Title: The Oathsworn Legacy
Author: K.R. Gangi
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Fantasy / Epic
Format: Paperback / Ebook
Release Date: October 30, 2023
Star Rating: 7/10
*Disclaimer*
Everyone is different and likes and dislikes different things. Reading is no exception. One person’s all-time favorite might seem too bland or too high stakes for another. That being said, the opinions of our judges in this contest are just that, opinions. Just because we let a book go, doesn’t mean it isn’t good. It could be your next favorite, who knows?
If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you can learn more about the contest here.
Today we are reviewing The Oathsworn Legacy, which was Covers With Cassidy’s pick for this year’s Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off.
You can see the finalist spreadsheet here.
Rawley and Baelin make a living the only way they know how—protecting the people of Centrum by slaying the dark things that stole their childhood: Monsters, and everything evil.
Though the work never ends, and there’s plenty of coin to go around, Rawley and Baelin discover a sinister secret hidden deep within the crevices of Centrum’s past. Centuries of lies and deceit unravel before them, and they soon shift from mere mercenaries to a force that will last generations.
At least, that’s their hope.
Dwarves in the west, Wroughtmen in the north, Elves in the east, and a tyrant king ruling with an oppressive fist, Rawley and Baelin balance on the precipice of total chaos.
Will everything they’ve accomplished be enough to save them from the shadows rising, or will a plot that’s generations old finally drag everything into the abyss?
Our Thoughts:
Kerry: For a large book (over 400p) this certainly didn’t read like one. Each chapter is an adventure on its own (each starting with some foreshadowing from the scribe Simon, whom we meet quite early in the book) without all the travelling and insignificant details that sometime tend to bloat epic fantasies. The parts written by the Simon add just enough detail to future events and even though knowing what is to come certainly doesn’t take away the impact of when it does (here is where I admit I had to reach for the tissues a couple during my read).
At the beginning the adventures of our 2 MCs – brothers Baelin and Rawley seem innocuous and disparate but eventually things become seen on a much larger, universal scale. The brothers also add others to their group, all with their own unique skills (& foibles). If you’re one for “found family” in your reading then Oathsworn Legacy is definitely for you.
I’m not big on epic fantasies these days but this book floated my boat – Dwarves, Elves and all. I thought the narrative style was well done and I devoured this book over a weekend.
(also really liked seeing the romance forming between the more “elderly” characters in this story)
Adawia: There’s quite a bit to like in this story, but I feel it’s in need of a good bit of polish – tightening the writing, and sorting some details that feel a little confused at times.
For the most part, the likeability of the characters and general plot lines carry this book and make it enjoyable for me. I was intrigued by the initial quests or jobs the brothers went on and like how the author ties in some of the early characters and stories to the main plot – very good employment of foreshadowing. My favourite parts are mostly the mini stories of the quests the brothers completed, and the creatures and characters they met along the way.
I couldn’t really get a feel for the timeline in this story which hindered my enjoyment a little. The story is written as though things happen directly after each other, there’s little or no time in between, or no suggestion or indication of time passing but before you know it, they’ve had their school up and running for ten years, then as the book progresses they go on various missions/jobs, big things happen, and by the end of the book, they’ve still had their school running for ten years. Because the time lapses weren’t sufficiently broadcast, the jumping around didn’t really work.
The perspective shifts from third to first person (then back and forth) after we meet the character who chronicled the story. So the first part of the story is told in third person and we later realise that this is the chronicled version of the life of the brothers told retrospectively by the chronicler. Only, it doesn’t really fit, because it doesn’t feel like the chronicled version of events. The second part of the story is told in a combination of first and third person. but in many cases, the chronicler was actually present for the events, but still tells of them from the perspective of the brothers. The first person perspective is when the chronicler is actually living the events, and we’re getting his direct perspective. I normally don’t mind perspective shifts and multiple viewpoints, but it needs to be super smooth, and I don’t think the author quite nails it in this book.
An enjoyable book overall.
Julia: This book almost needs two ratings from me. I didn’t really connect well with the first half. It felt quite “episodic”, with seemingly unconnected little side quests and no real direction. It felt too easy and more like a D&D campaign with new distractions for each session.
So if I would have had to rate this book in the first third, I’d probably have gone with a low score.
However, somewhere around the middle I noticed I actually started to care for the characters, and slowly there was some overarching plot emerging.
Slowly, slowly this book managed to get its hooks into me, and I got more and more invested.
The second half was a good read, and by the end I was fully lost in this world, and celebrating and grieving with the characters.
It went from disjointed adventures, a bit like a “B movie” version of Ryiria, to a gripping epic fantasy.
I really wish the start would be polished up a bit more, and the young men slang toned down a bit. I fully understand that it’s meant to show the growth of the two brothers, but it was just a tad too heavy for my liking.
I didn’t really care for any of the characters as it was just action after action, and a bit of “oh whatever, we’re the best, just lets go and kill some more monsters” with a shrug and no real depth or consequences.
Once they actually get some padding and start to feel like people, and not just overpowered game characters who’ll just succeed at anything anyway the story improves so much! So the second half would get a very high score from me.
