Summary: Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne is a brutal, action packed epic set in a blood soaked, Norse-inspired land with a mythic feel. It’s a distillation of the best of action-epic fantasy.

Recommended if you like Gwynne’s other works
Not recommended if you prefer characters that don’t solve problems with violence
Recommended if you like a story with many fantastical creatures
Not recommended if you don’t like gruesome death scenes
The Shadow of the Gods follows three protagonists closely – the first and best of which is Orka, a mother trying to keep her family safe in changing times. We quickly see that she’s has a warrior past, and her bearing is that of a tightly wound spring, seconds from violence. Her husband Thorkel, also a warrior, provides a calming balance, and together they have a son, Breca. Orka is relentless in pursuit of her goals, ruthless, but not without soft spots – mostly inspired by her son. It’s hard to say much about her story without spoiling things, but her plotline was definitely my favourite of the three.

Next is Varg, former thrall (slave) on a quest to find a Seidr-witch that can use magic to show him the circumstances of his sister’s death. Varg gets caught up with the Bloodsworn, a legendary mercenary band, and finds himself torn between his new found family, and doing anything to avenge his sister’s death. The Bloodsworn are a great cast of characters, and while Varg’s character was a little less interesting, I enjoyed his storyline a lot.

Last is Elvar, a young woman and warrior in a different mercenary band, the Battle-Grim. Elvar spends a lot of time trying to prove herself, and her origins come into play briefly but with only a small amount of impact. The Battle-Grim don’t have the fun camaraderie that the Bloodsworn have, and when we first see them they are hunting down a man with tainted blood that they plan to sell to the highest bidder. I didn’t dislike Elvar’s storyline, and it does lead to one of the most epic moments of the book, but her chapters were definitely the weakest.

The setting is bursting with character – one of the major cities is built among the bones of a giant snake god, and many of the characters are ‘tainted’ with the blood of the gods, giving then special abilities, but causing them to be taken into slavery and thralls if discovered. And there are the vaesan, many different magical creatures that are generally hostile to humans, and kept at bay by the remains of the gods. These vaesan are usually viscerally described, vividly monstrous. Occasionally a magical element would take me by surprise – there was one instance of an animal talking later on in the book – and it would throw me out a little as I tried to figure out whether this was normal to the setting or not.

Plotwise, things were well paced throughout, and the three plots interweaved quite nicely, with some convergence towards the end of the book. There’s a lot of action in every POV, always well written, and again, builds to an epic and satisfying climax, taking into account that the book is the first in a trilogy. There’s also some mysteries, twists and turns, and everything is well built up to.

The Shadow of the Gods is a prime example of epic fantasy. Bloody action, a well realised setting and larger than life characters make this book hard to put down. I recommend this book to any fan of epic or grimdark fantasy.

Rating: 9/10

The Shadow of the Gods is the first book in the Bloodsworn saga, a Norse inspired epic fantasy trilogy. It is a multiple perspective story, following three main characters; Orka, Varg and Elvar. The incredible cover art is illustrated by Marcus Whinney.

After loving Gwynne's two other series, I was excited to learn about this new trilogy and I'm happy to say that it didn't disappoint. Gwynne has once again brought us into a vivid world with incredibly well written characters and a compelling plot. The writing is fantastic and I found it so easy to settle into the flow of the story. From the very first chapter, I was engrossed in this new world and characters. I love that the world is a Norse inspired one and it is clear that Gwynne has spent a lot of time bringing this world to life. I can't wait to see more of it in future books. The characters are so well written and Gwynne continues to show his strength at creating characters with so much depth to them. Another strength is the relationship between the characters - I loved seeing these relationships develop throughout this book. The plot is compelling throughout, although I would be lying if I didn't say that Orka's chapters were my favourite. Each of the character perspectives were distinctive and compelling but I was always the most excited for Orka's perspective. Suffice to say, this book was amazing and will definitely be on my favourite books of the year list.

Review

In a world where the gods have driven themselves to destruction, new societies emerge, built on the bones of the old with remnants of power used to forge kingdoms, Humans rule and enslave those with blood “tainted” by the old gods. The legends and infamy of those gods still wield power over the world and the people in it. John Gwynne introduces us to a Norse style world in post “Ragnarok” times. What would the world look like after the gods had died? Humanity comes back, with all the usual traits, those who want to rule come to the fore, bands of “Oathsworn” men and women live to create their own saga song, to find immortality. Under it all there are those who still revere the old ways and the old gods, even while the world hunts and enslaves those with any hint of god “tainted” blood. Are all the gods really dead if their blood lives on?

John Gwynne over the last 9 years has become one of my favorite fantasy reads, its no longer a will I like his new book its how much will I like it, how much will it live up to the anticipation and the hype? More so with this new book as we arrive in a new world, a new imagined land and people. It will be no surprise to many that he smashes it out of the park with an utterly immersive and blood soaked Norse world.

This story (as his is style) being seen from multiple POV’s as we follow our main cast members Orka, a warrior woman who literally soaks the pages of this book in blood and gore in the search for her son. Varg, who has been enslaved all his life and now he is finally free seeks the answers to the death of his sister, joining “The Bloodsworn” a band of brothers who would die for each other shows him what family is, while he wars with himself to fulfil his oath to the only family he had before, the bloodsworn are the glue in the book for me, full of unique characters and great dialogue and humor. Then there is Elvar, she is a member of the “Battle-Grim” and while their and her introduction is slower than the other POVS you can feel the weave of fate bringing the threads together, you know that while its a slower steadier POV that it and her importance will soon come to the fore and explode across the plot. John Gwynne is the master of pulling threads together, making you invested in each character and killing any of them at a whim, you know that nothing and no one is safe, but that he will pull the whole thing together in breathtaking fashion.

While Johns world of the faithful and the fallen is stunning, this new world surpasses it, I can only feel that its his love of all things Norse, his intimate knowledge with the battle gear and his skill as a skald is what has allowed him to create something so utterly immersive. I know that there are readers out there that can be put off by the phrase “blood-soaked”… but honestly every single act and action is in keeping with the plot, this isn’t gratuitous violence, its the world they inhabit and what’s needed to stay alive and keep honour and oaths intact.

I seem to have spent the whole of 2021 reading better and better books. I think I have now reached the pinnacle of skill and story telling with this book and Miles Camerons Atrifact Space.

It doesn’t get a higher recommend than this, this is the start of something truly special, a book with a remorseless pace, cliff hangers aplenty, stunning world building and characters. You will find your own favorites in the book, for me its Varg and the Bloodsworn. And i cannot wait to wade through the blood and mayhem of book 2.

Im now off for a well earned book hangover….

(Parm)

With thanks to John Gwynne and Little, Brown Book Group UK for an advanced readers copy of this book.

It's outstanding. Well of course it is it's Gwynne, I was expecting great things and I got even more than I could have imagined.

We're going into a new world with this series, seperate from the Faith and the Fallen. We still have Gwynne's phenomenal world building, fully developed characters and rapid pacing. Plus whoever chose that cover needs a raise, its gorgeous!

The book follows 3 distinct story threads;
- Orka, a strong contender for my favourite book character ever is a huntress on a mission.
- Elvar, a noblemen out to prove himself on the battlefield.
- Varg, a Bloodsworn out for vengeance.

Each story is interesting and gripping in its own way, there's nothing worse than having chapter switches when there 1 you like less than the others. I can honestly say I looked forward to returning to each storyline as it happened.

The Shadow of the Gods deserves all the hype it's getting right now, and I'm about to go and add to it, after I've pre-ordered a copy first.

This is a real well written story. As a fan of John Gwynne other books I have been highly anticipating this book. I adore the elements of norse mythology. I absolutely love the cover of this book. It's an absolutely amazing book full of medieval creatures.

Since this is a new series by John Gwynne, The Shadow of the Gods was one of my most anticipated books this year. I’ve been eyeing Malice since 2016 but didn’t get the chance to read it. considering the hype and praise surrounding Gwynne in the fantasy community, I was ecstatic that I was approved for an arc. I’m not a fast reading but books rarely take me over a week to finish. Especially arcs. This book took me 10 days even though it wasn’t particularly big. I was just not interested enough.

The Shadow of the Gods is based on Beowulf and Ragnarok. It’s in a land called Vigrið and in a world where the gods warred killing and imprisoning each other. The only remnants of them today are the bones and relics as well as their blood descendants of the “tainted”. Enslaved, they are thralls sold and bought by Jarls, warbands, and well, anyone who can afford them. They possess supernatural strengths, magic, etc. depends whose blood they have.

The book follows the story of three characters:
- Orka, a renowned warrior with excellent battle skills, she’s forced on a journey to hunt down her son’s kidnappers and take her vengeance.
- Varg, a previous thrall and a farmer, joins the Bloodsworn to discover his sister’s killer.
- Elvar, the daughter of a rich man (let’s say), seeks battle fame with the Battle-Grim.

I won’t go into too much detail and retell the plot and the story – I rarely do. Instead, I want to discuss the book itself.


Let’s talk about the characters first. They are the most important element for me in any book. Even if the pace was slow (which it was) if I truly liked the characters I wouldn’t mind. Little was going in Before They Are Hanged, which I read recently. Yet, I rated it full 4 stars because of the excellent characterization, I cared a lot about our characters (even in book 1). Sadly here, I wasn’t impressed. I couldn’t connect with them nor feel much towards them. My favorite was Orka and her chapters interested me the most. Not a lot to be clear, but more than the rest. Varg’s chapters made me want to know more about him at first but later on, I lost my curiosity. Now Elvar was definitely my least favorite. Only a few of her chapters interested me (when we discover a bit about her past) but even at the end, when the action was at its peak, I wasn’t invested in her part of the story. I simply felt detached from the characters.


This brings me to my next point: the pace. I know most of the time, fantasy books are slow-paced. And it’s fine by me. But at least the characters make up for it sometimes. Yet, here, everything was moving so slowly that I was often scrolling Instagram in the little reading time I have. I could not care about anything other than the poor children. Elvar’s chapters didn’t help either because yes sure stuff was happening but the stuff I wasn’t invested in whatsoever. The person who saved her chapters was the witch Uspa because I wanted to know more about her. When we got to the end, I was able to stop reading anytime still (bad sign) and found it underwhelming (I was expecting something mindblowing). I would’ve appreciated it more if I was into the story.


Another thing that annoyed me was the lack of a glossary. I’m not very familiar with Norse Mythology besides common knowledge. There were words and terms I have no idea what they mean even by the end of the book. I also messed up things a lot in my head due to the lack of a clear definition and the abundant use of (Icelandic? Certainly not Scandinavian) terms. There were a lot of those and many times with no translation in the following text whatsoever. This sadly made it more difficult for me to enjoy and get into the book. And given the large cast of characters, it took me more than my usual time to remember who’s who.


It wasn’t until the end that we see how these characters’ fates intertwine and connect. The main plot or let’s say common mission is the reason I want to read the sequel. Since it wasn’t completely resolved, I do want to see how Gwynne will develop the story especially since the gods part was increasing towards the end of the book. My friend also told me that he also struggles with Gwynne’s first book but it gets much better later on. I haven’t read Malice yet because I wanted to buy the hard copies (I mostly read ebooks). Now honestly, I’m reconsidering. It was next on my buying list but now it’ll have to wait till the release of this book. I want to read more reviews (especially ones like mine) and see how they’d compare it to Malice.


Finally, I want to end by saying that I believe Gwynne’s fans will enjoy this book more than I did. The overall story intrigued me enough to want to read the sequel. I hope by then the pace will pick up (actually, I’m sure it will after the ending). My review might be mostly negative but I did appreciate the world-building and the gods’ history (and would’ve admired it more with a glossary). I’m also curious about a particular plotline and the characters concerned in it. As a first read by a new author, it wasn’t that bad but I expected a lot more that I’m sad and disappointed in myself for not appreciating this book more.

With out doubt one the best fantasy books I’ve read so far this year. This book is truly something special. The characters are well developed, especially Orka who is likely to become many readers favourite character of all time and the action visceral and bloody. Can’t recommend this enough.

The previous trilogies were love at first sight from the very first pages. With this one, it took me half of it to get into, but after that it flowed and I was entranced.

Three main characters with different upbringing (although one still has their secrets yet to be revealed), driven by different motivations, are caught in a turmoil which we have barely got a glimpse of in this first volume; it felt like we are just being prepared for what is to come.

The worldbuilding is awesome, with rune magic and monsters of all sorts, a couple of them quite lovely, a large cast of characters with a unique trait in some humans, some of them really despicable. There is even an element which reminded me of WoT.

Overall, another great beginning of an epic saga. Too bad I have to wait a year for the next volume...

T.ime has passed since the ruling God's
H.ave met their deaths in battle. A new world is
E.rrupting, one of power hungry Jarls and monsters in the

S.hadows. Relics of the slain Gods (bones and teeth,
H.olding great power) scatter the land waiting for those
A.dventurers that are brave enough to find them.
D.uring our journey as a reader, we follow three
O.utstanding characters, a huntress on a heart
W.renching quest, an escaped slave

O.n the run from his captors, joining a legendary
F.orce mercenaries and a battle hardened warrior

T.hrowing off her privilege to gain her battle fame.
H.eaps of blood pour in excellent fight scenes.
E.very inch of this amazing viking style world is

G.enerated in superb detail. The characters are
O.vertly different but you never stop rooting for them.
D.evastatingly gripping storylines that encompass
S.upernatural powers, norse monsters and viking brutality.

An epic start to the saga!

I'm a stickler for a well developed world and wasn't disappointed by what I got! There's such fantastic and thorough worldbuilding in The Shadow of the Gods, while still leaving room for more in subsequent instalments.

Orka is a new favourite character, her love in all it's ferocity and devotion, the bubbling fury always waiting under the surface. She's a gem and I want more of her.

I liked the other two POV characters but in comparison to Orka they fell a little short. Though I'm excited to see where their arcs go going forward

This is one of the best fantasy books I have read in years of reading fantasy. Decent well rounded characters both male and female, with room to round them out more as the series continues.

Something for everyone, decent well written combat scenes, you want blood, you got it in buckets. You want intrigue and reveals then you got it.

An epic story about loyalty, courage, vengeance family and beliefs.

Highly recommended to all my friends who read fantasy.

Even if I had not been fortunate enough to be given an advance copy I would have bought this book for the cover alone! Lucky for me and anyone who reads this quite frankly outstanding book the cover whilst great does not do justice to the story which is a thrilling tale mixing various fantasy and Mythos together to blend a bloodthirsty and gripping tale, more please

ARC provided by the publisher—Orbit—in exchange for an honest review.

Reading The Shadow of the Gods is equivalent to witnessing a new brilliant legendary Norse-inspired epic fantasy series in the making.

“Sometimes there are no choices. We are swept along in a current not of our own choosing… I will be the current. I will be the course.”

By this point, does it still come as a shock that I ended up loving this? I’ve read all of Gwynne’s books—twice for The Faithful and the Fallen—and I have absolutely loved them all; every book by Gwynne is on my favorites shelf, and this one is no exception. I have done the beyond-epic cover reveal—illustrated by Marcus Whinney—to The Shadow of the Gods, and this novel was easily my number one most anticipated book of the year. Honestly, I did think of deleting my social media for a while due to being triggered seeing so many people receiving The Shadow of the Gods much earlier than I did. Yes, it was that painful to me! My expectations and anticipations for The Shadow of the Gods were as high as Yggdrassil, and Gwynne exceeded them. Again. I have spread gospels about Gwynne’s books for four years now, and as always, there’s no sign of this stopping ever. This book is evidently as epic as the cover art. The Shadow of the Gods is the first book in The Bloodsworn Saga series by John Gwynne. It is a new series in a completely new world that differs from The Banished Lands. So yes, you’re safe to start here if you haven’t read any of Gwynne’s books before; you will be missing one of the greatest epic fantasy series, though.

After the gods warred and drove themselves to extinction, the cataclysm of their fall shattered the land of Vigrið. The Shadow of the Gods revolves around three different main characters with their own respective quest in the new age of storm and murder: Orka, Varg, and Elvar. Their storylines of blood, death, battle-fame, and vengeance are seemingly separate for almost the entirety of the book, but rest assured, their paths eventually converged, and my god, it was such an electrifying convergence. Ever since I finished reading The Faithful and the Fallen in early 2017, I’ve mentioned several times that it would be amazing if Gwynne one day decides to write a Norse-inspired epic fantasy series; well, here we are. This is one of Gwynne’s bloodiest books so far; that’s saying a lot. Seriously, if you’ve read Gwynne’s previous books in The Banished Lands Saga, you should know how bloody this book is when I said that. But with that in mind, then you’ll also know that the key elements that made Gwynne’s books so damn lovable are all evident in this phenomenal start to a series. Yes, family, camaraderie, the pursuit of fame, and loyalty in superbly-written characters are still vital in Gwynne’s storytelling.

“It is a hard world, and we will not always be here to protect him from it. We are not just his parents, we are his teachers, too.”

Gwynne has always been excellent at characterizations; this is one of his most tremendous assets as a storyteller, and he has consistently maintained this since his debut. And even then, I’m still pleasantly surprised by the creation of the character Orka. I don’t want to say too much regarding this character; I didn’t know anything about her except that readers loved her, and I have to echo the same sentiment on this. I will say this instead, in one book, Gwynne has certified Orka as one of the best characters to ever exist in the entire genre. Orka’s story was cover-to-cover compelling, and she’s an extremely well-written character. Although it’s true that she numerously displayed extraordinary skill and talent in battles, what I loved most about her isn’t exclusive to that; it’s the way she prioritized her family over everything else. Her character’s development and interaction with Thorkell, Breca, Lif, and Mord gave her the necessary characterizations that made her rampage and destructions towards her enemies so rewarding.

“You and Breca are my home. Wherever we are together, that is home to me.”

Then there’s also the next main character: Varg. Varg seeks vengeance for his sister’s death, and he wants to know what caused her death. To achieve this objective, Varg has his fate intertwined with The Bloodsworn. Immediately from his first two chapters where he battled Einar the Half-Troll, my attention and investment in his story were sparked already. Considering that camaraderie in a hard world and found family are some of the main themes in The Shadow of the Gods, I do believe that Gwynne has portrayed them effectively through Varg’s chapters. It was immensely heartwarming seeing Varg, who has been alone all his life, gradually develop friendships with the members of the Bloodsworn. Remember, the series is named The Bloodsworn Saga, so obviously, The Bloodsworn is an important group of people within the book/series. Also, Varg’s chapters were filled with humor due to the character Svik. I can’t even begin to say how much I enjoyed reading Svik's cheese and porridge story; I can’t wait for you all to read it. There’s also this gem that may be linked to The Lord of the Rings:

“Get moving, Varg No-sense… Or are you waiting for an eagle to swoop down and carry you the rest of the way?”

Admittedly, Elvar’s chapters took me half of the novel to get invested; I was worried that Elvar would be the first time I ever felt bored with Gwynne’s main POV character. Fortunately, I was proven wrong in the second half of Elvar’s story. The thing with Elvar is that her character’s motivation and internal conflicts haven’t been ignited yet until we reached the halfway point. In the first half of the novel, her chapters consist of her adventures with her Battle-Grim companions. Once that candle of characterizations was lit, I became so much more immersed in her character and plotline. I’m not kidding; her story exploded magnificently in the second half of the novel. There’s a very admirable quality in Elvar’s character that I enjoyed; she won’t submit to a life of servitude, and instead, she chooses freedom and battle-fame. Similar to Varg’s story, the decision and importance of choosing your own family is a key driving force of her character.

“Men die, Women die, all creatures of flesh and blood die, but battle-fame survives. To become a song, a saga-tale told from generation to generation. That way we will live forever. That is what I want, what all of us want.”

With three POV-characters, The Shadow of the Gods means that this is Gwynne’s lowest POV-characters count so far in his career; for Gwynne’s first book of a series, Malice utilizes seven (six main + one side) POV-characters, and A Time of Dread has four POV characters. The decision to narrow it down to three POV characters worked in favor of the narrative because Vigrið is a relatively smaller place compared to The Banished Lands, at least for now. It’s been a year since I’ve read A Time of Courage, the last book in Of Blood and Bone trilogy by John Gwynne, and I am once again reminded just how “safe” so many other epic fantasy books are. No one is ever safe in his books, Gwynne excels so much at characterizations, and this isn’t only applicable to his protagonists but also antagonists. If you’re a new reader to his works, Gwynne is a merciless author; you will always fear for the protagonists, and you will always want retribution towards the enemies. It is one of the best parts about reading his books, and I, for one, am utterly grateful for this. Not many fantasy authors can—or have the bravery to—achieve this fearless feat.

“Fear can be ice or fire in the veins, freezing the body or setting a blaze within it.”

The more I read fantasy books, the more I wish that more authors are as gifted as Gwynne at writing battle scenes. Seriously, he’s a genius at this. For me, his exceptional battle-scenes are also what puts Gwynne above so many other fantasy authors. Let’s take Orka, for example, she is a new challenger to The Bloody-Nine from The First Law by Joe Abercrombie; her calculated rampaging madness and unflinching brutality were insane, intense, and incredible. The vivid chaos of being in the Shield-Wall and how deadly it can inflict is back again here. Then there are also more monsters—trolls, vaesen, näcken—and magics involved now. The Shadow of the Gods is imbued with jaw-dropping action sequences; seax stabbings, axe splitting skulls, the battle between humans, monsters, and The Tainted—people with cursed blood—all felt splendidly immersive and real. Brandon Sanderson is often known for his climactic final chapters that earned the title of Sanderlanche (Sanderson’s Avalanche). That term is well-deserved, and it’s unbelievable that Gwynne, who has delivered epic tempestuous climactic action sequences constantly, still doesn’t have a term for his achievements. From now on, I’m going to call Gwynne’s final chapters in his books the Gwynnado (Gwynne’s Tornado). The last 15% in The Shadow of the Gods was a maelstrom of breathtaking savagery. The crimson convergence of carnage, violence, and emotions was totally enthralling, and it will leave you begging for more.

“Fear is no bad thing,” Orka said. “How can you be brave if you do not feel fear?”
“I don’t understand,” Breca said, frowning.”
“Courage is being scared of a task and doing it anyway.”

Lastly, before I end this review, I want to mention that The Shadow of the Gods contained Gwynne’s most detailed world-building yet. As mentioned several times already, this is a heavily Norse-inspired fantasy series inspired by Ragnarok and Beowulf. The details in the character’s appearances, clothing, weaponry exhibited Gwynne’s passion for this world and Viking mythologies. The history of the Battle-Plain—shattered realms caused by the war of the gods that destroyed the world a long time ago—plus the intricacy of the environment and landscape truly transformed Vigrið into a location that felt so real. Snaka (Snake, the father of gods), his sons—Ulfrir (Wolf), Berser (Bear), Rotta (Rat), Orna (Eagle) Lik-Rifa (Dragon)—and Oskutred were definitely Ragnarok-inspired world-building. And I loved how Gwynne connects these mythical beings into the current events of the story with the inclusion of the Tainted. As I said, the Tainted are people with cursed blood that mankind hates and hunts. They’re descended from the gods I mentioned earlier, and depending on the cursed blood, each Tainted is capable of channeling their blood to enhance their own respective abilities and power. I personally wouldn’t call The Shadow of the Gods as The Last Kingdom or Vikings inspired; these are massive oversimplification and generalization that doesn’t give this book the recognition it deserved. The Norse-inspired God of War video game is a much more epic and apt comparison.

Between Malice, A Time of Dread, and The Shadow of the Gods, Gwynne just crafted his most well-polished start to his series yet. As a gratifying bonus, Gwynne’s reputation earned him my faith that the rest of the series will get better and better. Both Wrath and A Time of Courage are included in my “Masterpieces” shelf, and I’m sure the concluding volume to The Bloodsworn Saga will follow the notion. The Shadow of the Gods marked the beginning of a new bloodsoaked and legendary superlative Norse-inspired epic fantasy that future readers will praise, remember, and memorialized. The Bloodsworn and Battle-Grim are carving a bloody path across Vigrið, and I will be proud to say that I was there during the birth of this saga-tale. Welcome to the Battle-Plain. I await your enlistment into the Bloodsworn.

“Remember, we are Bloodsworn, bound to one another. Stand or fall, we are sworn to each other. That is our strength.”

Official release date: 6th May 2021 (UK) and 4th May 2021 (US)

You can pre-order the book from: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Book Depository (Free shipping) | Bookshop (Support Local Bookstores!)

The quotes in this review were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

You can find this and the rest of my reviews at Novel Notions

Maybe I was too enthusiastic requesting it, but now I receive it two times... So I will just post back my previous review! Thank a lot anyway!!

I was so hoping to get this one! I got into it as soon as I got the ARC and god was it good. I'd never read this author before, but I've been wanted to read him forever so this new series is the perfect way to start. The mythology, the world, the plot, those characters, wow! Everything is top level! I highly recommend it if you love fantasy!