reminds me so much of the Wheel of Time in the sense of so much happening in only so many pages
561 pages to be exact
lots of worldbuilding
A dark fantasy but like the fantasy part doesn't really start until halfway through which is an interesting choice but hey first book of a trilogy now you got two whole books to explore this concept
Rated a little above PG-13 but imo under M for heavy topics, lots of swearing and sexual innuendo, lots of violence and general immoral activity
Fade to black, no sex scenes which I really liked as someone who doesn't like sex scenes in my media!!!
Morally gray characters, the MC especially
Religion is a huge topic, the worldbuilding gets really detailed on this and I like that
Also very very whumpy!!!
Spoiler thoughts under the cut:
Alwyn's story is just.
Like orphan bastard to outlaw to slave to incredibly talented scribe to escaped convict to soldier to almost-deserter to technically a knight to outlaw
And the whole time he is BENT on revenge on the people who betrayed the closest man he had to a father, like almost to the point of self-destruction
But he cares about his friends! Like genuinely!
Goes out of his way to protect and look after Toriah, Sildha, Brewer, Ayin, Wilhum, Evandine, etc, even when they (*cough, cough* Toriah) don't want his help
Like he didn't HAVE to make sure Ayin went somewhere in the company that didn't involve her in direct fighting unless absolutely necessary
He didn't HAVE to drag Brewer to the Sack Witch to ask for healing
He didn't HAVE to do all the favors for Evandine, such as making sure Wilhum survived as long as he did (that man would have 100% died in like 10 minutes without him I'm sorry but he was straight-up suicidal for a bit there)
He didn't HAVE to threaten that one smuggler over Toriah
But he did
Also don't get me wrong the fantasy takes a bit to actually kick in but oh my storms I love what little I know
Like okay we got the Sack Witch
The chainsman called her the Doenlisch which first of all banger title
She can do great feats of healing at a price and also see the future with a special book
Very cool
ALSO that scene where Alwyn had to sacrifice some of his life force to save Evandine is PEAK whump
πππ
Also the chainsman was high-key terrifying 10/10 would NOT want to meet irl
Neat how he could talk to ghosts though!
The final chapter was so whumpy as well
Like the duel
AND THE SILDHA REVEAL AAAAAAAAA
But I'm mostly focusing on the final page where Alwyn's on the verge of passing out and as he's being carried into the woods he quotes the first line of the book
like
jsncnskxmmskxmdndjdjbajxocjnf
so whumpy so good
Also I do like how the religion is handled despite Alwyn being a skeptic. Sure a good part is focused on the corruption of the authority figures but that didn't make it any less true. At least that's how I saw it
Like Evandine openly spoke against the Covenant leaders but she was still devout
Perhaps that will be explored further in the next books but regardless that is something I will be looking at more closely on a reread
thanks for reading my somewhat coherent thoughts on this book here's a star π
Reason #193028 why you should read the covenant of steel: female character who fits all the criteria that would get a male character dubbed babygirl.
She's tormented by visions. She has religious trauma. She's a war criminal. She could be your everything instead of that male character. Stan Evadine Courlain
The thing about Anthony Ryan is that I find his gloomy straight boy protagonists to be considerably more likable than many other fantasy heroes bc they spend a lot of time hanging out with women and gay people.
Wilhum beating the shit out of Alwyn on the training field while coming out to him was an incredible scene. Like. Not joking, the existence and acknowledgement of gay people as important characters and also just figures in the world is something that I really appreciate in both the Seven Swords books and the Covenant of Steel. And to the point about women, something I'm really loving about the Pariah is that while there are definitely several significant Too Hot For Him women that DO want to fuck Alwyn, there are also many many others who pointedly and resolutely do NOT (Toria, my beloved π)
