The Way of Edan by Philip Chase – Spoiler-free Review

I've been excited for this for months, and I finally read it: "The Way of Edan" by Dr. Fantasy himself, Philip Chase. Reviewing a friend's book is tricky, but I can honestly say I really enjoyed it.

Channels mentioned this episode:
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00:00 Intro
00:51 Disclaimer
03:39 What's it got?
04:12 The Story
09:35 The World
13:17 The Themes
17:37 Criticism
21:24 The Cover
25:11 Final thoughts...

+++ Theme song "Dust on the Road" by lemonmusicstudio

#booktube #fantasybooks #bookreview

[TheLibraryofAllenxandria]

Excellent review! And I totally agree that we are a sum of external forces that influence us in various ways!

[MacScarfield]

I found "Way of Edan" to be a real blast! Loved the many nods to real life history and myths, JRR Tolkien, Ursula Le Guin, Robert Jordan, Lloyd Alexander etc. As you stated, the name Dayraven is from "Beowulf":, a Frankish Standard Bearer killed by Beowulf in a “bear-hug” during the Geatish King Hygelac’s Raid on Frisia (North Coast of Modern Day Netherlands). Professor Chase mentioning “Beowulf”: “I’m shocked, shocked I tell you!» 😂! Some other "easter eggs" are Imharr (Imar/Imhar: An Irish male name, and the name for Ivar Boneless (Viking King of Dublin and son of Ragnar Lodbrok) in Irish Chronicles), Urd (one of the Norns, the weavers of fate, «past»/ «origin»: A good name for an old crone!), Guthere (Anglo Saxon form of Gundahar/Gunnar/Gunther: A legendary king of Burgundy in the German Epic Poem "Nibelunglied", the Norse "Volsung" Saga and Richard Wagner's "Ring Cycle", *cue "Ride of the Valkyries"*!), Oswy (Oswiu, a 7th Century Anglo Saxon King of Northumbria), Bagsac (Bagsecg, one of the commanders of the Norse Great Heathen Army), Dragvandil (The name of the Sword to the famous Viking and Skald Egil Skallagrimson from the Icelandic Sagas, as well as a Grimes-tune and a “Final Fantasy” weapon!), Orvandil (Aurvandil 1) Father of Thor’s stepson Ull, gets a frozen toe, which Thor turn into a star, possibly Venus (“the morning star”), Sirius, Rigel or Alcor 2) Jutish King and father of Amleth (Hamlet) in the Danish Chronicle “Gesta Danorum” by Saxo 3) Origin of Tolkien’s Earendel, father of Elrond and the first king of Numenor Elros) and Galdor (2 of Tolkien's Elves of Middleearth: A Noldorian Lord at “The Fall of Gandolin” and the Representative of Ciridan of the Grey Havens at Elrond’s Council in Rivendell in "FOTR". The Wizard Galdor in ElLond=Galdor, member of ElRond’s Council as representative of the Grey Havens: I see what the Good Professor did there😉!) And I loved the nods to "Beowulf", "Finn & Hengist", the tale of Kullervo from the "Kalevala" and the heroes Seigfried and Brunhilde from Richard Wagner's "Ring Cycle", in the in-universe story of Wilfar and Aelfscyn! Could not help but think of CCR's "Run through the Jungle" during the Hasumere Campaign, it was Beowulf meeting the Vietnam War!

I found the Magic/Religion of Asdralad and of Urd very inspired by the dualism of Taoism found in Le Guin's "Earthsea", but then again, without being a follower or expert of either, both the faiths/philosophies of Taoism and Buddhism have a history of co-existance. Also, the gods of the Torrlonders Original Pantheon turned into saints/heros, reminded me of the Tuatha De Danann, the Aesir in Snorre Sturlason's "Heimskringa Saga" and the Valar of the Silmarilion. Also the robes of white and yellow of The Way (another callback to Taoism) reminded me as much of Hindu and Buddhist Clergy (as well as the Whitecloaks and Aes Sedai of "The Wheel of Time") as Catholic (I had to try to be my very ecomenical best to not make either transubstantiation or "Temple of Doom" jokes during one scene!) and the shunned stories of Aldmund reminded me of the Islamic "Satanic Verses" (made famous through the novel by Salman Rushdie), the Mormons cleanup of Joseph Smith and "The Da Vinci Code" ( as a direct descendant of the builder of Rosslyn Chapel and the Sinclair Clan, I do not support in any way or shape Dan Brown's claim that I then is a descendant of Our Lord and Saviour!).

Yeah, the theme of exile/Exiles and melancholic entropy in general are a recurring theme of Anglo-Saxon Poems such as "The Wanderer". "The Sea-farer" and "The Ruin", so again the Professor showing his background!

As for the bloodthirst: Hey, bevare of the quiet ones! 😜

I feel no one as a friend of Professor Chase should feel bad for reviewing his books, as he is after all a friend of all living creatures great and small! 😊

[EricMcLuen]

I do agree the prose was a little fluffy at times but it wasnt all that offputting.
I really did like a nuanced holy war aspect and a different, although perhaps closer to the original, spin on elves.
But after following Philip's channel for a few years, his passion an influences are on every page.
Didnt think about the person on the cover as the elf. Thought it was AP modelling for Dayraven.

[thefantasythinker]

"Historically accurate silly names" says it all! Ha! Seriously, great review. You echoed a lot of my own thoughts on the book. I have the map as my screen saver so I can see it better. Yeah, I'm not biased either 😉

[Paromita_M]

A very detailed and nice review.
I certainly agree about the priests being more interesting and wishing the supposed MC was a little more...purposeful?
Interesting about the prose...I personally like elaborate prose as well as simple writing...my issue was that I felt the writing had this hybridised ornate + modern style which sometimes broke immersion for me. I wanted it to be consistently elaborate or consistently contemporary.

Thanks for this review!

[vaughnroycroft]

Nicely balanced review! You were objective about your level of objectivity, lol. I'm looking forward to reading on, too.

[DREWSBOOKREVIEWS]

I have been hearing so much about this book on booktube lately, so I bought it on kindle, althought my TBR is literally 3 yrs long lol, might be a while till I get to it

[laurac]

I was very interested in your review of this book because I left it in chapter one. I figured I would try it again at some point, especially because so many people gave it such strong reviews. I’m trying to remember what I had trouble with so early, and it may have been the adjectives issue. Thanks Matt.

[safinan]

Thanks for the review… happy reading to you!! 🎥

[liviajelliot]

This was an amazing review, thanks for sharing it! i liked how thorough you were, and also the honesty of the disclaimer.
Looking forward to getting the audiobook, though! I know that the release is delayed compared to the books.

[blacknbluecollarreader]

Excellent review Matt!! It is considerably hard to be objected when it comes to friends....especially one as nice as Phillip. You did an excellent do though. I wasn't the biggest fan of cover. I like the color pallet and the stained glass look but I was the biggest fan of the women. This is definitely on my TBR though.

[Paul_van_Doleweerd]

Speaking of the map, I found that some of it disappeared in the binding and I didn't want to break the spine of the book to read it. Also, it committed the sin of skewing text on an angle to follow a feature on the map, which for some reason annoys the hell out if me 😂
I could also kind of tell which parts were written earlier and which were more recent.
And what's with the goat fucking? Philip never mentions that anywhere on his channel... 😂😂😂

[YouTubePremiumDude]

Too derivative of Tolkien for my taste.