★★★★★ “Among the best fantasy authors of our time. This book is right up there with all the other classics you love.” -Mark Din, Goodreads ReviewHe thought he was born Rylan Marshall…until he found out he wasn’t. He was born the son of a demon.Does that mean he is destined to follow in his father’s footsteps? Rylan was attacked, his young son murdered, his baby daughter taken. But his assailant … his baby daughter taken. But his assailant left him with two gifts: the gift of magic…and an oath to darkness. Rylan blamed himself, even though he knew it wasn’t his fault.
The life he knew was over.
And war is coming.
A new enemy, stronger and more fearsome than any other, appears out of the night.
Will Rylan use his newfound power to make a stand? Will he learn its use in time to make a difference? Or will his oath to darkness guide him to the enemy?
If you love grimdark fantasy filled with vivid realism, brutal warfare, and raw emotion, this new adventure is just for you.
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For fans of The Wheel of Time, Game of Thrones, Malazan, and The Blade Itself.
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This is the first book I have read by this author. It was very good, but there was a lot of background information I feel like I was missing out on because I have not read The Rhenwars Saga. Be prepared for a dark epic with lots of bloodshed and no happy ending in sight, but a very well written and enjoyable novel. I will be revisiting this book after reading the previous series before continuing this one.
OMG! This was utterly amazing!! Its gripping action and characters draw you in and take you down a dark path of magic, betrayal, and mayhem, through bloody battles, and on a quest for power. It was so amazingly intense, I don’t know how I haven’t read ML Spencer’s books until now!!
I kept hearing people RAVE about ML Spencer’s bestselling books and now I see why!! If you like George R. R. Martin, Steven Erikson, Joe Abercrombie, Peter Brett, Nicholas Eames, and Andy Peloquin, I highly recommend checking this out!
Chains of Blood: The Chaos Cycle is book one in M.L. Spencer’s fantasy series. This book starts off a bit slow for me, but once I got into it I found myself truly intrigued and eager to learn what was going to happen next. The author weaves a story of danger, magic, mystery, and a quest for power. A man suffers loss when he experiences the loss of not just one child, but two and then goes on to learn of the darkness that shadows his past and legacy. The question arises…will he allow the past of another to define him or will he find the strength to embrace what was and carve his own path in history?
Chains of Blood is the first book that I have read by M.L. Spencer and I ultimately found it to be an interesting story. The author weaves together the history and the present in this book. Piece by piece this story comes together telling how Rylan comes home from the war with the hopes of being reunited with his remaining family and to develop a proper relationship with his children. His world is rocked quickly and everything changes.
The author interchanges the story between Rylan, once a farmer, then a soldier, and now come home to be a father; and Gil, a battle mage tasked with finding Rylan and bringing him to the Citadel where his fate will be decided. Learning about Rylan’s past is what drew me the most into this story. I was eager to learn about who he was and why he was being so sought after by so many. It was strange, but piece by piece things come together.
I will warn that there are some questions that are raised in this book that go unanswered. I’ll admit that I found this a bit frustrating and there are some moments of where it feels like the storyline skips over details that would have helped lead up to certain scenes that happen.
All in all, I truly did enjoy this book. This isn’t a book of where you’ll find a last minute rescue and lives spared. This is a story that you could see playing out in reality, and I like that aspect of it. This book does end on a bit of a cliffhanger, so it leaves me eager to learn what happens next in the next book to come. So I am rating this book 4.5 out of 5 stars. If you enjoy gritty dark fantasy novels then this is a good book to pick up.
“History is written by the winners, unless it is written by the survivors.”
I’ve always been fond of fantasy that picks up years, decades, or even centuries after the events of a previous book story. It’s why I’m fond of the old Star Wars Legends universe and the current sequel trilogy (even if both had flaws). My favorite “popcorn fantasy” in the Dragonlance novels did an excellent series based around the Heroes of the Lance and their successors up until the events of Dragons of a Summer Flame. Indeed, my love of “what happens next” inspired me to write Wraith Knight and Lucifer’s Star (books that are sequels to universes similar to the ones I grew up reading about).
Chains of Blood is the start of a sequel series to the popular indie fantasy series, The Rhenwars Saga. The Rhenwars Saga doesn’t have to be read to start this book series but I highly recommend it. It is the story of a ragtag group of heroes who fail to save the world and then their successors who make things so much worse by trying to apply high fantasy logic to a more complex world. I read the entire series as it came out and reviewed each of the books.
The sequel picks up about thirty or so years after the events of the original novels. The world’s peoples are at peace-ish and the threat of magic ending is abated. However, poor Rylan Marshall opens with his son being murdered and his daughter kidnapped. He’s also forced to swear his soul to the Devil-equivalent right before being given amazing magical powers. Sworn to secrecy, Rylan is soon adopted by the mages of the setting and revealed to be heir to great power. Rylan will do anything to get his daughter back and the discovery of his twisted heritage won’t change that.
I enjoyed Rylan’s complicated emotional journey over one of the often-overlooked elements of fantasy that one man’s hero is often another man’s villain. Part of what made Rhenwars Saga so great is that it showed multiple perspectives of your typical fantasy protagonist. Sauron’s human allies (and orcs for that matter) would have viewed Gandalf as a religious extremist and terrorist. Aragorn would have been viewed as a foreign national exerting ancient territorial claims as part of an attempt to legitimize his rule. In Rylan’s case, he grew up vilifying a character only to find out not only is he related but many people view said character as a hero.
There are other characters that are caught up in the confusion that followed the previous war with no one really writing a single “narrative” about it. Some people believe the forces of evil triumphed and are eager to get some revenge. Others believe it was a wickedly complex thing with no good guys or bad guys. A few think that a bunch of heroes saved the day and everyone should be friends now. The complicated nature of politics mixed with storytelling and how we remember history (even recent history) is a set of themes that resonate with me.
In addition to all these complicated issues, there’s a lot of action and sorcery as well solid character development. While this book is best read after the Rhenwars Saga, it’s also something you can just pick up and enjoy on its own. Having finished this one, I’m already ready to pick up the sequel.
I recieved this arc as requested.
I’m not entirely sure what I made of this book to be honest. I’ve given it 5 stars as the story, the writing and the overall concept is great and I feel that it deserves the 5 stars.
I think I found it a little bit heavy and perhaps not my style I would usually read.
I’ll give the next book a go to see if I can get into it as the storyline is definitely intriguing.
I’m always delighted to come across a new author who meets my somewhat picky standards or a new series starter that’s really fun. Double whammy time then with ML Spencer and his of her (I can’t tell from the author bio) new book, Chains of Blood (The Chaos Cycle Book 1). It’s just great and sn East 5-star series starter. Well written, with a great plot, a perfect cast from Rylan on down and perfect world-building. I’m not ududply s fan of “grimdark fantasy”, and this book was as filled with “vivid realism, brutal warfare, and raw emotion” as promised, but it was so well fine that I’m definitely eager for book 2.