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Valor (Faithful and the Fallen)
John Gwynne
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War has erupted in the Banished Lands as the race for power intensifies.
Corban flees his homeland searching for peace, but he soon discovers that there is no haven in the west as the agents of Rhin and roaming bands of giants hound his every step.
Veradis leaves the battleground and rushes to his King's side. But he has witnessed both combat and betrayal, and his duty weighs heavily upon him.
Maquin seeks only revenge, but pirate slavers and the brutal world of pit-fighting stand in his way.
Nathair becomes embroiled in the wars of the west as Queen Rhin marches against King Owain. The need to find the cauldron of the giants drives him on.
Sides are chosen and oaths will be fulfilled or broken in a land where hell has broken loose.
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Posts about this title from DocoftheDarkArts
DocoftheDarkArts\ \ Bob Stuntz\ \ • Jul 26
[The Sunday Prescription \ \ One reading topic, one week of plans, and plenty of books administered weekly for chronic readers.\ \ Symptoms: We're all a bunch of liars! \ \ Hi everyone, and welcome back to another Sunday Prescription. This week, I want to talk about some of the discussion going around the book world recently about creators and influencers being liars when it comes to the books they're reading. Most of this has come down to accusations that bookish content creators and influencers are not reading the books they are reviewing, and they're only reviewing books to chase clout when the book is popular/trending, or they have been paid or have been given free books and as such, just promote them blindly. Another one is that there is no way book influencers are really reading as many books as they claim they are. I definitely have some thoughts on this!\ \ First, I am sure that there are people out there who do this kind of stuff, but I genuinely do not feel it is widespread. In terms of the accusations that influencers are paid for good reviews, companies and publishers do their research - when publishing companies have reached out to me asking if I want to try a book, it is typically because they have seen other book reviews I have done that are similar to that book, or that I liked and reviewed that author previously, and that's just research for sending out ARCs or copies of released books. When it comes to financial relationships, I would imagine they do their research even more. And most content creators do more positive than negative reviews because they don't want to trash authors, especially when they are high profile. So to me, it makes sense why you see so many positive reviews from people - the companies are finding the right books for the right people, and creators want to talk about books they love, not books they hate.\ \ In terms of the volume accusations, I had someone recently make a similar comment on my YouTube page, saying I had clearly lied about how many books I read in the first half of the year. I think this stems from people not comprehending how someone could read that much when they maybe read a few books a year. In my case, I don't really watch much TV, and I make time to read every day. That adds up! I gain nothing from lying about how many books I've read.\ \ And as far as whether or not people are reviewing books they have read, I have no idea how you can tell this. We all read for different reasons and at different levels, and we all have different retention abilities. Additionally, with AI and the internet, if you really wanted to fake it you could make as detailed a video as you want pretty easily without reading a book, so I just don't know how anyone can really tell.\ \ So, all that said, here's my approach and what you all can expect from me in terms of my policies when it comes to bookish honesty. First, if I feel a creator is not genuine or just doing it for the content, I just don't watch, don't follow, and don't engage. Pretty simple. In terms of my own personal policies:\ \
- I will never review a book without reading it. If I DNF a book, I make that clear. I also do not personally recommend books without reading them, and when someone asks me about a book I haven't read, I tell them that.\ \
- If you watch my monthly reading wrap ups, you will notice I'm very transparent about what I have read and in what format (e book, physical, or audio). I do not and have never had numeric reading goals, and I stand to gain nothing from beefing up numbers, so what you see is what you get. And, that number is subject to change from month to month or year to year.\ \
- I always tell authors that if they send me a book I will do an honest review. Now I won't make a video to trash an author or book I don't like (especially an indie book), but I will always write honest StoryGraph and Goodreads reviews. I have had authors withdraw their request to send me a book when they hear that!\ \
- When I do reviews, video or written, I will always say whether that book was given to me for free or not, and who gave it to me. I think that's important for the viewing public to know so they can take any review with a grain of salt, because there can be subconscious bias there.\ \
- Lastly, I have not entered into any financial agreements with companies in terms of direct reimbursement, but if I do down the road, I would always let you all know (in fact, legally I have to!).\ \ \ So what's your take - do you think lying about books is rampant on social media amongst big influencers, or do you think this is another accusation without much basis?\ \ The Rx: What I'm Reading and Doing \ \ This has been a fun week of reading and hobbies. First, reading has been great. After I finish writing this newsletter I'm going to be finishing up Valour by John Gwynne, and I finished up Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff last night. These have both been great fun! I am going to finish out the month with Robin Hobb's Assassin's Apprentice, and possibly finish up my reread of the Silmarillion.\ \ With August on the horizon, there is some great stuff coming! For our main book club on Bindery and Discord, we'll be reading the Jasad heir, and for my new Fable Book Club, Dr. Bob's Literary Apothecary, we'll be reading The Wolf and His King by Finn Longman. Our monthly reading challenge is to "read an indie published book." You can read and be eligible to win a $25 bookshop.org gift card by participating in the StoryGraph Challenge page, or on our Discord server. I'm going to be reading The Butcher of Nazareth by David Scott Hay for this. And lastly, my paid member's picked King Sorrow by Joe Hill for the monthly pick a book. If you want to read along or hear my blow by blow thoughts, join up as a Dark Traveler!\ \ In terms of hobbies, as you can see above, I'm working my way through the Minas Tirith Lego set that my lovely wife surprised me with for Father's Day. It's a beast, but I'm having so much fun! This is one of my favorite things to do while listening to an audiobook. The weather is nice, and I'm hoping to be able to get out and do some mountain biking as well here over the next few weeks.\ \ And in terms of content, I took the weekend off of YouTube this week, and am working on batch recording some stuff for August since August is always a busy month. If you make book content or are thinking about it, I highly recommend batch recording - when you have your stuff all set up, recording a bunch of stuff at once and then editing later makes this much easier for me than trying to record a little every day!\ \ Hope you all have a great week of reading and life, and I'll see you next week!\ \ Want More In-Depth Access? \ \ If you enjoy getting into the details with me about reading, then consider upgrading to The Dark Travelers tier! My Dark Travelers get an exclusive Discord role and channels, a weekly deep dive reading update video, early access to YouTube videos, and each month they get to pick a book for me to read. This can be a book they want to read with me, or something they want me to try for them. It's super fun and a great tight knit group that I really enjoy talking books with, and I'd love to have you part of it!](https://docofthedarkarts.binderybooks.com/item/cRbOhvaVR7alcxjkZLTn/)
The Sunday Prescription: July 26, 2026
8 books
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DocoftheDarkArts\ \ Bob Stuntz\ \ • Jul 19
The Sunday Prescription: July 19, 2026
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DocoftheDarkArts\ \ Bob Stuntz\ \ • Jul 12
The Sunday Prescription: July 12, 2026
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DocoftheDarkArts\ \ Bob Stuntz\ \ • Jul 5
The Sunday Prescription: July 5, 2026
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DocoftheDarkArts\ \ Bob Stuntz\ \ • Jun 21
[Poll:\ \ Do your reading habits change in the summer?\ \ The Sunday Prescription \ \ One reading topic, one week of plans, and plenty of books administered weekly for chronic readers.\ \ Symptoms: Reading in the Summer \ \ Happy Sunday gang, and Happy Father's Day to any of the bookish dads out there! I hope everyone is doing well, and welcome back to my Sunday Newsletter. This week, I've been thinking a lot about summer reading patterns. \ \ As someone who yaps a lot about books online, I hear a lot of feedback about what other people do for reading, and it always fascinates me how different we all are! I have two beach trips coming up this summer, and for me, summer is always a time when I read more. I work from home these days, and the school year means driving kids all over the place, and having a lot of my free time taken up by activities during the school year. So when I get to go on a trip, and during the summer especially, I always wind up reading more. Having less time in the car and less time at teenage kid activities gives me more time to read. In addition, I'm outside working more, so I'm listening to more audiobooks, and generally just consuming more written and spoken stories. \ \ Now when it comes to packing for a trip, I always over do it when it comes to books. For a typical week long beach trip, you will usually find me packing 4-5 books along with my e-reader. As a certified feral mood reader, this gives me plenty of variety. On top of that, I usually find a local beach bookstore and make my way there as well. In terms of what I like to read, this is definitely when I'm going for shorter/less intense stuff. Cozy fantasies like the House in the Cerulean Sea and Tress of the Emerald Sea come to mind (which we're reading right now for our book club!). I of course love it when a book leans into the water, piracy, or hot/desert climates. Which reminds me, I need to start Children of Dune here soon!\ \ However, I hear from other people that when they head into the long, hot days of summer, and go on vacations, they read less. They cite more time in summer/outdoor activities as barriers, and say when they go on vacation they don't want to read more, or are too busy. It does seem an increase in audiobook consumption is pretty well agreed upon, given more time outside, and time spent on road trips in the car. So I'm interested to hear from you all - how does summer change your reading habits? Do you read more or less? Do you read more on vacation? Do you pack a ton of books like some sort of book goblin like me?\ \ The Rx: What I'm Reading and Doing \ \ I did announce this week that I was starting a new Fable Book Club! We will be starting July 1 with Our Sister's Keeper by Jasmine Holmes. The book club is called Dr. Bob's Literary Apothecary, and our goal is to read diverse authors, diverse genres, and try to find diverse books that aren't popping up on your algorithm! I'd love to have you join, we'll do a book a month, and no changes to our usual book club. \ \ In terms of reading, I finished off my reread of Tress of the Emerald Sea, and I just enjoyed it so much. I listened to the Michael Kramer version for the reread as I read it physical last year, and I'm not a graphic audio fan usually, especially abridged versions. I also finished an Arc of Songs of the Dead by Brandon Sanderson and Peter Orullian. More to come on that in a future review. And Today, I'll be finishing up Stoner by John Williams, which is our Dark Travelers monthly pick a book. That has met spellbound at the moment! If you want to read with us you should join up as a Dark Traveler!\ \ I also released this week's YouTube video, which is all about ARC's - what they are and why they exist, what you can do to start becoming an ARC reader, and the major Do's and Don't of reading ARCs. \ \ In terms of what's next, I have a bunch of options and I'm not sure where I'll go for sure!\ \
- A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab - probably next\ \
- Jade City by Fonda Lee - researching for next month's book club!\ \
- The Photonic Effect by Mike Chen - sent to me by the publisher, and sounds cool.\ \
- Valor by John Gwynne - Really want to continue, and my TBB versions should show up soon. \ \
- What Blood Remembers by C William Phillips - probably next on my e-reader. \ \
- Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove - Up next on audio!\ \ \ I also picked up an Assassin's Creed game for the Nintendo Switch, which I'm interested to give a try, and I heard a rumor that I might be getting a sweet Lego set for Father's Day!\ \ Like Discounts and Helping Me out? \ \ Did you know I have a bunch of different affiliate codes? I you head to the link in my bio, you'll see a bunch of affiliate codes. Some of these, like the Flowers and fantasy 10% off, the 15% off TBB regular publishing website, or the Pango books $5 off your first order codes, will save you money! Others, like the Broken Binding special edition code, my Bookshop.org Affiliate, and my wishlist are more just support for me. I also have links to all of my social sites if you're looking to follow elsewhere as well!](https://docofthedarkarts.binderybooks.com/item/RSKW1H0xzYOUFRxqBpH1/)
The Sunday Prescription: June 21, 2026
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Posts about this book from across Bindery
DocoftheDarkArts\ \ Bob Stuntz\ \ • Jul 26
The Sunday Prescription: July 26, 2026
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DocoftheDarkArts\ \ Bob Stuntz\ \ • Jul 19
\ \ Join for free or login](https://docofthedarkarts.binderybooks.com/item/5EDl0lBle83z81wEVnTx/)
The Sunday Prescription: July 19, 2026
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DocoftheDarkArts\ \ Bob Stuntz\ \ • Jul 12
\ \ Join for free or login](https://docofthedarkarts.binderybooks.com/item/0ZyJnTb0c8lRqp5quJeF/)
The Sunday Prescription: July 12, 2026
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DocoftheDarkArts\ \ Bob Stuntz\ \ • Jul 5
\ \ Join for free or login](https://docofthedarkarts.binderybooks.com/item/K5W4dAgob08Uh2bP0jcE/)
The Sunday Prescription: July 5, 2026
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DocoftheDarkArts\ \ Bob Stuntz\ \ • Jun 21
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Infinite Realms Book Club \ \ Nozomi \ \ • Dec 1 2025
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[The 11.5 books that I read in December!\ \ Horror book pick: Sleep Tight 1⭐️\ \ I read this at the very beginning of the month and did not enjoy this one AT ALL. It had so many elements that I should have loved but I don’t think it was executed well. It also wasn’t scary at all. I literally couldn’t tell you a single thing that happened in this book even right after I finished it nonetheless NOW. Was very disappointed since I wanted to be able to discuss this with you guys but I literally have nothing more to say about this one :/ \ \ Fantasy book pick: Malice 4.5⭐️\ \
- I had an absolute blast with this! Definitely for my seasoned classic fantasy lovers out there! It took me like 40% of the book to actually get used to all the characters and understand where the story is going but wow that last portion of the book was action packed and insane. So many twists and turns. Filled with battles if you’re into that. I immediately jumped into book 2!\ \ \ All other books\ \
- Valor (currently reading but almost done) the second book in the faithful and the fallen and I’m absolutely loving where it’s going \ \
- The Eyes are the Best Part 4 ⭐️\ \
- Maeve Fly 2⭐️\ \
- Fallen City 3.5 ⭐️\ \
- Slewfoot 3.5 ⭐️\ \
- What Hunger 3.5 ⭐️\ \
- The Teacher 2 ⭐️\ \
- The Ex 3⭐️\ \
- The Wife Upstairs (currently reading will finish tonight) \ \
- The Amberglow Candy Store 2⭐️\ \ \ DNF\ \
- The Night that Finds Us All\ \ \ Join for free or login](https://the-infinite-realms-bookclub.binderybooks.com/item/07VY8oFLf9T7GN8sI1rU/)
11 books
All Shades\ \ Sera\ \ • Mar 31 2024
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\ \ Upgrade for $5 or login](https://allshades.binderybooks.com/item/A5zh4A4Xa2LbuAf2je8U/)
fantasy books to help you out of a reading slump!
Update: STILL IN MY SLUMP!! Take me back to when I read these books for the first time. That was my peak!!
12 books
4
Fantasy & Frens\ \ Zoranne\ \ • Dec 6 2023
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complete fantasy series recommendations i think are worth reading (or worth gifting)! if you have read any of these books, let me know what you think! ◡̈ books mentioned: - the faithful and the fallen quartet by john gwynne - the broken earth trilogy by n. k. jemisin - the shepard king duology by rachel gillig - the farseer trilogy by robin hobb - shades of magic trilogy by v. e. schwab #fantasyseriesrec #fantasyseries #epicfantasybooks #zorannereads
15 books
Fantasy & Frens\ \ Zoranne\ \ • Mar 5 2023
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shopping at @novelneighbor in STL!! i loved this store and seeing samantha shannon this weekend!!
#thenovelneighbor #indiebookstore #independentbookstore #theserpentandthewingsofnight #adayofallennight #fantasybooks #bookshopping #bookhaul #bookhoarder
7 books
Fantasy & Frens\ \ Zoranne\ \ • Feb 15 2023
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i saw everyone else making these cute posts, so i wanted to make one too! 🥹 do we have anything in common?!
#booklover #coffeelover #bookishdreamers #bookstagram #bookstagramcommunity #fantasycommunity #bookreviewer #booksbooksbooks #bookworm
7 books
Fantasy & Frens\ \ Zoranne\ \ • Jan 7 2023
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THE BEST FANTASY BOOKS OF 2022! ⚔️🤩 #fantasybooktok #fantasybookseries #zorannereads #fantasyandfrens #epicfantasybooks
13 books
Fantasy & Frens\ \ Zoranne\ \ • Jan 6 2023
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DON’T LET MY SMILE FOOL YOU, BECAUSE I CRIED SO MUCH LAST NIGHT AFTER I FINISHED WRATH 😭
i can’t believe i’ve finished. my journey reading the faithful and the fallen is over. it’s bittersweet because i can’t remember when i felt this emotional leaving characters behind. i felt like i knew them. corban, cywen, camlin, gar, STORM 🐺🥹❤️
i’m pretty sure i would die in the banished lands but i would go there in a heartbeat if it meant i could meet all of these wonderful characters john gwynne created. a true found family. i’m getting emotional typing this caption.
ps. don’t ask me to pick a favorite between this series and the shadow of the gods. 🤣
TRUTH AND COURAGE ⚔️❤️🔥
#johngwynnebooks #thefaithfulandthefallen #thebanishedlands #epicfantasynovels #fantasyseries #epicfantasy #truthandcourage #fantasybookreview
4 books
Fantasy & Frens\ \ Zoranne\ \ • Dec 31 2022
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Today I'll be following in the steps of Daniel Greene and creating a tier list of all of the fantasy books I read in 2022! How do you think I did?
The Fantasy & Frens Book Club will begin reading A BROKEN BLADE by Melissa Blair in January! Join us and read along through the link below!
FOLLOW ME ON SOCIALS! 📖 goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/39913560-zoranne-host 📸 instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoranne\_/ 🎵 tiktok: http://tiktok.com/@zoranne\_ 🐦 twitter: http://twitter.com/zoranne\_ ☕️ buy me a coffee: http://ko-fi.com/zoranne\_ ✨shop my favorite books: https://amzn.to/3Z3Nty8
JOIN THE FANTASY & FRENS COMMUNITY! 📚fable book club: http://l.fable.co/zoranne 👾discord: https://discord.gg/A3MPX5vEHX
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47 books
Fantasy & Frens\ \ Zoranne\ \ • Sep 6 2022
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august wrap up ft. some new favs!! 🤩 #readingupdate #fantasybooktok #fantasybookrecs #Inverted
august wrap up ft. some new favs!! 🤩 #readingupdate #fantasybooktok #fantasybookrecs #Inverted
8 books