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Mark Lawrence's Reviews > The Way of Edan
The Way of Edan (The Edan Trilogy, #1)
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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.
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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
..
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Finished Reading
Finished Reading
November 13, 2023
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by
Sean
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rated it 4 stars
Mar 01, 2023 09:20AM
Can't wait for this one, I love Dr Fantasy, so I will be doing a day one read of this!
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Looking forward to this one - thanks for the early review!
Great review Mark! Thanks for sharing! This has to be my my most anticipated book for 2023!
I've been listening to Phillip talk about his writing project for some time and I'm looking forward to finally reading it. Anything with a hint of the above authors sounds like an enjoyable time will be had here.
Awesome review and so excited to read Dr Fantasy's debut novel in a couple of weeks.
I enjoyed his videos on the Malazan book of the fallen, he has some interesting ideas about Tolkien also, I'll keep the book in my radar
Given the plot, is this highly political? I’m craving some old school fantasy but not political intrigue.
My interest waned as soon as you mentioned Tolkien and Songs lol.
Jasmine wrote: "Given the plot, is this highly political? I’m craving some old school fantasy but not political intrigue."Very had to say whether one person would call it "highly" - I have no scale for these things.
I'll say "no", but refuse to accept any liability if you think differently :D
