Excellent ReadEngrossing fantasy story about a plague (with actual, real science underlying the fiction) sweeping across a world. There are a only a few recurring characters, stationed in three (iirc) key places, but many more one-shot vignettes showing a variety of other characters around the world that helps flesh out the details, major and minor.

3.5 Stars: An interesting approach to a fantasy novel, this book is about the progression of an unknown plague told through a series of short snippets set in a well crafted fantasy universe. Much like how lives are cut short and responsibilities transferred prematurely in a time of plague, sometimes the snippets are threads carried through a few chapters, and other times they are left to stand alone, leaving you wondering what became of it's subjects. As a whole, it weaves a compelling thread th...

This is an interesting fantasy take on a pandemic. I loved the concept of the world, especially the magic system, with the focusing crystals, the hierarchy and the communication system, and there seemed to be loads of potential for political intrigue.Unfortunately the story itself seemed a bit haphazard, jumping from place to place and not quite connecting. The plot seemed to take second place to world building exposition, whilst characters settled way in third. I really loved getting to know se...

A powerful and troubling read. I enjoyed Bierce's other works a lot, but they didn't prepare me for how great a story this would be. He's truly stepped up his game. This tale of a mysterious pandemic comes at an interesting time, and I'm curious as to whether it will be a net positive or negative for the book that it releases during our own pandemic. For me, it helped provide an extra emotional punch.

*Beta reader*A very different book compared to Mage Errant series. Set in the same multiverse, but this is a standalone and doesn't need any prior info.The writing is easy to read and follow as usual. Cool new magic system. A mystery, with clues and misdirections. Plenty of emotional chapters and gut-wrenching scenes, with hope intermingled. There's a pandemic going in the real world, so by the time the book releases, readers would be very aware and nodding to happenings in The Wrack. I had a ha...

I want to begin by first acknowledging how truly eerie it must have been to be writing and releasing a book in tandem with the beginnings of an actual global pandemic. I can only imagine how strange that must have been. And while this book is about a global epidemiological event, the Wrack itself is not a virus but a zoonotic parasite. We can take comfort in the thin veil of separation that this difference provides! All joking aside, this was an engaging read not just for its correlation with re...

What a read! I would like to say how impressed I was with the style and layout of the book. As you probably already know, this book involves a mysterious pandemic called “The Wrack” , a name the derives from a sort of seaweed that washes up on the shore in this fantasy world, according to a few characters who were wondering why it was called that. It is a monster of a book for just over 230 pages. The worldbuilding was masterful and complete, which I’m sure is a hard task when the story shifts f...

22 Oct 2020Plot: Plague sweeps across fantasy planet. There are Consequences.CW: Plague.1. This is a large-scale, politically focused version of the Fantasy Plague. I would have loved it even if it was in a smaller scale because fantasy plague is one of my favorite concepts. But this was both very new and very fun.2. The Wrack tells this large-scale story through multiple narrators from all over the continent it's focusing on. Some of the narrators don't get more than one pov, which leaves a lot...

John Bierce's The Wrack is an exciting and unique take on a fantasy novel. You don't read many fantasy novels that take on the plague as a plot point. Science Fiction, sure. Urban fantasy, occasionally. But not a pure fantasy novel. That is why this novel was such a treat to read for me. When I started reading it for the tour, I almost had to put it down. I have avoided apocalyptic/disease type novels, if you will forgive me, like the plague. They are usually too much with the state of the world...

I was pretty excited to get started with The Wrack. The concept sounded good: a mysterious plague devastating a fantasy world, the cover was a decent standard and the author already had a number of books under his belt, so I felt reasonably secure that the editing would be a good standard.In many ways I was right in all my assumptions. The Wrack is both an interesting, and a very different book. When I read the description on Goodreads, I knew it was going to be a darker story, and I was not dis...

An interesting read and especially relevant to our current climate! Very different than the mage errant series but enjoyed getting to visit the world again in a different context!

The Wrack gives us the topical insight of a plague that wreaks havoc throughout a fantasy world. I’m a bit of a freak in a way that I have enjoyed reading about plagues/pandemics whilst living through one. The format that it was told in was refreshing and thought provoking. Multiple POV’s that give us a snapshot of lives, some are cut short and some last several chapters. The plague pays no attention to stature, race or social class. It takes no prisoners, but it will cause insurmountable amount...

This is an excellent example of character driven fantasy, well written with a good story as well. Check out my full review on my blog as part of the Storytellers on Tour blog tour next week!

The Wrack offers an in-depth look at the different key players in such dangerous times, adding in the aspect of religion whose narrative is not as prevalent in our media. The book starts off on an ominous tone and this continues throughout the story. Through multiple characters, whether it is the priests, the healers, the king and queen, the courtiers, children of the common people or captain of a ship – everyone is affected by the Wrack in some form and this book is the story of their confusion...