TBL Pile Review: The Tyranny of Faith, by Richard Swan

Blurb

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.

My Review – Spoilers

ARRGHHHHHH

Just finished listening to this book after. I bawled in chapter 38. Seriously. Killing off Bressinger like that? Cruel, Richard Swan, cruel!

After taking control of the Magistratum, Vonvalt and company are dumped into the politics of Sova. In a complicated plot involving the Emperor’s daughter-in-law and grandson they travel across the empire, guided by some dodgy characters. The acquire a dog named Heinrich in the process and Vonvalt gets sicker as the hex Claver put on him drains his energy. Helena goes into the Afterlife to find out what’s happening, sees monsters and meets the Trickster.

Lots of people die, and demons escape in to the mortal lands after a battle on the southern edge of the empire. Helena is responsible. She also has to wade through a sewage pipe and kills a couple of Patrias. And burns ancient texts.

Then everyone gets arrested. There’s another ruse and desperate escape and then a clandestine meeting or three. Eventually, Vonvalt realises he was tricked by a fake Justice and set up.

And Sir Radomir just wants another drink.

It’s a complex plot.

There’s a lot of emotional development for Helena, who tells the story, as she deals with recovering for losing her first love, finds herself jealous and suspicious of Justice Rosa in their hunt for the lost prince, and then confronts her conflicted feelings about Vonvalt. She idolises him, loves him and is appalled by some of his actions. As she confronts his death, her grief is compounded by a conversation and then a letter confessing his love. It doesn’t help that she loses Bressinger, her best friend, a few days before, and she blames herself for both of their deaths.

The world of the two-headed wolf expands to include the southern areas of the empire and the coastal regions, as the group travels extensively in their quest to find the prince and defeat Claver. The landscape is very similar to that of North Africa and the Middle East, and some of the descriptions of the indigenous population sound a lot like Bedouins, or a generic person from that region.

Claver is mad as a sack of weasels and not in a good way. He’s obviously planning to take over the empire and claim it’s for the gods, but his activities suggest he wants to control the mortal realm and the afterlife. He’s turning nuns into demon-controlled autonoma! And his priests keep exploding! The Templars are provoking neighbouring kingdoms into starting wars and Claver uses the opportunity to show off his murdering skills. And the ‘faithful’ are calling him a living saint.

Mad as a sack of weasels.

It’s an obvious comparison, but the southern edge of the empire is clearly based on the Crusader Kingdoms of the middle ages, and the Templars are very obviously based on the crusading knights of the period, especially the particularly rabid ones, like Richard II of England (who was French and hated England). Like the Knights Templar of the real world, the Templar’s of Swan Empire of the Wolf, built fortresses, tried to suppress and genocide the indigenous population, force conversions to the imperial religion and start wars with neighbouring kingdoms.

The Empire has something of both the Roman Empire (including Byzantine Empire) and the Holy Roman Empire about it. Constant war. Drawing recruits from conquered nations with the promise of citizenship. During the later years of the Roman Empire/Byzantine Empire the supremacy of Christianity and suppression of all other religions became a bit of a problem. A problem the modern world has inherited, because actions have consequences, and you can’t go around forcing your culture and religion on people and not expect them to get upset about it. And you can’t use mythology to justify it either. Well, you can, but there will always be people who are prepared to say it’s a bloody daft excuse, and we know it’s an excuse to control land and resources, so why not just tell the truth?

Sorry, I’m upset. The events in The Tyranny of Faith are particularly resonant at the moment, given the several horrible wars/genocides going on in Europe, Asia and Africa. But they’d be resonant at any time in the last couple of thousand years or so. Possibly the last three thousand years, depending on how far back you want to go and how far east.

Mad as a sack of weasels…Humans were a bad idea, evolution!

Anyway, back to the book. I listened to this book as an Audible audiobook, but I have this book in a special edition hardback and the paperback arrives tomorrow. Sometimes I like to listen to a book while I’m out walking, or on the bus, and then continue the story by reading the book once I’m at home. I ordered the paperback book thinking I wouldn’t get much listening time and I read a bit faster than the narration, but I had a bad night and a tiring day so I’ve just listened to the book this evening and not done much else so I finished the last 14 chapters today. About 6 hours of listening. It’s not a short audiobook (17 hours 59 minutes).

The narrative was action packed and ramps up to the events on the southern border, where Helena confronts Claver once more. The emotional turmoil decreases and then increases and then decreases as the last couple of chapters take the depleted gang back to Sova and then into the northern reaches of the empire. We are left wondering how Helena will go from a disavowed traitor in the wilderness, to writing her memoir of the fall of the empire and the life of Vonvalt.

Obviously, Claver is going to make a bid for the Imperial throne, the emperor is either going to die or be a puppet, the religious nutbags are going to inflict their puritanism on everyone, someone will raise an army, there will be a civil war, maybe the duplicitous daughter-in-law will lead a counter army, and somehow there’s a ‘pagan witch’ involved – presumably that’s a priestess from one of the religions the Autun has sought to replace and suppress? And what is the Trickster up to? I need to know what happens next. I’m really enjoying this series, it’s clever, well-plotted and the characters are complex.

The narrator for the audiobook is Lucy Paterson. I enjoyed her narration, but she pronounces some common words very idiosyncratically. Helena comes across as a bit hysterical and high pitched, but I’m not sure if that’s an intentional tone. I probably need to look at how it’s written in the book to compare.

Overall, another one for my favourites list.