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I’m writing this on/around one of the saddest anniversaries in my life. It’s been one year since my dog Wilson died. He was a big, beautiful, happy Golden Retriever & he had only just turned five when he died. He should be six, because he should be here, and every day that he isn’t here is extremely painful for me.

Things were really bad during his last week, and I was in the midst of reading a massive fantasy novel that I ultimately had to admit was just not for me (I wrote about this in my review for THE LOST WAR, but hey, I’m writing about it again!) I’m pretty easygoing about DNFing books these days. I know when I know. But I’d wager a guess that was furthest I’ve ever gotten into a book before deciding to DNF it, at least relative to the length of the book (the book was around 650 pages and I bet I was 75-80% of the way through it).

But I was struggling a lot with the inevitability of losing my dog, and I badly needed something to latch onto.

And THE LOST WAR proved to be exactly the right book for the moment. As sad as it is for me to have Justin Lee Anderson’s series, THE EIDYN SAGA, be so completely tied into some of the worst days of my life…I’m a reader, and that’s just how things work. There are just certain books (or movies or shows or music) that can help carry you through some real dark shit. It’s beautiful in a way, but still…sad.

SPOILER WARNING TIME!!!!

THE LOST WAR ends with a hell of a twist, and while I try to keep my reviews generally spoiler free, I’m not sure I’ll be able to write much about THE BITTER CROWN without at least mentioning how things shook out at the end of THE LOST WAR. You have been warned!!

After learning that Mynygogg was in fact king all along, and not the evil monster we believed him to be, our heroes need to set things right in their world. Undoing Janaeus’s elaborate spell (that had the world believing he, Janaeus, was king) is just the beginning, though.

Things for Aranok are…challenging. On the one hand, he’s got his friend Mynygogg back. On the other…the world is in disarray, there are threats on all fronts, there’s a key murder to solve, and he’s dealing with the fact that his relationship with Allandria was also twisted & distorted by Janaeus’s spell.

To say nothing of the fact that some people think they were never under a spell all along, and that Aranok is now the one manipulating their thoughts.

Oof.

The tone of this book is, overall, quite a bit darker and more somber than THE LAST WAR. It’s a bit lighter on action than the first book as well, favoriting way more character development and introspection. I think Anderson does some really good work here in terms of representation, with a significant focus on mental health & things like panic attacks.

As with the first book, Samily continues to be my favorite character. There are some truly memorable & illuminating scenes here as she continues to discover more about herself. I wasn’t 100% sure which direction the character would take after a few scenes in THE LOST WAR, but without actually using the word “asexual,” Anderson definitely seems to have written a wildly compelling, badass ace character into his epic fantasy series.

But too, there is a darker side to Samily’s character that gets explored here. Her devotion to her god and her sort of black & white way of looking at the world means that she is quick to pass judgement on others, sometimes with exceedingly violent results.

There’s just a lot of conflict that erupts within the main group of characters. Everyone is kind of grouped off and on separate missions/quests, but within these smaller groups, tensions arise. This is particularly true of Aranok & Nirea, who spend much of this novel at each other’s throats. And it’s all born out of love and out of a desire to do what’s right, what’s best for this world. But dang…it gets rough.

There’s some seriously dark & upsetting things in this one, to be sure. A lot of times, necromancy in fantasy novels gets portrayed as almost whimsical, or amusing. Without giving away too much, there’s a new character practicing necromancy in a way that is profoundly sad, brutal, and extremely divisive among our core group of characters.

I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of this one! But I really wanted to get some thoughts down, as a way to pay respect to what these books have meant to me through a difficult personal time. Beyond that though, this series has been fucking fantastic so far!

The books certainly draw parallels to our own world & the bigotry within it. The story is overtly political & feels extremely relevant and timely. Anderson does tremendous work developing the increasingly-large cast of characters…no one gets short-changed here & I just love this group of characters so much!

Oh! Huge shoutout to Justin Lee Anderson for not just writing this incredible fantasy novel, but for narrating the audiobook as well! He’s a natural, for real! I’m not sure I’ve listened to a fantasy novel narrated by the author before, but Anderson is more than up to the task. His Scottish accent is, of course, perfect for this Gaelic-inspired fantasy!

I’m loving this series with my whole heart & can’t wait to see where the story goes next! I believe this is a four-book series, so we’re halfway through it & it’s become a new favorite for sure!

Massive thanks to Orbit for sending this one my way!