Review: Of Blood and Fire (The Bound and The Broken book 1) by Ryan Cahill

Of Blood and Fire begins with three friends Calen, Rist and Dann preparing for the Proving a coming of age task that they must do to be consideref men. An encounter whilst on this task is the start of a sequence of events that will thrust them into the middle of a long fought war and change their lives forever. 

This book is Ryan Cahill's debut full length novel and what a strong start. Cahill is a fantastic author. The pacing of the book is incredible, it feels like both an action packed page turner and a fully fleshed out fantasy epic at the same time. The world building is incredible and information is presented in a clear concise way without pulling you out of the story.

I also really enjoyed the character work on the main characters. The three friends Calen, Dann and Rist have a great friendship and as the story progresses you really feel for them and their friendship. I do wish some of the secondary characters were a little more fleshed out but I have a feeling that it is mainly due to time and hope that characters like Ella will play a bigger part in book 2.

Ryan Cahill uses a lot of fantasy tropes and the beginning of his book starts out as a great homage to some classic fantasy epics, I picked up on influences from the likes of Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson and of course Tolkien. However, these tropes and influences were done with such a high level of skill that at no point did the book feel like a mere copy or retelling, and during the second half the story really comes into its own.

I would recommend reading this book if you enjoy fantasy, dragons, epic battles and any of the authors I mentioned above. 

There is a sequel out now and a novella prequel available called the Fall which can be read either before this book or after. I personally read The Fall after reading this book and I preferred it that way as a lot of where the story went was a surprise to me. However, people who have read the Fall before this book tend to say it should be done in this way so it appears to be up to the reader.

Ryan Cahill has created a fantastic fantasy book that pays homage to some of the best fantasy authors around, as well as starting what I firmly believe will be an amazing book series.