Retribution

Hythrun Chronicles: War of the Gods #2

by Jennifer Fallon

The thrilling sequel to THE LYRE THIEF
Since fleeing Winternest to avoid King Hablet's wrath when he discovers the truth about her parentage, leaving her slave, Charisee, to take her place, Rakaia has been on quite an adventure. She has met the demon child, traveled the continent with the charming minstrel, Mica the Magnificent, enjoying more freedom then she ever imagined trapped in the harem in Talabar.

But her freedom has come at a cost. Mica has committed an unthinkable crime, worse even, than stealing the golden lyre, and she is now his unwilling accomplice, sailing the high seas on a Tri-lander pirate ship, doing everything she can to avoid upsetting the man she once thought she loved, but has now realized is quite insane.

Meanwhile, Charisee, still pretending to be Rakaia, is trying to make the best of her new life as the Lady of Highcastle. But Rakaia's past will catch up with her, even as her own lies are in danger of being exposed.

As Adrina struggles to hold Hythria together, and Marla tries to deal with the fallout from the shocking events that take place in the Citadel during the treaty negotiations, Wrayan Lightfinger and the apprentice sorcerer, Julika Hawksword, must travel to Sanctuary to find out why the fortress is back. What they will discover is shocking and will affect the entire world, even though they don't realize it.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, High Fantasy

ebook

First published March 1, 2017

About the author

Fallon is the author of 17 full-length bestselling novels and a number of published short stories in genres ranging from horror to science fiction.

In addition to 4 complete fantasy series - The Demon Child trilogy, The Hythrun Chronicles, the Second Sons Trilogy,The Tide Lords Quadrilogy and the Rift Runners series - Fallon has written both a tie-novel and short fiction for the TV series, Stargate SG1, an official Zorro story, a novella for the Legends of Australian Fantasy Anthology and has a superhero - The Violet Valet (CHICKS IN CAPES).

Fallon has a Masters Degree from the Creative Arts faculty of QUT. A computer trainer and application specialist, Fallon currently works in the IT industry and spends at least a month each year working at Scott Base in Antarctica.

Reviews

[✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you finish the second installment in one of Jennifer Fallon's Slightly Scrumptious Trilogies (SST™) and suddenly realize the final book in the series was never released and MAY NEVER BE PUBLISHED.





P.S. This one was somewhat amazing, in case you were wondering.

📚 The Hythrun Chronicles reading order:
(Each series can be read independently.)
· Demon Child Trilogy, Book 1: Medalon ★★★★
· Demon Child Trilogy, Book 2: Treason Keep ★★★★
· Demon Child Trilogy, Book 3: Harshini ★★★★
· Wolfblade Trilogy, Book 1: Wolfblade ★★★★★
· Wolfblade Trilogy, Book 2: Warrior ★★★★★
· Wolfblade Trilogy, Book 3: Warlord ★★★★★
· Standalone novella: First Kill ★★★
· War of the Gods, Book 1: The Lyre Thief ★★★★★
· War of the Gods, Book 2: Retribution ★★★★★
· War of the Gods, Book 3: Covenant · to be published. Maybe.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I enjoyed the first book, but overall thought it was going a bit too fast. I expected the same from the second one, but oh boy, did Fallon get back to her usual awesome writing. We have about a dozen storylines who all happen at the same time, are all connected and work really well together. Half the time I couldn't decide if I was happy that a chapter was over and I could move on to another character or if I wanted to stay with the previous one.

Fallon managed to write compelling characters that you root for, even though most of them were pitted against each other in some way and still surprise me with some of the decisions she made. I was surprised at Hablet’s death. I expected Marla to die at some point in this trilogy tbh. I enjoyed that most of the things I expected to last through book two and three got resolved in book two Mica (in general), Charisee and Rakaia, Damin being on the brink of death, because I wasn’t ready to handle any of that for much longer. Not that I didn’t like it, but especially the Mica thing was so stressful to me. But let’s be real, most of the important things got resolved at the end of Retribution, so you just know that shit is gonna hit the fan in Covenant.

And while we’re at it, let’s get into some things I enjoyed a lot:

- Mica getting hit with a shovel
- Mica losing his powers
- Adrina being the queen of my heart and arriving on a fucking dragon
- Adrina taking steps towards equality and changing one law at a time
- Kiam and Charisee being adorable and in love
- Charisee being kind towards people with a lower status than her and taking no shit from her new family
- Rakaia getting herself some nice pirate dick (in the future) after having Mica happen to her
- Damin remembering that scene in the stables and showing that even then he was already completely gone for Adrina
- Damin and Adrina being relationship goals, even when apart
- Brak being back without anyone else dying
- Literally everything?

All in all, this book reminded me why Fallon is and will always be my favourite author.

[Daniela (danis_bookpourri) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, um an dieses Buch überhaupt ranzukommen ist schon fast ein Wunder nötig gewesen.
Nach langem Suchen, hab ich es auf Amazon DE gefunden und auch über einen Händler der von Australien bzw. Neuseeland nach Deutschland schickt.

Mittlerweile hat das Buch ca. 1 Jahr im Schrank gestanden, aber auch nur aus dem Grund, weil es noch eine ungewisse Zeit dauert, wann überhaupt Band 3 erscheint.

Das Ende von Band 1 war ja schon der Schocker und in Band 2 geht es nun nahtlos weiter mit den Verwicklungen von Rakaia, Charisee, Kiam aber auch den "Altbekannten" Marla, Adriana, Damin und R'Shiel.
Wiedereinmal wird die Geschichte schnell vorangetrieben, aber ohne gehetzt zu wirken und mit neuen Entdeckungen die wieder neue Fragen aufwerfen, als sie zu beantworten.
Es ist irgendwie schwer einen Lieblingshandlungsstrang festzulegen, weil alle interessant waren, obwohl die Stellen mit Damin und R'Shiel etwas mehr hätten sein können.
Zum Ende hin, haben sich viele Pfade wieder getroffen, aber dennoch ist noch alles offen, wie es mit den Figuren weiter geht.

Ich freu mich jedenfalls auf den 3. Band, wann auch immer der erscheint.

[Monalisa Sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

My hopes were high after reading The Lyre Thief, and the sequel completely stood up to my expectations. Every character's life and story is well depicted.
Rakaia and Charisee are both facing their share of struggles. Although Rakaia seemed to be selfish in the beginning of the first book, but eventually we can understand why she made those decisions. And after finishing the second book, I admire her even more.
Charisee's story too takes an interesting turn.
My favourite is Adrina-strong, determined, smart and ready to lead.
Infact all the female characters have been depicted to be strong and acting as the situation demands.

The plot with Gods, humans, harshinis, pirates, assasins, thieves, demons, dragons etc is interesting to read and keeps you hooked to the book. The story ends at an interesting point and now I am eagerly waiting for the next book.

[Rhydian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuing to be totally consumed by this series. Although I think the writing is technically weaker than the previous two trilogies, the characters are still fascinating and the plot is an emotional rollercoaster that has me eagerly anticipating the next book.

I did feel there was some repetitive exposition. Not just of things that had happened in prior books, but it felt like some things within this book were being repeated over and over just to fill up space... but I moved on from that quickly enough, it was just something I found myself noticing more, even past the opening chapters.

This trilogy does still feel like it's trying to be 'edgier' than the others... Rape has been used rather flippantly in a way that has disappointed me, considering the ways it was respectfully tackled in Fallon's earlier works, and the murder rate feels... odd. I find, as a result, that my level of immersion in the story rises and falls rather erratically. Sometimes the events of everything unfold in a spectacularly frustrating way that is the effect I'm sure Fallon is aiming for, coming painfully close to a resolution of conflict and then tearing away into new and terrifying dangers; at other times, deaths and lives felt cheapened and rendered more 1-dimensional, and I felt more inclined to put the book down and walk away, evaluating how much I cared about the characters versus how much I don't care for the ways some parts were handled. That's not to say that this series has ever been especially light-hearted or free of pain and death or that all of it is unwelcome, just that the execution of some parts felt less narratively engaging and meaningful at times, less like a grand epic and more like a TV show trying vainly to shock me when it really didn't need to do that. Perhaps the presence of far more pressing issues and conflicts at their boiling point is the reason why certain scenes felt cheap? If there are things that matter more, there seems little point on focussing on micro-issues and trying to blow them out of proportion. It just has this feeling of impatience, like, "get back to the rest!"

Speaking of which; Charisee's deliciously hot mess of a plotline is a big saving grace of the book though. She makes me laugh and smile, and the ways in which she continues to survive despite the odds - and uphold the strangely endearing code of values she has set for herself - had me catching my breath frequently. Kiam is also a delightful departure from the potential broody archetypes he could have fallen into, and I appreciate all of his chapters, along with the check-ins with other major players. Rakaia as a character is also super engaging. I like her less as a person than Charisee, but I find myself painfully entranced by her struggles and the ways in which they personally resonated with me. The villain's tools of emotional manipulation are terrifying in how real and damaging they are, in the situations they create of domestic abuse and the perpetuation of violent misogyny on a myriad of levels. I hated him, I could believe him as a person fully, and found it all too awful to look away from. It was agony, but in a way that really spoke to Jennifer Fallon's strengths as a writer.

It's really refreshing to read high fantasy that doesn't flinch away from depicting an ongoing emotionally abusive relationship from the survivor's viewpoint. I honestly don't actually know if I've read that in any book, ever. It's a hard topic to pull off meaningfully, and I think Fallon has done so well, in a way that both does justice to the survivor's fears and struggles and doesn't undermine the difficulty of it or blame the victims, while also pragmatically and honestly pointing out how certain weaknesses played into the situation.

Overall I think this book is a hit. Hopefully the misses are just kinks that will be smoothed out over the next two books. I'm going to read them even if they don't, though. I'm only as critical as I am because this is still one of my favourite ongoing fantasy series of all time, and I have come to expect exceptionally high quality writing here, and know I can count on more to come.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Jennifer Fallon's books and I realy wanted to know how the story of the Lyre-Thief continues. I
orderd the book in the internet and they shipped it to Europe for me. The two month waiting were totally worth it.
I couldn't stop reading und it was over all too soon. That is the only pity. I easily could have read a book with trice its lenght. Fallon's way too write never gets boring. ;)
There was a chliffhanger in the end, but in my opinion it was not es bad as the last time. It felt more like an ending. But there are still enough problems unsolved, to wish for the next book.

The Book:
One or more Primals Gods plan to unrave the Covenant, which would end Harshini and Demons alike and bring chaos to the world. Too archive that goal, they stole the Lyre and gave it to Mika, who used it to kidnap the Jaz, the son of Ariana and Damin. With him is Rikaia, who is not the least bit happy about beeing made his partner of crime. But there is little she can do, if she doesn't want to be robbed of her free will as well.
Charisse tries to make the best of beeing Rikaia, even if her husbands family turnes out to be awful.
Meanwhile there is chaos in Hythria and Ariana has to deal one crises after an other. In Fardohyna things happen which won't make anything better.

The book was complex, unpredictable and had much action and exiting (mostly female) main characters. Fallon tells a sound story and doesn't loose herself in ditails. I wish, that everyone that they can soon get it in their homecountry, be it America, Europe, Asia or Africa.

Ich liebe Jennifer Fallons Bücher und wollte nach dem Lyre-Thief unbedingt die Fortsetzung lesen. Ich habe das Buch im Internet bestellt und ließ es mir nach Deutschland verschiffen. Zwei Monate später hielt ich es endlich in Händen. Und es hat sich gelohnt!!!
Ich nicht mehr aufhören konnte zu lesen und jetzt bin ich durch. Schade. Es ging viel zu schnell vorbei. T_T Ich hätte ohne weiteres auch ein Buch der dreifachen Länge lesen können. Fallons Schreibstil lässt keine Langeweile aufkommen. ;)

Im Gegensatz zum letzten Buch habe ich den Cliffhanger dieses Mal als nicht ganz so schlimm empfunden. Das Buch endet für mich runder. Aber es bleiben genug Probleme ungelöst um sich auf die Fortsetzung zu freuen.

Zur Handlung:
Einer oder mehrere der Hauptgötter wollen offensichtlich den Pakt aufkündigen der zur Erschaffung der Harshini und Dämonen führte, was die Welt ins Chaos stürzen würde. Deswegen hat er/haben sie die Lyra des Gottes der Musik entwendet und dem Pakt so Kraft geraubt.
Mikel hat diese Lyra auf mysteriösem Weg erhalten und hat sie genutzt um den Kronprinzen von Hythria Jaz, Arianas und Damins Sohn zu entführen. Rikaia verliert entgültig ihre Illusionen gegenüber, als sie merkt wie wahnsinnig und skrupellos er ist.
Charisee hält ihre Scharade weiter Aufrecht und muss feststellen, dass die Familie ihres Mannes weitgehend ungenießbar ist.
Damin schwebt zwischen Leben und Tod und R'shiel befindet sich mit seinem Geist in der Unterwelt um ihre Schuld gegenüber Bran zu bezahlen. Auch in Habets Köngreich zeichen sich immer mehr Katastrophen ab, von denen Mikas Beeinflussung des Kronprinzen noch die positiveste war. Leider machen diese die Harshini wieder zunichte.

Das Buch ist wieder sehr komplex, wenig vorhersehbar, action-geladen und enthält viele interessante (überwiegend weibliche) Hauptcharaktere. Fallon konzentiert sich bei ihrer Erzählung auf das wesentliche und verliert sich nicht in Details. Ich wünsche allen, dass das Buch auch bald auf dem deutschen oder wenigstens europäischen Markt erscheint.

[Tsana Dolichva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Retribution by Jennifer Fallon is the second book in the War of the Gods trilogy, preceded by The Lyre Thief which I have also read and reviewed. As you might guess from the series title, this is a big fat fantasy book. And, being the second in the series, is not a good place to start reading. I definitely recommend starting with The Lyre Thief, or even the earlier two series: The Hythrun Chronicles and the Demon Child Trilogy.

I have been a fan of Fallon's writing for many years now (much longer than this blog has been in existence) and this latest instalment set in her longest-running universe does not disappoint. Fallon continues to masterfully connect the plot threads of many characters in ways that feel organic rather than contrived. There's a lot going on in this book and each set of characters have their own motivations for following their own paths. To the point where events that are genuinely coincidental (from the reader's relatively omniscient perspective) seems suspicious to characters inside the story.

The complexity of the intertwining storylines is something I have always enjoyed in Fallon's writing. Retribution picks up the same groups of characters that we came to know in The Lyre Thief and continues their stories. I would not expect this book to make sense without having read the previous volume. I imagine that having read the earlier series is also helpful since there are some references to earlier events and some minor characters in Retribution who were central to the stories in the Demon Child Trilogy and/or the Hythrun Chronicles. Although The War of the Gods is a separate series it is also a continuation of ideas and characters introduced earlier.

I really enjoyed Retribution and am looking forward to the next book in the series (although I fear it will be a longer wait than I would like). I recommend this series to fans of intrigue and fantasy books with large casts of characters. And especially to fans of Fallon's earlier works, especially the two series set in the same universe.

4.5 / 5 stars

You can read more of my reviews on

[Jennifer Gottschalk · Rating 4 out of 5]

All to often the second book in a trilogy is the one in which not much happens and one basically fills in time waiting for the final installment. Happily, this was not the case with 'Retribution'.

I thoroughly enjoyed this installment and it has the added benefit of working quite well as a 'stand alone' novel. The characters were beautifully detailed and are of the kind that you either love them, or love to hate them.

The story moved at a solid pace (not too fast and not too slow) and quite a few story lines were satisfactorily resolved. At the end of the book, I was left eagerly anticipating the final book in this trilogy.

[Connie53 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ik blijf Jennifer Fallon een geweldige schrijfster vinden. Ook dit deel zat weer vol met plotwendingen en humor. En nu is het wachten tot het derde deel in deze sub-trilogie binnen de Hythrun Chronicles verschijnt. Dat zal nog wel even duren maar ik hoop dat ze hard aan het schrijven is aan dat deel.

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was good. I really like her writing and the characters interacting in the world she has built. I love the reveal at the end. I cannot wait to see how this story gets wrapped up, and am very excited to get R'shiel back.

Spoilers below:

I am very very excited to see more interactions with the gods that I'm assuming is happening in the next book.

Really liked Rakaia's and Charisee's stories (up until the end when they are all brought together.) Thought the chapters involving the king's death and immediate aftermath were really thrilling. I thought Mica was terrifying. And the last three chapters I found very compelling.

The only part of the book I did not like was how neatly everything was tied up right before the final three chapters. I thought someone should have died. And always could have used more Marla (but I know I'm being selfish since we got three books of her!) Otherwise great book. Excited to see what happens to the golden lyre, where the other covenants are, which god started this war, and mostly to see R'shiel kick some ass!

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow there's a lot going on with this book. Its been years since I read the last book and I was sure that by now the third book would have been released but that doesn't seem to be the case, or at least that's how I understand things are. As things stand however I'm glad there wasn't a cliffhanger ending as I hate those, if the next book is releasing a few months away that's fine I hate having to hold on to the anticipation for years on end, its exhausting. Plots are put in motion, family members are at odds with others, murders, and gross things happen, its mind boggling to think about everything that's going on. I'm definitely going to see what happens next whenever the next book gets released I need to know how things are going to end for everyone and some characters just need to die really horrible deaths for payback.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I struggled to put this down. It took me a little while to recall the overarching story of the trilogy as well as what the main characters did in the first book. Once I recalled that, I was extremely worried whose retribution the title referred to. The action picked up incredibly quickly, building to an incredible climax that left me unable to stop reading. There was enough of a resolution to make me happy, but as it is, I can't wait to read the next in the series.

[Lark · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good continuation of the story. The Lyre Thief left us with a little bit of a cliffhanger, so I'm glad Retribution quickly brought us back into the story without much gap.

The ending was wrapped up a little too cleanly while also setting the stage for the book 3's villains.

A solid book 2 in this series.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jennifer Fallon is one of my favorite authors, and once again she has outdone herself. I love these characters both old & new. The depth & details in this world are both engrossing and relatable despite the fantasy background of the series. I just wish I could find a copy of the 3rd Book The Covenant.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I enjoyed reading the first book, I was just completely bored through book 2.
It also annoys me when characters bring problems on themselves, which could have been prevented through common sense.

[SiMa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I need the next book!

[Mandy Vik]

I would love to read this book, but I can find it any where to buy it, even used copys, non out there. And I wonder if there is a book coming after this one.

[Elizabeth Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Lyre Thief was one of my favourite books of 2016, so I was delighted to get the opportunity to review the sequel. It didn't disappoint.

Being an epic fantasy, the book has a large cast of characters. I didn't stop to reread the first book, instead choosing to dive in. It was a bit of an effort to remember who everyone was, but I soon got my feet under me. The book also has a cast of characters in the back to help, should you need it.

One thing I loved most about this series is that there are women everywhere. Most of the POV characters are female and they drive the action forward at every turn. Although the setting is a generically medieval-influenced fantasy comprised largely of patriarchal societies, the author uses her female characters to examine this set-up and to undermine it to some extent. Sophany and Rakaia are caught in relationships with dangerous and abusive men. Both try to protect people they care about and influence the situation by playing to very traditionally feminine roles. This provides an interesting contrast to Charisee and Adrina, both of whom are more secure in their power, even if it is borrowed from their husbands. These two women use this power to defy the patriarchy more directly, to varying degrees of success.

These women are without their flaws. Some of the minor female characters are downright horrible. And, as with the first book, the POV characters often act selfishly--but this is often a short step from survival and it's never the sum of who they are. There's always someone they care about and this helps them to remain likable.

There are a few places where the book wears its influences plainly. This was most notable when a childish king declared it was his mission to drive out the elves and make his nation great again. The story is dark at times, so this may not be the best choice for readers looking for a light escape.
However, if you're looking for a more hopeful, more feminist alternative to A Song of Ice and Fire, Retribution may be the book for you.

Disclaimer: I was provided with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This review contains spoilers for previous book.


This review first appeared on Earl Grey Editing.