Synopsis
When a new enemy comes to power, Rothgar’s ruling family and friends are forced to ally with old rivals. Faced with betrayal from within their own clan, Rothgar’s survival is by no means certain, as an ancient and malevolent magic grows in strength and threatens all he holds dear.
In the remote land of Laskar the seven ruling clans have vied with each other for power for over a century. The son of the Reavesburg Clan Chief, Rothgar, has been groomed all his life for a role supporting his elder brother, Jorik, in leading their kingdom when their father’s time finally comes to an end.
However, the rulers of their greatest rivals, the Vorund Clan, are in the grip of something older and far darker. They have been conquered by evil, a remnant from the time when the gods warred with one another and the world of Amuran collapsed into the Fallen Age.
Everything is about to change….
Review
Let’s begin this review with an apt tangent…
In the UK there is a theme park (that shall not be named in case I trigger any delicate ownership land mines) it is arguably the most popular theme park in the country and within its walls is a ride that is also arguably the most popular in the UK.
On said ride you are strapped in securely and slowly, inexorably hauled up an agonising slope towards the dizzying heights of the main part of the ride. On the way up, the scenery is magnificent. The park is laid out before you, a million stories being played out as you inch your way towards utter terror. Witnessing the attraction from above, you feel a strange sense of inclusion in the ecosystem surrounding you despite your rapidly increasing heart rate. Then, as you reach the zenith (a considerably daunting zenith, I might add) the ride stops. Allowing a moment of clarity, a moment to capture all you have seen on the journey so far. These images, thoughts, and fears then coalesce into a ball that lodges in your throat as the true ride begins.
You are then fired at light speed towards the ground along a near, if not actually vertical, track. You hurtle downwards towards the floor, but that’s not all. As if hitting the ground isn’t enough of a thrill-maker, your little carriage then smashes through the floor into another world. Another world where the fear remains, but the rules have changed.
The ride is then suddenly and violently over.
I want you at this stage to imagine little Timothy Hardy, after standing on his tippy-toes to reach the height restriction line, grabbing his viking themed backpack and walking away on shaky legs. He stops, his brain firing in all directions, fuelled by adrenaline, fear, excitement and his very real brush with death.
“I’m going to write a book.” Says little Timothy, and I had the pleasure of reading that book, here are my less fictitious thoughts…
One of my all-time favourite things in fantasy, first gifted to me by the incredible work of Mr Raymond E Feist, is the feeling that I am part of the family. The sense of immersion and emotive presence in and amongst characters built of mere words on a page. Tim Hardie has also allowed me this joy in Hall of Bones. It is also for this reason that certain events left me reeling, devastated and shocked as plot points turn to savage daggers in Tim Hardie’s relentless hands.
Expertly engineered scales of mounting dread jostle against the rough and tumble of abundant love present in the viking-inspired royal family of Reavesburg in the early chapters. As a reader (or in this case, listener-Don’t get me started on the incredible talents of Mr RJ Bailey, who’s narrative breadth of character work is astounding) I was left wondering what kind of weapon Tim Hardie prefers: the swooping axe or the long, slow penetration of a stiletto in the dark.
It turns out I was to get a bit of both. Sorrowful and expertly stretched over the generations, the journey through this clan continues, and the world begins to seep into the bones, investing me in the culture and heritage of this place and its threatening horizons.
Political clan machinations and power-plays turn the sky dark as things progress and Rothgar (our main character amongst an impressive cast) comes of age, ever shadowed by the broken form of his older narrator. With winds of Gemmel and a bloody reek of Gwynne, vultures begin to converge on Ulfkell’s keep.
At times, hard emotive swings of Hardie’s deadly pen will have you on your knees or roaring battle cries discreetly under your breath as you form allegiances with several of the extensive cast of characters. Nobody is safe, and your heart will be put to the test, this is no epic fantasy where the good guys win unscathed. This is hard, lump in the throat, begging for characters to catch a break fantasy.
Then came the witches…
Magic bleeds into this viking inspired world of gruff politics and strategic conquest. Causing a sense of further dread and opening out the world to further threats from more unseen elements.
By now, any reader will have some form of relationship with each and everyone of the huge cast of Hall of Bones, and they will fear for them all. If not for the carefully woven threads of loyalty, hope, and family, the light would have fallen from this world entirely, but it’s in those glimmers that we find the desire to keep going.
Once the wyrm turns, so to speak, events become gargantuan. I’m unwilling to spoil anything, but I’ll just warn you to keep your armour on and expect the seeping of magic that you barely sniffed out in the earlier pages to rise in intensity and significance. If you weren’t invested in the fate of Reavesburg before (besides needing psychological help) you certainly will be now!
The later sections of this exceptional book bring new and infinitely dark possibilities while rewarding its readers for their loyalty to the cast of the earlier pages. New threats and revelations dance across the lives and the machinations of the world’s key players as the threads of those of lesser import are scrabbled together to be woven into the promise of the later series with Gwynne-like finesse.
Moving on to Sundered Souls, the next book in the Brotherhood of the Eagle series is no longer an option but a necessity.
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