I enjoyed the structure & conceit, it made 'bard' something less stupid & had an air of Homeric storytelling. However, I found myself less interested in the action and story arc. at times, many times, the prose felt labored and needlessly meandering

This is a book to savor. It’s very long and incredibly involved and left me with a marvelously horrible book hangover. And I loved every minute of it.

There’s no singular hero in A Plague of Giants, although there are plenty of people who do heroic things. But there’s no Frodo or Aragorn or Harry to lead the charge.

Instead, we have Fintan the bard, who may have participated in a few bits of the story, but who is not the hero. Fintan is the one telling the tale, using all of the powers at his command as a master of the bardic arts. But it is not his story that he tells. Instead, it is the story of every person in Teldwen whose life has been uprooted, or ended, by the invasion of not one but two armies of giants bent on conquest.

Even one army of giants is not enough to make this big of a mess of a the world.

At least one set of giants is known. And their motives are understandable, even if their methods are often brutal. The Hathrim are masters of fire, but even their cities can be overwhelmed when a dormant volcano wakes up. But they are masters enough of their element that they could see it coming in time to evacuate. Their plan is to use the tragedy as an opportunity to carve out new, resource-rich lands on the mainland.

But they lands they choose, while currently unoccupied, are not unowned. And border on the lands of their natural enemies. If the Hathrim are masters of fire, the Fornish are masters of woodcraft and forest lore. The trees that the Hathrim view as mere fuel for their fires, the Fornish see as sacred.

The Hathrim fire mastery and the Fornish command of all that grows in the land are merely two of the seven kennings of the series title. Three of the other kennings are the standard ones of so much fantasy and mythology; air, water and earth. Just as the Hathrim are fire masters, the Raelech are masters of the earth, the Brynts are water masters, and the Nentians have the mastery of the air.

But in the face of the invasion from both the known and feared Hathrim and the unknown and even more fearsome “Bone Giants” the sixth kenning finally appears. Just as the Fornish have power over all plants that grow, the first speakers of this new, sixth kenning have control over all animal life, from the smallest insect to the largest beast.

And the Bone Giants have invaded in search of the elusive seventh kenning, which no one has ever seen, heard of, or even speculated about. But whatever it may be, the Bone Giants are laying waste to vast swaths of Teldwen in order to locate it. Whatever and wherever it might be.

The story that Fintan the bard tells is the story of every person of every nation who becomes instrumental in the fight against both sets of terrible giants – and the story of the giants as well.

A Plague of Giants is an epic tale told by a master storyteller. And it is far from over.

Escape Rating A+: I absolutely loved A Plague of Giants. Which makes it very hard to write a review. Unless I just squee. A lot.

This both is and isn’t like a typical epic fantasy book. Yes, it’s long and has a huge cast of characters, so that part is very like. But it’s different in a couple of key aspects.

First, instead of being a narrative quasi-history, this is the story itself being told by its partipants, through the means of the bard’s magic. We’re not reading a history or quasi-history, instead Fintan is reciting events for his crowd of listeners in the words and images of the principal participant. It feels different.

The author Kevin Hearne said that he was trying to recreate the feeling of the old bardic tales as Homer used to tell them. I can’t say whether he succeeded, but he certainly has created something different. And compelling.

There’s something about the way that Fintan tells the story that reminds me of Kvothe in The Name of the Wind. I’m not sure why, but it just does.

Another difference in A Plague of Giants is that there are no clear heroes, and not really any clear villains, either. Not that one of the characters isn’t villainous, but he’s far from being a mover and shaker on either side.

We are able to see the story from the Hathrim point of view and it’s obvious that from their own perspective they are not evil. They think they are doing right by their own people, and don’t particularly care who they have to lie to or mow down to accomplish their goals. But it feels like real-politik, not evil.

Even the Bone Giants don’t think they are evil. Not that they don’t commit plenty of seemingly evil actions. But we don’t yet know enough to know what motivates them. So far, at least, it is not evil for evil’s sake. It looks like religious fanaticism, but even that isn’t certain. And we know that they think they have been provoked. (And there is something about their unknown nature and implacability that reminds me a bit of Jim Butcher’s Codex Alera. But I’m not certain of the why of that reminder either, just that it feels right.)

Fintan is not the hero, and does not intend to be. It’s his job to tell the story – not to fix it. Whether anyone else will emerge as the hero is anyone’s guess at this point.

Each of the individuals that Fintan portrays does an excellent job of both representing their people and illustrating their own portion of what has become a world-spanning story. Some of them stand out more than others. Some of them survive, where others do not. But their heroic acts are confined to their small piece of the puzzle.

At the same time, the flow from one character to another, and from one day to another of Fintan’s telling of the tale, is surprisingly compelling. With the end of each tale, the reader (or at least this reader) is incapable of resisting the compulsion to find out just a bit more.

I still feel compelled. The second book in the series will be titled A Blight of Blackwings, when it is published at some future unspecified date. And I want it now. Impatiently. Passionately. Desperately.

You all know how much I love Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles, so I went into this book very optimistic that I was going to love it. I don't hate it but I don't love it so far either. The narrative structure is really cool but it takes some getting used to. The way the story is told makes it more of a slow-paced epic which isn't bad but like with The Tiger's Daughter, I just wasn't in the mood for that type of story. Also, I struggle with books that have really long chapters and the ones in this book are really long. This is probably going to be one of those series that I'm going to collect until I have all the books and then I'll try reading it again.

Hearne’s new fantasy epic takes a masterful twist with ingenious story telling and world building. Through the Raelech Bard Fintan’s kenning (magic), which gifts him perfect memory and the ability to take on the mannerisms and story of the people of this world, we learn what has transpired to cause this congregation of displaced peoples on Survivor Field in Pelemyn.
This is no dry historical epistle rehash of recent battles and diary musings. Fintan’s performances are contrasted with the daily life of Dervan, the quiet historian charged with recording this tale. As the story progresses, we learn how his quotidian life is no longer as quiet routine as before the giants or Fintan arrived.
The storytelling device works masterfully to thread together and not merely explain but also help educate as to all the massive recent changes and upheavals for this land. One steps away from Fintan’s stage each day with better understanding why a particular character chose to react how they must, and how each of those choices create consequences that ripple throughout the magical world of kennings Hearne has built. I eagerly await the next book!

A plague of Giants is a tale told in many voices. As this fantasy epic commences we see a city overrun by a ruthless invasion of giants, championed by an individual with elemental power. Many battles are fought in this novel and most cities, caught by stealth, don't fare so well. This tale tugs heart strings as we see desperate battles, death and sacrifice from all sides of the battlefront. I loved the premise of "kennings", the elemental powers that come at great cost to a rare few individuals. The different cultures and perspectives as well as the aspect of sacrifice throughout this novel make it an incredible read.

I have to confess that I didn’t finish this book. I tried. I’ve had it for a good while, and have gone back often, trying to find something more interesting than depressing. But it was depressing, to me. Both the writing and the story.

The writing itself was okay. Very articulate. But I didn’t like jumping from character to character with no chance to have enough background to connect. It didn’t work for me.

It was “the kenning” itself that was so depressing. Why would a young person “seek” a paranormal talent, knowing that they would die immediately if denied, or have a shorter lifespan if accepted? Their lives seemed so hopeless to them that seeking a possible death was preferable? Not for me. I want more hope than that. Maybe it happens later in the book, but I couldn’t understand the motivation.

I have friends who are fans of this author, so I thought I would give him a try. I’m sure his other books are wonderful, but this one didn’t work for me on any level. Unless you are a die-hard fan of the author or of the fantasy genre, this might be a tough read.

2shay

"This great war of our time has indeed been terrible, and I am still struck with its horrors, waking up in the night sweating."

Kevin Hearne, author of The Iron Druid Chronicles gives us a tale told by Fintan, Bard of the Poet Goddess Kaelin. A fleet of Bone Giants, tall, thin people with bone armor on their torsos and arms, is on its way to kill anyone in their path to find the unknown Seventh Kenning, a form of magic given to a blessed few. People blessed with kennings are charged with defending their homes at any means against the giants who are invading their land. Kennings include moving the earth, building and destroying walls, moving water, talking to animals, communicating by roots and stems, and taking on the voices and likenesses of others to inform the masses of what is to come.

This is a 640-page, epic story of terror and wonder with an assortment of interesting characters. At times the story was confusing with all of the characters and plot lines, which is what took me so long to finish it. I would have appreciated an Appendix of all of the characters and their kennings more than the tables that were provided. In all it was a very fascinating, unique story and I love the cover of the book. However, it was too long for me and I do not plan to read the next book in the series.

This was an interesting first book in the series of the Seven Kennings. The kennings are special magical powers/abilities that certain people are able to try to get by putting their lives in extreme danger. Most of the stories are told through a historian relating a bard's tale of what has happened in the world and the people the bard has met or whose journals he has read when an invasion happens from across the sea. Overall, I give it 3/5 stars and will continue to read the series to see how it plays out.

In a world where twelve-foot giants inhabit a volcanic plain, and people a third of that size live in the branches of a vast forest canopy, it is difficult to imagine an event that could threaten them all. But when even more massive giants invade from the treacherous seas, pale and thin and wearing frightening bone armor, all of the various nations know that they must band together if they are to survive. But how did such an attack come to pass?

The telling is the duty of the bard Fintan, who has traveled a vast distance to present the gathered tale of six different cultures. His kenning, a blessing from one of the many gods, allows him to take on the appearance and voice of those whose stories he tells, and over a series of evenings he lets the story play out in front of a vast crowd.

But not all of the players in Fintan’s story are pleased with his telling, and peril surrounds him even as he is celebrated in every corner of the city. When Dervan, a veteran and widower, is assigned to copy down the bard’s tale, he finds himself drawn into intrigue and danger that he has never imagined.

Kevin Hearne weaves a story told by nearly twenty individual voices into a seamless, satisfying epic. As the threads of the story begin to come together, the story revs up to a breakneck pace and deposits the reader breathlessly at the end to await a sequel. The worldbuilding is utterly masterful: diverse, clever, and cohesive. The story is truly an epic one, at 640 pages, and as the first in a series, readers could be making a significant time commitment. But the payoff is well worth the price, and A Plague of Giants is highly recommended.

An amazing new series by Kevin Hearne chockfull of wonderful and compelling characters.  A captivating story full of excitement, danger and sacrifice.  I was so invested that I absolutely hate the fact that it ended and I have to wait for two more stories to find out what happens.  This is a Must Listen To Audiobook since Luke Daniels once again brings an over the top performance and he split the narration with Xe Sands.  This is my first Xe Sands audiobook, but I am going to look into her other narrations.

Note:  This is a long one so get comfortable.  Also, this is an audiobook review so spelling doesn't count. :) 

This is a the beginning of an epic tale along the lines of Lord of the Rings.  It is mostly told through the storyteller, Fintan, known as the Bard.  That is his Kenning or blessing.   As a Bard, Fintan is blessed with perfect memory as well as an ability to take on the likeless of the person whose POV he is telling the story.  Fintan collects people's stories, whether from them directly or from their written letters or diaries.  Fintan has come to the City of Brynt to advise Pelenaut Röllend that forces will be arriving from the other towns and while Fintan is there, he is being offered as entertainment to tell the story of the invasion of the giants.  Since trading has been cut off and the people in the cities which have been invaded so far are all dead, most of the people aren't familiar with how this whole invasion started or what is going on outside of their own city walls.  Some are also unaware that they are facing two different sets of giants, the Bone Giants and the Fire Giants.

The main characters (but not the only characters):

Fintan is accompanied around Brynt by Dervan.  Dervan was a scholar at the local college until it was closed down due to the war and he has been working as a historian for the Pelenaut.  Dervan is tasked with writing down the stories told by Fintan and keeping an eye on him.  Dervan is the only characters we spend time with but not through a telling by the Bard.

Nel is Fornish and she is blessed as a Greensleeve (Fifth Kenning).  She has a bond with the plants and protects the canopy.  She is the first to see the Harthrad giants (Fire Giants) land on the shores of the west coast.  At first no one believes her until she returns with a scouting party and they are immediately attacked by the giants.

Gorin Mogen is the Hearthfire (leader) of the Harthrad giants.  His people have been preparing for generations in case the volcano on their island erupted and have been building ships and keeping them stocked for decades in case they need to flee.  When the volcano erupts in the middle of the night, he takes as many of his people who can make it and heads for the mainland of Ghurana Nent.   While his predecessors planned to land and wait until the volcano dust settled to rebuild Harthrad, Gorin Mogen has decided that he and his people will keep the parcel of land between the Forn forest and the Nentians and becoming wood rich stealing the trees from the edge of the Fornish canopy.   He believes that his blessed, the Fire born who control fire, will be able to hold the area by force until they create a City big enough and then the locals should then be happy to just trade with them.  Mogen swears they are refugees, not invaders, but everyone is well aware they are not acting like suffering refugees and the wall that has appeared around his refugee camp doesn't give the impression of temporary.  The Viceroy know that the giants have no plans to ever return home but evicting invading giants who control fire is not so easy.

Viceroy Melishev Lohmet is not a nice guy.  He likes to torture and kill, and he has desires on the throne.  He runs the city closest to the Harthreen invaders and he is trying to figure out how to deal with getting rid of the powerful fire giants without much loss to him and to keep him looking powerful to the King and the country.

Kallindra is the daughter of a travelling merchant.  We follow her around as the Eculan (Bone Giant) invasion begins.  Her family is one of the first to come across an Eculan scout having no idea of the dire plans these Giants have for the people of the continent.  Through her eyes, we see the world before and after the invasion.

Abhinva Khose is part of a hunting family but Abhi has no desire to be a hunter.   He is trying to figure out how to break that to his family before the hunting season begins.  Abhi accidentally become the first to be blessed with the Sixth Kenning (Animals).

Gondel Vedd is a linguist brought in by the Mistral of his town to try and communicate with a bone giant who was captured after he was found washed up on the shore.  Through his conversation, Gondel learns that the Eculans are searching for the Seventh Kenning which it taught in their holy book but which really isn't outlined what it is and so far Gondel isn't able to figure it out, but he does know that the Eculans have interpreted their Book as saying that the Seventh Kenning is the only true Kenning and will be the only one left, giving the Eculans freedom to kill everyone on the continent.

The Kennings introduced are very interesting because to be blessed with a Kenning one must go through a sort of trial and you end up blessed or dead.  For example, for the fire giants to be blessed with fire, you jump into a volcano.  You either burn up or come out immune to fire and able to create it at will.  Each area has its own blessing.  The First Kenning is Fire (fire giants).  The Second it wind.  Those blessed control the winds. The Third is earth.  They move the earth or build with stones.  Fourth is water.  Fifth is plants.   The Sixth which is only discovered by accident by Abhi is animals.  And now we need to find out what the bone giants  believe is the Seventh Kenning.  I also thought it was interesting that if the blessed over extend their blessing, they age prematurely.  We will see how some of the characters change as they are forced to over extend to save their cities from the giants invasions.

We jump right into the story on the night of the invasion when one of the water blessed, a tidal mariner, was doing a routine night check of one of the sea beds and sees the giant fleet of bone giants.  She is alone and has to figure out quickly if they are friend or foe and once she realizes that these strange giants are not coming for a visit, she has to figure what she can do to keep their boats from landing on the shore.

We eventually learn through Kallindra (the merchant's daughter) about initial sightings of these bone giants and that no one knew what to make of these odd, pale and half nakes people.  They were also unaware of their deadly intent as they scouted the mainland.  I could easily believe that before an invasion, whether in a novel like this or in our own past, you might note someone's odd behavior never realizing the evil intent behind that behavior.     We also see how quickly everyone's life changes as the bone giants invade.   As they take over each city, they kill all the residents and take all of the goods.  The cities which have not yet been affected are filled with people who have lost entire families  or their livelihoods or both after the attacks.  While the story was entertaining, the underlying premises is actually a little frightening.

When I went to the book signing back in July and listened to Kevin Hearne talk about this new series, I was concerned when he mentioned that there would be so many POVs for this book.  Sometimes when I have read other stories with many POVs, I found that I would get frustrated when we bounce around so much, especially if there were characters I didn't like or care about and I hated being drawn away from the characters I did care about.

Kevin Hearne does a fabulous job in presenting each story through the eyes of the Bard and breaking it up in a way that we keep pushing the whole story forward even though it is split amongst the different characters.  They each brought necessary information to give us the whole story.  I also found that each time we switched, instead of being frustrated, I was excited to get back to that next character.  Each separate character caught my attention and although I had some favorites (like Abhi), there were none that I disliked.

I would highly recommend this as an audiobook as I am already a fan of Luke Daniels' presentation of The Iron Druid Chronicles.  I give him extra kudos on this one because I have listened to the same narrators for different series, and it took awhile to switch my mindset from one series to the next because I was picking out the same voices from one series to the next and being distracted by that.   Luke Daniels brought a whole new set of voices with no crossover to IDC so that didn't distract me from the narration of the story.   They also brought in Xe Sands to cover the female voices and although I haven't listened to her before, she does have a distinct set of individual characters.

I hated the fact that the story ended leaving me wanting so much more.  Thankfully, this is the first of only three books as I am anxiously looking forward to the next book and what happens next in this war.

3/5 Stars

Based on the hype this book had coming into its release date and a pretty sweet cover, I was excited to get my hands on a HC copy [shoutout to Penguin] and also the audiobook via Audible. Having said that, after finishing the 620+ page novel / 22 hour 13 min audiobook, I am not overly ecstatic about A Plague of Giants. It will not be a book I rant and rave about to friends/co-workers, even though I feel it builds to something I believe will be greater as the series progresses.

Starting out in the city of Pelemyn, we are introduced to Fintan the bard. Hundreds of dwellers have come to listen to his tales of the giants that had landed on their distant shores in days past. With the magical ability (referred to as a "kenning" in the novel) to transform his appearance and voice into that of the main characters of his stories, Fintan recounts unique POVs from around the kingdom during the giant invasion. Each character has a story all their own and all have unique kennings (mostly elemental in nature) at their disposal. While their powers are useful in keeping the giants at bay, overuse leads to extreme aging and even death, so all have to be careful in how they use their talents. Even with all of these unique talents, there is a newly discovered kenning by a young man that could lead to the salvation of the kingdom.

While Fintan is in the midst of telling past tales, there is a current storyline going on from the viewpoint of Master Dervan. He has been appointed to be Fintan's scribe and will jot down all tales Fintan recounts. These scenes set up beginnings/endings of each day (chapter) and give the reader a better glimpse into Fintan's past and his interactions with the characters whom he imitates.

To say I disliked this book would be a falsehood. Though it could be jumbled at times and remembering all of the character names was a hassle, the world-building and storyline interactions were incredible. Every unique storyline ended up meshing so well by the end of the novel, but the trek to get there was one of the main issues I had with the novel. I just found myself getting bored at times, losing interest and then regaining, noticing that I really hadn't lost the gist of what was going on. I also believe that, if there are going to be so many POVs to choose from, give the reader a reason to be invested in them. The characters, at times, felt like those on The Walking Dead that show up for an episode or two, die off, and then you completely forget about them until they are on the cast couch on Talking Dead. Give me a reason to invest in characters that took you months/years to write.

As far as the audiobook goes, Luke Daniels does a fine job giving each character a unique voice (minus the singing, but I'll let it slide). The pacing, from his side, was appropriate and I look forward to him lending his voice to future projects. As far as Xe Sands go, her narration left a lot to be desired. Her accent was, at times, difficult to understand and certain words weren't fully articulated. I hate to say this, but I sighed whenever one of her scenes came up.

All in all, I'm not sure I'll be re-reading A Plague of Giants any time soon, but I do want to see where the series goes from here because there are glimpses of greatness; and that ending was pretty special to say the least.

See more of my reviews on my blog: https://fanfiaddict.wordpress.com/

A Plague of Giants is an engaging and complex story that is woven together masterfully. It tells the story of the beginnings of a war with a strange people referred to as the Bone Giants, and it features bravery, cunning, and perseverance in confronting the forces that march against the main characters.

Kevin Hearne does a brilliant job of constructing the plot and telling the story in a creative way. The story is relayed to us via a bard, who essentially brings the tale to life in a first-person point of view for each main character's perspective. The tales are all separate, but each adds dimension and depth to the overarching epic. I found this approach to narrative to be exciting and effective, and indeed I found the parts of the story that involve the bard himself to be engaging as well (i.e. the story between the bard's tales).

I have always enjoyed Kevin Hearne's cheerful wit in The Iron Druid books. This book is much more serious, but Kevin's humor shines through in places with wonderful effect.

I eagerly await the next book, and highly recommend this one to fans of epic fantasy.

I posted the below 3.5-star review to Every Day Should Be Tuesday, Amazon, and Goodreads on 11/7/17:

I wanted to like this book. A lot. And I did like it! Just not a lot. A Plague of Giants has a great concept between the giants (underserved in fantasy!) and the seven kenning magic system. And Hearne is obviously a talented writer who has had a lot of success with his Iron Druid series. Being more of an epic than urban fantasy fan, and given my aforementioned views on the relative merits of giants, I was excited to pick up this book. But Hearne makes some narrative choices that seriously detract from the overall story.

But let’s start with the worldbuilding, because it is great. The story in A Plague of Giants is driven by two separate invasions by two separate races of giants. The first invasion is entirely out of the blue by heretofore unknown giants that get dubbed as “Bone Giants.” Bone Giants are 7-9 feet tall, pale skinned, very gaunt, and wear bone armor into battle (hence the name). They arrive by ship across a kraken-infested sea thought impassable. The second invasion is by the Hathrim, 12’ tall, burly fire giants who flee their island home when the local volcano erupts. They resettle on the mainland, calling themselves refugees but immediately digging in and responding violently to anyone who suggests they don’t have a right to be there.

I say fire giants because that is their kenning. “Kennings” provide the magic system for the book. The series title is the Seven Kennings series. At the open of the story, there are five known kennings. Each is tied to one of the existing, known nations on the main continent (interestingly, the kennings are tied to the nation, not the people). There is one kenning for each of the four elements, plus one for flora.

To find out if you have a kenning you have to risk your life. Every nation has a location where the testing of sorts is performed. In Brynlon, for example, you dive down into a cenote and attempt to swim through a tunnel that empties into the sea. If you don’t drown, you will emerge impervious to all ill effects from water and with other powers. Most people drown.

Each kenning has multiple types of users. For example, one type of earth kenning gives the ability to run barefoot extraordinarily fast. Another gives the power to shape earth and stone with your mind.

Note that I only mentioned five kennings, not seven. The discovery of the sixth kenning is a major plotline, and the seventh is hinted at.

So far so good. And the story gets off to a rousing start. A tidal mariner—the most powerful users of the water kenning—witnesses the arrival of a Bone Giant invasion fleet while doing routine maintenance in the bay. She then singlehandedly capsizes the vast majority of the fleet, killing thousands of giants. The Bone Giants almost breach the city walls nonetheless. That doesn’t bode well for the other coastal cities we learn were hit at the same time.

Hearne then introduces a story structure/framing device. A bard—whose version of the earth kenning gives him perfect recall and the ability to assume another form—is telling the stories of each POV character to refugees from the invasions in effectively a series of flashbacks. Why, I’m not sure. It seems needlessly complicated. There is a plotline involving the bard and his handler, but it isn’t important enough to fully justify its existence. The framing device does allow Hearne to tell the entire story in first person despite multiple POVs. Which doesn’t really add anything. #TeamThirdPerson

There are a bunch of POVs (Hearne helpfully provides a character list at the front of the book). But there are really three main plotlines. The Bone Giant invasion, the Hathrim invasion, and the discovery of the sixth kenning. Of those, I thought the Bone Giant invasion was the most interesting, and the Hathrim invasion the least. Unfortunately, the Hathrim invasion gets the most page time, and the Bone Giant invasion the least, which means the discovery of the sixth kenning is the only entirely satisfying plotline.

There is a lot to like. The slowly unfolding mystery of why Bone Giants invaded (and why now) is a highlight. Like I said, my main complaint is that we don’t get more of that plotline. Several of the POVs are very strongly told and become effective once they are drawn into one of the main plotlines. The storytelling can also be very poignant.

One aspect of the magic system is particularly effective. Use of a kenning comes with a cost. It can literally takes years off of the life of the user. This provides a nice, natural highlight of the sacrifices people make for their duty and to protect their people.

Maybe it is just my advance copy, but I would have benefitted from a map even more than from a cast of characters.

Epic fantasy has gotten very ambitious. The Wheel of Time became this colossal, sprawling story, but it didn’t start out that way. The Eye of the World is dominated by Rand’s POV, with only four other POVs (not counting the prologue). The main characters are only split up once, and for a shortish period of time. The book has a very satisfying conclusion (and rousing climax). Hearne starts his series much more aggressively. Unfortunately, this really hurts the pacing. Hearne made me care about the Bone Giant invasion in the opening, but not the rest.

The climax of a book is a big deal for me. It is frequently makes a half-star difference in my rating. The climax here isn’t strong enough and ultimately proved the difference between a 4-star book and a 3.5-star book. This book is definitely the setup for a big series.

Somewhat oddly, this means that A Plague of Giants is a 3.5-star book that leaves me excited about the second book in the series. That stands in contrast to the frequent scenario of a 4-star book that leaves me with no desire to continue.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of A Plague of Giants via NetGalley.

This book represents a major change from the Iron Druid series, so I worked hard to set aside my expectations of Hearne based on loving those. A Plague of Giants is every bit as well-written as that series, maybe even better! Still, I didn't come away truly caring about the characters. That could have something to do with the way the story is presented, but I can't be sure about it.
The book just ends, very abruptly, with the notation, "Continued in volume two, A Blight of Blackwings." That put me off somewhat. I like reading series, but with each volume I want a largely self-contained story, one with a beginning, middle, and ending. I understand leaving some plot threads unresolved, so as to build interest for the next book, but there's just too much left unresolved here. Will I read Blight when it's released? Maybe - but I'm unlikely to rush right out and buy it.

I received a copy of this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Honestly, I almost gave up on this book many times. 624 pages was a lot to slug through with so many characters and 6 different cultures. I found this novel hard to navigate and boring at times. But at other times, the story was scintillating. The story is told nightly by a bard is switches points of view every night. The hook is intriguing and the world building, amazing. I just felt like there was too much action and too little character development. So I give this book 3 stars for the brilliant moments that I did discover.

I was excited to see this book on NetGalley because I am such a big fan of Kevin Hearn’s Iron Druid series. I imagine many of Hearne’s fans will be checking this book out. A Plague of Giants is very different from the Iron Druid series. But it has one thing in common and that is marvelous storytelling.

Kevin Hearne has mastered the art of enveloping the reader in an amazing, exciting, emotional saga. The adventure is relayed by the bard, Fintan, who has collected narratives from a myriad of characters, each with his or her own pivotal role in the invasion of the giants.

And so Fintan tells the story of two separate giant invasions. One is the people from the island of Harthrad who fled to the mainland after a volcano erupted. They plan to take over a significant portion of someone else’s territory (without asking permission). The other giants are known as the Bone Giants and, previously, had never been seen. The run rampant through the countryside, killing everyone they meet. No one knows what they want, nor does anyone speak the language of the Bone Giants.

Fintan’s tales are interconnected and together, they relate an epic, magical part of the people’s history. His characters are nobles, scholars, soldiers, merchants, young people, old people, good guys and not so good guys. Each character is the hero of his or her own story, but the reader gets to decide who the real heroes and heroines are.

What an amazing storytelling experience! The blurb on Amazon, and I imagine other booksellers, does not do this story justice. The cast of characters is vast and colorful. The stories will horrify you, uplift you and even make you cry. A Plague of Giants is among the best of fantasy in 2017.

Thanks to NetGalley for this book. I have been reading Kevin Hearne's "Iron Druid' series for a number of years, and always find his characters entertaining, and the story lines enjoyable. But, those books are anchored in recognized mythology - Druids, Norse Mythology, Vampires, etc.

"A Plague of Giants" takes us into a new arena for Mr. Hearne's storytelling - world-building. Right from the beginning we discover a world where the people have different affinities (kennings) with their environment - there are water kennings, land kennings, flora kennings, etc. And, they're not automatic, but are chosen by the objects of their talents: the waters choose who will be gifted, as do the trees, the animals, etc.

In this first book - at least I hope it's the first book - we are introduced to two main characters: Fintan, who is a bard and has the extraordinary ability to take on the personae of those whose stories he is telling, and Master Dervan, historian.

The main storyline revolves around an invasion of "Bone Giants', and trying to figure out why they have invaded.

The tales held me spellbound through the entire book. I look forward to the next entry in this new saga.

Honestly, this is the first ARC I've had to DNF (Did Not Finish). I'm surprised because I loved Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles, but no matter how I tried this book seemed never ending. It relied HEAVILY on the story-within-a-story trope that Hearne touched on sometimes in his Iron Druid series, but to the point that I found it extremely repetitive and dull. I formed attachments to one or two specific characters and their stories and felt like it was torture reading through the stories of the ones I didn't care about at all. The arguable main character wasn't particularly enthralling to me and, though the world-building and magic and lore were very interesting, I found the politics and history less so. In general, I felt it was a good concept made needlessly boring. Very little plot actually takes place and most is told through tales of the past, at least up to the point I read.

I received this book from Netgalley, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I enjoyed this book very much - the world is a complex one, and Hearne did a good job of creating one that doesn't seem repetitive. Too often, the world in a fantasy novel is so reminiscent of other novels that you have to look twice to make sure it's not part of another series or group of books.

This one is different. The various countries portrayed are different from one another, and the whole setup of the kennings (gifts? powers?) that are available in each country is fascinating. I also liked very much the fact that magic wasn't "free" - if you used your power, you paid for it, literally with your life.

This book does require some patience at the beginning. There are shifting perspectives and points of view, and it takes a while to get the hang of what's going on. But, if you're going to tell a story that takes place in multiple locations and you want to personalize it (instead of simply using an omniscient third person narrator), this way makes sense. Once you get a feel for the characters telling the story, I think it adds to the story.

I will definitely read book 2 when it comes out - I think there are some interesting things to come!