Third book in the Four Feasts Till Darkness series, Feast of Chaos by Christian A Brown continues the delicate dance of progressing the possible destruction of Geadhain with the struggle to save it. Brown continues to excel at balancing the wide cast of characters with ample time and story.
It is a credit to how well Brown has developed his characters over the past two previous books that by the third, they feel like real people, people that you know and care about. So when they make mistakes, they make choices you don’t agree with, there comes an anger. You want to reach into the book, take characters by the shoulders and shake them, beg them to wake up and get real. You feel that very real exasperation you feel when you see real life friends make wrong choices, even though this time, they are just ink on a page. If that isn’t a testament to Brown’s writing ability, I don’t know what is! Especially considering the anger I felt towards said characters never once had me doubting Brown’s ability as a writer or storyteller. Since I have literally talked all about my anger over these characters in the Pages and Pause Screen podcast (spoilers, obvs), I’m going to skip over that and talk about how well the arcs progress for the rest of the cast. Those that once appeared irredeemable suddenly find themselves walking the penitent’s path and it feels real. You feel sorry for him. You feel sorry for most of these characters and the situations they’re in. And then, then you have the villains! At first, I rolled my eyes at the newest addition, the Dreamstalker, but then, THAT ENDING! Brown creates the villain that I never thought I would see. It was fantastic.
The closer we get to the end of the series, the more we see happening. War comes from all fronts and the road for our heroes looks ever bleaker. Still, there is hope that they can win, though it is interwoven with the realization that it will likely come at a great cost. Feast of Chaos by Christian A Brown is yet another great addition to the outstanding Dark Fantasy series Four Feasts Till Darkness, continuing the tradition of strong character driven fantasy.
