This book is just ~fine~ until the twist but then wow. Even expecting a twist, I was pretty taken aback. Rest of the book was really good.

4.5/5 stars! I loved this high fantasy book. It is my first book by author Justin Lee Anderson and it quickly drew me in. The cast of characters was a bit hard to follow in the early chapters as it hopped from viewpoint to viewpoint frequently, but by about 15% in, this had settled down. What really drew me to this book was the world-building and the creation of zombie-like creatures. There were a couple points in the middle where the pacing was slow, but the twists that followed were amazing and kept me wanting more. Very excited to read the sequel.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review

I’m so glad that I finally decided to pick this up and that I finally have an accurate book that I can compare to Dragon Age. Specifically the dark spawn from Dragon Age so let me give you some details. This is a really unique fantasy because where most fantasy the story is building up to a big war, the one takes place after the big war has already happened and we’re seeing the aftermath and the effects of it. The magic system is cool because only a select few people can have magic and there's a variety of abilities someone can have. Like our antagonist who can summon and control demons basically. So there are demons that roam the lands, there are zombies that are called the blackened, We have our main character who gathers a ragtag motley crew that contains various people who all bring something unique to the table.
Though we have I guess you can say an ordinary fantasy, the ending is far from it and wild and I did not see it coming.

Great book and a refreshing read for me coming off of some YA+ reads. I really enjoyed the characters and that there wasn't a huge ficus on romance. The magic is cool, but a bit weird in that it leaves me with questions. Overall, good story with a twist.

Now Justin Lee Anderson’s wonderful debut novel isn’t actually just now being published. The Lost War was first published in the UK in 2019. But it is only now making its way to the States. I’m a little sad that we’ve had to wait 4 years for this amazing book but it’s here now and that’s what matters.

I know that fantasy readers will gobble this and the remaining books in the series up. I am already eagerly awaiting The Bitter Crown, the next installment in Anderson’s series. Even those who don’t necessarily count fantasy as their favorite genre will enjoy The Lost War for its witty banter and strong mystery vibes with an excellent twist at the end. I highly recommend it to everyone.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for this advanced copy.

The Lost War was such an epic book with epic plot and badass characters. I couldnt wait for the next book


Also the cover was perfect.

This is a fun, action-packed story with great characters and a plot that will make your head spin (in a good way). I particularly loved the atmosphere Anderson created: the “quest” seems straightforward, but as the story progresses there’s this sense that things are just a little bit off. There’s enough dropped in where you know something in this world isn’t quite right, and I found the mystery of that super engaging. The ending was also fantastic. It’s impossible to talk about without spoilers, but I thought it was done really well.

My one complaint was that I felt there was a little too much going on plot-wise and the story dragged a bit in the middle because of it. The best comparison I can make is that I felt like when you’re playing a video game and doing the side quests in order to avoid the main mission. However, given the ending, I think that may have been intentional on the author’s part.

Overall, this is a great start to this series and I’m excited to see where things go in the next book.

This book is well written, and Anderson is a good storyteller. The characters are engaging and likeable, if a bit cliche. Aranok, powerful magic user and right hand man to the king, sets out on a quest to escort a neighboring queen home. The tale unfolds like an RPG. In each new location, there's some information to acquire from the locals, some minor conflict or mystery, and a monster to kill. Along the way Aranok picks up a diverse party, starting with his archer bodyguard. Next there's a plate armor warrior, and a leather armor wearing, dual wielding, ex-pirate queen. Soon they encounter a highly trained, armor wearing and magic casting warrior healer, and her master, a very large and strong, axe wielding, monk. With this well rounded party they make short work of a number of demons and reanimated dead. Something isn't quite adding up though. Messengers are spreading false and conflicting news, and people behave unexpectedly. Someone is using more powerful magic than any one person should have, and magical relics may be in play. Will this band of courageous questers figure out what's gone wrong and overcome their ultimate foe?

Well that escalated. Just wrapped "The Lost War" by Justin Lee Anderson.

What do you get when you toss a mage, an archer, a pirate, a soldier, a monk, and a warrior of god together? This book. After a threat to the kingdom of Eidyn is subdued Aranok is tasked to escort a deposed noble. Of course this is immediately sidelined when literal nation ending threats start walking around where they aren't supposed to be.

I can't talk about the parts that really sold me on this without spoilers. But it is written very specifically.

The cover for the relaunch for Orbit is done by Jeremy Wilson, might have seen their work on a couple other books I enjoy.

Reasons to read:
-The cast is tired and complains about things I find more relatable every year
-Points out one of my gripes with a certain book from reality
-And why some books aren't just destroyed
-Plenty of sass and banter from the different POVs
-Again the stuff I don't want to spoil was really neat

Cons:
-Author is from Edinburgh and I went to Glasgow, so I am obligated to briefly dunk on it. Enjoy the swarms of tourists!

Eidyn may have locked up the necromancer and demon-raising Mynygogg in his castle but it still seems like The Lost War (paper from Orbit) continues with demons wrecking the countryside and a zombie-like disease inflicting the country-side. This is a world where mages are despised and have unique talents. Aranok is the first mage to be named King's Envoy, He is sent to release a foreign Queen to return to her county. He is given companions like a drunk general and an ex-pirate queen. Adding a young orphaned blacksmith and eventually a demon-killing knight and her monk confessor. Something is wrong with what they have been told and the whole journey is filled with traps. There is a twist at the end that sets up the second half that I can’t wait for. Justin Lee Anderson shows a lot of promise as a fantasy writer with interesting characters and a tale difficult to put down.

Enjoyable, great pacing, exciting settings kept me hooked. Fun novel that will be the perfect to lose yourself in. Thank you Net Galley for ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

First, let me start off my saying that it was hard for me to stay focused on the story. I liked it enough to continue reading, but I felt like I was forcing myself. If he made the story boring at any point in time, this would have been a DNF. He stayed right on the borderline of interesting and boring. I was confused on how he did it all while I was reading the story. Anyways, I would say it was good. I did enjoy it and I will think about reading the second one when it comes out. I just want it to hold my attention and not let it go. By the way, the rating it a 3,5.

Wow, this sucked me in from the first page! I enjoyed this so so much and I am so ready to get the next book! The characters and all the POVs seemed like a lot at first but once you really get into the plot, it was much easier to get everything figured out. I loved the concept of all the different aspects of the plague and demons. I will definitely be recommending this to my friends.

4.5 stars.

This book was really good and I would say that the less you know going into it the better, as it has a mystery element to it that is slowly revealed as the plot develops.

The magic system was very interesting and I hoped it would have been explained a bit more. The fantasy world seemed cool. There were demons, pirates, zombie-plague, magic-users, monks, warrior knights. Other parts of the world weren’t touched upon hugely as the central conflict was more local. It seems like the world will be expanded more in the next book in an organic way and I am excited to find out where the author will go with that. I am also excited to see relations with other regions in the world.

For me, the highlight of the book was definitely the characters. It had a great cast of characters that were all different and the more I found out about them, the more interested I became. I enjoyed all the POV’s which is a rare occurrence for me as I usually gravitate towards certain characters more than others, so that was a pleasant surprise!

I had a couple of complaints that were bothering me throughout the book that I was unsure if they were intentional or not. These complaints are heavily tied to the plot, so I won’t mention them due to spoilers, however; I’m happy to say that these were addressed by the end of the book and were indeed intentional. The ending was very satisfying and something I will remember for a while.

I will be anticipating the sequel and look forward to continuing on with the series!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Orbit in exchange for an honest review.

I’m not a fan of zombies at all. It really speaks to the quality of a book when the zombies had me keep reading to see what happened instead of promptly putting the book down. Great fantasy series opener.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was an epic sized read. There was a lot to digest, and although I do love epic fantasy, I got lost in names and stories a few times. This was really well written, and in the end, worth the time it took to finish- which, admittedly was much longer than I thought it would take.

I was pretty excited to start this book and the first few chapters were pretty great. It kind of just meaders around. I've read everywhere that the key to this book is it's ending but as a famous author once said, "journey before destination" and unfortunately the journey sucks.

Let’s just get this out of the way right from the jump. The Lost War was everything I wanted in a fantasy book and so much more.

This SPFBO 6 winner is clearly a D&D inspired story filled with twists and turns that are sure to keep you churning through the pages as fast as your eyes will allow you too. The characters that are easy to connect with to the point that you can be cheering for them at one moment, laughing with them the next and with tears in your eyes ready to start cursing out Justin Lee Anderson the next for something awful that has happened to them. Before I get into what I think makes this story great, let's establish the main characters.

Janaeus = The King of Eidyn, thought of as a fair and just ruler.

Aranok: An earth draoidh which gives him the power over the elements: earth, air, fire, water, light and gravity

Allandria = Bodyguard and lover to Aranok, this archer is not afraid to fight. You could say she’s the yin to Aranok’s yang as she often has to talk him out of crazy emotional ideas he has from time to time.

Vastin = A young blacksmith with the ability to create extremely strong weapons and shields that happen to be surprisingly lightweight. Aranok took a liking to him through a chance encounter that will forever change his lift.

Glorbad = Army General who tells it like he sees it. He’s very open about the fact he doesn’t like / trust draoidh’s but at his core he’s a loyal soldier and will follow orders even if it results in him giving his life to complete the mission.

Nirea = Navy General / Pirate Queen who is not one to shy away from a challenge and can hold her own in battle. Nirea is also the yin to Glorbad’s yang (are you picking up on the theme yet) and has to calm the hot headed Captain down before he does something dumb / foolish.
Samily = Is a Knight in a religious organization called White Thorn’s. They are trained from an early age to kill monsters and demons. Samily is devout in our devotion to God and serving his will and as such is one of the most caring characters in the book.

Meristan = Is a monk and a mentor to Samily, because of his knowledge and training he is often very enlightening and also quick to find a solution to any problem that presents itself. Just like Samily he is devout in devotion to serving God and it's reflected in how he interacts with users.

Mynygogg: Dark draoidh / villain of the story and the only draoidh in history to have more than one ability.

Now let me set the scene for you a little, Eidyn has just gone through a war/rebellion and is trying to fully recover. However there are still some evil powers at play trying to bring further destruction to the land. Janaeus has assembled a team led by his envoy Aranok to go out and further investigate what is happening. Aranok is not one to always follow orders to a “T” and while he wants to honor the King's wishes he also has his own agenda he must resolve first. As a result of this side quest and Aranok gut instinct we quickly begin to see that not everything is as it once seemed.

Okay so you’ve met the cast as well as have an idea of the plot let me tell you what makes the story so great. First and foremost it’s the unique magic system. Draoidh’s are the only ones in the story who have magical abilities. The actual ability varies from draoidh to draoidh in terms of not only what they can do but also how strong / powerful they are. Here are some examples of the types you will see in the book: earth draoidh, illusionist draoidh, demon summoner draoidh, necromancer draoidh just to name a few. Trust me there are more but to prevent any possible spoilers I’m gonna leave it there. You will find out about the others on the journey through the story.

Tying back into the D&D inspiration of the book. Justin Lee Anderson, like any good Dungeon Master, does a fantastic job of adding mystery and misdirection all throughout the story. As someone who can often put the pieces together early on when watching a movie and pretty much know how it's going to end by the time I hit the halfway mark I am happy to say that I was left out in the cold wondering what was coming around the next turn. I did not see the ending coming at all and the few pieces that did feel predictable did not detract from the story at all.

Oh boy and the ending let me tell you what Justin Lee Anderson freaking nailed it. I don’t know if what he saw in his mind is the same as what my imagination drummed up when I was reading the final stretch of the book, but boy oh boy did he stick the landing. I would love to see this book/series adapted into a movie at some point just so I fully see that scene come to life because it's spectacular.

3.5 starts. I wanted to like this; it was an interesting premise, but I found the characters rather flat and 2 dimensional, especially the women. When I read that this was based off the author's D and D games, that made a lot of sense. I'm not entirely sure the twist at the end was all that successful, but I admit I'm kind of curious what happens next.

First of all, thank you so much to Orbit & NetGalley for providing a review copy in advance of The Lost War’s paperback release!

From the first page, we’re immediately dumped into a very tense scene. By throwing us into this tense scene, we can set the tone of the entire book. A post war civilization divided and imperfect, extremely tense and quite violent. Before you know it, we’re off with our merry crew on a grand adventure. Each character in our crew is unique and equally fun to read, but my favorite has to be Vastin with Samily being a verrrry close second!

Fast paced. A dark mystery. A witty crew. It’s easy to see why this book won the 2019 Self-Published Fantasy Blog-off, and even easier to see why Orbit signed on for the series! I can’t wait for the next books in the sequel.

The Lost War comes out in paperback May 15th.