Book Review: The Crown of Omens (The Blood and Steel Saga, #0.5) by E.J. Doble
Review copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Cover art illustrated by Diego Spezzoni
The Crown of Omens by E.J. Doble
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Series: The Blood and Steel Saga (Book #0.5 of 5)
Genre: Fantasy, Grimdark Fantasy, Epic Fantasy
Pages: 159 pages (Paperback edition)
Published: 1st October 2023 (Self-Published)
The Crown of Omens is an action-packed alternative starting point for Doble’s grimdark Blood and Steel Saga.
I didn’t start my journey with The Blood and Steel Saga through The Crown of Omens. I started it by reading The Fangs of War, E.J. Doble’s debut novel and the first main installment in the series. However, I cannot help but feel The Crown of Omens would work nicely as my first entry into the series. Especially if I want a taste of Doble’s writing style and action scenes before reading the bigger books in the main series. The entire story in The Crown of Omens is basically a siege that takes place decades before the events of The Fangs of War. And The Crown of Omens is told from the perspective of 10 POV characters. Each character—most unnamed—has one chapter in the novella. The twist to this narrative decision is that it is done in a way reminiscent of Abercrombie’s war scenes in The Heroes and The Age of Madness trilogy. What do I mean by this? This is when the killer of the current POV character became the next POV chapter we read. This continues until the end, and the result is a seamless and bloody action sequence. Due to the short length and relatively experimental nature, The Crown of Omens did lack a bit in characterizations because each POV character did not have any room to develop. Do not expect Abercrombie’s level of greatness; to be fair, no one is as good as Abercrombie’s cinematic close-quarter combat scenes. But Doble totally did a great job showing how harrowing and violent war can be from both sides. There are no victories in war, only death and horror.
If you feel intimidated by the lengths of the main titles in The Blood and Steel Saga, you cannot go wrong with trying The Crown of Omens first to have a clear sample of Doble’s writing and storytelling. Do know that the characterizations in the main novels are far superior to what you get here, though. But regarding the importance of The Crown of Omens to the overarching series, for now, I will say it is not a must-read. I did not feel like The Crown of Omens added anything substantial to the lore I read in The Fangs of War. But we’ll see whether my opinion changes after I read the sequel to The Fangs of War, The Horns of Grief, which supposedly is Doble’s best work so far.
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