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Before I start babbling about other books, expectations, second chances, etc…I want to say up front that I fucking loved THE SWORD DEFIANT with my whole entire heart. When I started it, I had just DNF’d a big fantasy book that was doing nothing for me, and felt like I desperately needed a book that would remind why I love reading fantasy in the first place. And THE SWORD DEFIANT did that & a whole lot more.

But I definitely picked it up with a small amount of trepidation. I was absolutely blown away by Gareth Hanrahan’s 2019 debut novel, THE GUTTER PRAYER. It was easily one of my favorite books of that year, and I still think of it quite frequently. But sadly, the sequel, THE SHADOW SAINT, really frustrated me as a reader (I’ve linked to my reviews for both books if you wanted to check them out). To that end, I still haven’t read THE BROKEN GOD, the third book in THE BLACK IRON LEGACY (I believe this is conceptualized as a five book series, but I could be mistaken.)

So yeah, I found diving into this first book in a new series, LANDS OF THE FIRSTBORN, to be a bit daunting. Hanrahan is kind of a cerebral writer, and even at its most enjoyable & epic, THE GUTTER PRAYER was a challenging book for me.

To me, THE SWORD DEFIANT is so much more accessible than the other two Hanrahan books I’ve read. It’s extremely well written & also pulls off the incredible trick of giving the reader very familiar elements, but still somehow feeling entirely unique.

But yeah, if you’re a fantasy fan, you’re gonna feel like the proverbial kid in the candy store with THE SWORD DEFIANT. It’s got a creepy/haunted city as its main setting. There’s wizards & elves & dwarves. NECROMANCY! An aging hero feeling extreme amounts of I’m Too Old For This Shit™️ who wields a talking sword called Spellbreaker who has the worst possible attitude!

THE SWORD DEFIANT sets itself up as the story AFTER the story. We learn that Aelfric (Alf) & his companions, better known as the Nine, have defeated the evil Lord Bone in an epic war and reclaimed the city of Necrad.

Now…”reclaimed” is doing a lot of work in that sentence, because Necrad is no one’s idea of paradise. There’s a swirling, green mist hanging over everything. It’s referred to as a necromiasma in the book, and the epic cover illustration by Thea Dumitriu captures the vibe of it perfectly.

There are remnants of Lord Bone’s rule left behind in Necrad…vat-grown humanoid creatures called Vatlings, vampires, spirits…Necrad is a pretty fucked up place! And while things are a whole lot better than they were, a new threat arises & it’s up to Alf & his friends to set things right.

Only trouble is, what if they’re not all on the same team anymore?

Yeah, I just fucking loved this one, so completely. I mention it time to time on the blog, but all things considered, I’m a relatively new fantasy reader. It’s really only been a big part of my life for the last ten years or so. So I don’t have that formative dark fantasy book/series I read as a teenager that shaped me into the fantasy reader I am today. But something about THE SWORD DEFIANT felt that way to me…this book just felt so quintessentially FANTASY & checked so many boxes for me.

There’s a lot of humor spread throughout the book, too. It really helps offset the darker, more disturbing elements. There’s a great balance overall in THE SWORD DEFIANT…there’s plenty of wild action & adventure, and some creepy moments for sure, but Hanrahan also spends a lot of time making sure we get to know the cast of characters extremely well.

Also, massive kudos to George Weightman for some incredible narration on the audiobook for this! There’s a vatling character named Threeday in this book…I first encountered Threeday while reading the physical copy of the book, but then I started listening to some of the chapters on audio & wow…Weightman kind of (slightly) channels Andy Serkis’s performance as Gollum for Threeday and the results are freaky & disturbing & kind of hilarious too. And separate from any elaborate voices, the overall narration for the audiobook is just incredibly strong.

This is an amazing start to a new series! Not sure how many books this one is planned as, but I’m going to go feral when news of book two lands! An early favorite read for 2024, for sure. Massive thanks to Orbit for sending this one my way!