At the very least, a good fantasy story should allow you to escape the often dreadfully predictable bonds of the everyday and escape into a world that’s nothing like the one you see on your daily commute or when you’re in a queue at a shop in the mall.

But the really good ones, such as Stephen Aryan’s The Coward (the first volume in the Quest For Heroes series), do so much more.

In short, much like skillfully executed science fiction, they shine a light on the human condition and on society as a whole in such a way that you are forced to reassess what it is you think on a particular issue, or issues, as is the case with this superlative piece of fantastical storytelling.

Take just one idea which sits at the heart of The Coward – precisely what is a hero? Are they even real or are they simply very ordinary, fallible people who we build into extraordinarily mythic figures because we need more than ourselves to believe in?

Aryan argues that is very much the latter, with both hero and worshipper caught in a ceaseless pattern that fulfills separate needs for both parties – for the hero a sense of validation and the worshiper the chance to invest life with far more meaning than might be readily apparent.

This is not to say, of course, that heroes don’t genuinely do heroic things or that the people who hold them in awe aren’t justified in doing so.

Aryan rather beautifully doesn’t besmirch the idea of heroes so much as attempts, rather brilliantly, in fact, to restore some perspective to what it means to be a hero and how this laudably good act can actually have some dark and terrible consequences on those whom society chooses to place upon a pedestal.

The person upon whom this great weight of celebrity and expectation rests is Kell Kressia, who a decade ago at the tender age of seventeen rashly rushed to join 11 heroes of great renown who were headed north to kill the Ice Lich in its frozen castle in order to save the Five Kingdoms from an eternal winter.

Only he returned alive, and while he is celebrated in song by a famous composition by Pax Madina the bard, he bears terrible physical and emotional scars from his great quest north and has barely recovered after spending the time since working his family’s small backwater farm.

By any estimation, Kell has suffered an acute and debilitating case of post-traumatic stress disorder, one so severe that it came close to ruining his life and so when he is all but ordered by the King of Algany, one of the Five Kingdoms, his immediate reaction is to take the money, pretend to go north and then escape to lands far his own and start a new life.

He is branded by Gerren, a young man who follows him solely on the mystique and glories of the bard’s tale, as a coward when it becomes obvious that the man cannot possibly match up to the hype, and in fact, simply wants to escape it all and leave the Five Kingdoms to their eventual peril.

Quite what happens after this is best left to the reading, but suffice to say that The Coward empathetically, insightfully, and movingly explores what it is like to be branded a hero and yet only feel like a broken, sad, and fallen man.

As well as telling a breathtakingly excitingly but very groundedly human tale of one man’s wholly reluctant quest to save the world as he knows it, Aryan’s novel also impressively tackles the realpolitik surrounding Kell’s mission.

Sadly, much as we would like to believe otherwise, no great act of heroics is ever truly separated from the underhand machinations of those watching on from the sidelines, and while in the case of Kell’s enemies in the Five Kingdoms, such as Reverend Mother Brasik who heads the church of the Shepherd with ruthless Inquisitional efficiency and terrifyingly cruel religious zealotry, they have much to lose if he fails to stop the great ice evil in the north, they still do everything in their power to undercut him.

If ever you wondered if the world is a lost and broken place, then you’ll find confirmation it really is as Kell’s quest come hard up against the base political machinations of those who are both for and against him.

And yet for all these artfully explained and deliberated upon serious themes, which explored an affecting look at how completely disparate people can come together to form a close and caring found family, their lives transformed by the experience, The Coward is also a rollicking good adventure.

A thoughtfully intense one yes, with a lot on its artfully expressed mind, but an adventure nonetheless, albeit one where everyone has their feet firmly planted firmly on the frozen ground, one eye on the gaping deficiencies in their own lives and their other on those who might, quite unexpectedly, relieve them of that burden. (It also muses on who the real monsters are – the snowy terrors of the frozen north or the people plotting in sunnier, warmer climes.)

Much like The Lord of the Rings, which was grand and epic in the scope of its adventure and yet well aware of the weight of the darkness that darks all of us and the world around us, The Coward is a magnificently enthralling tale that regales you with creatures of terrifying ice and mist, heroic battles to stay alive and finish the quest, and the tight bonds that form between people when their backs are well and truly against the sub-zero wall.

A fantasy with considerable heart, a knowing sense of the truth of things, and a willingness to peek behind the myth and legend to the cold, hard reality of what it means to be human (or otherwise) and caught up in the messily contrary and exacting business of being alive, The Coward is a brilliantly good read, a novel that seizes the imagination, hold the heart close and stares hard into the soul, all the while reminding us that we can hold adventure and terror in balance and perhaps this is the very inescapable stuff of being human.

Within my reading I always love it when an author connects their book through a theme, bringing the novel together with a main concept. Within this book, Stephen Aryan has done a brilliant job with the main theme throughout this novel, underpinning it with each aspect of the story. The theme within this novel is obvious...it is the title of the novel - The Coward. This idea of having a main character who became an accidental hero, sung about across the five Kingdoms was fantastic, and it allowed Aryan to dive deep into his leading character, adding a richness to him that some books don’t always have time to do within their pages.

I have not read either of the authors previous trilogies so went into this book with no expectations, this is a book in the style (I use that word as a compliment) of David Gemmel, it has rich characterisation and world building with a healthy dose of action, intrigue and Machiavellian scheming thrown in for good measure, I am not sure I want to go back and read the previous trilogies but I do want to go forward and read the next books in this series

I really, really enjoyed reading this one, even staying up late to finish! I thought just about everything was good about it. It's 4.5 stars, but I rounded up since I enjoyed it so much.

The plot was pretty good. I do feel there are some questions still left unanswered here that I hope to see answered in the next book.

I enjoyed the characters. I thought the title was a bit of a misnomer. I expected the main character to be a bit more of a coward than he was. Instead, we got someone who was pragmatic about not wanting to die. Seems sensible to me

The pacing was good with lots of fighting by both evil monsters and evil humans. One of the problems with the fights was the recovery times on injuries and how they kept fighting a day or two later even with broken ribs or stab wounds. I'm not sure that's so realistic.

There were some genuine laugh out loud funny moments. And overall, this was just an enjoyable read and I'm looking forward to the next one and seeing what happens.

This is a very good book and you should get it.

At 17, Kell went off on a quest with 11 extraordinary heroes of the 5 Kingdoms to battle, on the frozen fields of the North, the Ice Lich, a powerful magical creature that has spread famine throughout the land. Only he returned.

10 years later, there are signs that the Ice Lich is back and that the famine may return. Kell is forced, by political machinations, to travel North and do battle with the Lich again. Now, Krell is not the immature, inexperienced butt of jokes by the heroes but a young man of 27, with a severe case of PTSD in remission from the first quest and leader of a new set heroes.

For creatures there are has vorans, garrows, maglau and polar bears. Besides humans there are other sentient creatures who may be kind of human - Alfar, Choate. Qalamieren and Frostrunners. There's even a Reverend Mother - for political intrigue.

This is an action filled fast-paced, red meat plot. Wonderful character development. You can really bury your dagger up to the hilt in this story. To mix metaphors, Mr. Aryan hit it out of the park with this one.

From now on, when someone asks for a recommendation, with a steely glint in my eyes, I'll just say The Coward.

I absolutely loved the author’s previous books (two trilogies) and was delighted to get an early look at this one (thanks NetGalley).
The title is a slight misnomer. Kell Kressia is not a coward, more someone who would rather not die on an obvious suicide mission. As a naive young man he tagged along with a group of heroes to defeat evil in the frozen North. More by luck than judgement he was the only survivor and was treated like a hero on his return, despite PTSD from the horror of the trip. Ten years later he is asked to go back and resolve another outbreak of bad stuff, he doesn’t want to leave his small farm and he definitely doesn’t want to go through his previous horrors again.
But as circumstanced thwart his plans to head in the opposite direction, he accepts his fate and heads north, picking up a small group of misfits as he goes. He is pretty sure none of them are coming back.
At a superficial level this is a quest story. Group band together and head off to thwart evil or die trying. But as with his previous books, the author starts building extra things into his world building. History, Gods, politics, secrets and a Church that is up to no good.
Lots of moving parts going on around our simple suicide mission and it all comes together nicely at the end of the book where things are resolved but there are enough hints of a great second book to come.
Really enjoyed this.

*Thank you to Angry Robot, Stephen Aryan, and Netgalley for an E-ARC of "The Coward" in exchange for an honest review *

This was an interesting book, although I felt the pacing was slow. I liked the fact that the hero was actually a "coward".

This is the kind of ARC that I jump right into as soon as I got them. God was I happy to get it! Stephen Aryan his a very good fantasy author and this new series got me really curious. We find ourselves in a very well build universe, full of intriguing characters, lot of action as well and a story that open up to what could be a very great series. Can't wait for the next one. I recommend it, as I recommend the previous trilogy by this author, but fortunately you can get into this one without having read his previous work and will be totally fine! Read it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot for the arc copy of The Coward by Stephen Aryan.

A land of five cities, and five kinds, is alive with intrigue. For the past ten years Kell Kressia has shrugged off his hero status and been a farmer far from wealth and glory. Now the cold is coming back and Kressia has been summoned before the king. We follow Kell on this fantastic journey and learn about what really makes a hero.

Aryan builds a world that comes to life. As you are taken through the different kingdoms you start to become aware that not is all as it seems, this is not simply a hero journey. The Coward keeps you reading and on the edge of your seat with an ending that leaves me waiting impatiently for the next book.