Synopsis:
Were we not meant to know the truth?
It is by the hands of loresmen that heroes and villains are risen from history’s foundations, today’s stories that became yesterday’s histories that became the legends of yore. And from those legends emerge truths…of a sort. The truths that best serve a story when the facts have been lost to the decay of time.
The war that spelled the end of the Second Age was long mired in such murky truths, in these legends accepted as history, these fables and songs that served as the only surviving memory of those fateful days. Until now. Until these Forahm Papers, and whatever they may contain within.
For it is not the singular hero and villain who weave a story’s tapestry, but the many hands who break from the foundations and hold the truth aloft.
The ministry official who must investigate a sudden disappearance. The reluctant hero who saved a queen and doomed an entire people in the process. The exile whose very soul threatens the destruction of all around her. The son of a traitor who will stop at nothing to see honor restored to his name. The untested heiress faced with a long-dormant storm coming to rage over her land once more.
And the man whose name endured within the darker threads of history, cursed in the shadows as an assassin of kings, an arbiter of doom, a devil taken flesh. For if there is a truth hidden amongst these papers, it must begin here. It must begin with him: the Ashen Viper.
Review:
The Ashen Viper is what you get when you combine an insane amount of worldbuilding, an ambitious multi-book generational-type saga, and a multitude of characters built upon untold gobs of backstory with the mad wizardry (see lunacy) of a tenacious author. And Joseph John Lee is as insane as I’m about to make him sound for giving us this grandiose chonk, but in the best possible way.
There’s no denying that this book is a beast—1160+ pages on my e-reader to be exact—but this story does not waste a single page building and building and building until this first book of an 8-part saga comes to an end. This book, and series as a whole, is told via a historian finding some lost papers (The Forahm Papers), so the narration, while in 3rd Person close perspective, has a scholarly feel to it. There is also a Stormlight Archive structure to how this book is presented, in that there are parts separated by interludes, wherein each part has a set of POVs (some interchanging and disappearing between parts) and the interludes have a completely different set of side POVs. Then throw in some epithets and historical footnotes, plus some past timelines, and you have a book that is just downright ambitious in its scope.
But what is it about you ask? I shall tell you! Essentially this story boils down to an event known as The Great Betrayal, where some opposing kingdoms conspired and bad things happened. This book is the start of this Great Betrayal, and it is all predicated on a legendary character known as the Ashen Viper. What unfolds in this tome is how various characters from different lands with different powers all collide with the Ashen Viper. We also get past timelines detailing how the Ashen Viper became this legend over the course of centuries (yes, there are long-lifed people in this book) and how this person’s actions affected multiple kingdoms.
So the characters, there are MANNNNNNNY. We have: a traitor’s son, a deputy minister in love, a quiet farmer, a snarky heiress, a renowned warrior, a magical outcast, plus an assassin, a survivor, a different magical person, a kid, and more prominent side characters you can shake a stick at. What is impressive is that each of these characters you get POVs from, as well as those side characters you don’t, all have deep backstories. None are cardboard cutouts and each have their own motivations and quirks. It’s impressive, really.
But I will say in regards to the characters and the overall ambition of this book, it puts a lot of trust on the reader’s shoulders. Lee does not skimp on things, the build is slow, especially in the early chapters. It takes awhile for some arcs to truly get going and you, as the reader, need to be prepared for it. I promise, it all pays off, but only if you give it time. For me, it took a long time to warm up to a couple of character arcs just because I didn’t see where they were going, but once they came into focus, they became very much a fave.
I do want to specifically point out the Ashen Viper character (who I won’t name for plot reasons) as a really compelling character arc. I wasn’t fully sold on the dual timeline arc when it first showed up because it felt out of place to me in the overall concise structure of the book, but as I slowly (see stupidly) realized what Lee was doing, I became fully invested. The full breadth of where the Ashen Viper starts, what his character actually is, and what he ends up doing through the ages to get where we meet him as [redacted] is just amazing to follow, and I commend Lee for taking this approach. Bravo, sir, bravo.
One of the coolest part of this book is its magic systems. Yes, systems. We only scratch the surface of what Lee has created in this book so I won’t spoil the secrets that I got him to tell me at knifepoint behind the scenes (I jest…), but each system has its own cool attributes and consequences. We have ‘natura’ which is essentially elemental magic but also takes a part of your physical strength as tithe. We have ‘anima’ and ‘arcana’, plus a couple others you’ll have to RAFO to learn about. Each of these systems has its rules and what I personally love more than anything is when there are consequences to its use, as witnessed by one specific character…I’ll leave that to you to find out about. There might also be magical swords, but no comment here… But what’s also really amazing is that what we get in this book, it’s only the beginning. It is not until 1000 pages in do we learn how deep these systems truly go and what it means for the rest of the saga. And there is also some burgeoning technology introduced, like firearms.
I really do also want to point out Lee’s storytelling and style in this book. It is not simplistic in its prose, nor is it flowery, but there is a style here and it lasts throughout the entire book. That is not an easy thing, especially since this book is as long as it is. But you truly do feel incredibly grounded and a part of this massive world, no matter where in it you are, and that comes down to how Lee builds his scenery. So when cities get leveled by magical battles (of which there are plenty), you feel the grit and grime, the fires and terror. Again, a testament to an author hitting his stride.
At the end of the day, The Ashen Viper is simply astounding. Yes, it is long. Yes, it asks a lot of the reader, begging for patience. In a lesser storyteller’s hands, it easily could have been too much. But not Lee’s. I’m wholly impressed by this book, and with how it ends and where the rest of this saga goes, because if this ending (which is usually a trilogy’s worth of comeuppance) is only the beginning, I cannot wait to see where Lee takes us.
The Ashen Viper will release in Fall/Winter 2026, but be on the lookout for a special edition Kickstarter to launch in the next month or so!
*I received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review
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