Please note The Blood Isles is a direct sequel to The Wolf Mile. If you haven’t read book one in the Pantheon series then what follows may contain some minor spoilers.
New Season. New Rules. Same deadly game…
The Pantheon Games are the biggest underground event in the world, followed by millions online. New recruits must leave behind their twenty-first century lives and vie for dominance in a gruelling battle to the death armed only with ancient weapons – and their wits.
Last season’s new recruits Tyler and Lana have lived to fight another day, but now they face a series of even more lethal clashes before the Grand Battle that will end the Season.
It’s survival of the fittest, in the most brutal fashion imaginable. Lana must face the demons of her past, and Tyler has the mother of all targets on his back.
To my never-ending shame, I was late to the party when it came to the first novel in the Pantheon series. Though it has been around for a while, I only read The Wolf Mile by C F Barrington back in August this year. No such tardiness when it comes to the sequel, however. I had the book loaded up on my trusty Kindle* as soon as a review copy became available. The Blood Isles promises more breakneck high concept action. Across the lanes and rooftops of night-time Edinburgh, modern-day Vikings and Greek armies continue to wage a bloody war.
Tyler Maitland is no longer quite as naive as he was before. His violent baptism into the world of the Pantheon is over. He is finding his feet as part of the Viking forces. There are still rules to learn, but Tyler is a quick study. Driven by intensely personal motivations, the sense of tenacity he exhibits feels palpable. Meanwhile, Lana’s journey is quite different. She has come to the Pantheon from a different place in her life. I love how both characters’ reasons for choosing new lives are so grounded. There are revelations aplenty and by the end of the novel, Lana, in particular, is forced to revisit some of the darkest moments in her life.
I love when I pick up a novel with no preconceived notions of what to expect only to discover a story I can really connect with. That’s what happened with The Wolf Hour. By the time I had read the blurb on the back of the book, I was sold on the idea. The Blood Isles has achieved exactly what I hoped it would do. In many respects, it’s the perfect sequel. The Pantheon universe has been expanded upon, the characters have all moved forward and the experience left me wanting more. Once again fast-paced fight scenes collide with some wonderfully executed world-building to create something that captured and held this reader’s attention. The Blood Isles is the ideal antidote to some of the denser fiction I’ve been reading recently. It has a kinetic soul that guarantees twists and turns, good guys and bad guys, traitors and double-crosses.
You would be wrong however to think events are all just mindless blood-letting. There are also some dastardly power plays going on behind the scenes. The Pantheon is a vast machine and the people at the top will stop at nothing to retain power. Ultimately, Tyler and Lana are just pawns in a much larger game. Evidence of that is starting to creep into the already thrilling narrative. This extra layer of complexity suggests future novels are going to be even more exciting**.
One of the things I was excited about when I read The Wolf Mile was the tantalising titbits regarding how the Pantheon works on a global scale. Edinburgh is a fantastic place, but across the world there are other armies who also fight in the Pantheon. There are more mentions in this second book and I have high hopes that eventually all will be revealed. I will certainly be sticking around to find out. To say I am curious is a significant understatement.
If you’ve read The Wolf Mile and enjoyed it then I can confidently predict that The Blood Isles is not going to disappoint. Trust me, the final battle is worth waiting for.
The Blood Isles is published by Head of Zeus and is available today. I will stress again how much sense it makes to read book one first. Seriously people, if you haven’t already, buy both and prepare for some intensely enjoyable bloody mayhem.
I felt my musical recommendation had to be something suitably stirring with a very definite Viking vibe so I went with Domadagr by Danheim. If Nordic folk music isn’t the music of choice for the Valhalla Horde, I don’t know what is. The internet reliably informs me Domadagr roughly translates as Judgement Day. Based on the climatic action at the end of The Blood Isles this feels like an entirely appropriate choice.
*For the curious amongst you, my Kindle is called Tardis as it is bigger on the inside. In a more literary nod, it is also emblazoned with the words Don’t Panic. I find them terribly reassuring for some reason.
**I’m unsure if this is even possible, there is already quite a high bar been set, but kudos to C F Barrington for rising to this challenge.
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