2025 Reading Challenge 22 The Sword Triumphant
I’ve been listening to the Gareth Hanrahan trilogy, Lands of the Firstborn, on audiobook, but I pre-ordered a print copy of the final part to complete this trilogy.
The trilogy tells of what happens to the legendary Nine after a world-ending threat has passed. The nine are a group of heroes with differing talents and weapons. For the first threat, Lord Bone, they were all young, overcoming incredible odds, becoming legends, but twenty years have passed when we catch up with one of them and the main character, Alf. He’s middle-aged, he aches, he moans - mainly to his black, demonic sword, Spellbreaker - he’s cynical, but book one introduces a new threat to the land, so off he sets.
It’s hard to detail the final book in this trilogy without spoilers, but the background is all about the peace, war and interactions between the Firstborn (Elves) and the Secondborn (Humans). The book casts lots of shades on familiar tropes, and over the trilogy, it is hard not to grow fond of certain characters, SPOILER, not all of them make it to the end!
At the start of this book, twenty more years have passed. Now nearing the end of his life, Alf and others have fallen into some aspect of domestic bliss as they try to fix a shed roof and do some Sunday morning militia training, then down to the pub for song and drink. Life is good.
Of course, this bliss is short-lived; a request from one of the remaining Nine arrives. First, though, Alf needs his demonic, anti-magic Sword, and that is far, far away, so a quest begins.
This was one of my favourite bits of the trilogy as old and new friends come together and travel the southern lands. Many books of this size flit between different viewpoints, but keeping it just to this group really focused the reader on the twenty years that have passed, the changes in the land, the struggles with age that Alf faces and the passing on of knowledge and skills to the younger generation. It really resonated!
Things go badly, in PbtA terms, a constant rolling of 7-9 with an occasional 6 or less thrown in. These complications add up and add up, splitting the party and putting each of them into terrible danger.
The book continues at a great pace. I found this a much easier read than the first two (which were both very enjoyable), like heading downhill in a soapbox derby with no brakes. So much so that I was almost caught out at the end, the end is fitting if bittersweet, wouldn’t you know Spellbreaker has the final word. So, after over 1500 words, it’s all over, a classic epic fantasy series put to bed and another incredible milestone from Gareth Hanrahan, so much to mine for your gaming, but superb entertainment. Incredibly excited as to what story and genre he turns to next.
I rated this 8.0 out of 10.
TTRPG Thoughts:
So that I’m not stuck at my desk for weeks to come, I’ll focus only on something you may not be aware of: The Walking Wounded.
Now, this isn’t from the same trilogy, but from another wonderful sequence of Hanrahan books, The Black Iron Legacy. As you probably know, Gareth is first and foremost a game designer and writer, responsible for many incredible systems, scenarios and campaigns.
The Walking Wounded is the first, I think, where an author of a novel has also created an adventure and set of characters to play an RPG in that world. Gareth sent this out as part of the promotion of The Shadow Saint, the second book in The Black Iron Legacy.
The mechanics centre around three attributes: Skill, Force or Cunning. You have 1, 2 or 3 dice for each. The GM sets a difficulty either for a single player, usually of 6 or for the group, 15. Then the players roll the relevant attribute dice, total up the score to meet or beat the difficulty. IF they roll a 1 or a 4, then they encounter Trouble. Trouble can be a condition (wounded) or an event (lost).
The scenario itself is a simple heist: rob a warehouse. As these things always are, the job is not as it seems, throwing the players into a nest of Guerdon’s vipers, facing off against multiple factions and needing to make some life-changing decisions. It neatly ends with some great hooks to continue the play.
This has all the flavour of the books, including links to the main factions, monsters and a feel that players are one step away from disaster and death.
Possibly the perfect introduction to the book series, why don’t more writers take this approach?