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A review by sarahdm
The Coward by Stephen Aryan
3.0
Okay this was not what I expected but I still enjoyed this relatively generic fantasy story.
I thought this was going to be about a hero refusing to save the world again. Instead, its just a reluctant hero's journey. Cowardness is more of a theme then an actual character type present in the book. In realty this is just a PTSD riddled hero collecting interesting characters to travel and save the world again. Its got lots of generic fantasy topes but really stands out with its likeable characters and interesting world/culture.
The characters are all actually really likeable. The main party consist of Kell (PTSD human fighter), Gerren (naïve young human fighter), Vahli (a dandy bard/rogue), Bronwyn (our barbarian folk hero), Malormir (our very strange/attractive? foreign fighter), and Willow (unhuman definitely not a Firbolg Ranger). I actually really don't mind books that are just D&D adventure since D&D is classic fantasy book tropes at its core. Between an ice lich and pressure plate traps, D&D players are gonna really enjoy this one. Is it just Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden? Egh, maybe. But its still really fun, especially with the likeable characters.
The world that Aryan has created is also pretty interesting. Every time the characters go to a new town it paints a little picture of a new people and culture. It was nice getting little peaks into the world of "the Coward" and I'm definitely thirsty for more. I definitely wish we had dived a little deeper into Willow and her people. Besides the monsters, she was the only real non-human and Kell's interactions with her were so interesting. I seriously wanted more.
The dedication at the beginning of the book kind of set the tone for this to be a real in-depth look on PTSD. It reads "For all of those who served passed and present in the armed forces." The book really only scraps the surface of post combat (or here, post adventure) PTSD and survivor's guilt. It was a little disappointing but what was presented was nice. I really think the author should have leaned into it more than he actually did.
The writing is great, especially combat. I can tell that we got a fan of grime dark fantasy with how combat was treated. I really enjoyed it.
Now some negatives.
Every once and awhile we would switch perspectives to Reverend Mother Brytak and I would physically feel my soul leaving my body from the amount of boredom. We would be in the middle of some action and then it would be brought to a grinding halt by some cranky clergy lady with political plots. I just could not care about this part of the book. It seems like its only really there to set us up for book two. We definitely could have had a different way of introducing the concept of the "Shepherd" that wasn't THIS. (Also, classic fantasy novel move using any other word besides GOD). You could have just stuck a cleric or devout character into the party. That way these ideas about the Shepherd could be naturally brought up along with the main characters, not flung off completely away from the action.
Secondly, the ending is just boring. We get a huge amount of info dumped on us and the characters don't get satisfying endings. I get that this is Kell's story but all of it felt really ridiculous. I seriously hope the other character's return in the next book because otherwise all that bonding and character growth feel so wasted.
At the end of the day, while this isn't what I thought it was going to be, I still had a lot of fun reading this. The Likeable characters and interesting world kept me reading despite this generic fantasy story.
I thought this was going to be about a hero refusing to save the world again. Instead, its just a reluctant hero's journey. Cowardness is more of a theme then an actual character type present in the book. In realty this is just a PTSD riddled hero collecting interesting characters to travel and save the world again. Its got lots of generic fantasy topes but really stands out with its likeable characters and interesting world/culture.
The characters are all actually really likeable. The main party consist of Kell (PTSD human fighter), Gerren (naïve young human fighter), Vahli (a dandy bard/rogue), Bronwyn (our barbarian folk hero), Malormir (our very strange/attractive? foreign fighter), and Willow (unhuman definitely not a Firbolg Ranger). I actually really don't mind books that are just D&D adventure since D&D is classic fantasy book tropes at its core. Between an ice lich and pressure plate traps, D&D players are gonna really enjoy this one. Is it just Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden? Egh, maybe. But its still really fun, especially with the likeable characters.
The world that Aryan has created is also pretty interesting. Every time the characters go to a new town it paints a little picture of a new people and culture. It was nice getting little peaks into the world of "the Coward" and I'm definitely thirsty for more. I definitely wish we had dived a little deeper into Willow and her people. Besides the monsters, she was the only real non-human and Kell's interactions with her were so interesting. I seriously wanted more.
The dedication at the beginning of the book kind of set the tone for this to be a real in-depth look on PTSD. It reads "For all of those who served passed and present in the armed forces." The book really only scraps the surface of post combat (or here, post adventure) PTSD and survivor's guilt. It was a little disappointing but what was presented was nice. I really think the author should have leaned into it more than he actually did.
The writing is great, especially combat. I can tell that we got a fan of grime dark fantasy with how combat was treated. I really enjoyed it.
Now some negatives.
Every once and awhile we would switch perspectives to Reverend Mother Brytak and I would physically feel my soul leaving my body from the amount of boredom. We would be in the middle of some action and then it would be brought to a grinding halt by some cranky clergy lady with political plots. I just could not care about this part of the book. It seems like its only really there to set us up for book two. We definitely could have had a different way of introducing the concept of the "Shepherd" that wasn't THIS. (Also, classic fantasy novel move using any other word besides GOD). You could have just stuck a cleric or devout character into the party. That way these ideas about the Shepherd could be naturally brought up along with the main characters, not flung off completely away from the action.
Secondly, the ending is just boring. We get a huge amount of info dumped on us and the characters don't get satisfying endings. I get that this is Kell's story but all of it felt really ridiculous. I seriously hope the other character's return in the next book because otherwise all that bonding and character growth feel so wasted.
At the end of the day, while this isn't what I thought it was going to be, I still had a lot of fun reading this. The Likeable characters and interesting world kept me reading despite this generic fantasy story.