Welcome to the Ben Galley ultimate blog tour! @WriteReadsTours has done amazing work to put together one of the biggest blog tours – ever! The purpose is to look at the fabulous works of fantasy author Ben Galley. Let’s find out a bit more about him.

Ben Galley

Hailing from Victoria in Canada, Ben Galley is the author of dark and epic fantasy books. He has thirteen titles currently under his belt. Since his debut novel The Written in 2010, Ben has released a huge range of award-winning fantasy novels, including the weird western Bloodrush and the epic standalone The Heart of Stone. Ben is also the author of the brand new Chasing Graves trilogy.

When Ben isn’t dreaming up new fantasy stories he works as a self-publishing and marketing consultant. Check out his website here.

The Written – Emaneska #1

His name is Farden. They whisper that he’s dangerous. Dangerous is only the half of it. Something has gone missing from the libraries of Arfell. Something very old, and something very powerful. Five scholars are now dead, a country is once again on the brink of war, and the magick council is running out of time and options. Entangled in a web of lies and politics and dragged halfway across icy Emaneska and back, Farden must unearth a secret even he doesn’t want to know, a secret that will shake the foundations of his world. Dragons, drugs, magick, death, and the deepest of betrayals await. Welcome to Emaneska.

The Written – Book Review

The Written is an epic fantasy novel with mystery, intrigue, magic and political machinations. Packed with action and treachery, the plot grips you from the very beginning and the ending will leave you wanting more.

World Building

If I had to describe Ben Galley’s writing in one word it would be immersive. From the very start of The Written, Ben’s writing is extremely descriptive. There is an almost film-like quality to his pages as you are drawn in to an epic fantasy world. I really enjoyed visualising the different landscapes and places throughout the novel. They are living, breathing places and the different atmospheres never leave you in any doubt as to exactly where you are:

“The buildings were piled storey upon storey, until each house or shop or tavern seemed to lean against the next, making the streets seem like the darkened arteries and capillaries of some immense living thing.”

Characters

Not only are his landscapes colourful but so are his characters. There are mages, dragons, vampires and werewolves just to name a few of the races in the novel. The protagonist, Farden, is a powerful mage and one of The Written. Confident in his own abilities, Farden isn’t scared of breaking rules but at the end of the day, he does what he thinks is right. He is a solitary kind of fellow but the people he calls his friends mean the world to him. He reminds me a little of Harry from Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files.

“If the world of magick was a game of chess, then Farden would be a knight.”

I enjoyed a lot of the characters in the novel, particularly Durnus the vampire. Some characters I wish I could have got to know a little better and I hope feature somewhere later in the series.

Plot & Pacing

The plot is well written and, although I had predicted certain elements, I did not expect the ending! The narrative definitely drives you through the book though I feel that there are some supplementary moments (even though the writing is lovely), which could be edited without really losing anything. That said, this was a debut novel and I expect the rest of the series is tighter. The pacing throughout the book is generally good and the last quarter is really action packed!

Conclusion

The Written is an enjoyable epic fantasy, with wonderfully detailed writing and after reading book one I am definitely interested in finding out what happens in the rest of the series. The graphic novel of The Written also intrigues me. I would love to read some of Ben Galley’s later works and I am pleased that this tour will successfully put him on the radar of many readers who I am sure will love his books.

Have you read any of Ben Galley’s books? What did you think?