View source for Bloodheir by Brian Ruckley

{{infobox1 
|title= Bloodheir
|author= Brian Ruckley
|reviewer= Iain Wear
|genre=Fantasy 
|summary= A story which seems to be more about posturing and preparation for battle than the actual battle itself.  This isn't always a good thing, but there is also enough intrigue and enmity to keep things interesting.
|rating=4 
|buy= Maybe
|borrow= Yes
|pages=560 
|publisher= Orbit
|date= April 2009
|isbn=978-1841494395  
|cover=1841494399
|aznuk=1841494399
|aznus=1841494380
}}

The Godless World is changing; the events of [[Winterbirth]] have left their scars and the Black Road is growing ever stronger.  Many of the True Bloods are in mourning for their lost friends and relatives, but the battle isn't even nearly over.  Encouraged by previous successes, the Black Road are pushing for further gains and they are being assisted by the rogue na'kyrim, Aeglyss, who is growing in power since being left to die on the Breaking Stone by the White Owls.

This isn't entirely welcomed, even amongst the Black Road, as many of them see Aeglyss as a half-breed and not a true follower of their creed.  Whilst Aeglyss has the power to turn many of them to his way of thinking, others are not so deeply under his power and so there is discord.  The same is true of the True Bloods, as whilst Aewult is the commander, as befits his position of the Bloodheir to the Thane of Thanes, the head of the most important of the True Blood families, his position seems to have gone to his head and he is not popular with many of the other Thanes. 

Meanwhile, assisted by some of the na'kyrim friendly to their cause, Thane Orisian has taken some of his men in an attempt to capture K'rina, who is very important to Aeglyss, in an attempt to lessen his influence.  At the same time, Aeglyss has come to the attention of the Anain, who are amongst the original beings created when the Gods were still in the world and are supposedly the most powerful beings in existence.  It seems that there are to be two battles to be had; one physical battle between the two armies and a battle of power and influence between a powerful being and a powerful race. 

There is an awful lot going on within the novel and it frequently proves difficult to keep everything separate.  Many of the people on both sides are human and are descendents from the same ancestors many centuries ago, so there are a lot of similarities between the two sides and I was occasionally unsure of which side of the battle I was following at any given time.  In addition, on either side, many of the family names were quite similar, particularly on the True Blood side and I got a little mixed up between some of the characters on that side as well, especially early on in the story. 

Once I started to get a little more into things, however, this became less of an issue.  As events progress, Ruckley spends more time following the major characters and switches between them a lot less, meaning you get to fully explore the personalities of each of them and they become a lot more distinct.  From this point, I found it a lot easier to become involved in their struggles, as you could follow a personality, rather than a nameless and faceless army. 

The beauty of Ruckley's writing is in how well he draws his characters.  Unlike in many such novels, there is no clear line between good and bad.  There are heroes and villains on both sides and the fact that the leaders on both sides are despised by many in their own armies blurs this line further.  No character is without their flaws and even the ones who seem about to be cast as the hero often fail to live up to your expectations. 

This is the other aspect of ''Bloodheir'' I most enjoyed; you can never guess what might happen next.  Just when you think you have come to know a character, the focus switches elsewhere and by the time you return to this character, events have caused them to act in a way you might not have expected.  The good characters become more hard hearted and world weary and the impulsive and blood thirsty develop caution and restraint.  Whilst this meant that there was no-one you could really cheer on, the psychology of Ruckley's characters was spot on and this was by far the most realistic drawing of fantasy characters I remember reading in some time. 

This, for me, was the saving grace of the novel, as I did find that the story was quite slow paced.  As is common with the middle book in a trilogy, the main focus here did seem to be about moving characters into position for future events.  Whilst there was a lot of jostling for position on both sides and there were a few battles later on in the story, I did find things a little slowly paced and tough to get involved in for much of the book.  Had Ruckley's characters not been as strong as they were, it would have been a real struggle for me to read, but he has managed to keep me interested all the way through and by the end, the intrigue in the plans that the Black Road in particular were hatching made me long to know what was next. 

I have often decried books for having a great storyline, but not having believable characters.  Ruckley has provided the opposite, with a slow paced story being acted out by characters that had all the flaws of the people you meet every day.  Whilst this made for a slower paced and tougher read, in the end I find that I preferred Ruckley's way of doing things.  This is a story that seems to get better as it goes and, given how captivated I was by the end, events yet to come promise to be incredible. 

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.

[[Brian Ruckley's The Godless World Series in Chronological Order]]

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