Review – The Written by Ben Galley

Farden is one of the written, a mage with his book of magic etched into his skin. Despite being spurned by almost everybody, Farden spends his days protecting those who fear him. However, when a dangerous spell book is stolen, Farden gets sent to face an old enemy of his people looking for help. Can he obtain the help his people need, and can he work out who he can actually trust? Here’s my rundown on Ben Galley’s first novel:

• It’s rooted in Norse mythology but is also its own entity. So we get dragons, vampires, lycans and so forth, but we have an independent story. And it’s a good one. Questionable loyalties, a world-ending threat and a grizzled hero. What’s not to like?
• This is the author’s first book, and while he’s an accomplished author at this stage in his career, when he wrote The Written, you can tell he was still learning his trade. Don’t let that put you off though, the story is more than enjoyable to detract from the occasional booboo   
• Farden is a great MC. A grizzled, people-hating bad-ass drug addict, he keeps the story ticking over. The story revolves mostly around him, and he delivers. He’s a tough fighter, but not unbeatable, and his cynical humour is a blast. While he usually saves the day, he also screws up on occasion, adding an air of humanity to our hero
• The rest of the cast are likeable enough. The dragons are cool, and Farden’s friends are understandably so. He’s got a vampire for a watcher, and his boss is his biggest fan and seems to think along the same lines. There’s also the token love interest or two, and some mysterious bad guys (or are they)
• The book was written from day one as a trilogy, so there’s no neat little bow at the end of the book, but there’s plenty of plotlines to look forward to for the rest
• The magic systems are interesting. There are differing levels, on top of the Written. There are also the upper echelons of Farden’s order, who command magic almost on order. There’s also talk of dark elves (it’s their spell book that’s stolen) that could potentially blow away the others wizards
• It was weird reading the author’s early work after starting with his later stuff. You can see how far he has come, but many of the staples that make him such a good writer are present in The Written. The humour, the sometimes jaw-dropping descriptions of events or scenes, the different take on “done-to-death” tales and a cracking story to boot.

I enjoyed it a lot. Definitely worth 4½ stars out of 5.