The Tyranny of Faith by Richard Swan
Reviewed By: Jeremy Zentner, Adult Services Assistant
Genre: Fantasy
Suggested Age: Adults
What is This Book About? Judge, jury and executioner. Imperial Justice, Sir Konrad Vonvalt has spent two years distributing justice to subjects of the Empire of the Wolf, but it is time to report back to the capital. Vonvalt and his apprentice, Helena Sedanka, enter the center of civilization to bring the Emperor news of dark wizardry discovered to be in the hands of traitors, as depicted in the first book, The Justice of Kings. The Emperor rewards Vonvalt with a promotion he doesn’t want, entrusting him as head of the Magistratum in order to root out corruption that is suspected within the law-giving institution. But before the Magistratum and the Empire can be fully cleansed, the grandson of the Emperor goes missing and Helena and Vonvalt are tasked to rescue the young prince.
My Review: The Tyranny of Faith is a riotous journey through a secondary fantasy-world as Vonvalt and Helena travel to the Empire’s heart, the realm of the dead, and the frontier of mankind. Helena goes from a loyal novice law-clerk to a demon-killing, death-walking, champion for true justice. We also see Sir Konrad Vonvalt show his true colors as he is given unbridled authority in an empire full of ruin and rot. What I also enjoyed about this book is that it was part investigative and part horror story within the grim realities of a medieval-based world that’s on the edge of a Roman-style collapse. We get horrifying images of the spiritual plane as well as hidden monsters within the land of the living. All things considered, this book takes everything I love in varying genres and fuses them into a spellbinding epic.
Read this if you like… The Justice of Kings, Mistborn: The Final Empire, Dracula, The Exorcist, Hellblazer
Rating: 5/5
