Faithless by Graham Austin-King

Faithless indulges us in an epic fantasy reminiscent of Lord of the Rings, while challenging the reader about faith, religion, and humanity itself.

I’d hit a bit of a reading slump, and went browsing for something that would hopefully perk me back up, and ran across reviews for Austin-King’s while on NetGalley. The reviews were raving about the novel so I grabbed it. It was everything I’d wanted.

I loved learning about the complex mining society that’s within the mountain. As well as learning about the priesthood that springs from it and lives in the temple above. Seeing both the priests and the mining city of Aspiration the reader learns about the pitfalls of power and oppression.

These societies show what it means to be a bystander in an oppressive society, and destruction that greed can inflict. Even in the difference between class levels was meticulously detailed, this was highlighted even more by the well done characterization of the cast of the novel.

Religion itself is challenged here with an absent god, it’s followers trying to keep their culture and faith alive, and those who serve them. It was refreshing to see this from the eyes of an outsider, learning the ugly truths from the fractured view points of Wynn and Kharios.

I highly enjoyed the dark journey that Faithless took me on. It is a novel that one both enjoys and grows from, challenging the way you look at yourself and society. And now I have found yet another author who’s writing is so good I will surely be adding the rest of his novels to my TBR pile!

My thanks for an advanced readers copy from NetGalley, Graham Austin-King, and Fallen Leaf Press in exchange for an honest review.

You can get Faithless here through Bookshop.org, which supports local independent bookstores!

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