While "The Coward" wasn't a perfect book, it was still an enjoyable fantasy ride. So I was happy to pick up the sequel and see where the story went from here! And, for the most part, I was pleased. I enjoyed our returning characters, especially Kell and his wife, but I was also pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the new characters who were introduced in this book. Frankly, while I liked the returning characters, if seen purely in the light of what we got in this book without the nostalgia from the previous one, they were the weaker elements in this book. Instead, these new characters rose to the top of the pack, serving as the true heart of the story here.

I know that some reviewers struggled with the "quest/travelling" aspect of the first book, so they may be disappointed to find that this book, too, has a strong focus on this sort of storytelling, especially the last half of the book. For me, ever since reading "Lord of the Rings" as a teenager, I've always had a special place in my heart for fantasy quest stories, so I was happy to go along on another adventure with this crew.

I also enjoyed the other storyline that focused on Sigrid back home dealing with all of the court politics that are ever shifting. Again, I like court politics in my fantasy, so this was always going to work for me. I will say, however, that there were times where the balance struck between these two pieces, the quest and the court politics, felt a bit off. I'm not sure if both of these storylines really sat comfortably along one another. I enjoyed reading each separately, but every time we shift from one to another, it took a bit for me to re-orient myself.

Overall, while I think this book was a bit weaker than the first, it's still also a solid sequel and fans of "The Coward" should definitely not hesitate to pick it up!

A fantastic sequel to The Coward, The Warrior joins Kell on his next adventure - while simultaneously following his wife, Sigrid, on hers. To be honest, while fond of Kell I found Sigrid's adventures far more compelling in this sequel. Without giving too much away, Kell's story follows your typical fantasy adventure format - he is called away by an old friend, and faces a series of challenges on his quest. While he overcomes these challenges, he does not grow significantly as a character or have to face his own weaknesses head on. Sigrid faces a far more dynamic set of challenges that feel more reflective of reality, and grows immensely as a character in overcoming them..

As I was reading an ARC, there were a few minor consistency things that bugged me throughout the story - namely, it seemed like every other day Kell was realizing for the first time that he would likely never see his family again - something that should really only happen once, and at a critical moment in the adventure. His challenges also were very evenly spaced out, similar to how they occurred in The Coward - they faced a challenge, rested a day, then faced a new challenge. Sigrid's' story was much more fluid, with obstacles coming up sometimes all at once or with long periods in between.

From an overall review standpoint, I would rate this a 4/5. It was a compelling story and kept me hooked throughout. However, if I were to split the story between the two viewpoints, I would probably place Kell's story around a 3.5/5 and Sigrid's story as a 5/5.

Received arc from Angry Robot and Netgalley for honest read and review,this review is my own.
Kell Kressia is back and back in business.He is married now, but must go on a quest with Willow.
Thoroughly enjoyable story,but I think I prefer the first book .
The two books together from a great story, and Kell is such a wonderful character,but this book is more about Sigrid for me and it was a fun read.

Stephen Aryan wrote one of my favorite books last year, The Coward - a splendid tale about an adventure quest across a frozen landscape, featuring a loveable company of 'cowards' with the themes of found family, valour packed in with a healthy dose of politicking, comedy and some well-written vicious action scenes and some crazy twisted monsters to boot. So color me pleasantly surprised, when a sequel to The Coward was announced. But boy, am I happy that I got to tag along with Kell and company for another harrowing quest, in the new book in this series called The Warrior.
So the events of The Warrior happen a few years post The Coward (Where notably, all the threads were tied up very well!) Kell, our favorite reluctant hero is now King and clearly displeased at this turn of events and his new responsibilities. And as usual. itching for an adventure. And hey presto! Look who's back! Our favorite 'Alfar' (an almost human-like race, known for their strength, endurance and reticence ) Willow, one of Kell's companions in the earlier quest to kill the Ice Witch. Kell cannot wait to drop every thing and run behind her, on yet another quest. And this time, to save the race of Alfar from this mysterious wasting disease called Malice - that is causing her entire race to rot and die, in a slow painful manner.



Yes - so am afraid, this is yet another quest story. For those of you sick of this trope, bad news. But the good news? Stephen Aryan keeps things on the boil. The pace and the world-building is immersive and compelling. There is never a moment wasted. Though this time, the side-narratives of the heavy politicking within the Five Kingdoms featuring the eternal fight between the Church and the monarchs etc is a lot more detailed and is possibly the more entertaining part of the overall story compared to the quest itself. The only thing that kept the quest alive for me is the new character called Odd. More on him in a bit.



So Kell is still the central character here, the cowardly 'hero' and the reluctant leader. Training with his Ravens, the personal guards of the King and yet again, leading a bunch of mis-fits against towering odds. But this time, Aryan takes a sweeping view of the entire world and the main theme is about the Five Kingdoms and the fate of humanity that is at stake, due to the Malice. The politics and the conflicts with the Church are in your face - with some large sweeping battles that take up the last few chapters. However, Stephen does what he does best, focusing more on small scale conflicts, personal stakes and some phenomenal world building in this brave quest that Kell and Willow are leading to save her race of Alfars, from dying out. Yes, like the past book, there are some terrifying crazy moments in this quest as well, white-knuckle action sequences, up against some brilliantly imagined monsters. (Like the Yogren, for example or the Horde - all normal animals/Alfars twisted into terrifying monsters by the effect of the Malice!)



This is where two new POVs come in - Yarra and Odd, both soldiers, the King's own personal guard who have signed up for this mission. Odd is a brilliantly realised character, flawed, suffering and yet brave and man, does he have secrets! I will let you readers experience him yourself. Yarra is little less developed but nevertheless, has my immense respect for the valour and determination she displays. Kell, unfortunately this time, doesn't go through much of any character-arc redemption. On the other hand, his wife Sigrid, the Queen now, has a fabulous character-evolution arc and her chapters are an intense read.



Stephen is known to put his 'band' through the wringer and here's no different. The physical and meta-physical horrors that the band is subjected to, is truly hair-raising. I found the pacing of the book just right and while I liked this 'quest', in my opinion - The Coward was a slightly better book in that aspect. But no complaints, a solid addition to the series, The Warrior is an enjoyable romp set in a well realized world, again with some memorable characters on a quest filled with magic, adventure and action aplenty. It's almost like getting back together with your old mates for a lovely enjoyable evening.



Recommended!

Absolutely awful. The entire premise of the novel is silly and it only gets worse. I managed to read half of this train wreck before I gave up in disgust. The first novel in the series wasn’t very good, but I hoped that maybe the writer would improve. Nope. It’s just awful.

4/5 stars.

I did really enjoy my time reading this duology but I preferred book one to book two. The Warrior picks up two years after the events of The Coward conclude and once again Kell is called to adventure. Similar to book one, we have an assembly of a party but where in book one it became found family, in book two those relationships didn't really develop. Rather it concentrated more on each individual facing their own challenges internally.

Kell sets off and time quickly begins to function differently and therefore we end up with two timelines (Kell's and his wife who remained behind). This created some confusion and some major time-gaps in one of the timelines.

I loved the new POV, who went with Kell on the adventure. He's intro'd in Chapter 3 and is immediately very engaging. Though character development was a bit rushed and his conclusion felt lackluster and wasn't given the emotional weight it should've been in my opinion.

Overall, I'm happy that I read the Quest of Heroes and will be happily recommending it for those looking for classic quest fantasy.

**I will be posted a full review to FanFiAddict of the duology**

No matter how many books are in a series and how long the journey, fantasy stories do end. But we all know that they never do. There is always an itch to discover what happened next, or what happened before, a rich lore and world to explore further. In Stephen Aryan’s The Coward we already followed Kell on an adventure after he should have left the scene but was called back to save the world again. The book ended him with being the new King and on the path to living happily ever after, but this is Kell, and his life is never easy. Now he must fulfil a promise he made and become The Warrior.

Life has begun to settle down for Kell the new King of Algany, but he still misses the simple life on his farm. His wife Sigrid barely talks to him, and the court life is full of backstabbing and politics that he has no interest in. When Willow, an old friend, arrives at the Keep gates, Kell is obliged to help her. Willow is part of a mysterious people whose homeland is being infected with a poison called The Malice. Kell must now set out with a new group of warriors to save another world. Will he once again be the only survivor?

Coward was one of my favourite fantasy books of recent years as it was lean and explored the genre from the perspective of a reluctant hero who wanted to be anywhere else but on a quest. Warrior feels like an evolution from that book as Kell as a character has changed. He still has a love of peace and quiet, but he now has a sense of honour and duty, not to the people of Algany, but those that he fought alongside. Therefore, when Willow asked for help, he is obliged to do so.

While book one focussed closely on Kell, the second outing uses him more sparingly and instead splits the narrative between various characters. A warrior who hides a deadly secret, another who finds it hard to live with the sense of failure and finally we follow Sigrid, the Queen who is left behind to rule when Kell embarks on his adventure. I felt sadden to read less about Kell, but with his new confidence and maturity, he is not as complex as he is in Coward. In contrast, there is complexity aplenty in the other characters.

The lands of The Five Kingdoms are full of dangers enough, but this book takes part largely in Willow’s homeland which offers far more to fear. A land apart from our own, where we humans are as odd to the locals, as they are to us when they visit. Only Sigrid is left behind and here we get an interesting time lapse as the two worlds use time differently. I really enjoyed the Sigrid chapters as her life takes on the biggest changes.

As a duology, Coward and Warrior have similarities, but also feel vastly different. This is because the character of Kell is not the same man in both. His maturity and sense of self is far more formed when he is older, and this reflects in his actions and his thoughts. It is rare to read a series in which a character self-realises and evolves. Kells development gives the series a sense of evolution too. Warrior is the final part of a punchy two-part set, but I would be happy to return to the land of Algany again. As is always the case with great fantasy, there is always more to explore.

<b>8 / 10 ✪</b>

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2022/08/10/the-warrior-by-stephen-aryan-review/

Kell Kresia, two time Hero of the Four Kingdoms, King of Algany, most famous man alive—is trapped. Trapped in a grand design as the “king” of one of the four kingdoms, a position he fills mostly as a figurehead. Trapped in a loveless marriage, his wife Sigrid was born to rule but for the nature of being a woman, something she has never forgiven the world for. Trapped and surrounded by people and fame, he can’t find any alone time or anonymity among the commonfolk.

So when his old friend Willow shows up requesting for her homeland, Kell can’t wait to leave.

But this isn’t something as simple as a quest north to defeat the Ice Lich. The land of the Alfár is remote and hidden—somewhere humans have rarely tread. More importantly, it is a land out of time; both literally and figuratively, as the passage of time moves differently in this realm, meaning that for every week that passes within, a year or more might pass in the outside world. Then there is the Malice, the strange and terrible affliction that poisons the land.

Meanwhile life in the Four Kingdoms goes on, with Sigrid (and her infant son) ruling alone. Day to day politicking aside, the continent inches ever closer to war, divided on the worship of the Shepherd, the religion that one Reverend Mother Britak would use to create a theocracy. Despite its very nature being based on a lie, the faith continues to push into Algany, its devotees purging any other beliefs in their way. And without Kell’s legend to dissuade her, there may be nothing holding Britak back from the future she desires. Nothing but Sigrid.

Only upon reaching the Alfár homeland of Gilial do Kell and his party realize just how far gone the place truly is. The trees have withered and died, or turned to monsters of bark and branch. The animals have become mindless beasts only sated by blood and meat. The other races of Gilial have fallen into ruin, and are only rumored to exist in any form. While the Alfár are just a shadow of their former glory—a dying, infected species, day by day more and more fall victim to the Malice.

There exists a plan to save Gilial but it is dark and desperate, despicable and deranged. Willow seeks to stop it, something which Kell and his companions—members of his personal guard: Odd, a loner harboring a terrible secret; and Yarra, harboring deep regret—are instrumental to, as humans may resist the Malice better than their Alfár counterparts.

Only upon seeing the state of the land they might wonder—how could the cure possible be any worse than the affliction?

—

<i>For it to be precious, life has to end. If I live forever and do nothing, then what was the point?</i>

—

While the first quest broke Kell, the second made him whole. What will this third one do?

Well, at least he won’t have to face the Ice Lich. Or WILL he?

No. He won’t. Instead he’ll face a world unseen by most of humanity, full of vibrant locales and ruined cities and creatures never seen before—all corrupted by the Malice’s influence. It was quite the tale, one that left me wanting to see more of this new world, yearning to see it before it had been devastated by the Malice. What we see in the Warrior is a world laid to waste. Oh, to see it before!

But anyway, the story is a good one. Kell’s is, at least. Full of twists and turns. Challenge and peril. A land full of surprise and opportunity. The story winds its way through this strange land, eventually leading to the heart of the Malice—and to the big reveal. As big reveals go, this may not have been anything game-changing, but it was at least interesting. And the conclusion and aftermath more than make up for any letdown in the mystery department.

The issue I have is not with Kell’s story, but Sigrid’s. Even in the first few pages of her first chapter, you knew where it was going to lead. Well, you knew where Kell’s was leading too. But where Kell’s was interesting, immersive, and exciting throughout—and even sprinkled with a seed of doubt—Sigrid’s only started this way. But at the 3/4 mark, it takes a turn. Everything afterwards seems like a foregone conclusion.

While a great tale and quest, the Warrior ain’t exactly innovative. It’s strongly reminiscent of the Lord of the Rings, albeit an abbreviated, poor man’s version. It’s entertaining, sure; almost everything that it does, this book does well (excluding, of course, the conclusion at home). It isn’t a retelling of LotR, or a fanfic, although the quest is rife with similarities. That said, there’s nothing wrong with doing a little LotR impersonation every now and then. Impression is the highest form of flattery. And LotR is (no matter your opinion on it) the most popular fantasy tale. It would be impossible not to draw similarities between the two. And that’s okay. Because it’s not a clone, a rip-off, or a retelling. The Warrior tells an amazing story with just a little bit of a letdown towards the end.


<b>TL;DR</b>

The Warrior isn’t a game-changer. It tells of a quest—a fellowship, if you will—through a land devastated and barren, to reach some peril at the end and vanquish it. I mean, just stop me here if this reminds you of anything. Or just keep reading. Because while the initial plot is hardly innovative, once you get into it it’s sure immersive. A plague destroying a previously forgotten land. A race against time. A legend with nothing to prove, hunting the Malice that threatens his friends. A new world to explore. An old world to remember. I mean, it’s all quite good. And a worthy conclusion to a fabulous duology!

The Warrior is an enjoyable fantasy book that toes the line between a 3 and 4 star book.

It continues where it left off in The Coward and this is where I enjoyed the story most. When Kell and his wife Sigrid, were still together in the same place. Not long into the book they split up as Kell returns a favour to a friend and travels with them on a deadly mission and this then splits the story into two.

The first part of the story and one I preferred is political and intense with Sigrid in control of the Five Kingdoms. The second part of the story, which reads parallel to the first, is about Kell and his journey. This had an adventure feel to it that juggled action and travelling.

I really liked the new characters Stephen added into this world and I feel that without these characters this would have been nowhere near as good. They each bring something new to the world and provide a unique insight whether they're from the Ravens or are an Alfár. I liked how they each had their own issues and this was touched upon in a clever way as they dealt with the threats they faced.

There are action scenes in this book but they seem to lose momentum at times or possibly go on too long for what reason I'm not sure as I felt if they were condensed and altered in pace they could provide great reading.

One of my issues with The Coward was the travelling part and unfortunately The Warrior suffers in this department again slightly. The time is filled in generally with some kind of character development but I found myself skipping ahead to see how much longer till the next chapter.

I liked the characters but wanted a bit more depth and I wished the story hadn't been split so much but understand why this was done. It's my opinion that I think those who would enjoy this the most are light fantasy readers. I suspect that if you are a hardcore epic fantasy reader I think you might find this a little too tame for your tastes.

There is an enthralling expansiveness to beautifully and richly told fantasy novels, a sense of imaginative foreverness that envelops you so completely you forget that there’s a real world waiting out there to rudely break the spell of enchantment when the novel is lamentably done.

To be subsumed that completely is a rare gift but it is one that The Warrior by Stephen Aryan (The Coward), the second book in the Quest for Heroes series, gives in luxuriant quantities, its rich storytelling the product of an engrossing narrative, vibrantly-realised characters and an understanding of the complex way in which humanity often intersects with the world around it.

A thoughtful and empathetically alive novel, The Warrior is, first and foremost, a fantastically pell-mell story of action and adventure that takes us to a land almost wholly lost to a malevolent, reality-twisting poison and to another where darkness assumes an altogether lighter but no less destructively religious form.

In both instances, the key characters of the novel, a husband and wife who find themselves fighting the same battle against markedly different foes, have to make their way through challenges unimaginable, bigotry and prejudice dressed up as reasoned thought (when it’s clearly nothing of the sort) and a sense of destiny unravelled and changed beyond all recognition.

The Warrior picks up the story of Kell Kressia, the saga-lauded, twice-validated hero of the Five Kingdoms, who, following the heroic adventures of The Coward, which saw a close-knit small troop takes on monstrous evil, now sits, quite reluctantly, on the throne of Algany, married to the old king’s daughter who, through a blighted misogynistic twist, cannot occupy the peak position of power herself.

Theirs is a loveless marriage, though it is not without some lingering affection, and they spend much of their time apart, Kell sharpening his sword fighting skills with the enigmatic warrior Odd, a member of The Ravens who guard the king and queen with their lives if need be, and Sigrid attending with intelligence, insight and compassion to the endless affairs of state.

While Algany is a peaceful and enlightened place, the rest of the Five Kingdoms are not so lucky, with the prime religion of the land centred on a being called The Shepherd and led by the poisonously extremist Reverend Mother Britak who speaks sweet words with a darkly sour aftertaste, seeking to rule over everyone in a theocratic rush to the authoritarian edge.

It’s a battle between religious superstition and fundamentalist warmongering which would give The Handmaid’s Tale a run for its money on one hand, and enlightened forward-thinking rule on the other, a squaring up of backwardness and thoughtful humanity that very much resembles the divisions in our world today.

As this critical junction of events, Willow, an old friend of Kell’s from The Coward, turns up, with tales of a homeland so ruined by a spreading black nightmare called the Malice that the only hope is a risky mission deep into the heart of her now-bleak and desolate land in the hope they can deal one final blow against the poison that is corrupting and terrorising her people and which threatens to wipe their civilisation from the map (though one that does not, rather magically, match Kell’s own).

Kell doesn’t hesitate to volunteer to go with her, taking Odd and another Raven, Yarra, with him, both of whom have deep troubles and secrets of their own, leaving behind Sigrid, with whom he has brokered a last-minute rapprochement of sorts, to battle the conniving nastiness of Reverend Mother Britak whose blindly devoted followers are practising a peculiarly intolerant kind of cruelty across the land.

Both battles are titanic in their own way and The Warrior moves seamlessly between them, never once putting a foot wrong, with the two seemingly divergent storylines linked by shared themes of bigotry, hatred, ferocious darkness and the need for good, in whatever form it takes, to ceaselessly take on evil lest the world end at the hands of those who do nothing.

It’s a masterful piece of writing and obviates that tendency that can creep into spilt narratives where one is for more compelling than the other simply because it feels more relevant or important or the characters are simply more exciting to be around.

Impressively, the stakes are equally high in both circumstances and there’s never a point in either stream where you’re desperate to read ahead so you can get to “the good stuff”; it’s all good, very, very good, in fact, and having the two halves sit equally, enthrallingly, together makes for a seamlessly involving read that underscores yet again how intertwined these two utterly different circumstances are.

The brilliance of The Warrior rests in its flawless ability to be expansively action-oriented, with battles cropping up quite often in the massive fight between good and evil that characterises the novel as a whole, and also intimately intense as both Kell and Sigrid, and many of the supporting characters such as Willow, Odd and Yarra, have to confront some substantial inner issues, all of which carry a reckoning of some sort.

Neither element cancels out the other and so, what we end up with is a fantasy novel that goes for the big imaginative narrative and thematic leaps while remembering that sheer, raw, vulnerable humanity is at the heart of every story, no matter how epic and that the more intimate, emotionally evocative moments must walk in lockstep with the bigger, bolder scenes.

As with the superlative The Coward, which was muscular in its storytelling and humanly up close with its more emotional elements, even when the characters may not have been all that human, The Warrior is a powerfully affecting story that sweeps you in its grasp, taking you on a journey to the very furthest extent of your imagination where everything is on the line, and into the very depths of what it means to be a living, breathing, feeling being, balancing action, intrigue and mystically grounded and searingly brutal twists and turns with rich emotionality to deliver the kind of novel that is not soon forgotten and whose characters and their actions stay vibrantly alive in your memory well after the last page has been reluctantly turned.

I recently read and reviewed The Coward by Stephen Aryan and absolutely loved it. I could hardly stand to wait until I could pick up its sequel, The Warrior, which is also the conclusion of this story of The Five Kingdoms and Kell Kressia. (This doesn't mean I won't hope for more, whether it be short stories, novellas or even more novels from this world!)

In the spirit of transparency, I did accept an ARC from the publisher, Angry Robot Books, on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. They asked and I have never said yes so fast. Well, I said yes AFTER I called my husband and father-in-law to tell them I got the offer to read it. LOL - it's the little things, am I right?

Now that I've read the Quest For Heroes duology, what do I think? First and foremost, Stephen Aryan has an extraordinary talent for writing human emotion and behavior. I was blown away by it when I read The Coward and watched as Kell was triggered into reliving his horrible past - the grief, the fear and the survivor's guilt.

The Warrior introduced a new POV - Queen Sigrid, Kell's wife. For me, she was the standout star as far as character growth and development, with the character, Odd being first runner up. Again, the beauty of both of these characters as they each try and deal with the hand that life has dealt them - trying to be the best version of themselves, even as they fail or make selfish decisions.

When I first saw the title, I was sure it meant Kell. Upon reading it, I actually think it was meant for his wife, Sigrid. I know a lot of my friends enjoy books that feature a strong female lead, especially when she's also a mother, so if that describes you - I've just found another for you to add to that list! Sigrid was a tremendous woman with a strength and determination I found absolutely inspiring. She experienced something during the course of this story that I could relate to somewhat and I found myself feeling renewed after watching how hard she worked to adapt and overcome.

While I don't mind reading the same tropes over and over again, I don't like when books in a series repeat the exact same trope, but with a few minor changes. I'm very happy to say The Warrior does not do this. We do have the quest trope...but it's a bit different as I would call it more of a mission - Willow has called in her favor for Kell to assist her in a matter that will require him to travel with her to her homeland - so it's not another instance of Kell saving the Five Kingdoms.

Moving over into world building - we get to see a whole different part of this world as we travel with Kell and his band to Willow's homeland. There is a level of urgency ever present because our friends are racing to track down Willow's cousin before he can enact a dangerous ritual in an attempt to save their land from a dangerous poison called the Malice. The Malice alters everything it touches - everything. There were so many different directions this could have gone with a foe such as this poison and I *really* liked the outcome of this endeavor. Again, it just felt so dang authentic and logical...and the author did something I'm all the time saying I wish authors would do on occasion. (If you don't know, I'm not saying because SPOILERS!) ((I really hope you all read that and heard it in Alex Kingston's voice))

If you are a character driven reader, I believe you will absolutely love these books. If you love the quest trope, found family, camaraderie, and great battle scenes - you will love these books. Honestly, I would put this series on par with another favorite of mine, The Faithful and The Fallen by John Gwynne.

I was given the opportunity to review an ARC of this book via NetGalley. 3.5 stars

The Warrior picks up from the end of The Coward. Kell needs to save the world again and goes on an epic quest with Willow to an alien-like world. The characters are still likeable and the two new cast members are interesting. They both add to the story with their own issues and back-stories. They all have flaws that they have to battle with as part of the story which adds an interesting dynamic. The world of Willow is engaging. It is fantastical and was described clearly enough that I could really imagine it. I enjoyed reading about their journey as it went further into this world.

There was lots of action scenes which were written well enough that I could picture them. I particularly enjoyed the battles against creatures, with a stand-out performance being against a creature called the Yogren. I would have loved to have learnt more about the Yogren! There was lots of good twists and turns that I didn't see coming. Kell's wife has a particularly unexpected and interesting character arc.

The ending was too perfect for me. It also seemed a bit rushed that all of a sudden everything happened and was tidied up with a big bow.

Overall, if you haven't read a lot of fantasy then this book is for you. If you want a book for someone who is just getting into fantasy then this is the ideal book. If you are an avid fantasy fan then The Warrior doesn't compare unfortunately. John Gwynne and Joe Abercrombie are just on another level.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher Angry Robot Books for providing me with an ARC, in exchange for an honest review. I'll split this review into the positives and negatives for me, before a recommendation for the series as a whole.

The book was enjoyable, well-paced, and brought some complexities that the first book lacked. Some new characters, some old faces. One of the new side characters, Odd was my favorite thing about this read. His story took me by surprise and had me hooked till the end.
If you liked book 1, I recommend picking up this one because it combines elements from the first while also shaking things up a fair bit.

We have a bit of a situation with two stories progressing in parallel in this one, and one tale definitely outweighed the other for me. So definitely issues with regard to balancing POV/page time with reference to the story being told for the set of characters in question. Furthermore, it feels a bit disjointed from book 1. The continuity between the two feels a bit shaky. I feel like I could almost read book 2 without having read book 1 and get away with it. Similar to Gardens of the Moon and Deadhouse Gates - while the books are definitely linked it's practically two different stories.
The ending might've been a little simplistic in nature, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Keeping that last point in mind, I'd recommend this duology to anyone starting out in fantasy. Stephen Aryan is very talented at writing a vibrant world and a quest plotline, and anyone can get into a good time with this fun crew of characters. Easy-to-read prose, a very relatable main character, and short chapters make this a solid entry for beginners in adult fantasy, but also something a veteran might enjoy. 7.5/10.

The Warrior comes out on August 9th, 2022. Thank you :)

~ Received as an arc with thanks from Angry Robot and NetGalley, Review to be published @ The Back Catalogue Substack on 21st July, 2022 12am AEST ~

Unlike The Coward, whose bleakness has a thread of hope throughout, The Warrior brings our band of characters to their lowest points and breaks them with the inevitability and cruelty of their circumstances.

While The Coward languishes beautifully in the cyclic nature of Kell’s life, having him break out of the spiral he has been trapped in since his first journey to the North. The Warrior is a gut punch of loneliness, despair, cruelty, and inevitability. At the story's heart is a stagnation that can only be overcome by drastic change. A change that, while for the better, is unwelcome and difficult.

Willow and the Alfar must learn to let go of the past or be overcome by Malice. Odd and Yarra, the two Ravens - the royal family’s elite guard - Kell takes with him to Willow’s homeland on this journey, must overcome the fear inside them. For Odd of becoming the monster he has always kept hidden, and Yarra, of her failure to protect her friends and comrades. And Sigrid must remake herself as a warrior to fight against the incoming war, but in doing so must give up the things she holds dear.

Kell, however, is the character I find who undergoes the least amount of change in this book—instead acting as the core to the group that keeps them on their path as Malice slowly infects them and tries to stray them from their path. Kell wants to return to his family and finally reconcile with his wife Sigrid and raise their son together, which acts as his motivation. But, unlike Willow, Odd, Yarra, and Sigrid, he gives up the least of all the characters in the narrative. By the end of it all, only lost time - as time passes differently in the Alfár’s dimension compared to the Five Realms - compared to what his companions and wife have had to forfeit for their goals to succeed.

What Kell has lost for their journey to be a success is better understood through the lens of his wife’s Sigrid journey. While Sigrid has fewer dedicated main groups, she gets a fuller arc in this book. Sigrid is brought to her lowest point; having been accused of killing Reverend Mother Britak, she must turn herself in and be humiliated to delay the war Britak and her zealots have been brewing. She is not only humiliated but left to waste away and die in the prison cells of the Holy city. When she can finally escape, she must remake herself to better fight off the war about to come. But in doing so, she can never return home to her son’s side as the same person. Kell and Sigrid want to raise their family in peace and harmony, but they lose much of that because of their journeys. Kell the eight years he spends in the Alfár dimension, and Sigrid can never be a mother to her son. All Kell has ever wanted since The Coward is a peaceful life and a happy family, but both he and Sigrid lose much of that opportunity to the various strifes they must face.

Willow also returns in this book, and we get a much more chatty and animated version of her. Her long-awaited return to her world and the infection of the Malice make her much more open to her companions. While in The Coward, we only speculate that Willow is perhaps lonely in the Five Kingdoms, in this book, we get confirmation of how isolated and lonely her journey thus far has been. Having originally come to the Five Kingdoms with her kinsman Ravvi to seek a cure for Malice, they eventually separated due to disagreement. Willow has been on her own ever since. Her dropped guard in this book makes her more vulnerable and relatable and less of an alien and distant companion. We are shown her despair at her people’s suffering and insistence on giving up. Also, her anger at Ravvi committing what amounts to sacrilege, taking a vial of Govehenna’s blood to perform a dark ritual to save their people. However, for her people to survive, the status quo must change.

The two new additions to the party are Yarra and Odd of the King’s Ravens. Odd is a quiet man with a dark secret, and Yarra is a young woman who, after the death of the squad at her command, has lost her confidence.

Odd has a secret: a hunger lurks inside him, forcing him to kill to feed it. With each kill, he grows stronger but comes closer to submitting to its will. He is afraid of giving in to this hunger and becoming a monster or being found out and killed like his mother was. But is willing to do anything to protect his companions when it comes down to the line. Throughout the story, he is haunted by the ghost of his mother, a projection created by Malice that taunts him into giving in to the hunger with secrets from his past.

Yarra is directionless and unable to lead, haunted by the ghosts of her dead squad. The Malice torments her with visions and voices of those she lost. While Kell recognises the strengths buried beyond self-doubt, Yarra must learn to take the lead if she is ever to overcome her past.

Unlike in The Coward, all of our heroes make it to the other side of this journey. However, they are irreversibly changed by their journey, and the status quo of their lives is upended by the choices they have made. The cruelty of the Malice and war slowly chipping away at their humanity as they have to make harder choices this time. And because of this, The Warrior is the perfect sequel to The Coward.

The Warrior picks up a few years on from the events of The Coward, as we follow Kell and my fave, Willow, on another adventure - this time to save the latter's kinsfolk.

I loved The Coward and this was as brilliant. We're introduced to some new companions who were as intriguing as the originals and Aryan has a real gift for making you care for almost all the characters (I say almost - I've rarely hated a character as much as the Reverand Mother !) In particular, I found Sigrid's journey to be an unexpected highlight - strong women are certainly not lacking in Aryan's work.

We learn more about the Alfár and the Choate - who were equally fascinating, and I found a perfect balance between the core storyline and the side ones.

Honestly, this is an outstanding duology which I would highly recommend to those who have enjoyed Richard Swan's Justice of Kings and Anthony Ryan's Pariah and Martyr.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of "The Warrior" by Stephen Aryan.

The sequel to The Coward follows Kell Kressia, now the King of Algany, as he makes good on his promise to Willow, the Alfar, the he promised at the end of their journey to destroy the Ice Lich. Leaving behind his city, his crown, and his wife and son Kell follows Willow with two guard to her own country to help defeat the Malice. Sigrid, his queen, has been left to deal with the Reverend Mother Britak and a possible Holy War. With time passing differently between the two worlds much happens to change both Kell and Sigrid that they cannot control.

I really enjoyed this sequel and thought that it did well at bringing back Willow and showing Kell fulfilling his promise that was the opening for this book left at the end of The Coward. Sigrid was a good addition and gave more urgency to the chapters in the book that dealt with the situation in Algany. I really enjoyed the descriptions of Willow's homeland and the differences in culture as Aryan described. The inclusion of more of the Choate was a fun addition allowing more of the characters from The Coward to be included and giving the reader more an insight into these characters.

The one part that stuck out to me as something that could have been left out was the character of Odd. Odd's inclusion was in a fact a little odd. Suddenly we have someone who does not really fit with the rest of the world as seen in The Coward or the other parts of The Warrior and until the very end of the book he really doesn't have much of a reason for existing, he could have been replaced with a character like Malomir who was a skilled warrior, a hero, but not necessarily magical. It would have been nice to see more heroes in this book as it was such a big part of the previous book.

Overall a good read that was quick and pulled me out of a reading slump. 4.5 stars.

The Warrior picks up two years after the end of The Coward with Kell now being the king and married to the previous king’s daughter, Sigrid. After Willow arrives asking for help with a problem that is plaguing her people, he goes off on another adventure with her, leaving Sigrid to defend the kingdom from the damned religious nut jobs.

The biggest strength of The Warrior is its characters. I love them, especially Kell but Sigrid and Willow are also awesome. The story adds two new POV characters, Odd and Yarra. I liked the parts they had to play in the story, Odd’s was especially interesting and I thought they were both interesting additions to the story.

I enjoyed the story overall but there is a part of me that wishes that this series was a trilogy instead of a duology. There are so many interesting things happening in this novel and it sometimes feels as though they are constrained by the length of the series. At times, it did feel like the plot points were being crammed in and it did knock the pacing in a few places. Maybe it’s just me feeling greedy and just wanting more but I do wish the story had taken place over two books and all these plot points could have been explored in far more detail. It does suffer a bit from the dreaded time skip but the characters are just so great that I can forgive it a little.

I really enjoy Aryan’s writing. He’s very good at writing characters and his stories are always a lot of fun to read. I did say that the pacing felt a little off since there was so much plot in so few pages but it’s not really that much of an issue. I really enjoyed reading the book and I didn’t want it to end. It had me hooked from the beginning to the end with its cool story and awesome characters. I highly recommend both of the books in this series, they’re a lot of fun.

I was a little concerned when I first picked this book up. The initial reviews I saw weren't great, however, I ended up enjoying The Warrior even more so than I did the Coward.

I connected a lot more with the characters here than I did in first book. They felt more fleshed out than the prior heroes. I found both Yarra and Odd to be fascinating. Odd, in particular, was my favorite. I also really enjoyed Sigrid's story arc, though the conclusion of it was not my favorite, as I think it suffered the same rushed conclusion that general plot of The Coward did.

The Warrior is an excellent follow up, if not upgrade to the world that Aryan creates. This is one of those stories though where we're not really given an explanation to certain things, which... admittedly was very frustrating, but overall did not detract from my enjoyment. Again, I found myself wanting more from the book and I'm realizing that its just because Aryan creates this really rich world that I would love to explore with finer detail.

Thank you NetGalley and Angry Robot for the ARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I think I liked this one better than the first (The Coward)- Aryan balances his story a bit more this time. While following Kell on his adventure, he continues to follow events at home with wife Sigrid as well. Much like the first entry though, you are left wondering WHO is the Warrior of the story? Is it Kell (leaping a little too quickly at the opportunity to follow Willow)? Is it Willow for venturing out of her own world to start with? Is it Sigrid for staying home to fight things out with the Reverend Mother? Or Kell's guard(ian?)s for facing their own demons in their own ways?

The Warrior es la continuación de The Coward y también el final de la historia de Kell. Tras los sucesos acontecidos en la primera entrega, Kell es rey de Algany, pero pronto alguien de su pasado volverá para reclamar deudas pendientes y lo cambiará todo.


No quiero entrar mucho en la trama porque inevitablemente llevaría a destrozar la experiencia de lectura del primer libro, así que he pensado que será mejor hablar de las sensaciones que me ha dejado The Warrior.

La última obra de Stephen Aryan es pausada y melancólica, dividida en dos narraciones que tienen distintas velocidades merced a un truco del escritor, pero que le sirve para ralentizar una de las tramas y acelerar la otra de una forma poco sutil para alcanzar un clímax unificado. Precisamente por el uso de este recurso, la impresión en la lectura es que la parte del león se la lleva la trama “ralentizada” mientras que de la trama “acelerada” solo veremos algunos atisbos.

Se trata de una novela eminentemente triste, de pérdida de oportunidades y derrotismo, del fin de una cultura que se encuentra con una amenaza interior a la que no es capaz de hacer frente, una sociedad en la que el pesimismo ha hecho tanta mella en las personas que ya casi ni viven, solo deambulan esperando el final. La pequeña chispa de rebeldía que suponían los actos de dos miembros de esta sociedad se consideran actos de locura imperdonables. Esta sensación de inevitabilidad está maravillosamente conseguida a lo largo de las páginas, pero también hace que la lectura sea morosa y lenta en demasía.

A algunos de los personajes que ya conocíamos de la primera entrega se une dos nuevos que tienen un papel muy desigual en la trama de la novela. Mientras que Odd y sus torturados orígenes gozan de gran importancia, la presencia de Yarra es casi testimonial. No digo que no cumpla su papel, pero parece mucho menos elaborada que Odd, a quien llegaremos a comprender en su ansia.

Como la primera novela, en esta ocasión también asistiremos a un viaje con un objetivo en mente, si bien esta vez no estará tan claro y las dificultades del camino serán mayores, no solo por la orografía del terreno en sí, si no por las luchas interiores que habrán de sobrellevar los miembros de la expedición.

He comentado que había dos puntos de vista en la novela, pero también es cierto que se le da poca importancia a la trama de Sigrid, a pesar de su relevancia en el aspecto político de los Cinco Reinos. Me hubiera gustado que se hubiera desarrollado en mayor profundidad, porque solo asistimos a pequeñas pinceladas del destino que le aguarda a la reina y podría haber sido más interesante centrarnos en ella.

El final, aunque satisfactorio, me parece un poco acelerado.

En definitiva, se trata de un libro de fantasía más lento y melancólico de lo habitual, que puede servir como contrapunto frente a otros autores que se vuelcan más en la acción y en la velocidad de la historia.