' declaration, but it was still a bit much at times. At the point that I gave up, the main (?) character had just sat down with some dwarves (called Dweorgs in this setting) who then launched into a multi-page dwarf history primer. I was unimpressed by the simple way religion was applied to this world. And there were too many POVs for my liking. I don't have any rules about number of POVs but too often the 'extra' ones' appearance showed me that the story was about the whole world and less about the characters. If you want to tell a world-changing story, great, but tell it via specific characters' experiences, interesting characters, which were not present here. I'm never going to care about a world, only about people. And Dayraven (I think he's meant to be the main character, he is certainly cast in the standard role for such), didn't offer much reason to care about him during the limited times we followed him, other than as a vehicle for events.
I wish I could rate this higher because I've done so with objectively worse material, but a single Goodreads star equals "I didn't like it" and that's what happened. I did not like it.
1. There is no great Booktuber book;
2. Writing is hard.
I am disappointed because there is what should be a strong pedigree for a debut novelist. Chase is mature, intelligent, a true lover of fantasy fiction, and from his website, "a medievalist with a PhD in English Literature, Philip Chase has taught courses on writing, medieval literature, and fantasy literature." (All true; he's been on faculty for over 20 years at County College of Morris in New Jersey, where "graduates realize a $14 to $1 return on investment" according to their website.) He extolls the value of developmental editing, and his book received the full scope of editing and design services, an unfortunate rarity in self-publishing. He was a client of a high-tier literary agent, and only self-published after they failed to sell his book. The agent representation preceded his booktube channel so it was because of the book and not his current following. Reviews are mostly positive, even discounting those by other booktube community figures. I'm aware of Chase's youtube oeuvre and appreciate that he has genuine conversations with knowledgeable people about fantasy, with nary a book haul or clickbait video in evidence, but I don't think I've ever watched a video of his in full because I'm generally still bored by the content. So, I don't consider myself a fan of the author and I read the book without any positive prejudice. I may have had some negative prejudice because I'm extremely wary of most self-published material based on sound experience, and I knew traditional publishers had turned this book down. Even so, I've been marvelously surprised on occasion.
I gave it a shot. The temptation to stop reading started around the 20% mark, but I persevered, then finally gave up at 50%.
Mostly I think it was the writing itself. The content seemed fine if largely unexciting. It's a traditional fantasy story, with a reasonably original application of magic, standard character types, over-the-top slavering religious zealots for villains. The first problem that stuck out for me was a lack of flow on the page; it simply didn't have the smooth rhythm and economy of prose that makes scenes pop for me with skilled writers of similar material. It was slow; often in a particular scene, the destination was clear long before the words got us there and then it was a drag waiting for the words to catch up. There was no confusion, no sloppy sentences, it merely didn't pop the way it needed to in order to convince me that yes, this man can write.
Multiple annoyances stacked up along the way too. One was the mentioned villains, so uncomplicatedly evil and power-mad. One of these is named Bagsac, fitting because he is indeed a scrotum. Songs written out, meh, we all skip those anyway, no big deal, but the full text of the magic words to accompany every spellcasting became tiresome. World lore was delivered organically enough to avoid the dreaded 'info dump' declaration, but it was still a bit much at times. At the point that I gave up, the main (?) character had just sat down with some dwarves (called Dweorgs in this setting) who then launched into a multi-page dwarf history primer. I was unimpressed by the simple way religion was applied to this world. And there were too many POVs for my liking. I don't have any rules about number of POVs but too often the 'extra' ones' appearance showed me that the story was about the whole world and less about the characters. If you want to tell a world-changing story, great, but tell it via specific characters' experiences, interesting characters, which were not present here. I'm never going to care about a world, only about people. And Dayraven (I think he's meant to be the main character, he is certainly cast in the standard role for such), didn't offer much reason to care about him during the limited times we followed him, other than as a vehicle for events.
I wish I could rate this higher because I've done so with objectively worse material, but a single Goodreads star equals "I didn't like it" and that's what happened. I did not like it.
April 17, 2023
Update 2023/04/17: I promised a review, but now when I finally found some time I honestly don't really know what to write.
Update 2023/03/30: Review to come (might take a few days).
Update 2023/03/22:
I just read a review claiming that so far all reviewers except her are biased. That seems to be true though it is kind of normal when all reviews are based on ARCs. As a long-time follower and fan of Philip Chase's YouTube-channel I'm certainly biased myself. I just began to read the book but the prospect of reviewing it afterwards already makes me nervous. It is a loose-loose-situation. If I like it then the review might be perceived as dishonest and if I don't like it then I will feel bad about it. That said I will review it and I will try to be honest. Dear reviewers, no matter how I end up rating the book I'm completely fine with you loving or hating the book. It is okay if you think this is the worst or best book ever written. However I'm not okay with you claiming that other reviewers intentionally give better ratings than they normally would to do the author a favor. You don't know that and it is not fair to claim that.
a few weeks before release I wrote:
I'm all excited to get to it soon (March 21). My most anticipated 2023 release next to The Hexologists by Josiah Bancroft (September 26).
Update 2023/03/30: Review to come (might take a few days).
Update 2023/03/22:
I just read a review claiming that so far all reviewers except her are biased. That seems to be true though it is kind of normal when all reviews are based on ARCs. As a long-time follower and fan of Philip Chase's YouTube-channel I'm certainly biased myself. I just began to read the book but the prospect of reviewing it afterwards already makes me nervous. It is a loose-loose-situation. If I like it then the review might be perceived as dishonest and if I don't like it then I will feel bad about it. That said I will review it and I will try to be honest. Dear reviewers, no matter how I end up rating the book I'm completely fine with you loving or hating the book. It is okay if you think this is the worst or best book ever written. However I'm not okay with you claiming that other reviewers intentionally give better ratings than they normally would to do the author a favor. You don't know that and it is not fair to claim that.
a few weeks before release I wrote:
I'm all excited to get to it soon (March 21). My most anticipated 2023 release next to The Hexologists by Josiah Bancroft (September 26).
Read
March 28, 2023This is a delightfully well written book with strong classic elements, set in a somewhat Norse styled society at the opening mark. The departures from the classic elements add wondrously to the depth - elves and elven magic that are dangerous and not at all compatible to humans, dwarf characters introduced with a very intriguing backdrop, and a Queen and her heir setting out to unite disparate kingdoms for an upcoming war driven by dangerously scary religious fanatics unafraid to shed blood to drive their purpose forward.
Prose style and flow and the 'feel' of this story suggests it will be right in line for readers who love John Gwynne's books. Crisp plotting, indications of way more depth to come, and a wise woman mentor make this a timely debut for today's audience. First of a trilogy, this book holds immense promise for what is to come, given the mix of philosophies and the introverted focus of the magic, and the extroverted, direct action as war builds, with our hero snagged on the wrong side of history, and the Queen's Heir endangered by a difficult task.
Self published, to the very highest of standards - Dr. Philip Chase has long been known for his insightful and informative booktube channel that is also outstanding in the field, it is lovely to see this book take its place on the shelf.
Prose style and flow and the 'feel' of this story suggests it will be right in line for readers who love John Gwynne's books. Crisp plotting, indications of way more depth to come, and a wise woman mentor make this a timely debut for today's audience. First of a trilogy, this book holds immense promise for what is to come, given the mix of philosophies and the introverted focus of the magic, and the extroverted, direct action as war builds, with our hero snagged on the wrong side of history, and the Queen's Heir endangered by a difficult task.
Self published, to the very highest of standards - Dr. Philip Chase has long been known for his insightful and informative booktube channel that is also outstanding in the field, it is lovely to see this book take its place on the shelf.
March 22, 2023
I guess I’ll be the only nonbiased person to leave a rating. Every other person to leave a rating and review is a close personal friend of the author, a long-time viewer of his YouTube channel, or someone who benefits in book sales from his channel’s exposure.
Even the blurb from another author on the front of the book is a joke. It’s the kind of blurb that Neil Gaiman spent a good amount of time mocking in his interview with Michael Chabon following Terry Pratchett’s passing.
“A novel born of love for the story.”
A blurb that gives no actual compliment, but Mark Lawrence gave it in part to be nice, but really because these YouTubers are now increasing their sales numbers with their interviews and bad-faith reviews.
His longer “review” on this site isn’t even a review. It’s a recap, a spoiler-less summary. The nicest thing he says was that the author has a “distinctive” voice. Many of the worst books I’ve ever read had a distinctive narrative voice.
“This author loves stories.”
Okay, and? So does my baby niece, but she can’t write a novel. And neither can Philip Chase.
These YouTubers also give higher reviews than they would otherwise. It’s unethical. It’s no different than a video game “journalist” being afraid to leave a negative review so they don’t lose access to review copies and the developers.
But in this case it’s one of their close personal friends and coworkers.
You’re telling me these “reviewers,” that aren’t afraid to completely destroy every element of a well-loved book they didn’t like, are suddenly walking on eggshells and giving the benefit of the doubt to such an extent that it becomes a work of fantasy fiction on its own?
Bullshit.
If I ever wrote a novel, I’d be ashamed to be mollycoddled by friends, coworkers, business benefactors, and parasocial neurodivergent viewers.
Don’t read the book.
Even the blurb from another author on the front of the book is a joke. It’s the kind of blurb that Neil Gaiman spent a good amount of time mocking in his interview with Michael Chabon following Terry Pratchett’s passing.
“A novel born of love for the story.”
A blurb that gives no actual compliment, but Mark Lawrence gave it in part to be nice, but really because these YouTubers are now increasing their sales numbers with their interviews and bad-faith reviews.
His longer “review” on this site isn’t even a review. It’s a recap, a spoiler-less summary. The nicest thing he says was that the author has a “distinctive” voice. Many of the worst books I’ve ever read had a distinctive narrative voice.
“This author loves stories.”
Okay, and? So does my baby niece, but she can’t write a novel. And neither can Philip Chase.
These YouTubers also give higher reviews than they would otherwise. It’s unethical. It’s no different than a video game “journalist” being afraid to leave a negative review so they don’t lose access to review copies and the developers.
But in this case it’s one of their close personal friends and coworkers.
You’re telling me these “reviewers,” that aren’t afraid to completely destroy every element of a well-loved book they didn’t like, are suddenly walking on eggshells and giving the benefit of the doubt to such an extent that it becomes a work of fantasy fiction on its own?
Bullshit.
If I ever wrote a novel, I’d be ashamed to be mollycoddled by friends, coworkers, business benefactors, and parasocial neurodivergent viewers.
Don’t read the book.
April 28, 2023
4.5/5 (I plan to share my final thoughts in my upcoming April reads wrap-up video)
Garbled memories wrapped between him and the elf. Both one and the same with the light. Never existed. Always the light. Hiding from self. Life a game. Eternity's sublime, tragic jest. Light swallowing everything. Darkness.
It is no secret that The Way of Edan is, to me, a love letter to the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Beowulf, Anglo-Saxon tales, and other elements found in classical fantasy. Dr. Chase crafts a world alive with a deep background. Every location, every race, every religion, the soft magic used... heck even the trees and rocks are rife with history. Based on my view of his Youtube content regarding the creation of his tale, and getting to know a bit about his profession and his passions, I knew Philip would have a grasp of his story when came to belief, language, and lore. This is where this book truly shines and creates a landscape that comes alive in detailed descriptions whenever one of our POVs interacts with it.
Yet while the Tolkien elements are prominent, the voice is modern. The prose and writing are crisp with a nice blend of straightforwardness with a bit of ornate style mixed in but not too much to turn off those that did not care for it in Tolkien's work.
Do not mistake this book for any happy-go-lucky quest story. A Holy War is beginning to take shape, so plenty of violence, great battles, and gruesome scenes play out. These parts are well-crafted and are reminiscent of John Gwynne's works.
As to character, I did not necessarily have a favorite POV to follow. I don't mean as a negative as I found I enjoyed for the most part following each character equally and I do look forward to seeing how these characters hopefully continue to grow in the next novel.
If you love classical fantasy, with a modern voice, classic races such as elves, dwarves, and trolls that are twisted into something more unique and original, and vividly detailed worlds, do yourself a favor and pick up The Way of Edan. Recommended!
Garbled memories wrapped between him and the elf. Both one and the same with the light. Never existed. Always the light. Hiding from self. Life a game. Eternity's sublime, tragic jest. Light swallowing everything. Darkness.
It is no secret that The Way of Edan is, to me, a love letter to the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Beowulf, Anglo-Saxon tales, and other elements found in classical fantasy. Dr. Chase crafts a world alive with a deep background. Every location, every race, every religion, the soft magic used... heck even the trees and rocks are rife with history. Based on my view of his Youtube content regarding the creation of his tale, and getting to know a bit about his profession and his passions, I knew Philip would have a grasp of his story when came to belief, language, and lore. This is where this book truly shines and creates a landscape that comes alive in detailed descriptions whenever one of our POVs interacts with it.
Yet while the Tolkien elements are prominent, the voice is modern. The prose and writing are crisp with a nice blend of straightforwardness with a bit of ornate style mixed in but not too much to turn off those that did not care for it in Tolkien's work.
Do not mistake this book for any happy-go-lucky quest story. A Holy War is beginning to take shape, so plenty of violence, great battles, and gruesome scenes play out. These parts are well-crafted and are reminiscent of John Gwynne's works.
As to character, I did not necessarily have a favorite POV to follow. I don't mean as a negative as I found I enjoyed for the most part following each character equally and I do look forward to seeing how these characters hopefully continue to grow in the next novel.
If you love classical fantasy, with a modern voice, classic races such as elves, dwarves, and trolls that are twisted into something more unique and original, and vividly detailed worlds, do yourself a favor and pick up The Way of Edan. Recommended!
December 31, 2023
“The Way of Edan" is VERY book, indeed. One of the most book things I've ever read. {Oh my God, I said the thing! :D}
[By the way, if you don't get that joke, I'm sorry, it's a very strange, inside joke lmao]
I think the thing I loved the most about The Way of Edan is simply how well Philip exudes classic fantasy vibes without being a boring Tolkien-clone. Furthermore, not only does this book have all of fun vibes of a classic fantasy novel, it also uses or at least references nearly every classic trope on the planet and completely flips (almost) all of them on their head, so even though the book feels very "familiar", it's also always doing something a tiny bit different than maybe you thought.
All the while, my next major major praise for The Way of Edan is how fully realized it is. Like, it's truly insane. Given the fact that Philip has worked on this for many many years, that's not completely surprising, but it is truly such a deep world and polished story. I have not found myself referencing the map to make sure I know exactly where each scene is happening so much since Lord of the Rings, and I have not found anything since Lord of the Rings (yet; keep in mind I haven't read a whole lot of fantasy yet) with such a deep history and lore to it that you feel INFECTED by your interest in it. There's such much there to sink your teeth into, and only small portions of it are given to you in the story. Eormenlond isn't quite so deep as Middle Earth, don't get me wrong, because Middle Earth is on a whole different level, but I love the world this story is set in.
Philip's use of POV is also great; there are a lot of them (some are unexpected) but all of them necessary, in the sense that every scene has a place. A handful of them may run a couple pages longer than I would've liked, but the amount of times that happened was infrequent, and every scene and POV-switch served its purpose...
...or at least I trust that it does. The Way of Edan is clearly only Act 1, and as such it can hardly even be considered a "happy ending". It is an ending that leaves me exceedingly anxious to find out what happens next. I enjoyed the story and the directions it went; I enjoyed the characters; I enjoyed most everything about the book. I am beyond happy that the rest of the trilogy comes this year.
If you're a fan of classic fantasy, I highly recommend.
Keep on the lookout for a video review in a couple weeks, where I go into a lot more detail and mention a lot more than I can bear to write here, including a handful of maybe the more nit-picky aspects (this review would be a couple thousand words long if I mentioned everything I intend to in the video)! Any "bad" that I have to say about The Way of Edan is all just that nit-picky stuff anyway, such as certain words like "kirtle" being heavily overused for example, but everything else worked very well for me.
Book is very book.
[By the way, if you don't get that joke, I'm sorry, it's a very strange, inside joke lmao]
I think the thing I loved the most about The Way of Edan is simply how well Philip exudes classic fantasy vibes without being a boring Tolkien-clone. Furthermore, not only does this book have all of fun vibes of a classic fantasy novel, it also uses or at least references nearly every classic trope on the planet and completely flips (almost) all of them on their head, so even though the book feels very "familiar", it's also always doing something a tiny bit different than maybe you thought.
All the while, my next major major praise for The Way of Edan is how fully realized it is. Like, it's truly insane. Given the fact that Philip has worked on this for many many years, that's not completely surprising, but it is truly such a deep world and polished story. I have not found myself referencing the map to make sure I know exactly where each scene is happening so much since Lord of the Rings, and I have not found anything since Lord of the Rings (yet; keep in mind I haven't read a whole lot of fantasy yet) with such a deep history and lore to it that you feel INFECTED by your interest in it. There's such much there to sink your teeth into, and only small portions of it are given to you in the story. Eormenlond isn't quite so deep as Middle Earth, don't get me wrong, because Middle Earth is on a whole different level, but I love the world this story is set in.
Philip's use of POV is also great; there are a lot of them (some are unexpected) but all of them necessary, in the sense that every scene has a place. A handful of them may run a couple pages longer than I would've liked, but the amount of times that happened was infrequent, and every scene and POV-switch served its purpose...
...or at least I trust that it does. The Way of Edan is clearly only Act 1, and as such it can hardly even be considered a "happy ending". It is an ending that leaves me exceedingly anxious to find out what happens next. I enjoyed the story and the directions it went; I enjoyed the characters; I enjoyed most everything about the book. I am beyond happy that the rest of the trilogy comes this year.
If you're a fan of classic fantasy, I highly recommend.
Keep on the lookout for a video review in a couple weeks, where I go into a lot more detail and mention a lot more than I can bear to write here, including a handful of maybe the more nit-picky aspects (this review would be a couple thousand words long if I mentioned everything I intend to in the video)! Any "bad" that I have to say about The Way of Edan is all just that nit-picky stuff anyway, such as certain words like "kirtle" being heavily overused for example, but everything else worked very well for me.
Book is very book.
August 10, 2023
The Way of Edan is the debut novel by Doctor Philip Chase. As one would expect from a Tolkien expert, his novel is firmly set in the classical heroic fantasy subgenre. It does play on some of the tropes here – a young man living in the countryside who is suddenly foisted into a grand adventure.However, it is also very much its own story. The lore is deeply woven into the story, unique and intricate.
Dayraven is our protagonist, who was really such a wonderful character, that it was very easy to follow him. Sequara, a powerful sorceress, is the other lead protagonist. She is very different to Dayraven in many ways, but is equally heroic, and I loved it when their two storylines began to converge.
The world building is very well done. As a core theme, Philip explores religion and the sway it can hold over people, and how that can be used to create division. This greatly interested me, because I often find religion is the backdrop to the SFF worlds we read about, never really the focus. In this story, there are various kingdoms and monarchies, but it is the religion of The Way of Edan that is growing in power. Leaders of this religion are shown as good and bad and as somewhere in between. It is not necessarily the religion that is bad, but how those who seek power decide to use it.
Indeed, Bledla, a supreme priest of The Way, is seeking power, though not necessarily for himself. He believes in the prophecies of his religion, and as such, does not see himself as being a force of evil. He believes the Prophet of Edan speaks through him and that he is merely carrying out his will, which makes his chapters very interesting to read. As the story begins, we realise Bledla will stop at nothing to ensure The Way of Edan holds sway over all of Eormenlond – even if that means orchestrating a holy war across all those kingdoms who refuse to bow down to his faith.
This single-minded belief creates such conflict. Not just between Bledla and the kingdoms he wishes to subdue, but also within the religion itself. Philip has done a terrific job here at making all these characters understandable, even if some of them are terrible people.
The magical system is fantastic too – and I believe we will see much more in the sequel books as some of the key characters begin to understand their power.
All in all – this is a great slice of classical fantasy that fans of Tolkien, John Gwynne and Ryan Cahill will enjoy – and I’m looking forward to reading the sequel later this year!
Dayraven is our protagonist, who was really such a wonderful character, that it was very easy to follow him. Sequara, a powerful sorceress, is the other lead protagonist. She is very different to Dayraven in many ways, but is equally heroic, and I loved it when their two storylines began to converge.
The world building is very well done. As a core theme, Philip explores religion and the sway it can hold over people, and how that can be used to create division. This greatly interested me, because I often find religion is the backdrop to the SFF worlds we read about, never really the focus. In this story, there are various kingdoms and monarchies, but it is the religion of The Way of Edan that is growing in power. Leaders of this religion are shown as good and bad and as somewhere in between. It is not necessarily the religion that is bad, but how those who seek power decide to use it.
Indeed, Bledla, a supreme priest of The Way, is seeking power, though not necessarily for himself. He believes in the prophecies of his religion, and as such, does not see himself as being a force of evil. He believes the Prophet of Edan speaks through him and that he is merely carrying out his will, which makes his chapters very interesting to read. As the story begins, we realise Bledla will stop at nothing to ensure The Way of Edan holds sway over all of Eormenlond – even if that means orchestrating a holy war across all those kingdoms who refuse to bow down to his faith.
This single-minded belief creates such conflict. Not just between Bledla and the kingdoms he wishes to subdue, but also within the religion itself. Philip has done a terrific job here at making all these characters understandable, even if some of them are terrible people.
The magical system is fantastic too – and I believe we will see much more in the sequel books as some of the key characters begin to understand their power.
All in all – this is a great slice of classical fantasy that fans of Tolkien, John Gwynne and Ryan Cahill will enjoy – and I’m looking forward to reading the sequel later this year!
April 7, 2023
A really strong debut. I was very impressed with how polished it felt, most notably the prose and world-building aspects, which were both top shelf. The story itself - essentially the beginnings of a holy war - isn't my favorite kind of story, but I felt it was executed superbly. Plotting and pacing were well done, and while I didn't connect with all of the characters, I am definitely excited to see where this story goes. I'll post a video review on my YouTube channel sometime soon as I do have more to say about this one. Overall a very promising start to Chase's trilogy. 4.5/5
May 31, 2023
Rating: 4.5/5
I thoroughly enjoyed The Way of Edan. Other reviewers have described it as love letter to the fantasy genre, and I wholeheartedly agree. It invokes many topoi of classic fantasy literature, but it never feels derivative, and some elements, like Chase's spin on the elves, add texture and innovation. In fact, the elements of the story that transcended the "trope roster" were the ones I liked best, but that might simply be my preference.
I'll start with my biggest gripe of the story: I understand why it was necessary for the plot, and Chase did his best to justify this illogical decision, but considering that most of the book's escalating events hinge on this element, it simply felt too plotted to me. King Earconwald felt a bit too much at some point. I'm aware such people exist, but I just missed something to counterbalance his depravity.
Finally, even though I enjoyed the lyrical and at times archaic style of the dialogue, it did occasionally spell out too much, and made the characters feel less real. However, that might well have been a stylistic decision.
On the other hand, my most favorite elements besides the elves were the antagonists - especially Joruman, the doubting high priest whose name eludes me because he sadly doesn't get much page time, and, later, even Bledla.
I also loved the prose. It was succinct and beautiful, with some passages that had me reread them. It was deeply consistent with the tone and "flair" of the novel. Yes, there were many smiles, and some descriptions could have been a little more creative ("jet hair and dark eyes") but, regarding the writing, that's about all the criticism. Finally, while I agree that the "Corrupted Religion" theme has been done many times before, I found it extremely well-executed.
This was a terrific book, and I will definitely read the sequels.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Way of Edan. Other reviewers have described it as love letter to the fantasy genre, and I wholeheartedly agree. It invokes many topoi of classic fantasy literature, but it never feels derivative, and some elements, like Chase's spin on the elves, add texture and innovation. In fact, the elements of the story that transcended the "trope roster" were the ones I liked best, but that might simply be my preference.
I'll start with my biggest gripe of the story: I understand why it was necessary for the plot, and Chase did his best to justify this illogical decision, but considering that most of the book's escalating events hinge on this element, it simply felt too plotted to me. King Earconwald felt a bit too much at some point. I'm aware such people exist, but I just missed something to counterbalance his depravity.
Finally, even though I enjoyed the lyrical and at times archaic style of the dialogue, it did occasionally spell out too much, and made the characters feel less real. However, that might well have been a stylistic decision.
On the other hand, my most favorite elements besides the elves were the antagonists - especially Joruman, the doubting high priest whose name eludes me because he sadly doesn't get much page time, and, later, even Bledla.
I also loved the prose. It was succinct and beautiful, with some passages that had me reread them. It was deeply consistent with the tone and "flair" of the novel. Yes, there were many smiles, and some descriptions could have been a little more creative ("jet hair and dark eyes") but, regarding the writing, that's about all the criticism. Finally, while I agree that the "Corrupted Religion" theme has been done many times before, I found it extremely well-executed.
This was a terrific book, and I will definitely read the sequels.
November 14, 2023
4/5 Stars
A solid and polished fantasy debut that happens to be written by one of my favorite booktubers. In The Way of Edan, Philip Chase wears his scholarly and classic fantasy influences on his sleeve while also creating his own unique story and style. I’m particularly fond of the way Dr. Chase included so much mystique in the lore of his story – written in a way that piques the reader’s interest while leaving them eager to uncover more in the coming books. You can count me in to continue with this story; book 1 has laid the foundation for what could be a truly excellent trilogy!
A solid and polished fantasy debut that happens to be written by one of my favorite booktubers. In The Way of Edan, Philip Chase wears his scholarly and classic fantasy influences on his sleeve while also creating his own unique story and style. I’m particularly fond of the way Dr. Chase included so much mystique in the lore of his story – written in a way that piques the reader’s interest while leaving them eager to uncover more in the coming books. You can count me in to continue with this story; book 1 has laid the foundation for what could be a truly excellent trilogy!
August 19, 2023
Alright, I don't usually jump into series that just came out or unfinished in general as I am lazy to wait, but I felt like making an exception in this case. I came across the author's booktube channel recently and enjoyed its content, so I was curious to check this out and also wanted to try something different ( No, I am not getting paid for this and it does not boost our non-existent friendship meter 😂). With that being said, it's classic fantasy through and through and I really enjoyed it, way more than I anticipated.
The thing I loved the most, which is also what surprised me the most, is the prose. I have always been someone who found the story more important than the writing style but damn, I just adored the prose in this book! It's just so lyrical and flows in such a way that even when the story dragged sometimes, I was in awe reading certain passages. Suffice to say it was very immersive as well, even surreal at times. The worldbuilding is excellent, and while the story and characters themselves may feel like nothing new at first as it's classic fantasy at its core, it still has various elements that made it feel fresh without getting into spoilers. I haven't read Tolkien's books to comment on the similarities in detail but I did notice its influence overall. Furthermore, it reminded me of the Wheel of Time somewhat, especially of the protagonist and where he grows up. The story has its dark moments ( mainly violence ) but it doesn't really go to grimdark territory.
As for what I didn't like, there isn't much to say except that it became a bit too descriptive for my taste in certain chapters, which affected the pacing somewhat and prevented me from loving it top to bottom. Certain words were repeated somewhat often throughout the book as well but that's just me nitpicking at this point. All in all, if you love classic fantasy novels and don't mind common tropes like the 'Chosen One', you will definitely enjoy this.👍 It's a solid debut novel and I feel like the second book will be even better as well, now that everything's established and considering the way it ends.
The thing I loved the most, which is also what surprised me the most, is the prose. I have always been someone who found the story more important than the writing style but damn, I just adored the prose in this book! It's just so lyrical and flows in such a way that even when the story dragged sometimes, I was in awe reading certain passages. Suffice to say it was very immersive as well, even surreal at times. The worldbuilding is excellent, and while the story and characters themselves may feel like nothing new at first as it's classic fantasy at its core, it still has various elements that made it feel fresh without getting into spoilers. I haven't read Tolkien's books to comment on the similarities in detail but I did notice its influence overall. Furthermore, it reminded me of the Wheel of Time somewhat, especially of the protagonist and where he grows up. The story has its dark moments ( mainly violence ) but it doesn't really go to grimdark territory.
As for what I didn't like, there isn't much to say except that it became a bit too descriptive for my taste in certain chapters, which affected the pacing somewhat and prevented me from loving it top to bottom. Certain words were repeated somewhat often throughout the book as well but that's just me nitpicking at this point. All in all, if you love classic fantasy novels and don't mind common tropes like the 'Chosen One', you will definitely enjoy this.👍 It's a solid debut novel and I feel like the second book will be even better as well, now that everything's established and considering the way it ends.
March 28, 2023
Disclaimer: I know Philip Chase from his YouTube channel. This review is my honest opinion, though I acknowledge it’s possible I have subconscious bias that could cause me to add an extra star in the rating of this novel.
For me, The Way of Edan has been a fun fantasy read. I enjoyed the protagonist Dayraven, as well as the various villainous characters. While I know other reviewers have made comparisons with this novel being like Tolkien’s works, and the works of John Gwynne, and I agree with those connections, I have more comparisons to throw in for consideration. Dayraven has a very D’Artagnan-esque feel to him, which I thought worked well; he’s almost a cross of D’Artagnan and a Jedi trying to figure out his mental powers/abilities. His connection with his best friend also reminded me of the bond of The Musketeers. Many of the other POV characters reminded me of Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth and World Without End, two historical fiction novels that I love.
I highly recommend this work to fans of epic fantasy and classic fantasy. My only criticism would be the same criticism I give to Tolkien, which is sometimes the pacing feels slow and I don’t always need the extra descriptions in some of the scenes; ultimately though, I don’t mind them because I understand why they are in the narrative.
For me, The Way of Edan has been a fun fantasy read. I enjoyed the protagonist Dayraven, as well as the various villainous characters. While I know other reviewers have made comparisons with this novel being like Tolkien’s works, and the works of John Gwynne, and I agree with those connections, I have more comparisons to throw in for consideration. Dayraven has a very D’Artagnan-esque feel to him, which I thought worked well; he’s almost a cross of D’Artagnan and a Jedi trying to figure out his mental powers/abilities. His connection with his best friend also reminded me of the bond of The Musketeers. Many of the other POV characters reminded me of Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth and World Without End, two historical fiction novels that I love.
I highly recommend this work to fans of epic fantasy and classic fantasy. My only criticism would be the same criticism I give to Tolkien, which is sometimes the pacing feels slow and I don’t always need the extra descriptions in some of the scenes; ultimately though, I don’t mind them because I understand why they are in the narrative.
March 26, 2023
3.5
In The Way of Edan, Dr. Philip Chase presents us with the culmination of 18 years of work, and that presentation is strong....mostly. The Way of Edan, despite others likening it to a true classic fantasy ala Tolkien, actually reads to me closer to Bridge-Fantasy, like those that were popular in the 90's. Not exactly the same, but you get similar feelings like that of Tad Williams or Robert Jordan: Philip Chase is a huge fan of Tolkien and other classic works (and histories), but is using that as inspiration and background to give us something different. It's not just Tolkien again, it's not even Williams again: Robert Jordan might be the closest, but he'd definitely have balked at the amount of gore in this novel. Like Tolkien by way of Joe Abercrombie, settling somewhere in the middle. If you're a fan of any of that description, definitely give it a shot.
There are some pitfalls here though because of that mix of style - the classical world-building and wonder at the history of the land is showcases prominently, but Chase's more modern prose is at odds with the expositional story-telling style you'd find in Lord of the Rings: It just feels odd when characters sit down and just tell each other what's going on without that archaic arch feeling to ennoble it. On the other hand, the nigh-upon grimdark affect that the book takes on particularly during battle strengthens its weight and feeling that it's taking seriously the issues at hand... but that's slightly undercut by the classical-fantasy lack of consequences. (I'm trying not to fault the book for not going the way I wanted, but even without that, it still feels a little too... easy...)
So, I want more from both aspects - deeper building of the great world Chase has created, and more heartlessness towards that world and its characters. Less exposition (There's a chapter of nearly all recap that was particularly slow) That said, it's certainly not all doom and gloom, while stumbling a bit, Dr. Chase nails it in the smaller scale scenes - moments stand out again and again, many with fantastic subversions or twists that drive that desire for just a little more. The initial two scenes, the scene at Urd's house, the Dwoerg burial, meeting the elf.... each time there's this unique, different angle on things that drives the scenes home. I do wish Dayraven was a little bit stronger as a protagonist, because his already great position at the end () nearly sells the whole thing wholesale.
Despite my reservations, I'm still quite interested in continuing the series as there are a number of threads that I can see getting more complex and more nuanced - and regardless of those releases I'm still quite hopeful that Chase will continue writing this brand of modern/classic fantasy, this is a very strong debut, and with some refocus there's something truly special awaiting you.
I am, however, a neurodivergent lickspittle, intent on fostering my parasocial relationship with the author, so take all this with a grain of salt.
In The Way of Edan, Dr. Philip Chase presents us with the culmination of 18 years of work, and that presentation is strong....mostly. The Way of Edan, despite others likening it to a true classic fantasy ala Tolkien, actually reads to me closer to Bridge-Fantasy, like those that were popular in the 90's. Not exactly the same, but you get similar feelings like that of Tad Williams or Robert Jordan: Philip Chase is a huge fan of Tolkien and other classic works (and histories), but is using that as inspiration and background to give us something different. It's not just Tolkien again, it's not even Williams again: Robert Jordan might be the closest, but he'd definitely have balked at the amount of gore in this novel. Like Tolkien by way of Joe Abercrombie, settling somewhere in the middle. If you're a fan of any of that description, definitely give it a shot.
There are some pitfalls here though because of that mix of style - the classical world-building and wonder at the history of the land is showcases prominently, but Chase's more modern prose is at odds with the expositional story-telling style you'd find in Lord of the Rings: It just feels odd when characters sit down and just tell each other what's going on without that archaic arch feeling to ennoble it. On the other hand, the nigh-upon grimdark affect that the book takes on particularly during battle strengthens its weight and feeling that it's taking seriously the issues at hand... but that's slightly undercut by the classical-fantasy lack of consequences. (I'm trying not to fault the book for not going the way I wanted, but even without that, it still feels a little too... easy...)
So, I want more from both aspects - deeper building of the great world Chase has created, and more heartlessness towards that world and its characters. Less exposition (There's a chapter of nearly all recap that was particularly slow) That said, it's certainly not all doom and gloom, while stumbling a bit, Dr. Chase nails it in the smaller scale scenes - moments stand out again and again, many with fantastic subversions or twists that drive that desire for just a little more. The initial two scenes, the scene at Urd's house, the Dwoerg burial, meeting the elf.... each time there's this unique, different angle on things that drives the scenes home. I do wish Dayraven was a little bit stronger as a protagonist, because his already great position at the end () nearly sells the whole thing wholesale.
Despite my reservations, I'm still quite interested in continuing the series as there are a number of threads that I can see getting more complex and more nuanced - and regardless of those releases I'm still quite hopeful that Chase will continue writing this brand of modern/classic fantasy, this is a very strong debut, and with some refocus there's something truly special awaiting you.
I am, however, a neurodivergent lickspittle, intent on fostering my parasocial relationship with the author, so take all this with a grain of salt.
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April 17, 2024In my investigations into epic fantasy, I've noticed that there's a real lack of individuality in many of the voices that have come into the genre. Many of them seem to just rip off Tolkien and Howard over and over again, and to make things even worse, there's even some fantasy authors who don't even know the roots of the series that they are inspired by. It's led to my concern over the past few years that fantasy has been in an identity crisis of sorts.
That's not to say fantasists shouldn't be inspired by Tolkien and Howard, and that we should leave them to the wayside. There have been great stories that are clear in their inspirations from these two giants of the fantasy field. George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire reimagined Tolkien's epic model with a far grittier world, haunted, conflicted characters, impossible moral quandaries and a plot that unfortunately seems to have been lost from Martin's grasp. The First Law from Joe Abercrombie brought back the grit of Robert E. Howard, with a dark wit and an outrage at our broken system that would do David Simon proud. Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora proved to be a thoroughly satisfying and witty adventure that was reminiscent of Leiber as it was Dumas. But at the same time, it seems that a lot of fantasy authors suffer from a lack of curiosity. It gets even worse when I see reviewers and authors alike mention Martin and Abercrombie as the cream of the crop, and don't even bother to look back at who inspired them. It can be agonizing.
That's not to say there haven't been fantasy novels that have bucked the mold and have surprised, engaged, and even moved me these past few years. Neil Gaiman's American Gods shatters any expectations of the fantasy genre that I had before, teasing us with the magic that hides in plain sight in our world and offers an epic that is as bizarre as it is unique. Marlon James' Black Leopard, Red Wolf reimagined the Sword and Sorcery subgenre with a hallucinogenic, feverish intensity that would do Howard proud, and yet stands entirely on its own. China Mieville's Perdido Street Station, as well as its follow up The Scar have gone further with their individualism, eschewing many of the Tolkien and Howard inspired fantasies in favor of Dickensian social outrage and Lovecraftian creatures and existential dread. Brian Catling's The Vorrh took the surrealism of Conrad's Heart of Darkness and made it more literal, completely demolishing the fantasy genre as we know it. There are other series like King's The Dark Tower or Moorcock's Elric that are just batshit insane, doing its own thing with impunity.
All these books are excellent pieces of modern fantasy, all worthy of consideration. Yet many of them are reviving fantasy's neglected subgenres, trying to escape epic fantasy's long casting over the genre in and of itself. I have still yet to find a writer who writes an epic fantasy with the same verve, wit, intelligence, and adventurousness as the old classics. There are also many more authors to get to: Ursula K. Le Guin, Roger Zelazny, Mark Lawrence, Jack Vance, Gene Wolfe, William Morris, Poul Anderson, Patrick Rothfuss, Steven Erikson, Jim Butcher, Lord Dunsany, Guy Gavriel Kay, Mervyn Peake, Clark Ashton Smith, Jacquelyn Hagen, Janny Wurts, I could go on (and don't get me started on the self-pub authors.) Other authors such as Sanderson and Jordan have been recommended, and have been met with much skepticism. My hope is that someday I may find that writer who gives me what I'm looking for. But having found Chase's book, would it be safe to say I have finally found it?
Chase is good. He has scope, range, complexity to his characters and the world, as well as a gift for giving a tried and true story new life. It shouldn't be too much of a surprise, as Chase is well known as a scholar and long time student of the fantasy genre. All the years of his study, as well as his infectious enthusiasm for the genre is made clear here with this story. Even without Chase's reputation in the BookTube community, he has created what should be come to be known as a classic of epic fantasy. It is indeed a crime that Philip couldn't get this book published traditionally, though I can't say I'm shocked. The publishing industry has proven time and time again that they wouldn't be curious even if they were smacked in the head with it.
Chase's voice is assured and eloquent. It's surprising considering this was his first novel, as Chase has the skill of a practiced hand. His love for the fantastic and the fantasy genre shines through in this novel, yet unlike people such as Paolini, he never gets lost in the fawning and keeps his focus clear. Comparisons to Tolkien are inevitable, yet Chase's knowledge of fantasy and mythology showcases that he is not merely imitating the old Don. Like Tolkien, Chase takes his inspiration from Old English and old tales such as Beowulf and takes those inspirations into his own direction. His pacing also proves to be patient, yet calculated. He builds his world slowly, and never stoops to overwhelming you with his world.
Chase's particular strength comes from his exploration of religion, and how it inspires the best and worst of it. Chase eschews demonizing religion or talking about great religion is, merely showing the many avenues that people of faith take along the way. What particularly fascinated me in his exploration of religion is his earnest exploration into the many ways that religion can be corrupted, and how certain people are so devoted that they'll go to monstrous extremes so to prove it. We see how people use religion as an excuse to gain power, people who want to gain knowledge using religion, as well as the complexity that comes from the many people who choose to put their faith into religion throughout the story and Chase never treats them with derision or mockery. My bias may be coming through though, considering my own interest in faith and spirituality.
Yet where its strength comes from is also its weakness. Alas, the story is too familiar and standard. Chase tells the first part of his story well, and even manages to avoid many of the pitfalls I've seen in epic fantasy such as an over-reliance on exposition, emphasizing the world over story, or using the first book as a novel length prologue. The Way of Edan was still too familiar for me to give it the always coveted 5 star rating. As much as an old story being done well can bring its particular joys, it is even more intoxicating when you are confronted with something that is completely new. Though with the direction that this story is taking, I hope that Chase will be able to move and surprise me in the way that many of the fantasy novels that I love have in the past, and I think he has the skill and the scope to do it.
Perhaps my standard is too high, as trailblazers as Gaiman, Mieville, Catling, and James are hard to even approach, much less beat. Yet Chase has joined the modern greats of epic fantasy such as Martin, Abercrombie, and Lynch. The Way of Edan combines old mythic storytelling with modern style in this book, and I would definitely recommend this one for those who are just starting their own journey in the epic fantasy genre. Chase continues the tradition of epic fantasy without falling too much into the trap of imitating Tolkien as many so often do, yet he doesn't attempt to deconstruct or reimagine it as Martin and Abercrombie have. Chase wants us to think back and remember why we were so attracted to epic fantasy in the first place, and he does it without snark or irony. There's a victory in that, as Chase does it very well.
So...the search for the next epic fantasy classic continues, and while I don't think Chase has quite reached it (yet), he has written a tale that is as intelligent as it is entertaining.
*If interested, you can watch the conversation I had with Philip about The Way of Edan. I do warn you, we do spoil the whole thing. Don't say I didn't tell you so.*
December 16, 2023
I relished this first book of the trilogy and did not want it to end, so I took my time with it and often only read the next portion when I was able to truly settle in with a good drink in hand and no one to bother me. I wanted to escape with it into another time and place. And I’m glad I read it this way even though it took me longer than books I read off my phone while doing things like standing in a long line at the post office. I wanted to have solitude any time I reengaged with this book.
I’ve come to understand these books were an eighteen year labor of love for the author who is a medievalist with a PhD in English Literature. (I randomly came across him on Twitter.) The world building he’s done is intricate and fabulous as are so many other aspects of this book that many reviewers have already positively addressed.
What I want to say more than anything in this review, however, is that it’s a rare book that can - via plot and characters - make you think about the complexity of much, much deeper, and difficult things than just the immediate story dilemma and what the main character “wants.” This book makes you mull over personal questions like how far you would go for your own beliefs, whether religious or irreligious. Also, the question of - and quest for - self-preservation is a theme throughout this entire story. Self-preservationism in our increasingly fear-mongered/fear commandeered society is something I think about a lot in real life and appreciate when someone else illustrates the complexity of it honestly at both an individual and societal level. When in self-preservation mentality, we don’t see reality clearly because it’s a fear-based mindset and fear warps perception. This truth is shown in multiple ways and in many characters throughout this story. No one, regardless of rank, life station, or power level, is shown to be above it which is so accurate to real life. The author plays out the reality of what happens in the world at large when entire communities are “led” (i.e. commandeered) to be self-preservationists first - when truth then serves fear, rather than fear submitting to truth.
This was a thought-provoking novel.
I’ve come to understand these books were an eighteen year labor of love for the author who is a medievalist with a PhD in English Literature. (I randomly came across him on Twitter.) The world building he’s done is intricate and fabulous as are so many other aspects of this book that many reviewers have already positively addressed.
What I want to say more than anything in this review, however, is that it’s a rare book that can - via plot and characters - make you think about the complexity of much, much deeper, and difficult things than just the immediate story dilemma and what the main character “wants.” This book makes you mull over personal questions like how far you would go for your own beliefs, whether religious or irreligious. Also, the question of - and quest for - self-preservation is a theme throughout this entire story. Self-preservationism in our increasingly fear-mongered/fear commandeered society is something I think about a lot in real life and appreciate when someone else illustrates the complexity of it honestly at both an individual and societal level. When in self-preservation mentality, we don’t see reality clearly because it’s a fear-based mindset and fear warps perception. This truth is shown in multiple ways and in many characters throughout this story. No one, regardless of rank, life station, or power level, is shown to be above it which is so accurate to real life. The author plays out the reality of what happens in the world at large when entire communities are “led” (i.e. commandeered) to be self-preservationists first - when truth then serves fear, rather than fear submitting to truth.
This was a thought-provoking novel.
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