The Bound and the Broken: Of Darkness and Light (spoiler free review)

[@RyanCahillAuthor]

It's genuinely an honour, Matt. I'm delighted you were able to find things to love in Of Darkness and Light after continuing with the series. Thank you so much for giving your time to the books ❤

[@MattsFantasyBookReviews]

Thanks Ryan - I can't wait to catch up with the rest of your books!

[@davidmcculloch7709]

Ryan, I just found this channel, heard about your book, and started on the series! It’s awesome and from everything I’ve heard it just gets better and better. I’m really excited! Keep up the great work!

[@jonathanhighland4507]

Listening to your series now. Love it!

[@heidi6281]

After reading the Fall my library ordered the entire series for me!! So happy you love it.

[@MattsFantasyBookReviews]

That's so awesome. I love when libraries do that!

[@chandlerholloway3900]

Just got the first book for free on Kindle. Excited to check it out! Thanks again Matt! I also want to add that you are seriously the best book reviewer/KZbinr in the business. And I’ve watched almost every booktuber on KZbin, and every one of your videos just makes me happy to watch. Love the way you articulate your thoughts and feelings with the books you read, it’s really unique and just honest, which I appreciate the most about you. Keep it up man! I hope this channel gives you a lot joy and abundance.

[@MattsFantasyBookReviews]

You are too kind - thank you! 😊

[@sirbenticles8952]

I trust you; I'm buying the series.

[@MattsFantasyBookReviews]

I love it!!!

[@mizutsunesbubbles]

How was it?!

[@sirbenticles8952]

@@mizutsunesbubbles The best dragon fantasy I've ever read. I think it gets better with each book I've read in the series. There are modern aspects to the series but it definitely feels like classic fantasy. I'm pretty sure the last book comes out soon.

[@mizutsunesbubbles]

@@sirbenticles8952Very well that sounds like something I’d be interested in! I just ordered the first book 👍🏽

[@seththomas6727]

@@sirbenticles8952not the last book this will be a five book series with probably another novella or two

[@seanmills25]

If “The Exile” doesn’t push it to top 10 for you, “Of War and Ruin” will definitely do that! I was in the same mindset of the first book also, but “Of Darkness and Light” put it easily top 10 for me, “The Exile” made it top 5 and then “Of War and Ruin” made it tied for my favorite series ever with “The Faithful and the Fallen” excited for you to get to the third book! 😊 also thanks for bringing Malazan into my life!

[@MattsFantasyBookReviews]

I love to hear it! 😊

[@martymead]

I am about 3/4 through the 3rd book of the series "Of War An Ruin", an I can confirm it is the best of the series so far. One of the best fantasy books I have ever read!!

[@logangoodner9559]

Dude so happy you're into this series. The first book felt like a John Gwynne copy w dragons but in a good way. The second book gets into so.much more and really turns the series into something special. I've not had time to read the 3rd yet but honestly can't wait. Thanks for recommending the Wolf btw.

[@robertkelley-ew8qe]

Of war and ruin is so good. You will love that one. It was the book that really differentiated this series for me. The series started like your typical lord of the rings or small time farm boy who becomes a hero but that quickly changed and this series changes dramatically in of war and ruin. I just finished the new novella as well called the ice. Such a good book. Crazy to see how fast Ryan is developing as an author as this is his first series he’s ever wrote. Love your content, keep crushing it.

[@maxleimann2308]

I can safely say you are going to absolutely love “of War and Ruin”. I couldn’t put it down and it is now hands down my favourite book of all time.

[@Ivy_Robins]

Finishing the Will of the Many this week! Just bought “of Darkness and Light” and will read next ❤

[@fantasyfanatic6038]

I read this a couple weeks back and it was incredible. The revelation at the end is one of the biggest “Wait… WHAT” moments I’ve ever experienced! Don’t forget to read The Exile, it’s also outstanding! Can’t wait to dive into Of War and Ruin in a few weeks!

[@julians7268]

Downloaded Blood and Fire at 0:19 into the video so I can't wait to see how the series is. Probably going to stop the video here and save it until after book 2 and I need more suggestions but just wanted to say THANK YOU for turning me onto something. I've been struggling to find a series I connect with since finishing book 2 of The Bloodsworn Trilogy.

[@tenthlegionstudios1343]

Had a similar reaction to the first book and am partway through the second. But I put it down for sun eater series, which I now just finished book 5. Now I am looking for something to read and will pick up book two again. Glad to hear you had similar thoughts about book one. I thought it was similar to other epic fantasy I had read, but lacked depth. Straightfoward plot, straightforward prose, and kind of straight to the point. Solid, but not great. Only a few moments really pulled into the story and I didnt connect with the characters that much. But you have convinced me to pick up book two again!

[@flemingstephen16]

Finished The Fall last week and six chapters in Of Blood And Fire right now. I’m very excited to see what this series has to offer. I’m excited to see you so excited about Book 2. Love it so far. Reading it on Kindle! I have a strong feeling that I’m going to love this series and will need to buy some hard copies very soon.

[@MichaelRSchultheiss]

Great review! I recently reviewed "Of Blood and Fire" and gave it a 3.5/5: good, but fairly derivative. Glad to hear "Of Darkness and Light" is such an improvement! When I have some more space on my TBR, I'll be sure to pick it up. Cheers!

[@BooksWithBenghisKahn]

Yessss I love the unabashed gushing, and it’s making me very happy I pounced on the Broken Binding special edition without having tried it yet. Can’t wait!

[@MattsFantasyBookReviews]

You won't be disappointed! Enjoy!

[@stephanieneal5942]

I'm so excited for you to read book 3, people aren't lying when they say it far surpasses book 2. I wish I could experience it for the first time again. 😄

[@WildWolfGod]

I'm making ny way through Of Darkness and Light and honestly I'm REALLY enjoying it. I was kind of meh on the first book. The few characters it had as PoVs were a bit eh for me but as I'm going, they're getting more interesting and I like them more and more. With what feels like more PoVs and the world expanding, I'm loving it. I also love that since Calen isn't a Chosen One (by a prophecy at least), most of the PoVs of the other characters really feel important and the parts of the plot they're in actually feel like they're moving the story forward, unless they're intentionally personal story arcs or stuff to flesh out characters. Bottom line, I was kind of unimpressed with the first book but the second is GREAT! Plus, Ryan writes action/fights fantastically!

[@MattsFantasyBookReviews]

Yeah couldn't agree more!

[@pizza6464]

Funny thing it does keep getting better. I have yet to read OW&R but the Exile is 100% my favourite in the series. Follows who I suspect is your favourite character.

[@MattsFantasyBookReviews]

That's so wonderful to hear!

[@Jrdn357]

Just finished ODaL. The thing with Haem (trying not to spoil) blew my fucking mind, and I have no idea how. I feel exactly the same way as you. Looking back, it was so obvious. It was foreshadowed from the PROLOGUE all the way through the first two books. Ryan practically bashed us over the head with it, it was so obvious. And yet I had NO FUCKING CLUE until a few chapters before the end when it randomly clicked for no reason. I have read an unholy amount of fantasy books and I always see this type of thing coming. The only times I don't see twists coming is when there's no foreshadowing at all, at which point it's not a twist anymore and is just bad writing. But this twist had so much foreshadowing, more than twists usually have, and I was still blind to it. I have no idea how Ryan did that. It blew my mind, I'm still reeling from it, wondering how I didn't connect him to the prologue and the Knights so much earlier. I feel like a moron, lmao. Going back and reading all the foreshadowing for this is when I truly realized that Ryan is one of the best authors I've ever read. The fact that he's grown so much in such an absurdly, GROSSLY short span of time is inhuman. I mean, seriously. I genuinely cringed when I read the first chapter or two of OBaF, because I thought the writing was SO BAD and amateur, I had no idea how these books were so popular. I almost gave up at the start because I didn't believe it was possible to go from such bad writing style and sentence structure to THIS, especially within a year. His writing skill increased tenfold within the first half of OBaF, and skyrocketed from there. I'm actually speechless.

[@clarkkentnaruto4322]

Hi there Matt. Thanks for another great video and review. I really enjoy hearing what you have to say about books and series. I have been collecting this series, but right now I am trying to complete a challenge that I accepted on Facebooks where you read 12 books that are recommended by your friends in a year. I ddi want to let you know that last night, I finished listening to the Final Empire Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. It was awesome. Even though I had listened to this book before, I found that I had forgotten a great deal of details in the story, and I wound up seeing other things that I had not seen before when I listened to it for the first time. So, that felt really satisfying. Also, I wanted to let you know, that last Thursday, and then today, I started reading while listening to the book Ruination by Anthony Reynolds. It has been so captivating. The audiobook has a full cast, which is fantastic. It makes the story come alive. Its like I am seeing a movie while I listen to an audiobook, the best of both worlds. I think once I get finished with listening to the Hero Of Ages, I will likely start working on the Ryan Cahill series. See ya.

[@CablesComics]

I just started the first book and I definitely see shades of other incredible fantasy series. Definitely a fun read and your video convinced me to buy the whole series

[@MattsFantasyBookReviews]

Awesome! Book 2 is MILES better than book 1, so strap in!

[@debyik]

Agreed, this is probably my favorite book that I read this year. The Exile is also amazing!

[@AndrewHalliwell]

The parallels I've picked up from book1 so far... Definitely lots of Magician. The flip is which character gets the attention. In Magician,it's the mage, Pug. Tomas becoming a dragon Lord is a side issue. In blood and fire, it's the MC becoming a dragon rider and Rist becoming a mage. (Both Pug and Rist get the majority of their magical training by the enemy, or that's where it appears to be going with Rist)

[@JhonRamez]

Hi, Matt. I just discovered your channel a couple of weeks ago and I honestly would like to say that your book reviews channel is my favorite out there by far. I really mean it. I practice my English listening to your reviews and I think I've watched almost all your videos. I started to read GotM and I know that Malazan is your favorite in the business. But, you know what? I'd like to see you make a individual and extended review video for every book of the saga. Greetings and keep up the excellent work.

[@drspectrum33]

I just finished the first book last night and enjoyed it, but didn’t love it. I don’t think enough happened and the world wasn’t explored as much as I’d like, and I was on the fence about continuing, but your review has convinced me to read book 2.

[@MattsFantasyBookReviews]

Yeah I felt identical to you after reading the first one.

[@samm8190]

Well I think this video increases my odds in the monthly tbr contest.

[@MattsFantasyBookReviews]

Love it!

[@ajpruitt4628]

This series has definitely been on my too-long tbr for awhile, but I think this video might just be the push I needed to bump it up to next.

[@MattsFantasyBookReviews]

That's what I'm talking about!

[@rpreslar8595]

Ive read book 1 as well as the fall, excited to tackle this book now!

[@MattsFantasyBookReviews]

The best has yet to come!

[@moev29]

Have the first one waiting on my kindle but I told myself to finish dandelion dynasty first. You’re making it more difficult to focus lol

[@MattsFantasyBookReviews]

Finish dandelion, that series is crazy good too!

[@adyrandom]

Just finished the exile….what a book!….can’t wait to see your views on it…..you are going to enjoy the hell out of it.

[@MattsFantasyBookReviews]

I cannot wait!

[@SamHarrison2099]

This book rules, I loved The Exile afterwards and I am loving Of War & Ruin. Glad you loved it, and hope videos like yours will encourage more people to pick this series up.

[@zachryder3150]

Not that you asked, but yes, I did look over my left shoulder to see if there was something there that you were pointing out.

[@MattsFantasyBookReviews]

Mission accomplished.

[@DarrenHuckey]

I was impressed with Cahill from book one. No, not the best book you’ll ever read, but totally impressive for an indie first release. And I totally agree with you- book 2 was head & shoulders above the first one. I’ve had book 3 sitting on my shelf for a bit now (with iron reinforcements holding it up😉) and can’t wait to get into it, but I want to go back and reread the others first to remember all that took place. Thanks for the great review!

[@MattsFantasyBookReviews]

The recaps at the start of the books do a wonderful job at refreshing your memory so you don't have to re-read if you don't want to!

[@GenuinelyCurious120]

I'm slightly over halfway through Of Blood and Fire. It definitely feels like an authors maiden voyage. It's kind of clunky, not bad, but i definitely need the next to improve. There are scenes that are completely captivating, the dragon just hatched and i was LOCKED in 😅

[@EC_Vegas]

Bought all the books a week ago. Gonna have to make this my next series!!

[@ericw4377]

I just bought the audio version of book 1 in order to get to book 2 based on your review. :)

[@Talking_Story]

Got the first novel and novella on the stack. I will start this series before years end.!

[@vealgangains6314]

I read the fall and was hooked I loved first book also starting book 2 in 2 days

[@moresoysauce5489]

The comment about the Martell's in ASoIaF made me go into a laughing/coughing fit. I relived my entire experience of reading those characters in just 2 seconds.

[@fishingfitness]

The exile is a must read, and of war and ruin is easily my book of the year

[@laurac56]

I recently finished book 1 and liked it okay. I know people (including you) say it gets better in books two and three and I own them. I just finished the Tawny Man series and I’m putting off the Rainwild books for a bit (I’m scared! 😬). Perhaps I shall start book 2 next.

[@MattsFantasyBookReviews]

Yes....move on to book 2!

[@ryerye3147]

I read book .05, for me being new with this genre, is it weird that I want to read some of the classic series first before getting into it?

[@praetorxyn]

The Wheel of Time comparison did it for me, as that's my favorite series. Whole trilogy is like $13-14, which is a steal. No idea when I'll get to it though.

[@MattsFantasyBookReviews]

If you love wheel of time...bump this series next on your TBR! You can't possibly be disappointed.

[@praetorxyn]

@@MattsFantasyBookReviews Got to read Warhost of Vastmark for the Wars of Shadow read along, then re-read Fool’s Errand (and probably Dragon Keeper so I won’t have to read a ROTE book during October) for a ROTE read along. I’ll be so glad when I’m done with readalongs.

[@TechPrepEd]

You're killing my TBR. Keep up the good work.

[@theangryjeff]

You already made me put this on my wishlist 😂. It might bump it up a bit more now. This has been the year of epic fantasy for me. (ASOIAF, Sanderson and currently on WoT book 4)

[@BradMurphy7]

Wow and they’re all on Kindle Unlimited! Added to my TBR, cheers!

[@damienmortimore6784]

Just ordered the first and novella after watching your reviews so thank you 🙏

[@jayrocs]

Now I feel like I have to give book 1 a second chance. DNFed it pretty early because it felt so samey/tropey and was tired of coming of age/YA POVs when I was reading it.

[@analyzingreaper]

do you have recommendations for standalone fantasy books? i'm not too keen on reading a series.

[@Br1cht]

I was very wary since I thought I saw some PR-firm at work but I trust your opinions so off to the store* *I go to the actual store if so possible, ritual/tradition.

[@MattsFantasyBookReviews]

lol. I never get any compensation for my book reviews. Sometimes I do get the books for free from the author/publisher, but I'm also not hesitant to give them horrible reviews if I don't like the book. In the case of this book, I got it at the library.

[@deselectric]

Hadn't heard of this series but it sounds really exciting! I also like using the Kindle search function like that, but it's also easy to get spoiled by just seeing the total number of hits for a character's name 😂

[@breet79]

I'm waiting for this series to finish....As i'm relativly new to fantasy (reading), i have to luxuary to only read finished series

[@Dwish305]

Hype! I hope one day you’ll giver the manga Berserk a shot! Mike’s review has also been raving about this book, I’m definitely going to read it at some point.

[@sophhnavarro]

It's so nice to see you so excited about something! :)

[@bradys_luck6963]

“Who do I recommend this too… everybody” I dieddd

[@Haney7]

My favorite series. Excited to see your thoughts on the next book!

[@knotslip8862]

Great review. I own the whole series so far and its on my TBR. I have so much to read...So, aren't you going to read The Exile novella next? I believe its between book 2 and 3. Happy reading!

[@MattsFantasyBookReviews]

Yup! Reading that one in October.

[@JLchevz]

sounds excellent

[@a1-x-yt]

The third book is like $30 is the uk, for a paperback! What the deal with that?

[@Kaladin_Stormbringer]

I've seen some of my favorite book tubers (which includes you) have lots of positive feedback for this series. I'll be giving the first book of this series a try some time in winter hopefully. I've been meaning to ask you, have every heard/read The Darkness That Comes Before by R Scott Bakker? I'd like to see your take on it one day as readers do have mixed feelings on the Prince of Nothing series. Btw some of your thumbnails are pretty funny lol

[@arcaneire]

Hey Matt, could you remind me which fantasy series has an unexpected heavily-religious ending? I remember you talked about it in one or more of your longer videos but I can't remember which one!

[@MattsFantasyBookReviews]

Lightbringer by Brent weeks

[@arcaneire]

@@MattsFantasyBookReviews Thanks a lot!

[@mnbgfdsa]

It's not about buying it. It's about my god damn endless TBR

[@royston1928]

Damn it Matt my TBR pls

[@MattsFantasyBookReviews]

People keep doing this to me with books adding to my TBR, I figured I would pay it forward!

[@Elle-fp5uy]

I love the series Matt awesome recommendation. I was wondering if you've read The Children of Gods and Fighting men by Shauna Lawless, I'm doing a reread before the release of the words of kings and prophets releases in September.

[@jaimeortiz7199]

OWAR is going to blow your mind, then. Buckle up!

[@damienmortimore6784]

Can you do a review on the exile 🙏

[@Orbuser]

ΞΦΧ Greek? How come?

[@MattsFantasyBookReviews]

It's my college fraternity.

[@popsipooo.2]

The series is grt but not good for my pocket, regardless I will eat less but read this series as it's too good

[@tylerblack301]

The Exile & Of War and Ruin are even better then this book!

[@ramspencer5492]

I don't really like this series.... More than halfway through book two.... So repetitive to me... Not really character driven or well paced in the main story arc. Feels more like a video game with the amount of gratuitous slaughter and has the same challenges for Kalen over and over again....The characters are just not very interesting. Seemed a little more promising reading The first book and hearing that the writing was going to get a lot better.... There really wasn't anything original in the first book, But the balance of story arc vs Battle was a lot better balanced...Even the magic system is pretty much a direct rip off of wheel of Time.

[@vealgangains6314]

I was hooked with the fall something bout how author writes emotion especially in book one so far but when calen rist and Dann decide to stick together after trouble in town was the start of something epic but how he wrote the emotion was so fucking good