Gods of the Wyrdwood: The Forsaken Trilogy, Book 1: 'Avatar meets Dune - on shrooms. Five stars.' -SFX

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While this is a fantasy story of truly epic proportions, the tale feels grounded by its intimate focus on our main protagonist, Cahan du Nahere. He is a Chosen One whose destiny was stolen from him, leaving him utterly purposeless and living as a lone wolf. However, his mysterious past is catching up to him and it turns out he can’t keep running forever, especially not from himself.

But in a land where land is won and lost for uncaring gods, where the forest is full of monsters, Cahan will need to choose between his past life and the one leads now—and his choice will have consequences for his entire world. My first novel by Barker didn't let me down. I liked his intuitive writing that was just set right in prose for this kind of story. There weren't extremely loud moments or rage of a kind, but he kept it intricate, highly readable, and beautifully imagined. As said previously, Barker doesn't handhold the reader, and while that can result confusing at the start, once we form our own image, the result is quite satisfactory. The plot is definitely dark, but I would say it is quite justified, as a result of a brutal and complicated world, that gives no opportunities to the weak. In the realm filled with Gods, old, new and forgotten, where enchanted and perilous forests abound, Cahan knows that to survive is often to walk away from cruelty. But is that to live? He is running but not fast enough, maybe it's time to stop running.Gods of the Wyrdwood is an interesting and rather dark fantasy novel. I was immediately intrigued by the concept of the novel, which involved competing gods and a malevolent forest, and I was not disappointed. The novel has solid world-building, complex characters, and an amazing twist ending. However, though I initially found it a bit off-putting, I really came to appreciate the writing style, especially during Gods of the Wyrdwood ’s many fight scenes. I do not generally enjoy reading fight scenes or depictions of battles—it’s a personal flaw of mine. Oftentimes, I find the scenes tedious and hard to follow, and even harder to picture, but Barker’s short and simple descriptions of these action scenes kept me focused, invested, and aware of what was going on in the novel.

It might be a bit challenging for me to tell how the paths of these three crossed each other. There is a need to slowly start reading to fully understand the tale and the rules in R.J. Barker's fictional world.Cahan du Nahare is known as the forester - a humble man who can nonetheless navigate the dangerous Deepforest like no-one else. But once he was more. Once he was a warrior. Describing Gods of the Wyrdwood is tough because, to be honest, it’s plot is not its strongest element. I thought I should state this upfront because Barker’s plot here does meander quite a bit; sometimes the pacing is a bit slow, there are parts in the middle where it drags a bit, and things don’t accelerate until the last little chunk of the book. The book almost feels episodic at times, like an epic and dark slice of life book. Things definitely happen in this book, but they don’t build on top of each other as you would expect from a traditionally plotted story. If you mostly read for plot, you might walk away disappointed.