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Back Cover Blurb
In a cathedral at the south of the Istryan Empire, young men and women are trained to be killers. The Order of the Golden Sword's inquisitors are feared for their brutality masked as piety. Masters of blade, poison, and crossbow, their quarry is the god-cursed werewolf, whom they hunt with impunity to herald the return of their god.
Betrayed by her monstrous father, Selene loses her left arm and nearly her life when she's saved by a traveling inquisitor. Scarred and broken, she swears vengeance on the cursed beasts and joins the Order. It takes all her will to overcome her limits, only for her violent past to drag her back into blood.
With the fabric of the empire at stake, Selene must master her hatred, hone it to a sharp point, then let it loose on her enemies.
Review
It's no secret that I enjoy my fantasy books slightly (or not so slightly) on the dark side. And THE SWORD OF MERCY AND WRATH definitely fits that bill, especially in the latter half of the book which is an all out carnage fest. One thing that is different about this particular book though is the introduction of werewolves into the equation. I haven't read a ton of fantasy with werewolves so I wasn't sure exactly how this would go over. But I'm not opposed to injecting some horror elements into my fantasy reads, so away I went into this grimdark tome keeping an open mind and an eye out for some menacing lycanthropes.
I will say that Koussis does a fine job building the tension and setting the mood as with each chapter we are introduced to the lore of this war-ravaged world and all of the players involved. The two main characters Tristain and Selene have been separated from each other at the beginning of the book and their individual journeys are told through alternating MC viewpoint chapters. Theirs is not a very fun journey needless to say and both are put through so much that will test them in this perilous setting where evil, danger, and bloodthirsty enemies both human and beast lurk around every corner.
The action in this book is simply off the charts. If you enjoy some bloody battles and fight scenes, you will almost certainly find THE SWORD OF MERCY AND WRATH to your liking. The pace is quick and the plot is often fraught with foreboding scenes where dark magic and treachery are dished out in copious amounts.
That's not to say that I didn't have my issues. For example, I really would have liked a little more expansion and description in the worldbuilding. We get a little taste of it but I kept craving more details and just wish that things were touched on a little more in that department. I also thought that the main characters were intriguing but again, a deeper dive into their personalities and backstory would have made this an even better read for me I believe. Hopefully the next book in the series will maybe get into these things some more.
In the end I found this book to be a really entertaining read that never let me feel comfortable most of the time. That's a good thing by the way. Based off this promising first book in Koussis' Swords of Dominion series, I'm eager to get my hands on the next entry The Pyres of Vengeance and jump back into this story to see where it goes. I won't have too long to wait as it releases on June 1st of this year. Ultimately this book is a solid dark fantasy that I'm sure will appeal to many readers.
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