Richard Swan
Orbit, 16 February 2023
Available as: HB(546pp), audio, e
Source: Advance copy
ISBN(HB): 9780356516431
I'm grateful to Orbit for an advance copy of The Tyranny of Faith to consider for review.
The Tyranny of Faith sees a welcome return for itinerant Justice Sir Konrad Vonvalt and his retainers, Bressinger, Sir Radomir and, of course, the wonderful Helena Sedanka. In an Empire abounding in plots, treason and - as become clear in The Justice of Kings - forbidden Magicks - the team must try to uphold the rule of law while all around seem, rather, to be playing the rules for their own ends.
The story is, then, very much a continuation of the earlier book, though with the setting established we move much closer to the centre of things - first when Sir Konrad takes the team to the capital, Sova, in an attempt to warn the Emperor that something is wrong, and then to the debatable lands on the southern border with a mission from the Emperor (the warning more or less disregarded).
I don't want to drop any spoilers, but we do know from the start - because Helena, writing this account decades later, tells us - that dark times are ahead for the Empire of the Wolf so it's clear that, while there may be some success for Sir Konrad, greater forces are at work (or at least, their plans are too far advanced) for our heroes to halt.
But that doesn't take away the tension, far from it. Rather it left me desperate to know how exactly things will go to shit - there are so many ways it might happen! - and how everybody will measure up when they do. Because we also know that the crew are far from perfect as individuals. Helena has already realised Sir Konrad has feet of clay, and this book does more to expose how, under the Sovan Empire, the pursuit of realpolitik trumps equality before the law. Sir Radomir is, increasingly, a functioning alcoholic. Bressinger is devoted to Sir Konrad and will not act against him, not even to save him from himself. And Helena herself - well, as ever, she's impulsive, inexperienced and still young and she has so many feelings to cope with here, abut herself (remember the loss she suffered in The Justice of Kings), and her companions, especially Sir Konrad. (She is of course also brave, idealistic and determined - which she will need to be when various machinations land her in the front ranks of an army of fanatic warrior nuns marching to confront invaders...)
There's a fantastic interplay here between the characters. They are - just - still able to work as a team despite tensions and disagreements. The Tyranny of Faith is actually a wonderful depiction of colleagues under pressure doing their best in impossible circumstances. It's also a heartbreaking depiction of Helena's ongoing disillusion with Sir K (disillusion, not disengagement - the attraction between them is an opposite and more than equal force in Helena, and is acknowledged here more than it was in the previous book).
Indeed, the relationships are so well done - whether the four are getting drunk in a tavern, nursing their hangovers next morning, pursuing villains through bustling Sova, or fighting against impossible odds - that I would want to read about them whether or not they were central figures in a world shaking fantasy novel. I have been known at times to mutter at doorstep fantasy books to just get on with the plot - but not here. If Swan wanted to extend this series by a book or two just so we could see more of Sir K, Bressinger, Helena and Sir Radomir, that would be fine by me, absolutely fine.
Failing that perhaps we could have some short stories set in the quieter moments? Those might be hard to fit in, though, because as this book marches on, those quiet moments become fewer and further between. Faced with one shock after another, constrained by orders from the Emperor, Sir Konrad's authority and command of events become weaker and weaker, forcing him to adopt methods which leave Helena aghast. And still the crew are exposed to ever greater dangers, operating in unfamiliar country and against strange enemies, human and magickal. (One of the other strengths of this book is its use of the dangerous ancient "magicks" that seemed so domesticated and controlled in the hands of the Justices in The Justice of Kings. We learn a lot more about them here, and it's clear that not only have the Justices been playing with fire all along, but that now others want to play with it too...)
I do have an off-on relationship with fantasy, but have firmly placed Swan's series on my list of "Fantasy that I really like" and I hope you will too. Strongly recommended!
For more information about The Tyranny of Faith, see the publisher's website here.
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