A Tide of Black Steel by Anthony Ryan – Review

Published: September 24, 2024

Publisher: Orbit Books

Series: Age of Wrath #1

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 528 (Paperback)

My Rating: 4 Stars

 A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
From the international bestselling author Anthony Ryan comes the spectacular first novel in a new epic new fantasy trilogy inspired by Norse mythology. A new age has dawned. An age of blood and steel. An age of wrath.

The land of Ascarlia, a fabled realm of bloodied steel and epic sagas, has been ruled by the Sister Queens for centuries. No one has dared question their rule.

Until now.

Whispers speak of longships of mysterious tattooed warriors, sailing under the banners of a murderous cult of oath-breakers long thought extinct. A tide of black steel that threatens to vanquish all in its path.

Thera of the Blackspear, favoured servant of the Sister Queens, is ordered to uncover the truth. As Thera sails north, her reviled brother, Felnir, sets out on his own adventure. He hopes to find the Vault of the Altvar – the treasure room of the gods – and win the Sister Queens’ favour at his sister’s expense.

Both siblings – along with a brilliant young scribe and a prisoner with a terrifying, primal power – will play a part in the coming storm.

The Age of Wrath has begun. 

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After having read four separate series by Anthony Ryan, it’s a given that I will at least like his new book. With A Tide of Black Steel being set in the same world as The Pariah, I was even MORE excited to check it out. Yes, it took me months after the release date to finally pick it up, but that was more to do with reading mood and time than anything. Now that I’ve been in the mood for a denser fantasy story with Viking influence, I flew right through the audiobook of this, which is once again narrated by Steven Brand.

This is a multi-POV story following four main characters – Thera, Felnir, Elvine, and Ruhlin. We are first introduced to Ruhlin as his village is attacked by a group of red tattooed raiders who take him prisoner after he is filled with a strange and sudden rage that turns him into a monstrous berserker. Elvine is a young scholar in training who is brought before the Sister Queens and sent on a mission after her seditious beliefs are discovered. Thera is a loyal servant of the Sister Queens and is sent to discover why islands are not paying tribute, and thus discovers news of the raiders. Felnir, Thera’s brother, is an infamous captain who hopes to regain the Queens’ favor by finding the Vault of the Altvar with the scholar Elvine in tow. 

First of all, if you hate Viking fantasy with a lot of sailing, this won’t be the book for you. So much time is spent on boats and I personally don’t mind this if the characters are interesting and they have some interesting ports of call, which A Tide of Black Steel definitely has. There’s also a ton of worldbuilding and complicated character stuff going on that you almost don’t notice because it’s seamless and smoothly woven into the story. AND if you’ve read the Covenant of Steel trilogy there are some nods to that series liberally thrown in too. 

My personal favorite character was actually Elvine because how can I, a book nerd, not also love the character who was basically raised to be a scholar? She’s quite brave despite the fact that she has no combat experience, knows her mother is being held quasi-hostage to ensure her good behavior, and is also following a religion that everyone else in Ascarlia seems to hate. Her quest seems to take her and Felnir’s crew to the most interesting locations as well, which certainly doesn’t hurt things. Yes, I like the other characters and found their chapters to be engaging as well but Elvine was the stand out for me.

Anthony Ryan has written another winner and I always enjoy Steven Brand’s narration, but if you prefer a narrator that attempts different voices, stay away from the audiobook! All the characters sound exactly the same which can get confusing when the characters don’t have a super unique written ‘voice’ or if they have similar names. While I’m interested in checking out the next book, I’m not chomping at the bit for it, which is weirdly how I’ve felt about all of his books. That being said, I’ve really enjoyed all of his books so I’ll probably continue on with the sequel even if it’s not currently making my hot list of sequels releasing in 2025.