Warlords of Wyrdwood, the second entry in The Forsaken Trilogy, is an explosion of ancient lore that comes to life, taking us deeper into a complicated world that suffers with misunderstandings, lack of belief, and hatred of the unknown. The natural world remains front and center with some of the most breathtaking settings I’ve read in recent memory. Barker expands the story into seven POVs and, while it can be overwhelming at times, they all add something unique to this ever expanding story. Overall, it was a solid middle entry and I look forward to seeing how the epic final chapters lead the final book. 

If you haven’t read the first book, STOP HERE and go read it. There be spoilers below.

The Best Bits

A Few of My Favorite Things

All the Settings

I am continuously blown away by the creativity and imagination on display in Barker’s settings. He’s managed to take a forest and make it into so many unique spaces, some bringing wonder to the story, others terror and fear. We get to imagine so many nature-based things, and it’s always exciting as a reader who loves nature-based fantasy. The book introduces an entire city built into the impossibly tall trees, an underground realm complete with sunken city and terrifying monsters, and a land where time literally freezes after crossing an invisible barrier. These fantastical places are all surrounding a down-to-earth, mud-soaked medieval land of humans, making them that much more magical. 

The MOST Characters

I admittedly struggled in the first half of the book as we jumped between many characters, all in different places doing different things. Cahan remains front and center, but we see additional perspectives like Dassit, a commander in the opposing army who stumbles into the story, and Ont, the butcher-turned-monk who grows on you by the end of the story. By the middle, it all starts to make sense and I found myself looking forward to each character’s perspective. Saradis and Laha provide much needed background on the goings on of the villains, showing how dark the dark parts of this world truly are. I do think the heavy POV list worked, but I found myself struggling with Udinny’s story. I was most excited to see her perspective after the first book but it always felt so removed from the story that I had trouble following her journey. I was surprised at how much I connected with the random addition of Dassit, and found myself wanting more of the creepy Laha. I have a feeling there’s more to come for all involved in the third entry.

Fantasy Meets Horror

There are always monsters of some sort in Fantasy novels, dragons to overcome, dark things of magic that threaten to kill, villains who are larger than life. This book went a step beyond those typical elements, taking us down an eldritch horror pathway. There have always been elements, namely the fact that almost everything scary has tentacles of some kind, but this book really amps it up. The final chapter was a jaw dropper, leaving you wondering how this world can possibly overcome a monster of such magnitude. I look forward to seeing how Barker tugs on this thread in the final entry.