The Tyranny of Faith by Richard Swan Narrator: Lucy Paterson
Series: Empire of the Wolf #2
Published by Orbit on February 14, 2023
Source: Purchased
Genres: Epic Fantasy
Length: 18 hrs 1 mins
Pages: 496
Format: Audiobook
Purchase at Bookshop.org or Audible
Add on Goodreads
From a major new debut author in epic fantasy comes the second book in a trilogy where action, intrigue, and magic collide. Sir Konrad Vonvalt is an Emperor's Justice: a detective, judge, and executioner all in one. But these are dangerous times to be a Justice....
A Justice's work is never done.
The Battle of Galen's Vale is over, but the war for the Empire's future has just begun. Concerned by rumors that the Magistratum's authority is waning, Sir Konrad Vonvalt returns to Sova to find the capital city gripped by intrigue and whispers of rebellion. In the Senate, patricians speak openly against the Emperor, while fanatics preach holy vengeance on the streets.
Yet facing down these threats to the throne will have to wait, for the Emperor's grandson has been kidnapped - and Vonvalt is charged with rescuing the missing prince. His quest will lead him - and his allies Helena, Bressinger and Sir Radomir - to the southern frontier, where they will once again face the puritanical fury of Bartholomew Claver and his templar knights - and a dark power far more terrifying than they could have imagined.
I enjoyed the first in this trilogy, The Justice of Kings. There we met Sir Konrad Vonvalt, an itinerant Justice, his taskman and friend, former soldier Dubine Bressinger, and his clerk and protégé, Helena Sedanka. The Tyranny of Faith starts with our party, including Sir Radomir, former sherriff, going to Sova, the Empire’s capital. The Magistratum is in disarray, losing influence and harboring traitors. The Emperor is worried about issues closer to home than Claver, the big bad guy from book 1.
The writing is good. The plot moves along at good pace. The world is medieval-esque, with religion wrapped up in politics. And i will probably read the third just to see how it all plays out.
The investigation this time around centers on finding the Emperor’s grandson, which Vonvalt allows to become more complicated than it is.
However-
The characters in this just make such bad decisions. Let’s trust this lady we’ve never met before. Granted, so does half the Senate, but still. Let’s not trust the dog’s tracking ability. Let’s read this spell and hope it doesn’t summon a demon. Even the decisions that are (probably) the right choice are done without any subtlety.
I listened to the audio. The story is being told to us by an older Helena looking back on the time period, so sometimes we get a bit of foreshadowing but not much. My problem was that the narrator made Helena sound so overwrought most of the time. This woman is nineteen-ish, grew up an orphan, has killed people. She has seen the afterlife. She’s not fragile. If she were, she wouldn’t still be alive to tell us the tale.
This is a middle book. While there’s a lot going on, the bad guy is still gaining power. Vonvalt is still looking for allies. Helena is still in over her head. And now they’re headed off on another journey, to be continued in #3.
About Richard Swan
Richard was born in North Yorkshire in the United Kingdom. He spent most of his early life on Royal Air Force bases in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, and attended St Peter’s School in York as a boarder. He studied law at the University of Manchester, and spent most of the following ten years as a lawyer specialising in multi-million pound commercial disputes.
Between 2015 and 2018, Richard self-published THE ART OF WAR trilogy, a sequence of epic military space operas, as well as a number of prequels, novellas and short stories.
Richard’s traditionally-published debut fantasy trilogy, THE EMPIRE OF THE WOLF, sold to Orbit Books in a pre-empt in August 2020, for a six-figure sum. The first instalment, THE JUSTICE OF KINGS, was released in February 2022, with the second volume, THE TYRANNY OF FAITH released in February 2023. The final volume, THE TRIALS OF EMPIRE, was released in February 2024. He has also sold short stories to Grimdark Magazine and Black Library.
Richard currently lives with his wife and two small boys in Sydney, Australia.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges: