Wrath of Madness by Jesse Teller
Self-Published
Self-Published
Publication Date: April 15th, 2020
Ebook. 784 pages
About Wrath of Madness:
"The militant forces of Drine march across Tienne, destroying and enslaving all they face. As the last few nobles struggle to organize a resistance, a rich network of merchants declares themselves rulers of Tienne. Warlord Rextur finally catches up with Peter Redfist and his refugee forces to clash in devastating battle. Who will be left to pick up the pieces? Does the ancient nation of Tienne have any hope of survival?"
"The militant forces of Drine march across Tienne, destroying and enslaving all they face. As the last few nobles struggle to organize a resistance, a rich network of merchants declares themselves rulers of Tienne. Warlord Rextur finally catches up with Peter Redfist and his refugee forces to clash in devastating battle. Who will be left to pick up the pieces? Does the ancient nation of Tienne have any hope of survival?"
Wrath of Madness proves to be yet another strong offering from Jesse Teller and I continue to have such a great time reading his work. This is the second book in the series and a follow-up to Onslaught of Madness, which was an ambitious beginning to a really dark and exciting new epic fantasy series. Also, just as a side note, the cover design for these books so far are stunning--the covers for these two books (see book one here) fit so well together and the coloring really reflects the atmosphere of the stories.
Wrath of Madness is another hefty book (but really, we tend to expect that from epic fantasy!) that throws you right back into this dark and intriguing world. I'm going to adopt my oft-used manner of not using too many details in this review since it's part of a series so as to avoid inadvertent spoilers of previous books (or book, in this case). I also hope this review doesn't sound too repetitive from my previous one, but I feel just as positively about this one as I did the first, and a lot of the qualities of the first are consistent with this one, although we definitely get to explore even more in this book, which is always a plus.
Teller really does excel in the world-building aspects of his fantasies, and his continuation in this book is no exception. There's something that feels very authentic and immersive, as well as both complex and simple at the same time--I can follow along well with different components, but I never feel overwhelmed and lost, which is something is important to me with these big epic fantasy novels.
I similarly still really enjoyed all of the different POVs and storylines that we get to follow in this book, all of the characters have such unique personalities and I find myself actively engaged in just about all of them. Some of the characters are ones that you both love and hate, who have some harsh personalities or backgrounds, but that still manage to draw you in. For me, that's always the mark of a good writer when they can make you feel connected and interested in a character no matter whether they are 'good,' 'bad,' or anything in middle--which most of these characters seem to be!
Wrath of Madness is a dark and intense book and there are constantly a lot of high stakes things happening that make it hard to put this story down. The battles are extreme and fairly epic in scope and I found intrigue from both sides of the general conflicts, which is always a positive in adding great dynamics and a compelling narrative.
Overall, I've given Wrath of Madness four stars! This is such a dark and adventurous sequel, I highly recommend it to any epic fantasy fans--though be sure to read book one, Onslaught of Madness, first!
*I received a copy of Wrath of Madness in exchange for an honest review. This has no effect on my rating of the novel.*
These covers are gorgeous😁 This is a series I could see myself enjoying, if I had more time!
ReplyDelete