Truthwarden

Truthwarden is a 2023 fantasy novel by Russel Storm. It was released in September 2023. This novel is the first entry in the Rebirth of the Phoenix series.

Sett has dreamed of becoming a Wali his entire life. When the elite warriors arrive at his small town, blessed with unique powers and Truths, he jumps at the chance to join their ranks. But the Wali have many secrets. As he undergoes rigorous tests and forges new friendships, Sett finds himself questioning everything he once longed for. Armed with a power known as Truth and a desire to protect his newfound friends, Sett will be forced to set aside his fears and insecurities, or else risk the fate of everyone he loves. High Wali Raj has fought the jin for years. But when he is killed and comes back to life without his Truth, he has to sneak his way back to the front lines. As the jin grow stronger and Raj remains Truthless, he will have to abandon his pride and fight harder than ever for the survival of the Wali and everyone they protect. Two lives, one purpose. Will the Wali be able to stop the jin from destroying all they hold dear?

The plot of this novel was fairly straightforward. The synopsis does an excellent job of indicating what kind of story this book tells. The narrative follows Sett as he leaves his home to become a warrior and pursue his goals, encountering obstacles along the way. It also follows Raj as he struggles to move forward in his battle against the jin without a set purpose in life to guide him. For Sett, the plot is an origin story. For Raj, it’s somewhat a story of redemption. The story keeps things exciting by switching back and forth between their two storylines, which are interconnected but not entirely entwined. The fight scenes are exciting and there are some compelling and tense moments. It’s an engaging story overall, but gets messy as the plot progresses or when looking more closely at it. The ending is rushed, for one thing, with some revelations feeling unearned or haphazard. Certain plot elements, and important plot beats, happen without justification or a well-executed “in-world” explanation. At points, there are jumps in time that are not explained or solidified, so I couldn’t tell you if Event A and Event B happened days or months apart.

Sett and Raj are both compelling characters and good protagonists in theory. Sett begins the novel believing he was meant to be one of Wali and wishes to pursue that goal, only to discover the reality is more complicated, and less glamorous, than he imagined. Raj is a character at a crossroads, unable to return to his old life, but uncertain of how to move forward. Each of them starts in an intriguing place, with the potential for some great character development. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t do much with them. Sett develops as a character, but his arc isn’t very solid. His characterization changes partway through the book, without much reasoning. His growth as a character suffers as a result. Raj has almost no growth or development in terms of characterization. He changes very little, he doesn’t learn anything over the course of the story. None of the characters, major or minor, feel particularly complex. A few had a trait or two that set them apart, but on the whole, each had the same personality, the same basic characteristics as all of the others.

The writing in this book was a mixed bag. The author wrote action scenes, particularly battle scenes, very well. He also had a lot of great and creative ideas in terms of the scale of the story and aspects of the world. Unfortunately, the prose and dialogue couldn’t match what he wanted. The dialogue was clunky. Descriptions were basic and lacked any real detail. I did not become immersed in the story, because there wasn’t enough substance to the way the world was depicted to be immersed in. For example, aside from being told that one character uses a wheelchair and another is missing an eye, the characters are barely described. The lack of detail extends to the world-building. A great deal of the world-building in this novel is left up to interpretation. Terms, such as a character’s Truth, are thrown around without explanation or contextualization. Important concepts such as the organization of the Wali are left open to interpretation for far too long in the story. Kerajaan and Shuoma are two named locations in the novel, but I cannot tell you how far apart they are, where they are in reference to one another or even if they are in two different countries or the same one. This lack of world-building makes it hard to follow the story.

Truthwarden was an entertaining book overall, but not one I think I’ll remember. It had an engaging plot, though it got a bit messy at times. Characters had compelling backstories or circumstances, but lacked depth. The premise was solid, but the world-building was lacking. I didn’t dislike the novel, but little about it stands out to me. The cover of this book was beautiful, and I wish it lived up to my expectations.

Rating: 2 Stars

Purchase Links for the book: Amazon

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