Synopsis:
“A high-fantasy Band of Brothers (Sisters), that successfully captures the hope, the despair, and the gallows humour of soldiers fighting a war beyond comprehension. I loved every page, even the heartbreaking ones.” – Rob J Hayes, author of The War Eternal and The Mortal Technique
Wild Wish was trained to do one thing: kill.
Saved from a lonely backwater existence by a global war, Wish couldn’t believe her luck when she got into the Blood Scouts. Now she gets to share tents with an all-female platoon of night-stalking, giant-slaying, boat-sinking, battle-swaying legends in the making.
The problem is, they keep dying.
And they’ve been given their worst assignment yet.
The enemy Dread Corps are combining magics deep within the nightmare lands of Low Slane, to unleash a weapon that could sway the entire war. It’s up to the Blood Scouts to stop them – with a journey that gets more dangerous with every step.
Far behind enemy lines, death hangs in the air. Monsters lurk around every corner.
Are Wish’s skills – and positive attitude – enough to keep her Blood Scouts alive?
Or will the cost of survival finally break her?
Review:
You know from the beginning that this isn’t going to be another dark/grimdark novel. Williams has taken the magic and machinations of high fantasy and melded them with the grime and murk of World War One industrialisation to produce a military fantasy like no other I’ve read.
Damn, it’s good.
And unlike other books with grimdark leanings, it is not relentless in its pursuit of hopelessness because the characterisation is so good. In Wild Wish you have someone beginning to truly understand what she has been caught up in, that her escape from her old life to one of war, and particular the Blood Scouts, has taken her from a life of drudgery to one of constant blood-filled battle. And not just any warfare here. From the rattle of heavy machine guns to the explosions of bombs, to the magical intervention of mages and the battle roar of goblins and other fantasy creatures, the author has encapsulated a world in conflict where the soldier and conscript fight face to face with sword and spear, or are shot down by the snipers of which Wild Wish is one. You can taste the blood, smell the fear while rolling around in the dirt.
Where was I?
Ah, Wild Wish. She has begun to build her own dream, one of simple hope, populating that imagined future with the comrades in arms that form the all-female Blood Scouts. In this way you are drawn into how she copes, and without her lightness, the book would bog down, yet as friends and colleagues die, she is forced to reframe her dream, and you wonder how long she can hold things together. Superb.
In contrast, we have a second POV, the mage Marringdale. Her role within the opposing army is with the Purification. Rooting out dissent, failure, lack of belief and crushing it. This counterpoint allows you to step away from Wish’s positivity and exemplifies the world they are forced to live in. Clever and insightful writing which adds poignancy to the whole feel of the book.
I will leave it there. Yes, it’s dark military fantasy, but don’t let that scare you off. The concept is new to me; the execution is expert, and the book simply superb. Read it. Read it now.
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