Synopsis:
War is the only thing Everan Caid was ever good at, and he yearns to return to his old ways. Long ago stripped of his knighthood and all but exiled from the castle of Oldmeadow, he is drunker by dawn than most men can manage all day. Peace, with the lack of killing that it brings, never sat right with him, especially due to the fact he fought on the losing side of the last civil war over Olbaran’s distant throne and has been forced to watch for years as his bitter enemies prospered at his expense. Yet even in the ruin after the war, his loyalty is unwavering to House Kederan and the Knights of Oldmeadow he fought beside, but with the castle suddenly full of visitors who support the usurper king he spent half his life fighting against, the limits of Everan’s oath of peace may soon be reached.
Sera Kederan, on the other hand, rarely finds time for serious things between climbing trees and running about the castle with her favorite bearhounds. Her father may be Lord Kederan, but Sera has little patience for the politics of distant courts…at least until suspicious visitors from those courts arrive at her doorstep. And when she discovers she might have a connection to certain arcane powers, she suddenly feels like she is being hunted in her own home.
With everyone hiding secrets, and a traitor in their midst, the race is on to stop a deadly plot and save their family from a looming war. Yet the deeper they both dig, the more it seems they have uncovered something far worse than they ever could have imagined.
Review:
The Heroes We Never Were by Thomas Howard Riley is one chonky book, there is no denying it, but within these 1000 pages lies a tale built upon deceit, grief, vices to mask said grief, murder, blood, magick, and giant dogs. And just when you think it couldn’t get any worse, Riley throws a 300 page epic siege at you where your heart is ripped straight from your ribcage and all your whisky and magick drain out of you.
In the decades after losing a war, the family of House Kederan are trying to restore their name in the eyes of the new High King. As hated guests invade the fortress of Oldmeadow under guest-right, a plot to assassinate Lord Donner Kederan is uncovered by a drunkard, the renown knight Everan Caid. As these guests infiltrate their home under the guise of peace, it is unto a drunk, a young girl, and a giant dog named Horse to uncover the plot before it’s too late.
Let’s first start with the obvious, this book is huge. But what is nice, the book doesn’t read like a brick. Sure, you can read for hours and it feels like your ticker isn’t moving at all but the pace is very steady and there are no lulls in the plot. Yes, there are a couple of scenes that feel slightly redundant or filled with a bit of deus ex magicka, but they build to this crescendo that lasts some 300 pages. And those last 300 pages are so tense, so filled with action, death, and emotional gut punches, it feels like a mixture of The Red Wedding and The Last Battle all in one. It’s edge of your seat stuff, the climax, and when the book finally ends, you feel like you need a shot of whisky and a smoke.
Now, let’s talk characters, there so mannnnnnnny, so many in fact, I won’t have space to talk about them all. But POV-wise, there are two (with a couple of one-offs interspersed later on in the book): the drunk Everan Caid and the magick-wielding daughter Sera Kederan. And both are completely unreliable.
Everan Caid is a drunk and he is written like a drunk. Meaning, he does things so many times throughout this book while deep in his bottles, he doesn’t remember doing them. Bad things, killing things. And Riley writes his scenes perfectly like this, because this helps build the is there/isn’t there a murder plot happening. Everan is a knight many people know and respect, but he’s fallen on hard times for plot reasons, but he is Donner Kederan’s loyal servant and that plays into a ton of scenes where after uncovering the plot to assassinate Donner, Everan tries to make his friend see the truth where all the other Oldmeadow knights just see a drunk making problems. The amount of tension built upon this concept is just exquisite and Riley exploits it to perfection. Everan is also deep and funny when needed, but mainly he is a juggernaut with singular purpose, especially in the climax where he is in total berserker mode. Everan is just an awesome character.
On the other side is rambunctious, clever, snarky, and trouble-seeking Sera. She’s between 8-10 and, again, Riley does a fantastic job of making her read/sound like a kid, which makes her scenes almost unreliable because like Everan, many people around her father sees her as this kid causing a ruckus. Again, tension is just palpable because of her POV. Sera is resourceful for a kid and when she starts learning her innate magick, her story arc just takes off. Not to mention, she is headstrong and really damn funny, especially with her sister Suri, their bickering is top notch (coming from a dad of two youngins).
Then there is Horse, one of the giant bearhounds in this book (shoutout to Redfoot, Pounciful and Goose), and Horse is the best pupper ever. Brave, loyal, and ever around to save your behind, just make sure to save some haunches of meat for him!
A good epic needs side characters that have weight, and Riley doesn’t skimp here. Like I said, there are sooooo many characters we meet, but every character feels like their own. Slane Kotter is a good foil for Everan’s murder plot, aka Lord Suspicious. Other knights like Razer Kean (the Sword with the Smile), Tammer Hain (Everan’s bff), and my personal favorite, Badamir Nor (called Godsteel, I don’t care if he isn’t named after me, I’m claiming him anyway!) (also, there are a number of characters named after some people from the indie community in this book!).
Ultimately, the plot is epic, the characters great, and the greater story Riley introduces in his grand Lumina World book series is just a lot of fun. If you have read any of Riley’s other books, they all take place in this world where magick is hunted and leaves a trace (in the form of rendered colors), then you will fit right in. But if you haven’t, don’t fret, Riley explains everything as this story goes so you are never left in the dark.
The Heroes We Never Were is such a brutal book and does enough emotional damage where you need something cozier to read afterward. Seriously, if you haven’t read any Thomas Howard Riley books, you are missing out, they are some of my fave indie reads!
*I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. The Heroes We Never Were releases on September 8, 2026*
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