I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

This is a fantasy book set after the great event of defeating a bad guy. Most fantasy books don't bother with this. It has a few recognized tropes, but they felt fresh in this new setting. It challenges the preconceived notion of everything being okay after the villain is defeated. Peace can be just as messy as war.

This book is excellent. I feel like it is like Oceans 11 meets a D&D classic, or maybe like something from Nicholas Eames. It’s that good and better for different reasons I can’t list or I will spoil something!

So I finally got around to reading this book it was originally self-published and I wanted to read it since then I want to thank netgalley for giving me a eBook Advance reading copy for a honest review, so this book's kicks ass the characters are Larger than Life, it's got a Last Airbender Style fighting action to it,great action scenes and i very diverse world and the writing in the story is pretty original I at least haven't came across it before so if you're a fantasy fan you like great characters and good action you will enjoy this book I can't wait to read book too

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Orbit Books for an advanced copy of this fantasy series that really pulls no punches in plot, story, violence, and ethical challenges.

Fantasy books do have a a hint of the sameness to them. Sometimes more than a hint. Band of people, from different ways of life, and creeds, questing along a merry path for three books, maybe six books or if one has the time to wheel around a very long series 14 books. Most are the standard hack and slash, with maybe some comments about the burden of hacking and or slashing. Few start with the battle won, and the peace being a miserable place to be. Few throw readers right in offering plenty of ideas, lots of surprises and a few twists, some that take the book to a new level. Justin Lee Anderson has that ability, and in The Lost War, book 1 in The Eidyn Saga, Lee has written a fantasy novel that never seems satisfied with fantasy conventions, and is always surprising its readers in a surprising ways.

The war has been won. The tyrannical king has been cast out, a foul evil has been captured and contained and yet, the peace is a miserable world to live in. The cities are crowded and running out of food. Demons are roaming the countryside, destroying crops and villages. A plague is moving North, isolating cities in lockdowns, and brigands are brigand-ing. Aranok is a draidoh, a user of magic who is friends with the King. Though draidohs are feared for their acts, Aranok is made Envoy of the King, and is given a task along with his bodyguard, and lover. Take the newly formed King's council and deliver a Queen to her throne. Aranok has no idea how this well help the precarious situation the kingdom finds itself in but being loyal he agrees. This also give Aranok a chance to see what is going on far from the center of government, and to find out how his home city is doing. For Aranok has a feeling that something is wrong, that someone is plotting against the new king, and the plan might be too far gone to stop.

A very different fantast story that has all the tropes of a Dungeons & Dragons adventure, yet has a lot of twists, turns, ethical questions and thoughts on faith that are not what one expects in a sword and socrery story. Not that there is no action. This is a bloody tale with demons, Lovecraftian creatures, brigands, plague victims, and undead being just some of the bad guys. The story is really well told, with a lot of great ideas, and again some surprising twists. The world is very well set up, though readers are still learning about it up until the end of the book. Anderson is very good about keeping readers informed about what they need to know to get the story and what is happening. Sometimes a character might infodump, but it is explained in the story why, and again it makes sense. The characters are all well-developed and different. Each one is unique, and not stereotypical, magic-user, cleric, paladin, ranger, so on. The narrative view floats between characters, and again they act different, sometimes brave sometimes really stupid and very human.

Recommended for readers who have a had a hard time getting into fantasy stories, who have taken a hiatus. Especially if they were once role playing game fans. I really am looking forward to the second book in this series. Or really anything more by Justin Lee Anderson.

The biggest thing I could find to dislike about this book was some of the character names (they weren't bad, just didn't feel as natural as some others I've encountered) and if that's the worst part I think you're doing pretty well.

I've struggled a lot lately with having trouble getting hooked into a book, and it has shown in how long it has taken me to get through the last few books I've read before this. That was not the case here, 2 days of reading and I was done. It wasn't necessarily all action from the start, but engaging and intriguing enough that I was caught up and multiple chapters deep before I realized it.

The over-arching story, character development, and pacing were all well done. I greatly enjoyed the read, and admired the craft demonstrated by the foreshadowing spread throughout the book. I was surprised by the ending, and was able to enjoy those hints retrospectively.

This will be a recommend for friends, and I'll eagerly be looking for follow-on entries in the series.

The Lost War
by Justin Lee Anderson
Fantasy High fantasy
NetGalley Re-release
3 Stars

In the land of Eidyn, the war is over but the kingdom isn't safe. Demons roam the land, Reivers attack villages and travelers, the Blackened who spread their plague with a single touch, are on the move, and there are the undead that keeps the evil draoidh (magic user) trapped in the castle of his failed coupe.

Aranok, is the King's Envoy, and his king, who is also his best friend, is sending him on a quest to take a foreign queen back to her own lands to her throne. With the king's appointed council to accompany him, they set out, but discover there are things that are not making sense.

This book's original publication date looks to be 2019 and is being re-released because it was picked up by a publisher, and book two is in the works. From a neutral-paced start, this book slowed down, then once the 'quest' started it gained speed and then lost it again, but overall it was mostly slow going. There are quite a few characters that need to be kept track of and most of them have a lot to 'say', and have chapters dedicated to their points of view.

There were a few info drops, some needed, some not, and some repeated too many times. The descriptions were not overly done, the characters and setting were well thought out, and the plot, while the typical high fantasy trope, the twist was great. And Samily's power was a switch. (Seeing one certain battle from her point of view would've messed with the brain. That would've been fun.)

The main disappointment was the lack of monsters. Yes, they were there, but I think there should've been deeper descriptions of them. For the most part, they weren't that impressive. But my guess about the ending was almost spot on.

There is violence so that makes it suitable for readers over sixteen.

While the story was good, it didn't pull me into the pages.

3 Stars

This book is epic. The cast of characters is vast, the world brilliantly vivid and the plot twisty. I loved it. Aranok and his bodyguard and lover , Allandria, have just returned to the new capitol after a long and bitter war. There country is in ruins, Their king, his best friend, in need of support and his skills. He is forced to team up with the rest of the king's council a former pirate named Nirea and a drunk soldier Glorbad. He is sent out into a demon and undead infested world to rescue a queen and restore her to her throne. His team meets up with a paladin and monk along the way and much , much chaos ensues. There is just so much in this book to enjoy. It reads fast as the action is pretty much nonstop and the puzzles and questions that plague our group of heroes makes for an enjoyable read. I cannot get too deep into that without spoilers so I won't. This world is full of magic, mystery and terror. It's beautiful and horrible and brilliant all at the same time. If you enjoy fantasy with warriors and wizards fighting against an impossible evil then this book will be right up your alley. I am eagerly waiting for the next book. Thank you to netgalley and Orbit publishers for this free copy to read. It's an amazing book.

Absolutely fantastic! A political dark fantasy with demons, magic, plague, curses, and phenomenal characters… need I say more?? This book was so engaging and fast past from page one and I loved every second of it. Favorite book of the year!

The story started out great, then faded, then ended spectacularly. Things that didn't make sense for a few chapters were explained, people who made decisions had them explained, I honestly loved it. Maybe a little heavy handed, but the main characters are heavy handed as well, so it works out.

What a ride!! This is a tale that has some great action and characters that will quickly become favorites of many. I had not read the Indie published version of the book, and cannot speak to what has changed between the two. That being said, this story was a lot of fun, action packed, and has some great magic thrown in for good measure. I can easily see why this became so loved by so many different people and definitely deserves to be read.

The strength of the novel to me was the magic. It was interesting and plays an integral part to the story. I found myself really enjoying how each of them used the variety of abilities that helped to bring it all together and make the story unique.

Overall, this is a fast paced novel that people will really enjoy for the action scenes and the mysteries that unfold as the narrative takes place. It sets up for subsequent novels in a great way and I am excited to see where the story will go!!

The Lost War by Justin Lee Anderson was fantastic. There’s not much else to say about it besides to tell you to go buy it and read it and review it.

Solid read with original world building and good plot continuity. There are definitely unanswered questions in the first book that encouraged me to read the sequel. Would definitely recommend it.

Justin Lee Anderson originally self-published The Lost War in 2019, winning the Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off (SPFBO) before getting picked up by Orbit Books. I have been wanting to dive into this book since it won the SPFBO crown, but I held off until the published version was available as Anderson has said that this would be the improved and expanded "official" version of the book.

I'm not sure what exactly was changed or added to the book, but I will say that I am a bit mad at myself for waiting to long to visit the world of Eidyn. Not only was this because I really enjoyed this book, but also because there has been a lot of discussion over the book's ending (which I will talk about below in a spoiler-filled section); I wasn't spoiled about the ending, but I heard enough vague chatter to kind of get an idea of what was coming, and the experience for me. But I won't say more here so as not to spoil anyone else who is experiencing this book for the first time!

In many ways The Lost War is a traditional epic fantasy adventure. The early pages of the book spend some time building a party of adventurers (some reluctantly, and many with history and baggage to spare) as they try to save the struggling kingdom from the reemergence of a potential threat. Our party of heroes than travels around the continent, visiting various locales, meeting new characters, battling monsters and demons, finding McGuffins, and more. This gives the book a really polished Dungeons and Dragons feel, one in which all of those classic adventuring elements are there but without feeling like someone just copy/pasted their latest DnD game into a book format. Fans of this style of fantasy will particularly enjoy what The Lost War has to offer.

There are a lot of characters in The Lost War, most of whom get a POV. Unless you really hate multi-POV stories, the large cast of characters/POVs really works here because Anderson paints each of his characters with a detailed and nuanced brush. No two characters feel too similar, and they all differ in terms of the roles they occupy in Eidyn's society. This not only ensures that each character has a distinct purpose in the story, but it also does a nice job of subtly building out the world, as we learn about the society's history of religion, warfare, naval navigation, and more just from the characters being themselves. There is also some nice diversity in other ways, including a nice balance of men and women, as well as some exploration of queerness and how it operates in the world.

This book is also full of magic, creatures, demons, and more. If you have ever felt that perhaps modern fantasy is not quite fantastical enough for you, Anderson has got you covered. The magic users in this book each have their own specialty, whether that be earth magic, necromancy, illusionists, shape-shifters, etc., giving the magic system enough of a variety while also feeling a bit different from the sheer number of elemental-based magic systems we've been seeing in epic fantasy. The characters, such as our main character, the earth-mage Aranok, get to use these magical powers against enemies both human and demon, resulting in some really fun battle/action sequences that add excitement to the narrative without over-staying their welcome.

If there was one element of the book that didn't always work for me, it was the pacing. There were parts of the book that really lagged, punctuated by sections that were really exciting and twisty. Part of this was that the cast of characters is quite large for a book this size (and many of the adventurers are POV characters that we bounce between), but it may also be the result of the world feeling very same-y.

Anderson does a really great job of describing and building a dark world very much still in the early days of recovering from a long and brutal civil war. The downside of this kind of worldbuilding is that individual locales lacked uniqueness or texture. Every place had the same run-down, war torn, classical medieval aesthetic, with a bit of Scottish flavor thrown into the mix. Despite the characters traversing rather far distances, I was disappointed that the places they visited weren't differentiated more. I love quest novels of this because I wanted to be awed by every new place and their own cultural differences. I didn't get that in The Lost War, and because of that the book felt like one extended scene, no matter how many new places they visited.

***Spoiler Section About the Ending - Skip to the End if You Haven't Read this book yet!***

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As I briefly mentioned above, The Lost War is mostly known for its twist of an ending. And I will say, it was a pretty great twist. I love when the rug is completely pulled out from under the audience, where everything you thought was happening is not what is actually happening at all. And I especially love it the way that Anderson did it here, where the twist actually makes sense. The fact that everyone had their memory wiped and new relationships planted fit into everything we knew about the world and its magic system.

It was also smart for Anderson to allow the characters to retain the memories of their cursed selves (Once Upon a Time style) along with their previous memories. I think there is often a trend of "big" twists like this one to completely invalidate everything that came before; they often dim and deaden the journey so far. However, I think that this twist actually expands the narrative and character development possibilities. This twist will force our heroes to tackle who they have been since the Long War vs. who they were before it.

While the twist did make the whole first book a setup for that final reveal, I think it is absolutely going to make for a more interesting series moving forward.

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***End of Spoiler Section***

There isn't much more for me to say about The Lost War. I was immersed in this dark-yet-fun epic fantasy adventure. Was it absolutely unique or life changing? No. But Anderson included enough new elements to the epic fantasy/DnD playbook for this book to feel just unique enough. Not my favorite read of the year, but I will be eagerly awaiting the release of Book 2 this October!

Concluding Thoughts: Anderon's book is perfect for fans of the traditional fantasy feel, but in a dark and broken world. He populates the book with a diverse cast of characters who all feel fully realized, and who develop competing needs, desires, and wants without those oft-conflicting needs feeling contrived or only there to create drama. While the pacing is a tad slow in parts (made worse by the "sameness" of this world), this adventure is one that is worth going on. The ending of the book also sets up for exciting new plot and character directions in the next three books in this series.

Review copy provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

It is the author's second book overall and initial entry in the four-book series "The Eidyn Saga". The main character is Aranok, a draidoh (a wizard/sorcerer type) who is the envoy of the king, but there are a number of other interesting characters: Allandria (bodyguard/lover to Aranok), Samily (an elite, religious knight), and others.

The story starts with the world having gone through war, and Janaeus, the king, has his envoy, Aranok, lead a mission. Aranok is not exactly a rule-follower, and so the mission is put to the side while Aranok and the council on the mission deal with the related developments ... suffice it to say, things are not what they seem! ... there is disease, death, the after-effects of war.

On some level this struck me as classic fantasy, with an infusion of sorts of demons/Resident Evil vibe. I know from others this has a Dungeons & Dragons/RPG vibe, but I've never played D&D, so can't comment on that aspect.

This is an easy to read, enjoyable ride. I knew there had to be some sort of hook/catch at the end, and I was not disappointed. You need to pick this one up!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. This book was a solid 4-stars and a good time! One thing I loved about this book was the rich world-building. The author did a fantastic job of creating a unique and intricate fantasy world that felt immersive and believable. I also appreciated the well-developed characters, each with their own distinct personalities and motivations.

The plot was full of twists and turns, and I was constantly surprised by the direction the story took. The pacing was excellent, with just the right amount of action, suspense, and character development to keep me engaged.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to any fans of epic fantasy. It's a thrilling adventure that will leave you wanting more!

After seeing a suggestion in another book, I wanted to read this book. Thanks for the Arc, for my opinion.

This publisher has a flare for authors who write stories with a unique take on fantasy. I like that the story starts in the middle of Aranok and his king(friend) trying to build the kingdom, after overthrowing the previous tyrant/king.

The characters are real and fleshed out pretty well by their emotions and actions. The story is well paced and the prose is well written. I find myself wanting to keep reading even when I'm ready for a break on my eyes.

The story presents a multitude of problems that are unfolding as the story progresses and they and the responses by characters are thoughtful & interesting. The magic is interesting to read about and both has its helpfulness and problems...

Overall a nice book...I'll read any further stories in this world.

I've been wanting to read this book for a long time and I'm so glad I finally had a chance to try it because I loved it.

On the surface, the story seems like a Dungeons & Dragons campaign: a diverse set of characters are given a quest by a powerful king. The land has been ravaged by a long war and the group has to avoid demons, the undead and roaming bands of marauders to reach their goal. The group consists of D&D style characters like an earth druid (or draoidh), a pirate, a soldier, a monk and a holy warrior.

The diverse set of characters are mostly strangers to one another as they set off on their quest. As the story develops, and the mystery grows, the group slowly gets to know each other. As they grow to trust and care for each other, I grew to care for them, too. I got very attached to them all.

All in all, I loved this book. It had a good pace, great characters, great action and a cool magic system. There was a mystery at the heart of the story that kept me turning the page. There were moments that literally made my jaw drop, others that made me laugh out loud and some emotional moments that broke my heart.

I highly recommend this book to fantasy fans looking for a great fantasy quest story with great characters. I can't wait to find out what happens next. Thank you to Orbit and NetGalley for the free copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review: I honestly loved it.

I can't wait for more from this author. 4 ½ stars, rounding up to 5.

So, first things first. This was a very interesting plot, the twist near the end felt just a BIT out of nowhere, but I'm sure on a reread (which I will do eventually I'm sure) I will be able to see it coming, but we shall see. My main issue with this book was the fact that the setting didn't work very well for me, which is why I am not going to mark it a whole star down, however, I had a hard time with some of the terminology, which I think was Welsh inspired (I may be wrong, but that is what it felt like) and I didn't connect super strongly to any character in particular.

The twist that this book seems to be known for, unlike a certain film director that everyone clowns on every time they are mentioned, was the major highlight of the book for me.

I am usually a plot driven reader, followed by character, but when the later is lacking, the former is just a d&d campaign that could have had some much more interesting characters involved.

I didn't love this, nor did I dislike this. So a 3/5 seems like a fair score. I'm looking forward to checking out more of Andersons books in the future.

Last thing, this ARC was given to me by netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. As always, thank you netgalley, and Orbit in this particular case for the review copy!

Perfectly fine, nothing original but also nothing so basic as o be mind-numbingly dull. I've read versions of this book a thousand times and will read them a thousand more but that doesn't mean it's actually interesting.