The Iron Hound

The Hallowed War #2

by Tim Akers

Ruling with an iron hand, the Church has eliminated the ancient pagan ways. Yet demonic gheists terrorize the land, hunted by the Inquisition, while age-old hatreds rage between the north and the south. Three heroes, Malcolm and Ian Blakeley and Gwendolyn Adair must end the bloodshed before chaos is unleashed.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Epic Fantasy

600 pages, Paperback

First published August 22, 2017

About the author

Tim Akers was born in deeply rural North Carolina, the only son of a theologian. He moved to Chicago for college, where he lives with his wife of thirteen years and their German shepherd. He splits his time between databases and fountain pens.
- PyrSF

Reviews

[Luke Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story continues, blending the political scheming and skulduggery of A Song of Ice and Fire with the darkness and danger of Diablo II as war looms, feral gods are turned loose upon the world and all manner of faiths are tested...

A strong second book with numerous twists I didn't see coming... Looking forward to seeing how it ends in Book 3...

[Dale Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

No Sophomore jinx here. Tim Akers delivers on the promise of THE PAGAN NIGHT with the 2nd volume in the Hallowed War. The Celestial Church continues its pogrom against the peoples and the GODS of all pagan religions with no care or worries about the devastation to the world that they will leave in their wake. Malcolm Blakley and son Ian are determined to prevent the war before the whole of Tenumbra is engulf in the flames of the Churches jihad. But, a man - or woman - can do only so much. That is unless they are touched by the gods themselves and become their avatars.

If you haven't read any of Tim's work you need to go immediately to your local bookstore or online book seller and grab anything you can. Akers is a great worldbuilder and storyteller and his tales will draw you in and take you to amazing places. This series is another great example of his ability to entertain the reader.

[Sean Goh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent follow up effort to the first book, the younger characters get more page space as they go on their respective quests. One annoying thing is that the Gods and the Gheists are never really properly explained, so the cosmology of Akers' universe is fuzzy, to say the least. Elsa and Lucas still have the stand out plotlines, even if they are on their separate paths.
I lost track of all the pagan elders.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

With gods like these, who in their right mind would ever desire a place in heaven? Not sure if the author understands what the definition of God or Gods is. Although to be fair many gods throughout history, such as Roman, Greek and Norse, appear to be more vested in their own self aggrandizement then anything else. The first dozen or so gods introduced in the the first 3/4ths of the book appear to be mostly bent on destruction, simply for the sake of ... well destruction. The question I kept coming back to is why do humans worship such demonic gods in the first place? Makes little sense. And the inquisition? Ever hear of the Spanish Inquisition? Probably enough said on that score. Its amazing there are any ordinary human beings left alive in this fragile world. But the Gods are seemingly not really organized in their efforts and they appear rather easy to kill or otherwise drive off. Repetitious and boring.

Book is exceptionally fragmented unto near incomprehension. New characters are introduced constantly. The jumping around between POV's is very annoying. This is particularly true when entire chapters are wasted on inanity. Probably would have made more sense, I presume, had I read the first book in the series. However, I have little truck with authors who are incapable of writing books that cannot stand on their own. Oddly enough I do like the author's command of syntax. Nonetheless, this staggeringly over-long tome may be the very definition of rectofossal ambiguity.

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published 2017. Upfront I'll tell you I'm an Akers fan. A good continuation to the Hallowed War series. Some drawbacks - all the heresy across the board with the contesting (and sometimes confusing) different beliefs plus the descriptive of the word "snort" for dialogue of many characters. Probably being too picky I suppose.

[J.P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

An aging man’s memory ...

No spoilers ... hard to remember characters having taken only a month between book one and this. Nowhere near the agony of a billion characters from George Martin, but there seem to be an annoying abundance of sub characters to recall as we move on.

[Kevin Neff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good!

[Luke J. Cannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed slightly more than the Pagan Night that was enjoyable as well.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite the cast of characters, but I am looking forward to see how the story ends.

[R.K. Cowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 3/4 stars

[Johnny Le Bon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got tired of Elsa, Gwen, Ian & Malcom.

[Sylvia Pedley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the action of this series...the beautiful imagery...