Demon’s Reign: A Progression Fantasy Epic (The Bloodwood Saga Book 1)

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Nor does she have the support of her father Cronus who stays in a drunken stupor due to her mother's ascension leaving him heartbroken. Clearly a whole lot of effort has been put into developing this forest world and how it might all work in practice. Kaleah is what one hopes for in a protagonist; she's intelligent, kind, and is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve her ultimate goal; the good of her people and most importantly her twin sister Cassie. That is until demons from a broken world invade the forest realm of The Swathe, and an accident born of violence and dark magic intertwines Tarkosi’s fate with the greatest among them.

Decided that I already primed the models with my black and red zenith, so whether they fit a list right now I should probably just get them painted and off my painting counter. Demon's Reign is a slow burn, story driven narrative that hinges heavily on worldbuilding and character. Pel and his band of believers, known as the Scions, also managed to escape and eventually meet up with Tarko again. As a fantasy book, Demon's reign presents you with extremely well fleshed out worldbuilding and characters.

I don't care about the protag's inner turmoil, nor him not mattering and fitting into their tree society. A lot of questions still hang in the air and I am invested enough to wait for the next one to get my answers. The self sacrifice trope is one of the easiest ways an author can get me to drop their work and ignore any future writing.

The story centres around Tarkosy Tarelta, the son of a disgraced member of one of the higher families of the tree city of Shal 'Gara. Even so, the sense of atmosphere and tension within these battles was great; I could perfectly imagine the smoke-filled air and the heat from the fire baking my skin like I was right there with Tarko trying my damnedest not to be struck down by demonfire atop the branches of a mile-high tree. There is so much scope for further books, and I long to discover the fate of the anti heroes, the survivors of the mighty cataclysm and Tarko himself. A forest-dwelling civilisation that lives in mile-high giant bloodwood trees, using its sap to fuel their magic and an entire society and ecosystem formed around living in these enormous trees. There is however one less solid thing about the story, and that is the thing that sets it into motion.

The story is good aswell, while it is definitely very slow at the start, the book takes that time to build up character and world. The warband could be easily set up like the Cabals are created but reflect somehow that they are squishier than their demon enemy. Like, yes they are here because their own world is dying, but I kinda figure they would do it anyway out of fun just the same. The story follows Princess Kaleah who will be the new ascended body for Goddess Lilitha when she ascends on her 18th birthday because this is her birthright and duty.