The blurb
The Kingdom of the Eternal will awaken when the Way of Edan holds sway over all of Eormenlond. So say the prophecies. With unrivalled power in the gift, the Supreme Priest Bledla leads Torrlond and its mighty army to convert rival kingdoms by the sword and by the fang.
Among the gathering resistance is the sorceress Sequara, whose mission is to protect her island and her Andumaic faith from the Torrlonders’ aggression.
As holy war looms over the kingdoms of Eormenlond, a chance encounter bestows a terrible curse upon a young man. Dayraven’s curse may decide Eormenlond’s fate. But first, with the help of unlikely friends, he must survive the shattering of his world.
Equal parts epic and lament, The Way of Edan is the lyrical opening of The Edan Trilogy.
The Review
The Way of Edan is the debut novel by Doctor Philip Chase. As one would expect from a Tolkien expert, his novel is firmly set in the classical heroic fantasy subgenre. It does play on some of the tropes here – a young man living in the countryside who is suddenly foisted into a grand adventure.However, it is also very much its own story. The lore is deeply woven into the story, unique and intricate.
Dayraven is our protagonist, who was really such a wonderful character, that it was very easy to follow him. Sequara, a powerful sorceress, is the other lead protagonist. She is very different to Dayraven in many ways, but is equally heroic, and I loved it when their two storylines began to converge.
The world building is very well done. As a core theme, Philip explores religion and the sway it can hold over people, and how that can be used to create division. This greatly interested me, because I often find religion is the backdrop to the SFF worlds we read about, never really the focus. In this story, there are various kingdoms and monarchies, but it is the religion of The Way of Edan that is growing in power. Leaders of this religion are shown as good and bad and as somewhere in between. It is not necessarily the religion that is bad, but how those who seek power decide to use it.
Indeed, Bledla, a supreme priest of The Way, is seeking power, though not necessarily for himself. He believes in the prophecies of his religion, and as such, does not see himself as being a force of evil. He believes the Prophet of Edan speaks through him and that he is merely carrying out his will, which makes his chapters very interesting to read. As the story begins, we realise Bledla will stop at nothing to ensure The Way of Edan holds sway over all of Eormenlond – even if that means orchestrating a holy war across all those kingdoms who refuse to bow down to his faith.
This single-minded belief creates such conflict. Not just between Bledla and the kingdoms he wishes to subdue, but also within the religion itself. Philip has done a terrific job here at making all these characters understandable, even if some of them are terrible people.
The magical system is fantastic too – and I believe we will see much more in the sequel books as some of the key characters begin to understand their power.
All in all – this is a great slice of classical fantasy that fans of Tolkien, John Gwynne and Ryan Cahill will enjoy – and I’m looking forward to reading the sequel later this year!
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