The Fury of the Gods is the epic conclusion to the Bloodsworn Saga by author John Gwynne. It is a powerful, exciting, and often violent Viking-style trilogy in a mysterious world of magic, monsters and resurrected gods.
I have read and enjoyed the first two books in the series already and was really excited to read this one. The Fury of the Gods did not disappoint. There are many berserkir-style battles in the land of Vigrio and the reader is immersed in each bloody fight to the point where their own pressure begins to rise as the swords and the axes start flying, spells of rune magic splicing through the air..
While there are a few characters the story centers on, Elvar Fire-Fist, Orka Skullsplitter, and Varg No-Sense as the main protagonists, there is also a host of well-crafted and interesting supporting characters, Einar Half-Troll, Vol, Taras the Bull, Svik, Glornir, Rokia, Aesa, Berak, Uspa the seior-witch, Orlyg, Dagrun and the head of Hrung. There is plenty of insight into the enemies camp as well through Gudvarr, Biorr, Skalk the Galdurman, Myrk, Jarl Sigrun, Drekr and Ilska the Cruel which are equally absorbing.
The Bloodsworn, Raven-Feeders and Battle-Grim war at sea, in forests of froya and faunir, in ancient cities, some carved inside the skulls and bodies of dead gods. Both sides of the major conflict suffer catastrophic losses as Lik-Rifa the dragon, with the aid of Rotta, her brother rat-god, raise a mighty army of Tainted warriors, frost spiders, night hags, tennur, skraeling and trolls to battle the forces of their now resurrected wolf-god brother, Ulfrir
Ulfrir is not a free god, however, being thralled to Elvar of the Battle-Grim who unites with the Bloodsworn who are descendants of the wolf-god themselves, his Tainted blood running hot in their heated veins.
Some of the losses are to key characters the reader does not see coming or expect. There are often enormous creatures warring around human-sized warriors and things are intense and devastating.
The middle of the book might feel a little weighty at times to some readers, but it is an epic fantasy novel. A slower middle is sort of expected in an epic adventure of this scale as you approach the highly anticipated conclusion. Some of the eventual confrontations between certain enemy characters with personal grudges seem a bit predictable and unbelievable in such an enormous battlefield but by this point, as a reader, you want them to find each other, you want the confrontations to occur. And it was quite satisfying to have some of the bloody payoffs occur although some didn’t go the way we, the reader, expected.
Lastly, I want to say I felt a lot of emotion pouring out of the words, especially near the end of the tale and I couldn’t understand why I was feeling that strong vibe. It felt odd sensing so much emotional impact in a warrior’s story like this.
It wasn’t until I read the acknowledgement at the end of the book that I learned about the author’s real life struggle completing this book. This struggle, this loss he suffered, only served to give the impressions I was sensing in those final pages even more power. Heartfelt power. RIP Harriett. Prayers to the Gwynne family.
I loved the book. I loved the entire trilogy. I highly recommend the Bloodsworn Saga to readers of epic fantasy.
I’m going to have to check out more books by this author. 5 stars

Allen M Werner is the author of the epic dark fantasy tale The Crystal Crux Series.
Betrayal, Blue Grotto, Cold Knight, Shimmer, Beautiful.

Be sure to also check out Ares in Chains.