"The Doom of Fallowhearth" by Robbie MacNiven presents an ambitious foray into the realm of fantasy, offering a richly detailed world filled with complex characters and epic battles. MacNiven's vivid prose brings the town of Fallowhearth to life, immersing readers in its struggles against dark forces. However, while the novel boasts moments of gripping action and intrigue, it also suffers from pacing issues, with certain sections dragging on unnecessarily. Additionally, some characters feel underdeveloped, lacking the depth needed to fully engage the reader. Despite these shortcomings, MacNiven demonstrates his potential as a storyteller, and fans of traditional fantasy may still find much to enjoy in this tale of magic and adventure.

This is going to be a really hard review to write. Mainly because my notes for this consist mainly of words like ‘fantastic’ and ‘bloody brilliant’, held together by abundant swathes of exclamation marks. I might as well have just drawn a big smiley face and left it at that!

The strong execution of the plot was only possible because the main characters were so distinctive from each other. It didn’t take long for me to warm up to them. Each character's personality really came to life and every new character’s introduction immediately made me care about them and curious to learn more about them. Seeing the gradual bonding of the main characters was unexpected and quite wholesome to read.

MacNivens prose has always flowed smoothly; it’s simple, engaging, vivid, and immensely accessible. Fallowhearth was no exception, but it was even better, clearly showing that MacNivens prose has improved even further.

The writing style of this book felt very disjointed and seemed like it could use another round of editing. I think the setting and characters were interesting but the writing style kept pulling me out of the story.

Oooff right in the feels. I was not expecting this kind of emotion from a sword and sorcery book. The characters are amazing, Robbie does the job very very well. Looking forward to seeing more!

I have been provided with an advance copy of the new Descent: Journeys in the Dark book The Doom of Fallowhearth, published by Aconyte Books, so here is the honest review I promised in exchange for the book.

So here is an important disclaimer which is always important to put out there first. I have a casual work contact with Asmodee to demonstrate board games for them in stores and at conventions. Asmodee being the parent company of Aconyte the publisher.

Secondly I am a friend of Robbie’s on Facebook, and whilst we aren’t best buds, we do interact with each other on occasion and I consider him a class person.

I am going to try my best to not let these things cloud my judgement in this review, but I accept that subconsciously it might.

What’s is Descent: Journeys in the Dark

Simply put Descent: Journeys in the Dark is good old fashioned dungeon crawler whose linage goes all the way back to Heroquest.

Based very much on the Doom board game published by Fantasy Flight Games, you can see influences from across the gaming hobby, with bits from Space Hulk and Lord of the Rings being identifiable.

It’s set in the world of Terrinoth, a setting shared with Runewars, Runeage and a few other games and RPGs published by Fantasty Flight Games.

It’s a high fantasy universe and you will recognise many of the tropes and races seen in other similar fantasy style settings. It’s not particularly unique, but it is fairly well developed and interesting.

Descent is the dungeon crawler game in that universe, with one player being the evil overlord of the dungeon and the others taking in the tiles of the hero’s.

For a dungeon crawler, let’s be honest it’s one of the best out there, and the only reason it’s not in my collection is that Lindsay and Megan aren’t as enthusiastic about high fantasy as I am!

The Story

I am gonna be upfront about this, the book is at the same time, familiar and comfortable whilst still being new and innovative. It’s contradictory but it works.

The basic plot is that a band of adventurers are reunited to try and find Lady Katheryn the daughter of the rulers of one of Terrinoths baronies. She had been sent to the northern frontier town of Fallowhearth to learn how to rule, and prepare her to take up her mother’s position.

The adventurers are three of the Borderlands Four, characters who fit common tropes, yet subvert them in very interesting ways. There is the human rogue, who just wants to go back home and sit down, the dwarven alchemist who is mainly interested in blowing stuff up and the orc pathfinder who is the levelheaded leader of the pack and probably the most sensible of them.

The tone of the story is gritty and dark, it’s a very modern take on the old sword and sorcery story from my youth. There is certainly a shared history between the characters, and some bitterness, weariness and regrets too, and whilst we don’t exactly get a full and complete backstory, we don’t need it because it feels so natural.

This story is a tale of revenge and love, and asks the question, how far would you go for someone you love, how deep would you go?

Conclusion

This is a surprisingly emotional story and parts of it literally had my heart crushed, and I was moved to tears as well.

This is generally a very by the numbers story and you pick it up and start it thinking it’s gonna be just a pulpy fantasy adventure. But it’s not, it’s deeply emotional and shows that a good writer and make a familiar and well trod genre, fresh and invigorating.

I’d also loved that we had some really good normalised LGBT representation in there, which felt very natural, very right and fitted so well with the story.

Solid 5 out of 5 stars.

The book is released out now in North America and available in the U.K. on the 26th November.

The Doom of Fallowhearth, by Robbie McNiven marks Aconyte’s first foray into the land of Terrinoth.
Terrinoth is Fantasy Flight’s in-house Fantasy setting, and it has been the home of original games like Descent, Runebound, Runewars (most things beginning with Rune to be honest) and Legacy of Dragonholt, as well as re-boots and re-skins of other games like Heroes of Terrinoth (Warhammer Quest ACG) and Battlelore 2nd Edition (taken from a Days of Wonder Fantasy setting so generic I’m not even sure they bothered naming it...)
There have been some very good games set in Terrinoth, and some very popular ones too – right now anticipation for the new iteration of Descent is at a high ebb (12 days and counting…) so this is a great time to release a novel set there. That said, the setting has received a fair amount of criticism over the years for feeling very generic fantasy: feudal European Baronies meet D&D/Neo-Tolkeinian stereotypes of Dwarves, Elves, Orcs and the like.
Robbie McNiven is the man with the tricky task of writing the first novel set here, namely The Doom of Fallowhearth. There are a few interesting decisions that he makes along the way, and this is far from being my favourite in Aconyte’s growing range, but overall, I think he does a good job.
The story begins with Logan Lashley, retired Rogue/Adventurer, and 1 of the “famous” Borderland Four. Logan is on his way to reunite with some of his old adventuring companions: an Orc Ranger named Durik who combines incredible tracking skills, with a seemingly-endless patience for the racially motivated abuse that he gets in most ‘civilised’ places, and Ulma Grimstone, a Dwarven Alchemist who, for reasons Logan had never really bothered to consider, left her clan to come adventuring with him and Durik, armed only with enough potions and incendiary devices to besiege a medium-sized castle.
Logan starts out feeling a bit generic – the alliteration and self-styled status as a “rogue” puts me in mind of Locke Lamora, whilst a protagonist called Logan, particular one who is still getting into scrapes with his best years behind him, felt more reminiscent of Joe Abercrombie’s Bloody Nine. Gradually though, Logan sheds some of the more ridiculous trappings of his rather luxurious retirement, and starts to show an amenable wit that gets the reader onside with his cause.
The 4th member of the team, is “Dezra the Vile” – this exotic-sounding character is absent from the re-formed band of adventurers as they begin their journey but, given that she is in the cover-art, it seems like a safe bet that she’ll be appearing eventually.
“So, who are the Borderland Four?” You might be forgiven for asking. Realistically, you’d need to be pretty well-versed in your Terrinoth Lore to know them, as they all come from a single expansion to the Descent 2nd Edition board game, specifically Labyrinth of Ruin. Now, in some ways this makes a fair amount of sense; after all, Aconyte’s whole thing is doing stories in board-game settings. That said, basing an entire novel on the events of a single out-of-print expansion to a game that has only had a single deck of cards and some DLC in the last 5 years is stretching things. Personally, I’ve played a lot of games set in Terrinoth, including a fair amount of Descent 2nd edition, but not having ever owned this one very specific expansion meant that the heroes were completely unknown to me. (Maybe the new game will feature them as main characters, and the gap will be filled to my satisfaction, but I’m not holding my breath).

Back to the novel, the action is primarily centred around the three remaining members of The Borderland Four who, already having come to one of the most northerly baronies in Terrinoth find themselves sent further north again to the small town of Fallowhearth, where the Baroness’s daughter had essentially been serving an apprenticeship in Feudal governance until she disappeared a few weeks earlier. If you think about it, it’s a bit weird to wait three weeks for a group of retired adventurers to gather from across the entire land to work on what is – presumably – a fairly urgent Missing Persons case. Fortunately, this is no slip on MacNiven’s part, and it will all make sense in due course.
As the protagonists investigate the northern territory, they make new alliances and enemies, offering an outsider’s view into local strife between different cultures, and gradually coming closer to unravelling the mastermind behind the disappearance and other difficulties with which they have had to contend along the way.
For me, the big twist was felt fairly well-executed and I definitely missed it, although with hindsight, there were plenty of clues. Again, I think that a reader already being familiar with the main characters and their history would have a much better insight, and could probably have seen it coming a mile off.
With the disappearance of the Baroness’s daughter such a mystery, the first two-thirds of the book play out without their central antagonist, and McNiven puts in a Captain of the Guard to serve as a pantomime villain in his place. Kloin is not only mean and vindictive, but is so without obvious rhyme of beyond pure spite. (And, cynically you could argue, the need to insert tension into the narrative without spoiling the big reveal too quickly). For me, Kloin was the biggest disappointment in the story: a character who never really revealed hidden depths, and who felt so aggressively one-dimensional that the resolution of his plotline remained unsatisfying.
Kloin aside though, Doom of Fallowhearth is a good, dark, Fantasy story: there are plenty of supporting characters, like Ronan and Carys, who are well-depicted, fleshed out despite limited page-time, and who provide an interesting window into another culture that finds itself in fractious contact with the Daqan Baronies. The few people of Fallowhearth itself who spend significant time in contact with the protagonists are also interesting, and serve the wider themes of the story.
Aside from a core “mystery followed by climactic battle” Doom of Fallowhearth also explores some more philosophical questions. Where central Terrinoth seems to be devoted to the worship of a sun deity, Fallowhearth has many followers of a different deity, one associated with death. By mixing locals and outsiders, the story explores the dangers of assigning reductionist labels of “good” or “bad” to areas of magic or the worship of particular deities. Nowhere is this more powerfully shown than through the actions of a woman who has embraced the possibilities of some of the darkest magics in the land, and who faces a never-ending battle to make others understand that these powers are (primarily) used for good. Even if you have no other reason to do so, Doom of Fallowhearth is worth reading, just for the opportunity to find yourself rooting for the Necromancer!
The ending of Doom of Fallowhearth is – by and large – fairly satisfying. It certainly isn’t a happy ever after: both ‘good’ characters and ‘bad’ are dead, but in general the heroes who die, die well. I think that McNiven’s heroes are suitably complex and nuanced that I’d want to read about what happened next to the survivors, but there are definitely times when his villains feel excessively mono-dimensional, and there was certainly no feeling of ambivalence when the conclusive showdowns came: you know who you are rooting for, and the only question is who will live, and whether the bad guys will perish or escape.

In most respects, Doom of Fallowhearth is a good story: the protagonists are interesting, the pacing is good, the twists are unexpected, and the resolution feels neat without being unrealistic. I read it in a couple of days and never felt bored. The problem is that too much of the time it feels like reading a sequel – but a sequel to a book that hasn’t been written. Perhaps this is the logical conclusion of commissioning tie-in fiction for a board game, that some of it will lean so far into the source material that it leaves gaps for those who don’t own a full set of out-of-print expansions, but I think that Aconyte have already shown that they can do better when they allow their characters and their narrative a little more space to breathe within these worlds. I can see The Doom of Fallowhearth being a grower – I could imagine re-reading this in a year or so, when we have more novels in this setting, and hopefully a big lore dump from whatever that new game is (no I’m not going to stop talking about it), but right now, I’m left wanting more.

Robbie MacNiven’s first novel for Aconyte Books, The Doom of Fallowhearth is the first in a new series of novels set in Terrinoth, the world of Descent: Journeys in the Dark. When Lady Kathryn, the Baroness of Forthyn’s daughter, disappears under strange circumstances, three of the legendary Borderlands Four reunite to search for the missing noblewoman. While their best years might be behind them, these most famous of adventurers bravely (or rather reluctantly, in the case of ageing rogue Logan Lashley) head north to the town of Fallowhearth to search for signs of what caused Lady Kathryn’s disappearance. Little do they appreciate the danger they’re stepping into, however, as their search brings them into conflict with suspicious locals, lurking monsters and a powerful darkness hiding in the sinister Blind Muir forest.

It’s essentially a ‘dungeon crawl’ story, albeit largely set above ground in the gloomy, sinister atmosphere of Upper Forthyn’s towns and forests rather than the usual catacombs. As orc pathfinder Durik, dwarf alchemist Ulma and human rogue Logan search for clues to Kathryn’s whereabouts, they put their various skills to good use and battle all manner enemies – sometimes monstrous (including the undead, and some worryingly large spiders) but just as often human, and no less dangerous for it. Given that this is a party of adventurers somewhat past their prime, those battles aren’t always the foregone conclusions you might expect, and they’re set to an entertaining backdrop of comfortable bickering and long-suffering grumbling from the three protagonists. As the plot develops, a couple of secondary characters come to the fore alongside the trio of adventurers, adding to the interesting dynamics between these characters who are trying to settle back into old rhythms after having drifted apart long ago.

This is very much a high fantasy setting, but a story which leans into the cold, gritty and muddy nature of adventuring. It’s a natural fit, and MacNiven’s choice of older characters gives the familiar tropes a nicely dark and modern feel. Not only is there an interesting sense of shared history, but the archetypes are cleverly switched up, with a human rogue cosseted and spoiled by retirement, a dwarf obsessed with dangerous alchemy, and a pragmatic and level-headed orc. These older, wiser, wearier characters prove to be remarkably relatable; there’s a tangible depth to their backstory, with old squabbles and easy familiarity helping to bring them to life and lending proceedings an unexpected weight of emotion that this sort of story doesn’t always possess. In what is otherwise a fairly dark tale, Logan perhaps provides the most entertaining and relatable perspective, but MacNiven rotates between all three viewpoints to show events through different eyes and build up a clear picture of the relationships between the key characters.

The plot itself is relatively straightforward but page-turningly addictive; it’s not hard to spot what’s coming, but then that’s quite comforting in some respects, and allows for the focus to be as much on the characters as anything else. Anyone hoping for a rip-roaring adventure story should find plenty to enjoy, but really it’s a character-focused novel above all else. It’s an atmospheric introduction to Terrinoth for anyone [like me] new to the Descent setting, but it’s full of interesting themes as well, making use of this particular cast of characters to explore ideas ranging from the mistrust of outsiders and anything ‘different’ to the powerful effect that old bonds of friendship can have. As much as anything this is a story about a shared history coming back to both haunt and reward these characters, and the lengths that people will go to in the name of love. It’s quite dark and surprisingly powerful, and a far more emotional story (no spoilers) than you might expect. Very much worth checking out.

Reading a novel based on a game was a new experience for me (I think!) and one that I'm glad to have had. The story is pure fantasy and a wonderful read. The writing is brilliant. The characters are solid and likeable/hateable (delete as appropriate). The ending took me completely by surprise... though maybe it shouldn't have! This is one to buy, keep on a very easy to reach shelf, and read again and again.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advance copy to review. This review is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

[Note: Review scheduled to go live on The Scifi and Fantasy Reviewer on 1st October 2020 @ 10:00 GMT]

The Doom of Fallowhearth

Robbie MacNiven

Aconyte Books

I think one of the things that most appeals to me about the titles published by Aconyte Books, the newly-established publishing arm of Asmodee Games, is the wide variety of fantasy and science-fiction settings that they’re set in, based on the various boardgame, role-playing game and collectible card game licenses that they have available to them and their authors. In their initial tranche of titles, recently published in both ebook and paperback, I read stories that not only took place in settings I was familiar with like the wonderfully eerie Jazz-era Arkham Horror (John Reynold’s Wrath of N’Kai) but also ones that were entirely new to me, from the fog-shrouded and spirit-haunted lands of the Legend of the Five Rings (David Annandale’s Curse of Honor) to the joyously colourful and mad-cap blend of science-fiction and fantasy that is the KeyForge universe (the Tales from the Crucible anthology). They’ve all been a joy to read, epitomised by fantastic cover illustration, top-notch editing, and some of the best science-fiction, fantasy and occult detective stories that I’ve come across in the genre in a while penned by the cream of those genres. Under the keen eye of veteran editor Charlotte Llewelyn-Wells and her dedicated team, the new publisher has positively flourished even under the ridiculously difficult circumstances the publishing world finds itself at the moment, and Aconyte Books has rapidly become my favourite publisher to review new titles from. This time around it’s The Doom of Fallowhearth, the first novel released by the publisher from author Robbie MacNiven and set in the fantasy universe of the Descent roleplaying boardgame. It sounded like another exciting universe full of intriguing stories and plot-points to exploit, and once again the publisher had chosen a fantastic author – MacNiven has written some brilliant Warhammer 40,000 tales for Black Library which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed, so I was eager to see what he would come up with in this new setting.

As the back-cover blurb so helpfully describes, the focus of the novel is on legendary orc hero Durik and his old friends, dwarf alchemist Ulma Grimstone and rogue Logan Lashley, as they venture into the treacherous depths of Fallowhearth in search of the Baroness of Forthyn's missing daughter. But what begins as a simple search soon devolves into something far more complex and terrifying, as the trio encounter the ensourceled dead, a former friend turned to darkness, and a horde of giant monsters. After a brief prologue in which it becomes clear that a character's hasty, ill-considered decision involving black magic has unplanned and terrifying consequences, setting off the chain of events that lead to the trio venturing towards Fallowhearth, we then deftly pivot to the three protagonists of the novel. Logan Lashley, former rogue and now minor aristocrat, comes out of retirement and travels to the city of Highmont, capital of the distant region of Forthyn, to meet with his former colleague, orc adventurer Durik. Barely arriving in time to save him from a hostile crowd of humans, Logan discovers that the orc himself was in turn summoned by the Baroness of Forthyn to locate her missing daughter, intending to make use his legendary tracking abilities and fearsome reputation, despite the hostility he faces from humans in general. Tasked with finding the Baroness' missing daughter, Logan and Durik head towards Fallowhearth, accompanied by the gruff, distrustful, and bigoted Captain Kloin, and the disdainful, aristocratic Lady Damhan.

As their search progresses, the duo become a trio when they're joined by Ulma Grimstone and her colourful, impressive and highly unpredictable magical experiments, and begin to enter terrain inhabited by fearful peasants and hostile raiding clansmen before coming to Fallowhearth itself. There, in a town on the edge of the wilderness and full of suspicious, distrustful and fearful people, the trio conduct their investigation and begin to uncover evidence that the case is far more complex - and deadly - than a simple matter of Lady Kathryn being kidnapped by the wild northern clans. Soon they'll encounter hidden secrets and treachery, terrifying monsters and dark magic, and the presence of an old and once-trusted comrade who has a very different agenda to their own. MacNiven weaves a complex and often surprising narrative as the novel progresses, in the process creating something far more engaging and thought-provoking than I had ever considered possible, even with his talents as an author and the well-deserved reputation for quality fiction that Aconyte Books is rapidly developing. The novel often took me genuinely by surprise, and in my opinion represents a new high mark for tie-in fiction and the opportunities it can provide.

There are several key elements to The Doom of Fallowhearth that make it such a striking and memorable title. One of its greatest strengths is the strong cast of characters that MacNiven develops throughout the novel, and particularly the way in which he develops the trio of Logan, Durik and Ulma. While they begin the novel appearing to be stereotypical characters – the charismatic and arrogant rogue, headstrong orc, and gruff dwarf, it soon becomes clear that their personal history and shared adventures in their past have caused some complex interpersonal relations to develop; and as the story progresses, each of the trio gets a chance to have their own character arc develop and conclude in a highly satisfying manner. Old memories and actions, and the loss of an old comrade helps them work together, but also causes a certain level of bitterness and resentment. There’s also the ever-present and unavoidable shadow of old age lingering over the three, each one in their own way experiencing the ravages of age and the issues caused by that; it’s the one foe that cannot be overcome, and MacNiven creates a touching and emotionally-laden undercurrent of quiet regret that runs throughout the novel and makes it much more engaging as a result. Even the secondary characters are fleshed out and well-judged; to take just one example, Captain Kloin is such an utter bastard, perfectly judged to act as a willing obstacle to the trio of adventurers, to the extent that there were several times when I found myself riled up alongside the characters in the novel. And there's one character - who I can't name or even describe without comprehensively spoiling the plot - who is particularly well developed and crafted by MacNiven, her history with the trio and her background in the darkest of arts creating a complex and highly sympathetic person that I would really like to see more stories from in the future. In addition there are some well-described and darkly horrifying monsters that populate the novel and lead to some tense, atmospheric action set-pieces; I don’t quite know how it’s possible, given their cliched nature in numerous genres, but MacNiven even manages to make the shambling undead uniquely terrifying as they roam around Fallowhearth and nearby settlements.

In addition to the excellent plot and MacNiven’s deft eye for characterisation, the great sense of atmosphere and the way he brings the game setting to life is another integral part that makes The Doom of Fallowhearth such a success. MacNiven uses his writing skills to create a number of distinct and unique areas, from cities and towns to wild, desolate wastes and claustrophobic forests. That even extends to the character, personality and physical descriptions of different races, and inhabitants of various human settlements; it's evidence of an eye for detail very few writers have, and in turn it helps draw you into the story. As a result, you really feel like you're walking through alongside the characters as the plot progresses, and the harsh, unforgiving and bitter terrain of Upper Forthyn and around Fallowhearth makes for a memorable backdrop to the plot as it artfully and skilfully unravels. Fallowhearth in particular, as the centre of the tale, is so vividly described and populated by MacNiven that it practically becomes a character itself, invested with a grim and dark personality, characterised by rural decay, the very edges of authority, and a poor and desperate population who have no wish to be drawn into the machinations of the missing Lady Kathryn or the nobility. And more generally, there’s also a sense of history that MacNiven intertwines with the narrative, referencing battles and events far in the past, making the setting far more intriguing as a result; it certainly made me want to read more novels set in the Descent universe.

Expertly-written and populated with some of the most memorable characters in a fantasy novel that I’ve read in quite some time, and imbued with a bold, thought-provoking and often surprising narrative, with an emotionally powerful ending that's akin to a fist in the gut, The Doom of Fallowhearth is another first-rate title by author Robbie MacNiven, as well as further proof of the success of Aconyte Books under the keen eye and guidance of editor Charlotte Llewelyn-Wells. The novel is not only a fantastic example of the heights to which the dark fantasy genre can be raised, but also another demonstration from Aconyte Books that tie-in fiction for an I.P. setting can be fresh, engaging, and original while also staying within the strictures and requirements of the setting. I look forward to more titles set in the Descent universe, which MacNiven has done a sterling job of bringing vividly to life, as well as more collaborations between the author and Aconyte Books.

In the grim dark future there is only war! Oops wrong books, yet another excellent book from Robbie MacNiven, if I have a complaint it’s only that there were no space marines (so far...,) 😉