Synopsis:
Rawley and Baelin make a living the only way they know how—protecting the people of Centrum by slaying the dark things that stole their childhood: Monsters, and everything evil.
Though the work never ends, and there’s plenty of coin to go around, Rawley and Baelin discover a sinister secret hidden deep within the crevices of Centrum’s past. Centuries of lies and deceit unravel before them, and they soon shift from mere mercenaries to a force that will last generations.
At least, that’s their hope.
Dwarves in the west, Wroughtmen in the north, Elves in the east, and a tyrant king ruling with an oppressive fist, Rawley and Baelin balance on the precipice of total chaos.
Will everything they’ve accomplished be enough to save them from the shadows rising, or will a plot that’s generations old finally drag everything into the abyss?
Review:
*This book is a finalist in the 10th annual SPFBO (Self-published Fantasy Blog-Off) competition, & because I’m also a finalist, I won’t be giving this a rating to remain impartial, but I want to support my fellow finalists by hyping their books. Please give them all a look!*
The Oathsworn Legacy is a rollicking adventure of monsters and beasties, one that starts off with a simple premise but ends with a world-shattering arc, both the physical world and an emotional one. A chonky tome with heart, action, schemes, and monster slaying.
The Terricaut brothers, Baelin and Rawley, are orphaned at tender ages by some beasties and they vow to fight back. So years later, after being trained by a well-known general, they become mercs who slay monsters. As their fame grows, they open up a school for wayward souls, teaching them the ways of monster hunting. Along the way, they begin to unravel some ancient mysteries. A lot happens, but mostly, blood and beastie viscera.
Before I get to the cast, I want to start with the style of this story, as it is quite unique. It’s very episodic in nature, and according to the Gangi, these early scenes started off as short stories that he eventually was able to connect into a full narrative. And I agree with this. It reminds me a lot of the early Witcher books, as there is a contained beastie of the week vibe, in that the early chapters are all about a particular mission for the Terricaut brothers. That said, there is connective tissue that is within, so pay attention, because things that might seem innocuous at the start do play a major role in the story. But each episode does end up building upon one another until about the 50% mark when the true narrative starts to unfold into a great story arc.
Also, the beastie of the week concept is a smörgåsbord of DnD creatures. It’s a blast, let me tell you. We have the standard ogres, elves, dwarves, wizards, etc. But then we get things like doppelgangers. There’s creepy crawlies, there’s undead, there’s cults. What more can you ask for in a story like this???
This story is all about the Terricaut brothers. Baelin, the elder of the pair, is the more contemplative, logical thinker. But he is also bigger and fills the bruiser role, the de facto leader. Rawley, on the other hand, is more carefree, quick with a quip, more prone to anger. Definitely the brash one. Their dynamic is amazing, they play off each other excellently. Both of their overall arcs are great, and the ending was just amazing. I really felt these two grew on me as the story unfolded. We do get a number of different POVs as the Terricaut school of monster slayers opens and each character is as different as could be. I don’t want to get into all of them, but each one is superb in their own right. Some brave souls, some tortured ones. I do want to mention Simon, the doppelganger. He’s a very intriguing character and one I found very interesting. I won’t go into much with him due to spoilers, but he’s probably my fave of the story.
One thing to mention about Simon that I really really really liked is that he not only authors the epithets of each chapter, but when he becomes a POV in the latter part of the story, the POV shifts from 3rd person limited to 1st person. It was a really bold choice by Gangi and it could have backfired tremendously. But it didn’t. I think it was awesome. I’ve only seen that style done once before well, so bravo.
This book is a chonker, nearly 650 pages, but the episodic nature of the chapters made this book fly by. I don’t know if I would try such a style myself, but Gangi really pulls it off. The prose is regularly good to excellent. The action scenes feel realistic. The dialogue is top notch. Seriously, this book has exquisite dialogue, especially from Rawley. Not once, even during the worldbuilding exposition, did I feel like the dialogue dragged or wasn’t natural sounding. There is a toooooon of dialogue in this book, but it all worked well. Gangi definitely knows how to write dialogue. I don’t want this to sound as a negative because it all came together, but I will admit, that early episodic nature did feel slightly aimless for me. But again, it was all connected once the pieces started settling in and I began to see the puzzle for all the pieces.
All told, I really enjoyed The Oathsworn Legacy and want more from this world!
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