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The Five Warrior Angels #3
The Lonesome Crown
A sweeping epic fantasy weaving both destiny and ancient magic in this masterful final novel in the beloved Five Warrior Angels trilogy from Brian Lee Durfee.
In the age of belief, magic is a myth. But when an apocalyptic crusade comes to the remote border of Gul Kana, that belief is shattered as is the tenuous peace that held the Five Isles together. Now, the prophecies that were used to justify this war are unravelling revealing a hidden agenda while the world lies in the wake of the degradations of this war.
But a slim skein of hope resides within the hidden truths, long kept secret, and scattered throughout the isles—truths less reliant upon prophecy than heroism, and great sacrifice.
Not everything is as it seems in this epic, long-awaited conclusion to trilogy which Booklist raved as “high fantasy in the vein of Stephen R. Donaldson or David Eddings, with generous helpings from George R. R. Martin.”
In the age of belief, magic is a myth. But when an apocalyptic crusade comes to the remote border of Gul Kana, that belief is shattered as is the tenuous peace that held the Five Isles together. Now, the prophecies that were used to justify this war are unravelling revealing a hidden agenda while the world lies in the wake of the degradations of this war.
But a slim skein of hope resides within the hidden truths, long kept secret, and scattered throughout the isles—truths less reliant upon prophecy than heroism, and great sacrifice.
Not everything is as it seems in this epic, long-awaited conclusion to trilogy which Booklist raved as “high fantasy in the vein of Stephen R. Donaldson or David Eddings, with generous helpings from George R. R. Martin.”
1052 pages, Paperback
First published November 29, 2022
95 people are currently reading
4373 people want to read
About the author
Brian Lee Durfee
3 books2,336 followersBrian Lee Durfee is an artist and writer raised in Fairbanks, Alaska, and Monroe, Utah. He has done illustrations for Wizards of the Coast, Tolkien Enterprises, Dungeons & Dragons, Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust (Denali National Park), and many more. His art has been featured in SPECTRUM: Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art #3 and Writers of the Future Vol 9. He won the Arts for the Parks Grand Canyon Award and has a painting in the permanent collection of the Grand Canyon Visitors Center-Kolb Gallery. Brian is the author of the fantasy series, Five Warrior Angels, published by Simon & Schuster's SAGA Press. He lives in Salt Lake City. - See more at: http://brianleedurfee.weebly.com/inde... and/or http://authors.simonandschuster.com/B...
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April 27, 2023
The Lonesome Crown is a massive fiery, brutal, and unpredictable concluding volume to The Five Warrior Angels trilogy.
This is the end of The Five Warrior Angels trilogy, one of the most underrated trilogy I've read. I started and finished both The Forgetting Moon and its sequel, The Blackest Heart, in the year 2019. Back then, when I first read it, I still thought this series would become a five books series. And it would’ve been so cool. The number five is crucial in the world-building and lore of The Five Warrior Angels. And then I heard it would become a four books series instead of five. And then, not long after that, I heard AGAIN that it would be crammed into a trilogy instead. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about this. A series designed to be five books long suddenly lost two proposed installments; how many contents will be cut out? However, as Durfee said at the end of The Lonesome Crown, this was done in order to make sure he could tell the entire story he wanted without waiting for contract renewals for future books/series, which in the publishing business is always up in the air. And most importantly, now that I’ve read The Lonesome Crown, this move felt like the right decision. A blessing in disguise. I never felt like anything was missing from the text. This novel is almost 1,100 pages long and close to 400,000 words. It is the biggest in the trilogy, and as Durfee said himself, none of his vision was sacrificed in the making of this novel or trilogy. Everything he wanted to write was successfully written and crammed into this huge trilogy. And I am inclined to say I loved this explosive conclusion The Five Warrior Angels trilogy.
The story in The Lonesome Crown continues a few days from where The Blackest Heart ended. And I personally think Durfee has realized many incredible feats with this novel. Without going into spoilers, The Lonesome Crown is a book about preparation, setup, and finally, the long-awaited Fiery Absolution. Fiery Absolution has been teased and prophesized since The Forgetting Moon. The twists and turns, the perilous quest, the epic war, the sacred weapons hunt, the deaths, the betrayals, and more. Everything that transpired in the previous two books and the first half of The Lonesome Crown was all a compelling preparation for the devastating time of Fiery Absolution portrayed in the last 35% of the book. I will talk more about the insane Fiery Absolution later. But first, unpredictability from using familiar tropes has always been one of my favorite aspects of The Five Warrior Angels, and Durfee did not dismiss this notion here. Right from the first chapter of this book, I was taken aback by finding out the identity behind the character in the gorgeous cover art (illustrated by Richard Anderson) of The Lonesome Crown. This kind of twist persisted throughout the entire novel. And even though familiar tropes were utilized constantly throughout the trilogy, it never felt like the story was predictable or less engaging.
I did a reread of The Forgetting Moon and The Blackest Heart in preparation for this book, and I'm glad I did. The ordeals and developments the varying characters went through in shockingly only one year of the timeline were just crazy. I don't think I would be able to enjoy this installment as much if I didn't reread the previous two books first. Durfee keeps the story fresh and exciting by including not one book of prophecy but multiple scriptures. This created contradictions and obsessive clashes of faith with heavy consequences while at the same time keeping readers glued to the page, thinking about which one of these scriptures is the right one. War being waged in the name of religion and faith is not a rare plot device in epic fantasy. And I am sad to say it is also a common conflict and occurrence in our world. This shattering war brought forth by people acting as if they were the avenging words and swords of their gods resulted in the inevitable conflagration, The Fiery Absolution. It was all handled deftly. The ending was satisfying enough and fitting to the trilogy, and Durfee, at the same time, left room for a sequel series should he ever choose to do it in the future. It's not truly necessary because I am satisfied with what I've read here. However, if it happens, I will be intrigued to find out how the events in this trilogy shaped the future of The Five Isles.
Before I discuss The Fiery Absolution and the action sequences, it is mandatory to talk about the characters and their development. It is worth writing a bunch of unlikable characters. I think one of the reasons why The Five Warrior Angels remains an underrated and underhyped trilogy is because The Forgetting Moon did not click with readers. It is understandable. Despite some loud opinions and demand for more morally grey characters, it is still, at its core, essential for many readers that the characters are still likable. The characters in this trilogy did not start off that way. Stefan and Beer Mug was the only truly kind-hearted and morally good characters throughout the trilogy. The rest, from the first book to the end, are doing their best to survive at every expense. There are no heroes here, except for Beer Mug, just survival. However, this is not to say the characters stayed unlikeable constantly. Starting your series with unlikable characters left room for rich character development and growth. That is what has been achieved here.
In The Lonesome Crown, the number of characters in the series with their respective arc has increased further. We have main or supporting characters like Nail, Tala, Jondralyn, Jenko, Ava, Liz Hen, Dokie, Hawkwood, Krista, Val-Draekin, Gault, Enna Spades, Stefan, Lindholf, Lawri, and more. It will require another separate review if I pursue explaining EACH character's arc in detail. It would be a very spoiler discussion, and plus, I don't have the time to do that right now. Let's say this instead, the character's arc of these morally grey characters is incredibly rewarding. I think, sometimes, it is more paramount for readers to feel invested in the character's journey rather than being fixated on whether they are lovable characters doing good or not. Plenty of characters I despised in the past two books became characters I am so invested in here. For example, I talked about the shift in my investment in Liz Hen in my review of The Blackest Heart. I mentioned how Liz Hen was a character I thought I would thoroughly hate until the end, and The Blackest Heart proved me wrong. Well, The Lonesome Crown proved me wrong further. Liz Hen became one of my favorite characters in the trilogy. And then, characters I thought I was going to until the end of the trilogy betrayed me. It is all so good and unpredictable. Redemption, renewed purpose, or an attempt at one, is there for the characters. And there is Beer Mug, one of the best animal companions in the entire fantasy genre.
Due to my growing investment in the characters, Durfee managed to make the blistering final 35% of the novel more gruesome and immersive to me. Time to talk about The Fiery Absolution. I've read more than 600 fantasy novels now. The Fiery Absolution has to be one of the craziest and most massive war scenes I've ever read. It is more or less 350 pages long of relentless carnage and savagery. And I am not exaggerating when I say the imagery Durfee portrayed in The Fiery Absolution made The Lonesome Crown one of the darkest and most violent books I've read. Honestly, some noticeable plot armor was involved, but I think they were balanced out but ultimate deaths for plenty of key characters. The explosive bloodbath instantaneously increased the death toll to exceed tens of thousands. Exactly. Tens of thousands of dead and burnt bodies twisted and smolders under the prophesized Atonement Tree. And then, there is also the crimson horrors of Tin Man Square. It is amazing. Nobodies, assassins, Valle, oghul, dragons, and the beasts of the underworld transformed The Five Isles into literal hell. It was, all in all, easily one of the finest war sequences I've read.
I am amazed at Durfee’s talent to weave such a sweeping epic fantasy revolving around plenty of familiar tropes and twist them until unpredictability became a part of the series' main charm. This is an epic-scope trilogy about characters doing their best to survive against all odds in every circumstance. It is a story about blind belief and its irreversible consequence. However, though not touched upon as much as the other, I strongly believe The Five Warrior Angels is a series about finding the possibility of forgiveness and redemption after executing awful decisions and actions, whether forced or not. The Lonesome Crown is a climactic concluding volume to The Five Warrior Angels trilogy. I am grateful I took a chance on this series. It is a criminally underrated trilogy. And I look forward to reading whatever Durfee decides to write next.
Series Review:
The Forgetting Moon: 4.5/5 stars
The Blackest Heart: 5/5 stars
The Lonesome Crown: 5/5 stars
The Five Warrior Angels: 14.5/15 stars
You can order this book from: Blackwells (Free International shipping)
You can find this and the rest of my reviews at Novel Notions | I also have a Booktube channel
Special thanks to my Patrons on Patreon for giving me extra support towards my passion for reading and reviewing!
My Patrons: Alfred, Andrew, Andrew W, Annabeth, Barbara, Brad, Casey, Diana, Dylan, Edward, Elias, Ellen, Ellis, Gary, Hamad, Helen, Jesse, Jimmy Nutts, Joie, Kristina, Lana, Luis, Lufi, Melinda, Meryl, Michael, Miracle, Nanette, Neeraja, Nicholas, Radiah, Reno, Romeo, Samuel, Sarah, Sarah, Scott, Shawn, Wendy, Wick, Xero, Yuri, Zoe.
“One must cease trying to control every little thing. Let the rivers of time flow, let the waters run where they may, for what destiny is yours shall remain the same and polished from the journey.—THE WAY AND TRUTH OF LAIJON”
This is the end of The Five Warrior Angels trilogy, one of the most underrated trilogy I've read. I started and finished both The Forgetting Moon and its sequel, The Blackest Heart, in the year 2019. Back then, when I first read it, I still thought this series would become a five books series. And it would’ve been so cool. The number five is crucial in the world-building and lore of The Five Warrior Angels. And then I heard it would become a four books series instead of five. And then, not long after that, I heard AGAIN that it would be crammed into a trilogy instead. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about this. A series designed to be five books long suddenly lost two proposed installments; how many contents will be cut out? However, as Durfee said at the end of The Lonesome Crown, this was done in order to make sure he could tell the entire story he wanted without waiting for contract renewals for future books/series, which in the publishing business is always up in the air. And most importantly, now that I’ve read The Lonesome Crown, this move felt like the right decision. A blessing in disguise. I never felt like anything was missing from the text. This novel is almost 1,100 pages long and close to 400,000 words. It is the biggest in the trilogy, and as Durfee said himself, none of his vision was sacrificed in the making of this novel or trilogy. Everything he wanted to write was successfully written and crammed into this huge trilogy. And I am inclined to say I loved this explosive conclusion The Five Warrior Angels trilogy.
“It will not be self-righteous blind faith in Warrior Angels that will save the Five Isles, the Vallè had said, but rather those with humble doubt, those who take it upon themselves to hone the strength of their own will and intellect and fight against the power of suggestion, fight against faith and blind belief.”
The story in The Lonesome Crown continues a few days from where The Blackest Heart ended. And I personally think Durfee has realized many incredible feats with this novel. Without going into spoilers, The Lonesome Crown is a book about preparation, setup, and finally, the long-awaited Fiery Absolution. Fiery Absolution has been teased and prophesized since The Forgetting Moon. The twists and turns, the perilous quest, the epic war, the sacred weapons hunt, the deaths, the betrayals, and more. Everything that transpired in the previous two books and the first half of The Lonesome Crown was all a compelling preparation for the devastating time of Fiery Absolution portrayed in the last 35% of the book. I will talk more about the insane Fiery Absolution later. But first, unpredictability from using familiar tropes has always been one of my favorite aspects of The Five Warrior Angels, and Durfee did not dismiss this notion here. Right from the first chapter of this book, I was taken aback by finding out the identity behind the character in the gorgeous cover art (illustrated by Richard Anderson) of The Lonesome Crown. This kind of twist persisted throughout the entire novel. And even though familiar tropes were utilized constantly throughout the trilogy, it never felt like the story was predictable or less engaging.
“Scripture is naught but insanity and contradictions: love and hate, peace and war. For any man who claims to speak for god is insane. All the time. Every time. Thus religion is naught but allegory and fable, and in the end answers nothing, leaving the mind and soul bereft and empty when it thinks it is full.—THE BOOK OF THE BETRAYER”
I did a reread of The Forgetting Moon and The Blackest Heart in preparation for this book, and I'm glad I did. The ordeals and developments the varying characters went through in shockingly only one year of the timeline were just crazy. I don't think I would be able to enjoy this installment as much if I didn't reread the previous two books first. Durfee keeps the story fresh and exciting by including not one book of prophecy but multiple scriptures. This created contradictions and obsessive clashes of faith with heavy consequences while at the same time keeping readers glued to the page, thinking about which one of these scriptures is the right one. War being waged in the name of religion and faith is not a rare plot device in epic fantasy. And I am sad to say it is also a common conflict and occurrence in our world. This shattering war brought forth by people acting as if they were the avenging words and swords of their gods resulted in the inevitable conflagration, The Fiery Absolution. It was all handled deftly. The ending was satisfying enough and fitting to the trilogy, and Durfee, at the same time, left room for a sequel series should he ever choose to do it in the future. It's not truly necessary because I am satisfied with what I've read here. However, if it happens, I will be intrigued to find out how the events in this trilogy shaped the future of The Five Isles.
“Our stories of today will be written down and twisted in the name of someone’s future ideology.”
Before I discuss The Fiery Absolution and the action sequences, it is mandatory to talk about the characters and their development. It is worth writing a bunch of unlikable characters. I think one of the reasons why The Five Warrior Angels remains an underrated and underhyped trilogy is because The Forgetting Moon did not click with readers. It is understandable. Despite some loud opinions and demand for more morally grey characters, it is still, at its core, essential for many readers that the characters are still likable. The characters in this trilogy did not start off that way. Stefan and Beer Mug was the only truly kind-hearted and morally good characters throughout the trilogy. The rest, from the first book to the end, are doing their best to survive at every expense. There are no heroes here, except for Beer Mug, just survival. However, this is not to say the characters stayed unlikeable constantly. Starting your series with unlikable characters left room for rich character development and growth. That is what has been achieved here.
“We cannot change the past… We can only accept where we are right now and forgive what wrongs were done us and move on. If anything good can come of this Laijon-forsaken mess, it is that I have changed into a less prideful person. I hold no malice toward Nail, and I can only hope those I have wronged hold no malice toward me.”
In The Lonesome Crown, the number of characters in the series with their respective arc has increased further. We have main or supporting characters like Nail, Tala, Jondralyn, Jenko, Ava, Liz Hen, Dokie, Hawkwood, Krista, Val-Draekin, Gault, Enna Spades, Stefan, Lindholf, Lawri, and more. It will require another separate review if I pursue explaining EACH character's arc in detail. It would be a very spoiler discussion, and plus, I don't have the time to do that right now. Let's say this instead, the character's arc of these morally grey characters is incredibly rewarding. I think, sometimes, it is more paramount for readers to feel invested in the character's journey rather than being fixated on whether they are lovable characters doing good or not. Plenty of characters I despised in the past two books became characters I am so invested in here. For example, I talked about the shift in my investment in Liz Hen in my review of The Blackest Heart. I mentioned how Liz Hen was a character I thought I would thoroughly hate until the end, and The Blackest Heart proved me wrong. Well, The Lonesome Crown proved me wrong further. Liz Hen became one of my favorite characters in the trilogy. And then, characters I thought I was going to until the end of the trilogy betrayed me. It is all so good and unpredictable. Redemption, renewed purpose, or an attempt at one, is there for the characters. And there is Beer Mug, one of the best animal companions in the entire fantasy genre.
“But it wasn’t until now that she fully understood the lure of forgetting, for this was the worst thing she had ever seen, and she wished to forget it immediately. A hundred thousand bodies buried underneath a hundred thousand more. Piled, stacked, crushed and torn asunder, then set aflame by dragon fire. It was death on a staggering scale.”
Due to my growing investment in the characters, Durfee managed to make the blistering final 35% of the novel more gruesome and immersive to me. Time to talk about The Fiery Absolution. I've read more than 600 fantasy novels now. The Fiery Absolution has to be one of the craziest and most massive war scenes I've ever read. It is more or less 350 pages long of relentless carnage and savagery. And I am not exaggerating when I say the imagery Durfee portrayed in The Fiery Absolution made The Lonesome Crown one of the darkest and most violent books I've read. Honestly, some noticeable plot armor was involved, but I think they were balanced out but ultimate deaths for plenty of key characters. The explosive bloodbath instantaneously increased the death toll to exceed tens of thousands. Exactly. Tens of thousands of dead and burnt bodies twisted and smolders under the prophesized Atonement Tree. And then, there is also the crimson horrors of Tin Man Square. It is amazing. Nobodies, assassins, Valle, oghul, dragons, and the beasts of the underworld transformed The Five Isles into literal hell. It was, all in all, easily one of the finest war sequences I've read.
“War is destruction. War is death. But once war is over, royals will again sit their broken thrones, villagers will return to their burnt villages, daughters will bury their fathers, and humanity will carry on and rebuild. Hope will flourish. The dead will sleep. Life goes on for the living. Just remember that when all hope seems lost.—THE CHIVALRIC ILLUMINATIONS OF RAIJAEL”
I am amazed at Durfee’s talent to weave such a sweeping epic fantasy revolving around plenty of familiar tropes and twist them until unpredictability became a part of the series' main charm. This is an epic-scope trilogy about characters doing their best to survive against all odds in every circumstance. It is a story about blind belief and its irreversible consequence. However, though not touched upon as much as the other, I strongly believe The Five Warrior Angels is a series about finding the possibility of forgiveness and redemption after executing awful decisions and actions, whether forced or not. The Lonesome Crown is a climactic concluding volume to The Five Warrior Angels trilogy. I am grateful I took a chance on this series. It is a criminally underrated trilogy. And I look forward to reading whatever Durfee decides to write next.
“The only way peace and happiness can be had is if we do unto others as we would have done unto us.—THE WAY AND TRUTH OF LAIJON”
Series Review:
The Forgetting Moon: 4.5/5 stars
The Blackest Heart: 5/5 stars
The Lonesome Crown: 5/5 stars
The Five Warrior Angels: 14.5/15 stars
You can order this book from: Blackwells (Free International shipping)
You can find this and the rest of my reviews at Novel Notions | I also have a Booktube channel
Special thanks to my Patrons on Patreon for giving me extra support towards my passion for reading and reviewing!
My Patrons: Alfred, Andrew, Andrew W, Annabeth, Barbara, Brad, Casey, Diana, Dylan, Edward, Elias, Ellen, Ellis, Gary, Hamad, Helen, Jesse, Jimmy Nutts, Joie, Kristina, Lana, Luis, Lufi, Melinda, Meryl, Michael, Miracle, Nanette, Neeraja, Nicholas, Radiah, Reno, Romeo, Samuel, Sarah, Sarah, Scott, Shawn, Wendy, Wick, Xero, Yuri, Zoe.
November 14, 2022
Check out my YouTube channel where I show my instant reactions upon finishing reading fantasy books.
One of the best fantasy books ever written, and an incredible conclusion to The Five Warrior Angels trilogy.
I can't remember the last time I have been more hyped about reading a book than I was for The Lonesome Crown. Both of the previous books in this series are fantasy perfection, and with how much of a fan I am of Brian Lee Durfee (he runs an amazing YouTube channel that you just have to check out), my expectations for this book were sky high. And with high expectations often comes high disappointment - so I am beyond thrilled that not only were my expectations met, but they were inconceivably exceeded.
This book absolutely rocks, and is the pinnacle of high octane, dark, bloody, epic fantasy. This is not a book you want to read if you are squeamish - but if you embrace the more brutal aspects of fantasy books, you will no find a better book anywhere than this one.
While the story here was absolutely wonderful, the best thing about this book is the subversion of expectations. I don't think there is a single person on the planet that would be able to accurately predict exactly how the ending goes here, which characters progress from the "good" column to the "bad" (if they can even be labelled as such), which progress from the "bad" to the "good" - which characters become the focal point of the series, and which characters move from the foreground to the background. It's such a refreshing take on fantasy that I desperately wish more authors would utilize.
The characters here went from "extremely liked" in the previous two books for me to "absolutely loved". And not just the characters we are supposed to like, but many of the characters that make - to put it lightly - extremely questionable choices. Two of the characters that really stand out for me are "Liz Hen", which sort of annoyed me earlier in the series due to her constant pessimism, to becoming one of my all time favorite fantasy characters here. Her extreme use of profanity is perfectly fitting for the drama that is unfolding in this book, and she is able to say the things that I am internally saying while reading this book - which is awesome and absolutely hilarious. Another character that will forever go down for me as an all-time great is the dog "Beer Mug". He is without a doubt my favorite animal companion I have ever read about, and you just have to read this book to find out why. Every scene that features this dog is elevated, and he's such a joy to read.
The final battle that happens in this book is hands down one of the greatest battle sequences in all of fantasy. I don't have a page count on me because I got a digital copy of this book, but the battle must take up a good ~400 pages and it's gripping, bloody, unexpected, and incredible. It's hard to put down the book once the action hits it's high point here. It has one scene in particular that involves a quarry that is one of the most vivid and memorable fantasy battle scenes of all time.
Suffice it to say, I highly recommend this book and this series to you. This series deserves all the accolades, and I deeply hope this author gets the recognition he deserves from writing this masterpiece of a trilogy.
One of the best fantasy books ever written, and an incredible conclusion to The Five Warrior Angels trilogy.
I can't remember the last time I have been more hyped about reading a book than I was for The Lonesome Crown. Both of the previous books in this series are fantasy perfection, and with how much of a fan I am of Brian Lee Durfee (he runs an amazing YouTube channel that you just have to check out), my expectations for this book were sky high. And with high expectations often comes high disappointment - so I am beyond thrilled that not only were my expectations met, but they were inconceivably exceeded.
This book absolutely rocks, and is the pinnacle of high octane, dark, bloody, epic fantasy. This is not a book you want to read if you are squeamish - but if you embrace the more brutal aspects of fantasy books, you will no find a better book anywhere than this one.
While the story here was absolutely wonderful, the best thing about this book is the subversion of expectations. I don't think there is a single person on the planet that would be able to accurately predict exactly how the ending goes here, which characters progress from the "good" column to the "bad" (if they can even be labelled as such), which progress from the "bad" to the "good" - which characters become the focal point of the series, and which characters move from the foreground to the background. It's such a refreshing take on fantasy that I desperately wish more authors would utilize.
The characters here went from "extremely liked" in the previous two books for me to "absolutely loved". And not just the characters we are supposed to like, but many of the characters that make - to put it lightly - extremely questionable choices. Two of the characters that really stand out for me are "Liz Hen", which sort of annoyed me earlier in the series due to her constant pessimism, to becoming one of my all time favorite fantasy characters here. Her extreme use of profanity is perfectly fitting for the drama that is unfolding in this book, and she is able to say the things that I am internally saying while reading this book - which is awesome and absolutely hilarious. Another character that will forever go down for me as an all-time great is the dog "Beer Mug". He is without a doubt my favorite animal companion I have ever read about, and you just have to read this book to find out why. Every scene that features this dog is elevated, and he's such a joy to read.
The final battle that happens in this book is hands down one of the greatest battle sequences in all of fantasy. I don't have a page count on me because I got a digital copy of this book, but the battle must take up a good ~400 pages and it's gripping, bloody, unexpected, and incredible. It's hard to put down the book once the action hits it's high point here. It has one scene in particular that involves a quarry that is one of the most vivid and memorable fantasy battle scenes of all time.
Suffice it to say, I highly recommend this book and this series to you. This series deserves all the accolades, and I deeply hope this author gets the recognition he deserves from writing this masterpiece of a trilogy.
February 27, 2022
this book is gonna be DOPE
January 29, 2023
After really enjoying the first two door-stops in this series, I was eagerly awaiting for this one to finally be published; the concluding volume in the trilogy. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. At over 1000 pages, The Lonesome Crown is a monster of a novel, which really asks a lot from the reader. At first this developed nicely, picking up from the many cliff hangers from the preceding installment. The backbone of the story revolves around the contending prophecies regarding Laijon, the Christ-like figure who, a 1000 years previously, finally banished the 'demons' from the Five Isles, along with the five angels and their special weapons. The Five Isles have been at war for 100s of years over different interpretations of the legacy of Laijon and Durfee is not very subtle in likening this religious conflict to modern religions. I can roll with that. We also have the mystery of the five angel weapons and the 'angel stones' associated with each, who supposedly can only be wielded by the direct, blood descendants of the original five angels. Durfee did a masterful job here keeping the reader guessing regarding who these people actually are, with lots of misdirection and so forth. Finally, we have all the assorted prophecies regarding the 'Fiery Absolution' and Laijon's return, which is obviously where the series is going. Durfee had me primed to finally find out the mysteries and getting ready for an epic showdown. I started reading The Lonesome Crown expecting to be blown away, but alas, came away disappointed.
There are spoilers below, so be warned. First off, this moved at a glacial pace. Given the exciting end to the last volume, this seemed to drag on and on. What really started to get on my nerves, however, was the increasingly implausibility of the story. I lost count of how many times Beer Mug (a dog), who was lost returned to our heroes just at the nick of time for a rescue. You can pull such a deus ex machina once or maybe twice, but over and over again? Please. Then we have characters who are not really warriors suddenly killing skilled soldiers left and right with aplomb, despite being wounded over and over. The endless battle scenes got tiring very quickly, especially as our rag-tag band of 'heroes' could never lose. We also had too many chance meetings of the characters. I felt Durfee was simply asking too much from the reader here.
What really turned this into almost a hate read, however, was how Durfee seemingly dropped the ball completely regarding the aforementioned mysteries and prophecies. The start of The Lonesome Crown introduced yet another prophecy, one held by the oghuls and the fae Valle that involves the 'demons' and ridding the Five Isles of humanity. Ok, I can buy all the other prophecies were simply misdirections in some 'long game' by the Valle and the 'true' one is now coming to pass. That the angel weapons and their stones were really meaningless in the end and yet another misdirection? All the things that made the first two volumes interesting for me became simply sidelines to yet another story, one that I did not much care for.
All in all, YMMV here, as I seem to be an outlier on this one. If Durfee writes some more, I will read it as he has a lot of talent, but the concluding volume and indeed the conclusion to this one left a bad taste in my mouth. 2 sad stars.
There are spoilers below, so be warned. First off, this moved at a glacial pace. Given the exciting end to the last volume, this seemed to drag on and on. What really started to get on my nerves, however, was the increasingly implausibility of the story. I lost count of how many times Beer Mug (a dog), who was lost returned to our heroes just at the nick of time for a rescue. You can pull such a deus ex machina once or maybe twice, but over and over again? Please. Then we have characters who are not really warriors suddenly killing skilled soldiers left and right with aplomb, despite being wounded over and over. The endless battle scenes got tiring very quickly, especially as our rag-tag band of 'heroes' could never lose. We also had too many chance meetings of the characters. I felt Durfee was simply asking too much from the reader here.
What really turned this into almost a hate read, however, was how Durfee seemingly dropped the ball completely regarding the aforementioned mysteries and prophecies. The start of The Lonesome Crown introduced yet another prophecy, one held by the oghuls and the fae Valle that involves the 'demons' and ridding the Five Isles of humanity. Ok, I can buy all the other prophecies were simply misdirections in some 'long game' by the Valle and the 'true' one is now coming to pass. That the angel weapons and their stones were really meaningless in the end and yet another misdirection? All the things that made the first two volumes interesting for me became simply sidelines to yet another story, one that I did not much care for.
All in all, YMMV here, as I seem to be an outlier on this one. If Durfee writes some more, I will read it as he has a lot of talent, but the concluding volume and indeed the conclusion to this one left a bad taste in my mouth. 2 sad stars.
December 21, 2022
This is the final concluding entry in the Five Warrior Angels series. It was one of my most anticipated reads of 2022 and it did not disappoint. This book starts with an absolute bang and sets the tone that no one and nothing is what you expect, anything can and will happen, and this book is going to go hard in terms of battle and action.
There really isn't much I can say about the 3rd book in a series without getting into spoilers, but if you've liked the first two books I think I can pretty safely say that you'll find plenty to love here. I think the thing I appreciated the most, apart from the crazy battles, are the completely unexpected character arcs and the way Durfee really explores some themes that leaves you questioning everything you thought you knew. This book has 3 epilogues and when I finished the last one I felt pretty damn satisfied and had an appreciation for what he was trying to say even though I may not have got every single answer I thought I might. I think kind of the point is no one really knows all the answers or has all of the details and how those things get interpreted and embellished over time to create myths and legends is kind of what the story is about. Of course it's also about the characters and their respective journeys and of course what happens in this fantasy world when shit really hits the fan. Those are great payoffs too.
There really isn't much I can say about the 3rd book in a series without getting into spoilers, but if you've liked the first two books I think I can pretty safely say that you'll find plenty to love here. I think the thing I appreciated the most, apart from the crazy battles, are the completely unexpected character arcs and the way Durfee really explores some themes that leaves you questioning everything you thought you knew. This book has 3 epilogues and when I finished the last one I felt pretty damn satisfied and had an appreciation for what he was trying to say even though I may not have got every single answer I thought I might. I think kind of the point is no one really knows all the answers or has all of the details and how those things get interpreted and embellished over time to create myths and legends is kind of what the story is about. Of course it's also about the characters and their respective journeys and of course what happens in this fantasy world when shit really hits the fan. Those are great payoffs too.
February 25, 2024
A phenomenal fucking book! 😍😍
What a phenomenal long ride. What gory, bloody, horrific battles. The best grim dark epic fantasy book I've ever read.
Such a complex and absolutely satisfying ending for one of my favourite series! Brian Lee Durfee absolutely nailed it. Pun intended. 😆
The last battle scene is 300 pages long and I was captivated by every bloody, horrific, gory detail of it. This battle was the most brutal battle in a fantasy book I have ever read. No character was safe. Such high stakes. So much dynamic and scheming and betrayal. AND DRAGONS! 😍👌
BLOODY BRILLIANT! 😍😍😍
This is now definitely an all time favourite fantasy series for me and I'm so excited to read everything the author writes in the future because this long, shocking ride through all three books was phenomenal.
What a phenomenal long ride. What gory, bloody, horrific battles. The best grim dark epic fantasy book I've ever read.
Such a complex and absolutely satisfying ending for one of my favourite series! Brian Lee Durfee absolutely nailed it. Pun intended. 😆
The last battle scene is 300 pages long and I was captivated by every bloody, horrific, gory detail of it. This battle was the most brutal battle in a fantasy book I have ever read. No character was safe. Such high stakes. So much dynamic and scheming and betrayal. AND DRAGONS! 😍👌
BLOODY BRILLIANT! 😍😍😍
This is now definitely an all time favourite fantasy series for me and I'm so excited to read everything the author writes in the future because this long, shocking ride through all three books was phenomenal.
January 18, 2023
Absolutely impossible to give this series anything less than 5 stars. Just an outstanding series and incredibly underrated. The fact that it doesn’t have at least 20,000+ reviews and a movie deal is beyond me. I can only assume poor marketing is the ONLY reason Durfee’s books aren’t getting more recognition because everything else is flawless. I still haven’t finished several popular fantasy series but as of right now The Five Warrior Angels is officially my #3 fantasy series of all time, behind ASOIAF and Memory, Sorrow and Thorn
Brian, if you ever read this, PLEASE write a prequel series, standalone, novella…anything!
Brian, if you ever read this, PLEASE write a prequel series, standalone, novella…anything!
May 12, 2024
So a lot of this book was insane, and I mean that in terms of both epic, and also completely ridiculous in a bad way. But also Durfee is still a very good writer, so I have a lot of pro's and a lot of cons.
Also like, this hurts because I really like Durfee, great channel, seems like a great dude, but hey, i'm always going to be honest about the book.
Pro 1: The characters are just well done, they are distinctive, unique, and types of people you don't see as much are represented here. It had been a while since I had read The Blackest Heart and it really stood out right away
con 1: Basically like 700 pages felt like they seriously lacked direction. It was just a bunch of seemingly random groups of people all just kinda being like. Ok, lets go to this place now, and randomly running into each other. There is a prophesy in this book that says that like the big final battle will come suddenly, but I don't think we really needed 650 pages of wandering around and getting into pretty random conflicts to make that a thing
Pro 2:
There was one of my favorite trope subversions ever, I can't really say which, but normally I don't really care as much about trope subversions but this was very well done and reframed past events in a way I really liked and added a lot to the story.
Con 2: Maybe the biggest con, this book has maybe the worst redshirt syndrome of like any book I have ever read ever. You know in Star Trek on how every away mission it would be like 3 main characters and a couple dudes we don't know with red shirts, and the red shirts always die. This was egregious at that. If you are a named character, even one who should not be super skilled at fighting, in this book you can just fight as many NPC's as you want and kill them all. The amount of times non magical people just won close quarter like 1v10s against armored opponents is honestly incredibly frustrating. The amount of times like 4 named characters and a bunch of NPCs who should be trained, armored, armed, dangerous fights, would go into a fight, against something super dangerous, and the dangerous thing just just kills every NPC without trying to make them seem dangerous, only to lose the the named characters is completely ridiculous. It doesn't have the effect of making the scary thing scary, it makes me feel like there are actually only like 20 people in this world who are actually people, everyone else is cannon fodder to the author.
pro 3:
The stuff on religion is still amazing, for a bit I thought it was going too far in the other direction, and was doing a reverse Brent Weeks where after everything it was just going to be about religion bad, religion source of all evil, but on this I should have trusted Durfee. The epilogues actually sealed this for me. Love what he did there.
con 3:
Attention to detail, especially in the massive action scenes. I know some people aren't visual readers, I am, and me being able to visualize a lot of the action in this book that is vividly written just made it come across as ridiculous. Like there is just a lot happening that doesn't physically make sense, and is constantly immersion breaking. There are also just multiple instances in this book where I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt at the time , thinking how this must be some kind of foreshadowing for something, but no it was just sillyness.
There is an especially egregious example in the middle of this book, where I was like, why is everyone ignoring what is going to happen, like this is completely obvious, I must be missing something.
I was not
Final pro: The man just writes good, it is vivid writing that allows me to visualize what is at times the completely nonsensical stuff going on
final con
The final battle while epic, has tones of action that feels pointless, like why are these people fighting each other. It is like about half the characters are just there so decide to go on a day long killing spree. Imagine Avengers Endgame final battle insanity, but like everyone is just fighting each other in these massive brawls, and often you are like, yes I know why these people are killing each other, but sometimes people are trying to kill each other and it's just like, why though?
Overall, what is IMO an incredibly disappointing final entry, only because it should have been fantastic
5.6/10
Also like, this hurts because I really like Durfee, great channel, seems like a great dude, but hey, i'm always going to be honest about the book.
Pro 1: The characters are just well done, they are distinctive, unique, and types of people you don't see as much are represented here. It had been a while since I had read The Blackest Heart and it really stood out right away
con 1: Basically like 700 pages felt like they seriously lacked direction. It was just a bunch of seemingly random groups of people all just kinda being like. Ok, lets go to this place now, and randomly running into each other. There is a prophesy in this book that says that like the big final battle will come suddenly, but I don't think we really needed 650 pages of wandering around and getting into pretty random conflicts to make that a thing
Pro 2:
There was one of my favorite trope subversions ever, I can't really say which, but normally I don't really care as much about trope subversions but this was very well done and reframed past events in a way I really liked and added a lot to the story.
Con 2: Maybe the biggest con, this book has maybe the worst redshirt syndrome of like any book I have ever read ever. You know in Star Trek on how every away mission it would be like 3 main characters and a couple dudes we don't know with red shirts, and the red shirts always die. This was egregious at that. If you are a named character, even one who should not be super skilled at fighting, in this book you can just fight as many NPC's as you want and kill them all. The amount of times non magical people just won close quarter like 1v10s against armored opponents is honestly incredibly frustrating. The amount of times like 4 named characters and a bunch of NPCs who should be trained, armored, armed, dangerous fights, would go into a fight, against something super dangerous, and the dangerous thing just just kills every NPC without trying to make them seem dangerous, only to lose the the named characters is completely ridiculous. It doesn't have the effect of making the scary thing scary, it makes me feel like there are actually only like 20 people in this world who are actually people, everyone else is cannon fodder to the author.
pro 3:
The stuff on religion is still amazing, for a bit I thought it was going too far in the other direction, and was doing a reverse Brent Weeks where after everything it was just going to be about religion bad, religion source of all evil, but on this I should have trusted Durfee. The epilogues actually sealed this for me. Love what he did there.
con 3:
Attention to detail, especially in the massive action scenes. I know some people aren't visual readers, I am, and me being able to visualize a lot of the action in this book that is vividly written just made it come across as ridiculous. Like there is just a lot happening that doesn't physically make sense, and is constantly immersion breaking. There are also just multiple instances in this book where I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt at the time , thinking how this must be some kind of foreshadowing for something, but no it was just sillyness.
There is an especially egregious example in the middle of this book, where I was like, why is everyone ignoring what is going to happen, like this is completely obvious, I must be missing something.
I was not
Final pro: The man just writes good, it is vivid writing that allows me to visualize what is at times the completely nonsensical stuff going on
final con
The final battle while epic, has tones of action that feels pointless, like why are these people fighting each other. It is like about half the characters are just there so decide to go on a day long killing spree. Imagine Avengers Endgame final battle insanity, but like everyone is just fighting each other in these massive brawls, and often you are like, yes I know why these people are killing each other, but sometimes people are trying to kill each other and it's just like, why though?
Overall, what is IMO an incredibly disappointing final entry, only because it should have been fantastic
5.6/10
March 25, 2024
A really great finale to an extremely underrated book series. This almost 1100-page finale did not disappoint, as we saw a general convergence of all the disparate plotlines as well as the revelation of what was going on with the overall storyline. I loved the "big reveal," and the final battle - at over 300 pages - was done extremely well, although perhaps a bit exhausting because of its length. Despite its length, I do feel some aspects of this final book were rushed, and I wonder what this series would have looked like in its original 5-book form. But overall, the ending was satisfying, and I enjoyed the three epilogues tremendously which gave the readers a great amount of closure, after living with these characters for about 3000 pages. Highly recommended for fans of dark epic fantasy. 4.5/5
February 15, 2023
I really do hate to rate this so poorly but unfortunately this was an immense disappointment. This series had so much hype going in, if you watch many prominent YouTube book channels you will see folks singing the praises of this series. I think the first book operates as a great springboard for what could have been a well plotted fantasy story. Unfortunately with every entry the hand of the author was becoming more and more apparent. By the 3rd book important events in the story are just happening with no setup whatsoever. Unfortunately this is compounded by the *Spoiler* realization that there is no prophecy guiding the hands of most of our characters here. It is all a “Bloodwood game”. Things are just happening because the author needs them to. Allow me to provide some examples:
How do you get characters, who are currently captured by bandits to know to go to Savon, when they have no reason to go there? Well Gault Aulbrek just happens upon the bandit camp and tells them to go to Savon and then leaves. That’s convenient for sure.
Enna Spades has turned up to fight the aforementioned bandits and unintentionally freed our heroes. But now she wants to take the angel stones and weapons, how does the author get this to not happen? Well Beer Mug, who was presumed to be dead and has not been around for a single page, will show up and take Spades out of the picture. Well that is a crazy way for Spades to die considering her importance in the story but okay, cool. No… wait… Beer Mug just left her alive so she can show up later in equally unlikely scenes. And this exact same plot thread happens again with Beer Mug showing up out of nowhere to save our hero’s. Except the next time it happens he fights off a Dragon.
Well what about another thread entirely? Nail and 4 others, Tala, Bronwyn, Lawri, and Cromm have been cornered by 20 Dayknights. They are at the end of their rope and must fight or be captured/die. Any other time Nail has been involved in a fight up to this point he has frozen up and had to be saved by others. He has received light training and is naturally capable, but this is as dire a situation as he has ever been in. As the knights approach he falls from an aqueduct and is pursued by 5 Dayknights before our POV character Tala loses sight of him. Once Tala returns she sees that Nail has killed the 5 Dayknights in a scene we did not see. Nails first time killing a human and also fighting off 5 of the highly skilled Dayknights. They are not just members of the Silver Guard but fully fledged knights for protecting the king of Gul Kana and he wins a 5v1.
Hawkwood has been slashed by Enna Spades and then a bell tower crumbles and falls on top of him. Enna Spades finally got her revenge on her ex lover. But anot really. Not only is Hawkwood alive, he is in perfectly good fighting shape to show up in the finale to fight with Black Dugal and Hans Rake. If you say so!
In almost every chapter something of this improbable magnitude happens and it completely broke my immersion with the narrative. Why be invested when something wholly improbable, sometimes ridiculous will happen to save our characters from the consequences of their actions?
I don’t write this to be mean but after 800 pages my wife got bored of hearing me rant so I have been relegated to the reviews of Goodreads. If you do not care about logic in stories, if you just care about big payoffs and explosive scenes then maybe this book will work for you. It did not work for me.
How do you get characters, who are currently captured by bandits to know to go to Savon, when they have no reason to go there? Well Gault Aulbrek just happens upon the bandit camp and tells them to go to Savon and then leaves. That’s convenient for sure.
Enna Spades has turned up to fight the aforementioned bandits and unintentionally freed our heroes. But now she wants to take the angel stones and weapons, how does the author get this to not happen? Well Beer Mug, who was presumed to be dead and has not been around for a single page, will show up and take Spades out of the picture. Well that is a crazy way for Spades to die considering her importance in the story but okay, cool. No… wait… Beer Mug just left her alive so she can show up later in equally unlikely scenes. And this exact same plot thread happens again with Beer Mug showing up out of nowhere to save our hero’s. Except the next time it happens he fights off a Dragon.
Well what about another thread entirely? Nail and 4 others, Tala, Bronwyn, Lawri, and Cromm have been cornered by 20 Dayknights. They are at the end of their rope and must fight or be captured/die. Any other time Nail has been involved in a fight up to this point he has frozen up and had to be saved by others. He has received light training and is naturally capable, but this is as dire a situation as he has ever been in. As the knights approach he falls from an aqueduct and is pursued by 5 Dayknights before our POV character Tala loses sight of him. Once Tala returns she sees that Nail has killed the 5 Dayknights in a scene we did not see. Nails first time killing a human and also fighting off 5 of the highly skilled Dayknights. They are not just members of the Silver Guard but fully fledged knights for protecting the king of Gul Kana and he wins a 5v1.
Hawkwood has been slashed by Enna Spades and then a bell tower crumbles and falls on top of him. Enna Spades finally got her revenge on her ex lover. But anot really. Not only is Hawkwood alive, he is in perfectly good fighting shape to show up in the finale to fight with Black Dugal and Hans Rake. If you say so!
In almost every chapter something of this improbable magnitude happens and it completely broke my immersion with the narrative. Why be invested when something wholly improbable, sometimes ridiculous will happen to save our characters from the consequences of their actions?
I don’t write this to be mean but after 800 pages my wife got bored of hearing me rant so I have been relegated to the reviews of Goodreads. If you do not care about logic in stories, if you just care about big payoffs and explosive scenes then maybe this book will work for you. It did not work for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 27, 2023
So where do I start with this. I've read the entire series in just a few weeks and i have to say, this is probably one of the best fantasy series I've read in years. Yes I said it. I liked it more than many of my prior favorites. Not to take away from the other series like Mistborn, Wheel of Time, Stormlight archive (at least as far as its written up to this point), Memory Sorrow and Thorn and many others that I consider some of the best i've read, but the Five Warrior Angels series, is one of the best.
I did quick reviews for the first 2 books and one thing I kept repeating was that I just didn't know who the good guys were and who the bad guys were. And I gotta say, that is one of the things I liked the most about this series. Lonesome Crown doesn't disappoint either. Some characters that I thought were the good guys turned out to be pretty bad. Others that were strong main characters turned into insignificant pawns in the grand scheme of things. Those characters that were annoying, I found myself rooting for. The ones I liked and felt were innocent, I found myself hating.
Twists galore.... some I caught, others were completely unexpected. People died which were shocking and others survived which surprised me just as much. The character development was real, natural and showed the flaws of the characters just as much as the positives.
And in it all, I found a dog being one of my favorite characters.
The last third of the book, is probably one of the all encompassing battle scenes I've read. And yes it lasted that long (probably 200-300 pages). And yes, it was worth it. The twists and turns. The unexpected alliances were there and the tension between characters that seemed to be on the same side was thick.
And yes, the story finished, with just a few answers unanswered, though it was nicely wrapped up to my satisfaction and I felt in a good way. Enough was left open that some sequels or prequels would be welcome.
I wish Brian would write more. This is some good stuff.
I did quick reviews for the first 2 books and one thing I kept repeating was that I just didn't know who the good guys were and who the bad guys were. And I gotta say, that is one of the things I liked the most about this series. Lonesome Crown doesn't disappoint either. Some characters that I thought were the good guys turned out to be pretty bad. Others that were strong main characters turned into insignificant pawns in the grand scheme of things. Those characters that were annoying, I found myself rooting for. The ones I liked and felt were innocent, I found myself hating.
Twists galore.... some I caught, others were completely unexpected. People died which were shocking and others survived which surprised me just as much. The character development was real, natural and showed the flaws of the characters just as much as the positives.
And in it all, I found a dog being one of my favorite characters.
The last third of the book, is probably one of the all encompassing battle scenes I've read. And yes it lasted that long (probably 200-300 pages). And yes, it was worth it. The twists and turns. The unexpected alliances were there and the tension between characters that seemed to be on the same side was thick.
And yes, the story finished, with just a few answers unanswered, though it was nicely wrapped up to my satisfaction and I felt in a good way. Enough was left open that some sequels or prequels would be welcome.
I wish Brian would write more. This is some good stuff.
July 15, 2025
4.5 stars!
What a massive and well-plotted story! This is definitely one of the darkest series I’ve ever read, but it was so engrossing, I just couldn’t stop reading. I think subconsciously I kept waiting for things to turn around, 'cause I needed there to be some kind of light, some glimmer of hope beneath this endless shroud of darkness, even though there wasn't much to find.
But despite the bleak surroundings & circumstances, there were touches of humor along the way, and I really enjoyed when the occasional reunion would happen. In book 3, we finally had characters meeting, paths crossing - something I had been looking forward to pretty much from the beginning, so that was really exciting.
However, there was one thing that bothered me the tiniest bit: a non-human character that kept showing up out of nowhere when needed... At the same time, though, I kept rooting for it, so I guess I can't be too mad about it ^^
It doesn't happen very often that a book or series captures my attention like this. As books 1 and 2 before, The Lonesome Crown was hard to put down. Every new reveal and connection just brought more questions and I couldn’t wait to find the answers. With all the twists and unexpected turns it was impossible to predict what would happen next.
This story is certainly not for the faint of heart. The world is brutal, people are ruthless, and hopes & dreams get squashed in the cruelest of ways. Seemingly everyone moves in a sea of gray morality, the perception of "good" and "bad" is ever-shifting. But herein lies one of the series' core strengths. Confronted with humans' darkest tendencies, characters are forced to make impossible choices, face the consequences, and decide how far they are willing to go for their convictions.
With The Five Warrior Angels trilogy, Durfee brilliantly explores the complexities of human nature - especially in the context of religion, prophesy, and blind faith - and delves into themes of guilt and redemption. This series is a must-read for anyone interested in dark epic fantasy.
I hope there will be more to read from this author in the future!
What a massive and well-plotted story! This is definitely one of the darkest series I’ve ever read, but it was so engrossing, I just couldn’t stop reading. I think subconsciously I kept waiting for things to turn around, 'cause I needed there to be some kind of light, some glimmer of hope beneath this endless shroud of darkness, even though there wasn't much to find.
But despite the bleak surroundings & circumstances, there were touches of humor along the way, and I really enjoyed when the occasional reunion would happen. In book 3, we finally had characters meeting, paths crossing - something I had been looking forward to pretty much from the beginning, so that was really exciting.
However, there was one thing that bothered me the tiniest bit: a non-human character that kept showing up out of nowhere when needed... At the same time, though, I kept rooting for it, so I guess I can't be too mad about it ^^
It doesn't happen very often that a book or series captures my attention like this. As books 1 and 2 before, The Lonesome Crown was hard to put down. Every new reveal and connection just brought more questions and I couldn’t wait to find the answers. With all the twists and unexpected turns it was impossible to predict what would happen next.
This story is certainly not for the faint of heart. The world is brutal, people are ruthless, and hopes & dreams get squashed in the cruelest of ways. Seemingly everyone moves in a sea of gray morality, the perception of "good" and "bad" is ever-shifting. But herein lies one of the series' core strengths. Confronted with humans' darkest tendencies, characters are forced to make impossible choices, face the consequences, and decide how far they are willing to go for their convictions.
With The Five Warrior Angels trilogy, Durfee brilliantly explores the complexities of human nature - especially in the context of religion, prophesy, and blind faith - and delves into themes of guilt and redemption. This series is a must-read for anyone interested in dark epic fantasy.
I hope there will be more to read from this author in the future!
November 15, 2025
One of my favourite fantasy series now. Thank Laijon for blessing us with his best Warrior Angel, Brian Lee Durfee.
October 22, 2022
Full disclosure, I was given an early review copy of this novel by the author. I also gave early reviews of the first two books in this series and loved them. So. The final book!! OMG! A major (and i would wager probably controversial) plot twist and surprise from the book's very FIRST WORD!!! And then did Lonesome Crown go in SO MANY MORE directions I was not even expecting. This is both good and bad. I was delighted with the unexpected twists and turns and surprises, but also frustrated that many of my guesses and predictions were waaaay off. Who is Laijon returned? Who are the Five Warrior Angels? Do the magical talismans really work? Are dragons and demons of the underworld real? What is true? What is false? Who is the hero? Nail? Tala? Gault? Krista? Jondralyn? Liz Hen? Lindholf? Lawri? Hawkwood? Jenko? Ava? Seita? Black Dugal? or are they all villains in the end? The story arcs are top-notch and wildly unpredictable and unsettling and some characters just continue to make really poor decisions. Did you learn nothing the first time, folks?? The overall focus of this trilogy is one of resurrection. In each book there is death, loss, and rebirth of some kind...all the way until the very final moments and overall theme of the trilogy. That being said, fair warning, there are plenty characters who don't survive this story. In fact, the Fiery Absolution this trilogy has been building up to is one of the largest, most brutal, and relentless 400-500 page bloodbaths I have ever experienced. This predicted and prophesied final battle sneaks up on the reader like a thief in the night and suddenly you are in a whirlwind of fire and blood and dragons and demons-of-the-underworld and savage sabor tooth lions and blood-sucking oghuls and evil elves and evil dwarves and evil merfolk. Its pure excellently choreographed insanity! Characters that you never thought would become allies work together for survival while characters you never thought would part as friends become bitter enemies. The last half of this book is non-stop epic fantasy mayhem. There are breathless chases through forests and castles and oceans and tunnels and slave pits and gladiator arenas and a finale that conjures up a literal waterfall of blood, absolution, tragedy, hopefulness, horror, and redemption. Oh, have I mentioned 'blood' in this review yet? There is lots and lots of it. Waterfalls of blood! The thrill of it all is finally finding out who dies and who lives and is the ending happy or sad or tragic, and also the astonishing and unexpected plot twists and answers to MOST of the mysteries. I say most, because some are left unanswered, and this makes perfect sense in the world Durfee has created where secrets and mystery is the norm. An absolute homerun of an ending in my book.
December 13, 2023
Whew! That was one huge book!
One incredible one too.
This is going to go down as one of THE best series I have ever read.
All the boxes I need checked were. Massively epic. Prophecies of doom. Incredible and fantastically described battles. Fearsome foes. Inspiring heroics. Amazing characters.
What I wasn’t expecting…to laugh so hard my eyes teared up.
I mean we are in the middle of doom and gloom with only the end of days impending.
And I’m laughing my ass off. Not just one chapter or interaction either.
Such a delight and a series I will treasure forever.
Kudos Brian. I am in awe.
One incredible one too.
This is going to go down as one of THE best series I have ever read.
All the boxes I need checked were. Massively epic. Prophecies of doom. Incredible and fantastically described battles. Fearsome foes. Inspiring heroics. Amazing characters.
What I wasn’t expecting…to laugh so hard my eyes teared up.
I mean we are in the middle of doom and gloom with only the end of days impending.
And I’m laughing my ass off. Not just one chapter or interaction either.
Such a delight and a series I will treasure forever.
Kudos Brian. I am in awe.
September 15, 2023
What a disappointing conclusion to what could have been an excellent trilogy.
The plot progression in Lonesome Crown felt schizophrenic. Durfee seemed to break every promise he implicitly wrote into the plot and characters. He led me on. He made me believe from the first two books things like Nail, despite how hard things were for him, despite how other treated him, he would become a hero and give me, the reader, the satisfaction of following his journey. He led me to believe that the characters I actually enjoyed were going to get a fitting end and would do something worthwhile.
Instead this final book made Nails journey practically pointless. There’s no better way to describe this plot progression than being led on, and I believe that to some degree Durfee meant to do this. Why was Nail taught to remember precision in all things and why was he told he was being prepared for something when in all actuality he was a nobody? Showcroft even knew this so why did he say it?! Why were we shown how others treated him as useless, called a bastard, led on by his love interest only to be rejected, scorned by his community, mistreated by his master, if not to make him into something honorable, to give him a story that shows him overcoming and being a hero who did something important in the end that would make all his suffering and loneliness worth it? Instead we are told, as Val Draekin said “you are not the hero of this story.” Val Draeken should have warned us that this book was going to fall flat and betray its reads in the same way that he taught Nail that he shouldn’t believe in the holy books and religions. I was left so bummed out and betrayed by his story. There was no satisfying ending AT ALL.
We were led to believe at one point that he and Tala were going to become a thing and that would have been rewarding as a reader. Nope, led along yet again.
Some of the character development seemed to contradict what we had been shown and told throughout the series. For example, King Borden was revealed to be alive, he escapes, and we begin to believe that he has a grand plan to will unfold and represent the “good guys” coming out on top. Nope. Led along again and for what? No purpose at all. He was depicted as this powerful and honorable character at one moment and the next thing we know his plan is no plan at all and we’re told that he’s a dirt bag and then we see him die at the hands of one of the characters who actually SHOULD have died and yet gets some laughable excuse for a redemption arc. Enna Spades should have died Bordens death and not the other way around. I mean we were supposed to see Borden show up take the Kingship back from his wicked son, he was supposed to reunite with his daughters who looked up to him as an honorable man who they remembered him as and who we were led to believe he was. We were told he didn’t suffer fools, that he was a good king, the people in the book knew him as such and yet suddenly we were told he was a bad person. This is a plot and character development contradiction in my opinion. In the end there was no real reunion between him and his children and were somehow supposed to feel okay about this because we were told how bad he was, honestly I wasn’t convinced he was really that bad even after knowing what he did. What was the point of all this?
I’m sure if I could sit across from Durfee he would explain to me why he did what he did, and maybe I would feel better somewhat, but to me where things ultimately culminated seemed so disjointed from the plot and character progression that I was following. It had hardly any payoff and left me feeling led along unto the Fiery Absolution of betrayal.
The plot progression in Lonesome Crown felt schizophrenic. Durfee seemed to break every promise he implicitly wrote into the plot and characters. He led me on. He made me believe from the first two books things like Nail, despite how hard things were for him, despite how other treated him, he would become a hero and give me, the reader, the satisfaction of following his journey. He led me to believe that the characters I actually enjoyed were going to get a fitting end and would do something worthwhile.
Instead this final book made Nails journey practically pointless. There’s no better way to describe this plot progression than being led on, and I believe that to some degree Durfee meant to do this. Why was Nail taught to remember precision in all things and why was he told he was being prepared for something when in all actuality he was a nobody? Showcroft even knew this so why did he say it?! Why were we shown how others treated him as useless, called a bastard, led on by his love interest only to be rejected, scorned by his community, mistreated by his master, if not to make him into something honorable, to give him a story that shows him overcoming and being a hero who did something important in the end that would make all his suffering and loneliness worth it? Instead we are told, as Val Draekin said “you are not the hero of this story.” Val Draeken should have warned us that this book was going to fall flat and betray its reads in the same way that he taught Nail that he shouldn’t believe in the holy books and religions. I was left so bummed out and betrayed by his story. There was no satisfying ending AT ALL.
We were led to believe at one point that he and Tala were going to become a thing and that would have been rewarding as a reader. Nope, led along yet again.
Some of the character development seemed to contradict what we had been shown and told throughout the series. For example, King Borden was revealed to be alive, he escapes, and we begin to believe that he has a grand plan to will unfold and represent the “good guys” coming out on top. Nope. Led along again and for what? No purpose at all. He was depicted as this powerful and honorable character at one moment and the next thing we know his plan is no plan at all and we’re told that he’s a dirt bag and then we see him die at the hands of one of the characters who actually SHOULD have died and yet gets some laughable excuse for a redemption arc. Enna Spades should have died Bordens death and not the other way around. I mean we were supposed to see Borden show up take the Kingship back from his wicked son, he was supposed to reunite with his daughters who looked up to him as an honorable man who they remembered him as and who we were led to believe he was. We were told he didn’t suffer fools, that he was a good king, the people in the book knew him as such and yet suddenly we were told he was a bad person. This is a plot and character development contradiction in my opinion. In the end there was no real reunion between him and his children and were somehow supposed to feel okay about this because we were told how bad he was, honestly I wasn’t convinced he was really that bad even after knowing what he did. What was the point of all this?
I’m sure if I could sit across from Durfee he would explain to me why he did what he did, and maybe I would feel better somewhat, but to me where things ultimately culminated seemed so disjointed from the plot and character progression that I was following. It had hardly any payoff and left me feeling led along unto the Fiery Absolution of betrayal.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 20, 2023
Wow this was by far the most gore filled and darkest fantasy i have ever read. It’s actually insane how bloody the ending was. The betrayals were crazy. Some of the characters are so messed up omg. This was a great conclusion to the trilogy. It was brilliantly done. Some characters deserved much better than what they got but alas it was a good ending overall. I cannot believe how underrated this trilogy is and i hope it gets the exposure it deserves. All in all, what a crazy ride this was.
September 3, 2024
Another trilogy under my belt and I can't think of any which are as epic and massive as The Five Warrior Angels. To be honest, the huge size of the first couple of volumes and the assumption that it would be a longer, or at least a five book series did have me reluctant to dive in sooner but I was glad that I finally took a chance on it.
Looking back to my thoughts on The Blackest Heart, I picked up the subversion of prophecy and this continued to be a significant aspect of the conclusion to this series. Each chapter starts with an epigraph from various historical texts or scriptures and it shows how conflict can arise from the different races and cultures interpreting them and even how conquering civilisations assimilate and re-brand history and folklore into their own image. So much real world conflict and killing goes on today as a result of ideology and belief that stems from interpretive changes and branching off from texts written thousands of years ago.
With all of the balls to the wall action going on, with entrails and viscera flying in every direction, I was often surprised by how beautiful Durfee's prose was. Many of the locations and settings were described in vivid detail and it was highly immersive.
The character work was also good and I was impressed with how the author could make you change your mind or warm towards a character you previously didn't care for. Oh and obviously the greatest character in the series is of course Beer Mug, one of the best animal companions in all of Fantasy!
Overall, a massive trilogy well worth the time for anyone looking for a multi pov grimdark that packs a punch. If The Lord of The Rings is classical music, then The Five Warrior Angels is Heavy Metal played at maximum volume and there's room in my record collection for both...
Get well soon Durfee, hope you make a speedy recovery and can write more cool stuff in the future.
Looking back to my thoughts on The Blackest Heart, I picked up the subversion of prophecy and this continued to be a significant aspect of the conclusion to this series. Each chapter starts with an epigraph from various historical texts or scriptures and it shows how conflict can arise from the different races and cultures interpreting them and even how conquering civilisations assimilate and re-brand history and folklore into their own image. So much real world conflict and killing goes on today as a result of ideology and belief that stems from interpretive changes and branching off from texts written thousands of years ago.
With all of the balls to the wall action going on, with entrails and viscera flying in every direction, I was often surprised by how beautiful Durfee's prose was. Many of the locations and settings were described in vivid detail and it was highly immersive.
The character work was also good and I was impressed with how the author could make you change your mind or warm towards a character you previously didn't care for. Oh and obviously the greatest character in the series is of course Beer Mug, one of the best animal companions in all of Fantasy!
Overall, a massive trilogy well worth the time for anyone looking for a multi pov grimdark that packs a punch. If The Lord of The Rings is classical music, then The Five Warrior Angels is Heavy Metal played at maximum volume and there's room in my record collection for both...
Get well soon Durfee, hope you make a speedy recovery and can write more cool stuff in the future.
September 9, 2023
The last 350 pages or so were absolute bonkers ...pure unbridled chaos
December 16, 2022
Tapped out at 500 pgs. A monumental disappointment. Although it was well written the story did not appeal to me in the least.
March 30, 2024
3.5⭐️s. Extra half ⭐️ for 🍺Beer Mug being a good boy!
March 5, 2023
The world building alone in this book and the rest is the trilogy is worth five stars. At last a detailed world which does not go into the minutiae of detail or pointless exposition. Instead the author allows his characters to fill in the blanks with a very useful quote from one of the religious texts at the start of each chapter which is actually meaningful.
In this type of epic fantasy the reader expects to encounter the usual tropes of the genre. However in “Lonesome Crown “ Brian Lee Durfee manages to takes the usual and develop it into something new. Religious tomes, magical weapons and even some of inhabitants of his world. The characters also spur the plot and as we are reminded by the author at various points “trust no one”. The narration is excellent allowing the story to unfold in its uniquely surprising way. Amazing read.
In this type of epic fantasy the reader expects to encounter the usual tropes of the genre. However in “Lonesome Crown “ Brian Lee Durfee manages to takes the usual and develop it into something new. Religious tomes, magical weapons and even some of inhabitants of his world. The characters also spur the plot and as we are reminded by the author at various points “trust no one”. The narration is excellent allowing the story to unfold in its uniquely surprising way. Amazing read.
February 2, 2023
What a fucking EPIC series and a brilliant ending to the series. All threads get tied up perfectly and a masterful book to end the trilogy.
Well written characters (whether you liked them or not), loved the plot and pacing was excellent.
Series sums up exactly what I feel about religion; how words are taken out of context or used to suppress, oppress, hate or cause pointless wars and deaths.
I got this in the mail last Friday and spent Saturday and Sunday reading this; with very little sleep - this is now one of my favourite trilogies.
Well written characters (whether you liked them or not), loved the plot and pacing was excellent.
Series sums up exactly what I feel about religion; how words are taken out of context or used to suppress, oppress, hate or cause pointless wars and deaths.
I got this in the mail last Friday and spent Saturday and Sunday reading this; with very little sleep - this is now one of my favourite trilogies.
April 29, 2024
A true 4.5 ⭐️ for me.
What a conclusion to this series. It was so satisfying, and contained about everything I want in a series ender - Redemption arcs, revenge, loss tears, fist pumping, and blood. A LOT OF BLOOD.
Some parts were a little predictable- but even when you know what's gonna happen, the how things happen can really make or break a story - and Lonesome delivered here on many fronts.
Some of the writing got redundant by book 3, and I did roll my eyes more than a few times at the plot armor for our MCs. But.... I was so freaking entertained for almost the whole book. And the last 200 pages of this were very much a giant "Sanderlanche". So, benefit of the doubt for a cool dude too (Mr Durfee).
Highly recommend this series!
What a conclusion to this series. It was so satisfying, and contained about everything I want in a series ender - Redemption arcs, revenge, loss tears, fist pumping, and blood. A LOT OF BLOOD.
Some parts were a little predictable- but even when you know what's gonna happen, the how things happen can really make or break a story - and Lonesome delivered here on many fronts.
Some of the writing got redundant by book 3, and I did roll my eyes more than a few times at the plot armor for our MCs. But.... I was so freaking entertained for almost the whole book. And the last 200 pages of this were very much a giant "Sanderlanche". So, benefit of the doubt for a cool dude too (Mr Durfee).
Highly recommend this series!
December 14, 2023
I read this because of Matt's Fantasy Book Reviews glowing recommendation. I have to say, my response doesn't glow quite as bright. It was OK. Parts of it were good, parts of it dragged. The ending was mostly satisfactory. However, there were hiccups, such as when the author described something (I think an iceberg in the ocean ) as "surging to the surface like a submarine". I'm pretty sure that submarines don't exist in the book's world. Anyway, sometimes it seemed like the author added blood and gore for its own sake, even when it wasn't really needed. Overall, it wasn't even close to the best thing that I have ever read, it was OK. The end.
May 1, 2024
Woah. This was brutal.
I love this trilogy. I love these characters (I spent the entirety of The Lonesome Crown wishing that Nail survived with literal tears in my eyes) and the fact that you were still wondering things until what? The last hundred pages or so?
Ah, I feel a little bit like when I finished Wrath or The Last Argument of Kings. Like this left my heart feeling so full that I'm now afraid no books will compare. It was that good.
I love this trilogy. I love these characters (I spent the entirety of The Lonesome Crown wishing that Nail survived with literal tears in my eyes) and the fact that you were still wondering things until what? The last hundred pages or so?
Ah, I feel a little bit like when I finished Wrath or The Last Argument of Kings. Like this left my heart feeling so full that I'm now afraid no books will compare. It was that good.
March 24, 2024
I gave this five stars
the only negativity I got for the whole book that it was a freaking chunky book,
but because he was thrown a curveball and he had to make five books into three I think he ended very well with the story without losing much of what he was aiming for !
But still wonder what Five books would’ve been like!
the only negativity I got for the whole book that it was a freaking chunky book,
but because he was thrown a curveball and he had to make five books into three I think he ended very well with the story without losing much of what he was aiming for !
But still wonder what Five books would’ve been like!
February 20, 2023
Do you like characters doing random things just for shock value and just to progress the plot? Do you like characters unpredictable and acting like mentally unstable idiots? Do you have short attention span? Then this is the book for you!
August 10, 2023
2.5⭐️ and I am being generous, because of the epilogues.
Please note that my first language isn’t English, so I am sorry for any spelling errors.
*** SPOILERS***
This quote from “the lonesome crown” describes this trilogy perfectly.
„It was a failed adventure, their search for the weapons of the Five Warrior Angels. And I once thought we were heroes, but we did nothing and accomplished even less.“
Yep, all this trilogy accomplished was to almost put me in a major reading slump, because of how disappointing it was. 😅🙈 I’m sorry, I don’t want to be mean, but it feels like I just wasted my time!!
I started reading „the forgetting moon“ because a favourite youtuber of mine recommended it and I usually like everything he recommends. I was absolutely sure that I was gonna like the trilogy as a whole, because I’ve really enjoyed reading the first book. Durfee kept me guessing about who the 5 warrior angels could be, which one of the prophecy would turn out to be true and so on.
I kept reading and reading, waiting and hoping…and guess what…none of my questions were answered until book 3. And let me tell you my friends, those answers were terribly disappointing. You mean to tell me that I kept reading that many pages only to find out that everything was a lie?😂 Oh Mr. Durfee, you are a real joker! Yes you are, sir!🙈😂
I will make a list of things that I liked and disliked and you can draw your own conclusions based on that.
+ Durfee’s world-building was immersive, with very good lore & I really loved the mystery surrounding the prophecies. But we all know how that ended, right?!😏😅
+ Writing style
I liked his writing style even if it was “colorful” at times!😏 It was easy to follow, especially for someone like me, who’s main language isn’t English. The only thing that bothered me was that he sometimes used modern day american phrases out of nowhere, but that happened only a couple of times.
+ He kept me guessing the entire time & I loved the suspense! ( Well I loved it until I didn’t) 😂
Now for the things that I didn’t like.
- The unlikeable characters! Don’t get me wrong, I like me some good morally grey characters, but I don’t want ALL my characters to be like that, let me at least have some that are likeable! Oh my word!!🫠 I disliked them mainly because they felt one-dimensional, unstable or boring/bland to me, especially “the good guys”.
And don’t get me started on the Bronachell children! They were annoying, spoiled, treacherous and simply put, stupid! Ansel, bless him, that poor child deserved a better family.😂 In my opinion, Tala didn’t deserve to be queen, after everything that she has done, I wanted her goooone! She came across as very immature & entitled, she continued to let the others do the dirty work for he and then she would whine (all the time) if something went wrong, even though it was her decisions and actions that ruined everything. The moment Jondralyn decided to fight Gault in a duel, I was sure that Tala was going to be the “warrior princess” instead of Jon. It was so obvious!
My favorite characters were Gault, Mancellor Allen, Spades (even though I hated her most of the time), Jenko (again, really disliked him most of the time), Nail & Liz Hen (annoying as she was, at least she was entertaining and hilarious). Nail, in my opinion, even being one of the main characters, didn’t do much for the story! He was so bland and felt more like a side character to me, even with so many POVs.
-The main characters kept doing random, stupid things that made absolutely no sense, just to keep the plot going.
Yes Jondralyn, I am talking to YOU! Thinking that you can become a gladiator or that you are able to win against an archaic warrior with years of experience, after only a couple weeks of training. Yes, very smart indeed!👍🏻 😌
And there were many more „logical decisions“ such as these taken by our main characters. 😂
-Totally unrealistic how teenagers/ young adults, that a couple of months ago had no idea how to hold a real sword, are all of the sudden badass fighters with just the bare minimum of training. In series like „The bound and the broken“ it was more believable because Calen trained very hard, every day.
-Beer Mug - the ultimate deus ex machina
Man, that dog had more lives than a cat. 😂
Yes, it was cute the first time…but after several such scenes, it wasn’t believable.
-Some descriptions were extremely repetitive, to the point where it was annoying. Yes, in the beginning I was grateful for them, but not after 3 whole books. I think I am able to remember the main characters life story without having the author remind me of it every other chapter, thank you very much! 🙈
-Also, another thing that really bothered me was that by the end of the series, Nail’s questions still weren’t really answered. He was still the same confused 17/18 year old boy with the same insecurities.
-And the last thing I really disliked, was the nihilistic vibe of this book. In my opinion, the author portrayed religion only as a destructive power, 1-2nd book portrayed religious fanatics and the 3rd one took it to the polar opposite! I somewhat understand that he drew inspiration from today’s religions, but at the same time, that was precisely the thing that made this trilogy feel unoriginal to me, especially because it was so „in your face“.
And this message that he wanted to convey, that all religions are bad and destructive, that everything is meaningless and hopeless isn’t right, no matter if you are an atheist or a believer.
People need something to believe in, to hope for, they need meaning in their life, and a lot of people find meaning in their beliefs & religion. I disliked how Tala demanded that everyone see everything from her point of view OR ELSE! And the fact that she killed those dayknights and it was simply brushed off as nothing, was very weird to me. In my opinion, instead of the kind and fair queen that she was portrayed as, she came across more like a certain „austrian painter“ that burned all the books that didn’t align with his beliefs, if you know what I mean. 😉
Now don’t get me wrong, I didn’t disliked this book because of the plot twist! „The faithful and the fallen“ had a similar plot twist (if I remember correctly…I read that series a couple of years ago, so I can’t remember the exact details, but I remember that it was also something about a prophecy), but it didn’t really bother me as much as it did here! Perhaps it’s because the whole premise of this series is based on more than one prophecy and then for me to find out that it was all a clever ruse of the Valé and nothing else, felt like such a waste of my time and it was really ridiculous and pointless, to be honest!
I am really sorry if I was too harsh and believe me, I really wanted to love „The five warrior angels“, but sadly it didn’t quite work out how I expected it to. Hope this was helpful.
Please note that my first language isn’t English, so I am sorry for any spelling errors.
*** SPOILERS***
This quote from “the lonesome crown” describes this trilogy perfectly.
„It was a failed adventure, their search for the weapons of the Five Warrior Angels. And I once thought we were heroes, but we did nothing and accomplished even less.“
Yep, all this trilogy accomplished was to almost put me in a major reading slump, because of how disappointing it was. 😅🙈 I’m sorry, I don’t want to be mean, but it feels like I just wasted my time!!
I started reading „the forgetting moon“ because a favourite youtuber of mine recommended it and I usually like everything he recommends. I was absolutely sure that I was gonna like the trilogy as a whole, because I’ve really enjoyed reading the first book. Durfee kept me guessing about who the 5 warrior angels could be, which one of the prophecy would turn out to be true and so on.
I kept reading and reading, waiting and hoping…and guess what…none of my questions were answered until book 3. And let me tell you my friends, those answers were terribly disappointing. You mean to tell me that I kept reading that many pages only to find out that everything was a lie?😂 Oh Mr. Durfee, you are a real joker! Yes you are, sir!🙈😂
I will make a list of things that I liked and disliked and you can draw your own conclusions based on that.
+ Durfee’s world-building was immersive, with very good lore & I really loved the mystery surrounding the prophecies. But we all know how that ended, right?!😏😅
+ Writing style
I liked his writing style even if it was “colorful” at times!😏 It was easy to follow, especially for someone like me, who’s main language isn’t English. The only thing that bothered me was that he sometimes used modern day american phrases out of nowhere, but that happened only a couple of times.
+ He kept me guessing the entire time & I loved the suspense! ( Well I loved it until I didn’t) 😂
Now for the things that I didn’t like.
- The unlikeable characters! Don’t get me wrong, I like me some good morally grey characters, but I don’t want ALL my characters to be like that, let me at least have some that are likeable! Oh my word!!🫠 I disliked them mainly because they felt one-dimensional, unstable or boring/bland to me, especially “the good guys”.
And don’t get me started on the Bronachell children! They were annoying, spoiled, treacherous and simply put, stupid! Ansel, bless him, that poor child deserved a better family.😂 In my opinion, Tala didn’t deserve to be queen, after everything that she has done, I wanted her goooone! She came across as very immature & entitled, she continued to let the others do the dirty work for he and then she would whine (all the time) if something went wrong, even though it was her decisions and actions that ruined everything. The moment Jondralyn decided to fight Gault in a duel, I was sure that Tala was going to be the “warrior princess” instead of Jon. It was so obvious!
My favorite characters were Gault, Mancellor Allen, Spades (even though I hated her most of the time), Jenko (again, really disliked him most of the time), Nail & Liz Hen (annoying as she was, at least she was entertaining and hilarious). Nail, in my opinion, even being one of the main characters, didn’t do much for the story! He was so bland and felt more like a side character to me, even with so many POVs.
-The main characters kept doing random, stupid things that made absolutely no sense, just to keep the plot going.
Yes Jondralyn, I am talking to YOU! Thinking that you can become a gladiator or that you are able to win against an archaic warrior with years of experience, after only a couple weeks of training. Yes, very smart indeed!👍🏻 😌
And there were many more „logical decisions“ such as these taken by our main characters. 😂
-Totally unrealistic how teenagers/ young adults, that a couple of months ago had no idea how to hold a real sword, are all of the sudden badass fighters with just the bare minimum of training. In series like „The bound and the broken“ it was more believable because Calen trained very hard, every day.
-Beer Mug - the ultimate deus ex machina
Man, that dog had more lives than a cat. 😂
Yes, it was cute the first time…but after several such scenes, it wasn’t believable.
-Some descriptions were extremely repetitive, to the point where it was annoying. Yes, in the beginning I was grateful for them, but not after 3 whole books. I think I am able to remember the main characters life story without having the author remind me of it every other chapter, thank you very much! 🙈
-Also, another thing that really bothered me was that by the end of the series, Nail’s questions still weren’t really answered. He was still the same confused 17/18 year old boy with the same insecurities.
-And the last thing I really disliked, was the nihilistic vibe of this book. In my opinion, the author portrayed religion only as a destructive power, 1-2nd book portrayed religious fanatics and the 3rd one took it to the polar opposite! I somewhat understand that he drew inspiration from today’s religions, but at the same time, that was precisely the thing that made this trilogy feel unoriginal to me, especially because it was so „in your face“.
And this message that he wanted to convey, that all religions are bad and destructive, that everything is meaningless and hopeless isn’t right, no matter if you are an atheist or a believer.
People need something to believe in, to hope for, they need meaning in their life, and a lot of people find meaning in their beliefs & religion. I disliked how Tala demanded that everyone see everything from her point of view OR ELSE! And the fact that she killed those dayknights and it was simply brushed off as nothing, was very weird to me. In my opinion, instead of the kind and fair queen that she was portrayed as, she came across more like a certain „austrian painter“ that burned all the books that didn’t align with his beliefs, if you know what I mean. 😉
Now don’t get me wrong, I didn’t disliked this book because of the plot twist! „The faithful and the fallen“ had a similar plot twist (if I remember correctly…I read that series a couple of years ago, so I can’t remember the exact details, but I remember that it was also something about a prophecy), but it didn’t really bother me as much as it did here! Perhaps it’s because the whole premise of this series is based on more than one prophecy and then for me to find out that it was all a clever ruse of the Valé and nothing else, felt like such a waste of my time and it was really ridiculous and pointless, to be honest!
I am really sorry if I was too harsh and believe me, I really wanted to love „The five warrior angels“, but sadly it didn’t quite work out how I expected it to. Hope this was helpful.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 9, 2025
Overall Brian Lee Durfee’s Five Warrior Angels trilogy was a rollercoaster ride for me, both because of the story and because of what I felt were wild highs and lows in the writing. I struggled with the first book, largely because I didn’t like any of the characters, yet the strong world building and plotting kept drawing me in. The second book felt like a big improvement to me, I fell in love with Liz Hen, Dokie and Beer Mug, and Durfee continued to weave a compelling tale that drew me in, despite misgivings I had about certain aspects to do with character interactions, decisions and small things to do with the connective tissue of the novels. This third volume starts very strongly but in the middle of the book I started to feel bogged down a bit with all the chess pieces being moved around the board in the way that the author needed them to be moved. In some cases I simply found the reasoning for some of these moves to be unbelievable. In one specific case some characters made a decision to transport a captive to another place, which they would only do if they were the dumbest people who ever lived. That seriously took me out of the story, but I wasn’t about to dnf the trilogy halfway through the final 1000 plus page book, so I carried on. Fortunately the climax of this book, which takes place over roughly 300 pages was incredibly exciting and action packed, and worked so well that I was able to make myself put some of the flaws out of my mind. It’s not a perfect series or book, but Durfee was always able to make me curious to see where his story was going, and that’s a wonderful skill to have as a writer. His prose is good, his action is fun, his world building is excellent and his plotting is mostly quite strong (certain misgivings about parts of this final volume notwithstanding). And it took a long time but I did end up liking multiple characters like Enna Spades, Crom and Bronwyn, and a few others. I hope he continues to write books because he’s shown a ton of potential with this trilogy, and I’ll certainly check out whatever he does next.
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