A Pilgrimage of Swords by Anthony Ryan


Seven people set out to pray to the Mad God, said to grant a wish, only one wish to those who complete their pilgrimage. Pilgrim, Seeker, Player, The Tragic Lovers, Priest, and Book all have secrets and all have a wish dear to their hearts but as they get closer to their destination they begin to question whether or not their quest is worth it. 

This was an extremely fun, short story with an MC who reminded me of Aragorn from LOTR if he had very questionable morals and a talking demon sword 😅. And honestly, while I loved Pilgrim, especially since at the end he's like "This was actually great because now I can go kill even more people!" Seeker was my favorite. And yes this is mostly because she's a beast master and has a hyena. Seriously hyenas are underappreciated animals and are perfect for fantasy novels so I don't know why they aren't used more. But I feel like she'll be a great balance between the chatty Demon Sword and the silent Pilgrim in the next book. Player definitely reminded me of the Reaper who comes to get Grell in Black Butler. No, seriously, if you've seen Black Butler and read this you'll know exactly what I mean. Which means I hope we see more of Player. 

In terms of introductions go into a seven-book series, I really loved this. I mean that's exactly what this felt like, we get dropped into this world and immediately end up on this quest that from the get-go sounds questionable at best. We find out that the MC is most likely not the good guy but he probably isn't the worst guy in the series either. There's clearly some interesting magic/ability systems as we have a beast master and an alchemist and the world itself seems pretty freaking dark. But that's all it is, just an introduction that sparks curiosity more than anything. It set the stage. 

I will definitely be continuing this series and I am so sad I didn't pick it up sooner!

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