What a disappointment this was.

Having read The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant many years ago I was looking forward to this.

Unfortunately I found the plot slow and the characters tedious.

I just could not get involved with the story line.

Not for me.

The War Within is the second book in The Great God's War series.


Belleger and Amika now have a fragile peace that has lasted two decades. Both countries have started to recover - but some believe a new invasion is coming…

There are conspiracies, marriages and damaged people…..(a bit like Thomas Covenant and his personal issues….not leprosy)..

This is world building at its best, so not a fast paced read but immersive and descriptive…...a war is about to begin.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this for free. This is my honest and unbiased review.

Having been a fan of the Author and having read the Thomas Covenant Chronicles , many years ago , I was thrilled to see a new series .
I think to appreciate this book the 1st in the series should be read first ………… although this book does refer to the previous book's storyline many times some readers will be able to make sense of the storyline and characters .

It took me some time to come to an understanding to the plots and characters as the story is told from many different viewpoints and is not for the fainthearted , but well worth it .

The alliance built between the two countries after the discovery of The Great Repository is fragile at best with hostility and conspiracies undermining the fragile peace from within . The terrible war that King Bifalt and Queen Estie feared is coming. An old enemy has discovered the location of the Last Repository, and his dark forces are massing to attack the library and take the magical knowledge it guards.
It will take all the monarchs' strength to inspire their people to defeat the dark forces both within their lands and without .

As I said previously this is a very complex story which is perhaps too long ………… I hope that this is to set the reader up for the next in series . That being said I did enjoy the book as I persevered with the story .
I look forward to the next book (3)although I hope it is not as far apart as the Chronicle were .

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

As the second book in a series, there is always a concern that the action will be hampered by the need to bridge between the first and third books - this book definitely suffers from this problem. It tells the continuing story of Prince, now King, Bifalt as he makes preparations to fight the unknown enemy that will threaten the Last Depository. Whereas the first book in this series is very much a quest narrative, this second instalment focuses far more deeply on the internal machinations of the court, which should be fascinating but for some reason, just left me a little cold. Much of the action follows Queen Estie, who is quite problematic with regards to her motivations and the choices she makes. The introduction of religious zealots of the great god Rile has a lot of potential, but it feels under-served in this book. Ultimately I just thought that this book was too long for the amount of action and my hope is that it is setting up a lot of plot points for the third book.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I'm alway a bit at loss for words when I have to review a book by a giant of fantasy.
It's been a long time since I read The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant and I was happy to read another book by mr Donaldson.
This book is not an easy read as it's full of characters, different point of views, a complex plot, and a pace that sometimes it's very slow.
Even if there are some issues it's a fascinating read and once you're hooked you cannot put the book down.
It took me sometimes to get involved but I loved what I read and I can surely say this is the work of great fantasy writer.
The world building is amazing, rich of details and it makes you crave for more details and more adventures.
I look forward to reading the next installment.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Orion Publishing Group and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

This second book in the series has a much broader base as well as being longer than the first book. Whereas the first book had a central character, here the story is told from a number of viewpoints with no clear central character. As such, there is not a linear timeline and there are some historical descriptions. The writing is in the third person, which provides some objectivity to the writing. The characters are richly described both physically as well as in terms of attitude. As with other tales by this author, the central character from the first book is a damaged individual driven by circumstances. He is frustrating and not particularly likable. Other characters are also purposeful; all of the fleshed-out characters are complex in their own ways. The world building is expansive and vividly described. Conversely, the magic system is kept largely at a distance except in critical points in the plot.

Magic is hoarded or vilified. In a similar way religion, whose presence is newly imposed, is either seen as harmless or a profound risk. Tension and danger come from a variety of sources and there is no one single bad guy. The focus changes from character to character as well as point in the story.

This is first and foremost a story about the resolution of hidden dangers. Characters and locations carry the tale forward to its conclusion. The pace is not hurried but has sufficient tension to lead the reader to the next scene. It is an interesting read and the richness of the writing is served by the steady pace.

Threads of the plot are developed through the central characters. The number and nature of these characters become clearer as the story progresses and by the end of the book, there are distinct and well-developed plotlines that will be carried forward to the next book.

This is a series that will grow on the reader as it develops and for those readers that are fans already of the author, they will not be disappointed.

The first book in the latest Stephen Donaldson epic The Great God's War played out along familiar fantasy fiction lines with little in the way of surprises, but there were signs - not least from the relative slimness of the book - that Seventh Decimate was just a prelude or pretext for a larger story to unfold. The War Within is indeed a rather more substantial book, or at least considerably longer that Seventh Decimate, and it does expand on there being more to this world than a long running war between the Amika and the Belleger, but it's still very serious and slow moving and not in any real hurry to get to any major developments.

In the first book, Seventh Decimate, the reason for the war between the Belleger and the Amika has long been forgotten or at least subject to very differing accounts. A crisis point however had been reached when the traditional means of sorcery or theurgy, the power of the Decimates used by Magisters to unleash lightning, earthquakes, famine etc. had mysteriously disappeared, and only one side had access to the secret of making gun. The crisis would lead Prince Bifalt of the Belleger across the desert to the Last Repository, a fabled library in the east that was said to contain the secret of the Seventh Decimate and restore the power of theurgy. Having made a hazardous journey, Bifalt however discovered that one of his enemies had also made the journey to look for the secret of building cannons.

What has become evident is that the war between the Amika and Belleger is indeed only a minor skirmish in the greater scheme of things, a war manipulated by the librarian Magister Sirjane Morrow for the sake of controlling the lands surrounding the Last Repository and protecting the future of the library that has endured for millennia. There is a serious threat coming and it is a grave one, the enemy as yet unknown and unseen but for some raids and scouting, but despite making efforts to secure borders and mountain passes, the Librarian still fears the indescribable might of the enemy and their determination to destroy the Last Repository.

The bigger picture might be a little clearer, the threat identified and the scale expanded, but Stephen Donaldson is in no great hurry to get to any destination in The War Within. He quickly establishes that Prince Bifalt has returned with Commander Forgule and forged an alliance between the Belleger and Amika that is somewhat uneasy but also unavoidable. The alliance is sealed with a marriage between the newly crowned King Bifalt and Queen Estie and work begins to combine forces to build a road to the Last Repository and secure a coastline that is so treacherous that it seems impossible that an attack could come from that front. Nevertheless, 19 years after Bifalt's quest, the threat from the enemy now seems imminent...

...but not too imminent. At least not for the next few hundred pages as Donaldson, having already established the situation, goes into detail to cover what has taken place all over again, and it doesn't appear to be anything of great note. The tone, taking a lead from Bifalt is serious and ponderous, the targets that Donaldson tackling appearing to be fairly broad swipes at war and religion, faith versus knowledge. Bifalt himself seems like a typical Donaldson character, like Thomas Covenant, sceptical of magic, burdened by the role he has been given no choice but to assume. On the other hand the detail might turn out to be more important than you at first think. Threats are mounting on all sides, but the greatest threat might come from within, and Donaldson takes the time to set out the principal characters and hint at other as yet unknown forces at work.

One of those factors, to go by the overall title of the series, could be the priests who have recently arrived in Amika and Belleger lands, servants of the Great God Rile, whose power and efforts to establish peace have an air of mystery and suspicion about them. There are several other threads and characters introduced, so it's by no means lacking in incident and there is purposeful progression, but still, even by Donaldson's standards, The War Within can be slow and heavy going. It doesn't look like Donaldson has yet come up with any new angle on the fantasy epic here, but he has created a compelling situation here and there's still clearly more to come.