Book Review: John Gwynne’s ‘The Fury of the Gods’ is an Epic Conclusion to the Bloodsworn Saga You Can’t Miss

You know that feeling when you’re a little scared to pick up the last book in a beloved series? It’s a tumble of emotions. You don’t want it to end, you’re excited, but worried—what if it lets you down?! Plus, when you know the author went through an emotionally traumatic event before writing it, and their family seems like the most wholesome, incredible, you want it so badly to be good. It’s been two and a half years since I finished book two for the first time, and that ended on a pretty brutal cliffhanger. So I’ve been highly, highly anticipating this release. When I tell you The Fury of the Gods by John Gwynne is the perfect conclusion to the Bloodsworn Saga, I mean it. I absolutely devoured this final installment (maybe we can beg for a novella follow up???) in Gwynne’s Viking-inspired tale of vengeance. I laughed over cheese, I cried over the loss of beloved characters, and I whooped and hollered during epic battles. There wasn’t a slow moment, and I absolutely love all of the POVs. There is a massive amount of fighting and battle scenes, which I didn’t mind, but some may find it excessive. There were so many different characters’ arcs to wrap up, and in different locations, so it made sense to me. I am so grateful to John Gwynne for continuing to write women so well, and creating truly incredible characters I’ve completely fallen in love with. I’ve added a few spoiler thoughts at the very end of this review, but otherwise tried to keep the main review as spoiler free as possible. P.S. John Gwynne is a king for including summaries of what’s already happened in the series at the beginning of subsequent novels. And I’m obsessed. Luckily, I did a reread of both The Shadow of the Gods and The Hunger of the Gods before diving into this one, as I wanted it all fresh in my mind. Let’s get into it.

Things to Know:

• Third book in the Bloodsworn Saga

• Multi POV

• Grimdark fantasy

• Vengeance

• Viking-inspired and Norse gods

• TW: Child abuse, violence, and death

Reviews of The Shadow of the Gods and The Hunger of the Gods can be found here.

For the one’s who know: I was SHOCKED when I made it through 50% of the book without a mention of “thought-cage”. It’s become synonymous with this series for me, and I have to be honest, I kind of missed it. But don’t worry, it was back, albeit significantly less than the first two books, in the second half.

I was so excited to finally see Orka in mom-mode, and little Breca absolutely killing it. The Bloodsworn and Varg honestly feel like family. And I loved seeing Varg finally feel at home with them—like he truly belongs. Lif’s progression was also so amazing to see—from son of a fisherman to trained warrior.

Elvar’s journey is immaculate. Gwynne mentioned in an interview that writing her arc was the most interesting to work on, and I can completely see why. She’s warring with not wanting to turn into her tyrant father, and being forced to make some pretty awful decisions. Not to mention being blindsided a few times by people she thought she could trust. Biorr’s journey is equally interesting to me, and I was desperate for a redemption arc from him. No spoilers here though.

Svik continues his love of cheese and cemented himself as one of my favorite side characters again. And knowing Gwynne based the cheese love after one of his sons makes it even better.

Some people say they find Gudvarr’s chapters boring, but I find them hysterical. Yes, he’s absolutely terrible, but the way Gwynne uses his cowardice as comic relief—especially in such a heavy book with lots of battles, and very serious vengeance, is very welcome to me. I think this is something Gwynne does so well in order to give a more well-rounded story. Getting both villain and protagonist POVs makes for such a complex story that I don’t think would have been as interesting if we were only getting the ‘good guys’. Speaking of, Brak may well be the most loathed character for me. I actually cannot stand that man.

The gods themselves were also quite interesting and complex. Ulfrir really grew on me in this book, and seeing him grieving and dealing with being a thrall after being one of the most powerful beings was such a fun arc to read. He and Elvar’s relationship especially I loved seeing unfold. Rotta is truly a rat. I hate him, but at times feel slightly bad for him, and then I remember everything he’s done and shove those thoughts away real quick. By the end I was absolutely loathing him again. Like WHY is working with Lik-Rifa when he knows she’s insane?! And speaking of our dragon queen, the interactions with her father were some of the most interesting to me.

Gwynne also creates the most fantastical creatures. The Faunir are treeish creatures that I loved! But for some reason, I kept picturing Mr. Tumnus from Narnia and the white spikes from The Tomorrow War. Don’t ask me why. Vesli and Spert forever! Honestly, some of the battles with the creatures reminded me so much of the battles in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe! Lik-Rifa 100% gives off The White Witch vibes.

I also now have a new favorite word for incompetent people after finishing this series: nithing.

If you’ve been waiting to pick up The Fury of the Gods, this is your sign to do it! If you’re already a fan of John Gwynne and the Bloodsworn, I promise you won’t be disappointed.

A note on the narration: I love the narrator, and it’s especially nice to hear the Icelandic being spoken, as there is quite a lot of it. Would highly recommend the audio while reading along with a physical or ebook!

Many thanks to Orbit for providing me with an early copy. All opinions are my own.

Fave Quotes (note: final quotes may be altered):

“Courage is just a reaction to fear. You cannot show courage without first feeling fear.”

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“Bad man got away,” she said with a scowl. “But not all of him,” and she reached into her pouch at her belt and pulled out a long tooth…

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“If you cannot bite, you should not show your teeth.”

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A few spoiler thoughts:

• "Where is Vesli’s friend, Spert?” I about lost it when she said this. Heart is broken.

• I’m sorry, Rotta isn’t dead?! Where is the body? I needed him in the ground. But perhaps this opens up potential for a novella?

• I’m so sad Elvar died, but LOVED her arc. I was so angry with her the first half of this book, and by the end I was crying.

• I got my Biorr redemption arc!!! Honestly, his ending was perfect to me.

• I was hoping for a little more than what we got with Snaka…felt like it was over too soon. And also the ships from Iskidan.

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