Search For A Review:
Reviews are in order by last name of author.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G| H | I | J | K | L | M |
| N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
| Books of the Year | About Me |
| ARC Reviews | Recent Posts |
| The Den (Home) |
MY ⭐️ RATING: 5/5
Format: Advanced Reader Copy
Ryan’s Discord channel: The Order
BOOK DESCRIPTION
I just want to say thank you to Ryan for providing me with an advanced review copy, for an honest review.
This did not impact my rating, in any way.
The Truth will set you free.
The final The Bound and The Broken novella coming August 31, 2026!
MY REVIEW
The Truth is a powerful yet intoxicating story that captures a raw and visceral account of how the entire order of Draleid and their ideals slowly unraveled from within over nearly a century. Cahill uses time jumps to perfection, keeping the pacing tight and the tension at its peak throughout. Spanning from 92 years before the events of The Fall, it shows the growing fractures all the way to the very day of when the order ceased to exist. It is a story of corruption, betrayal and tragedy, and while it always feels like Cahill has reached his peak, he proves to be a true student of the craft by finding new ways to work in something he’s never done before and nails it flawlessly.
The story is told through many point of views, but is mainly about Alvira, Eltoar, Farda and Fane while giving glimpses of other characters that we’ve all grown to love like Aeson, Chora and Salara. It’s something special to see who all these characters were before the world changed because The Truth is a perfectly crafted work of art that humanizes every single character. Each of these characters deliver an incredible dynamic that not only sets the entire world of Epheria ablaze, but lit a fire in my own heart.
I’m no stranger to Cahill mollywhopping me in the emotional feels, but The Truth was a knockout punch to the very core of my soul. There’s certain things you can write about or put in film that would break me. I’m not a father, but I am an uncle to two wonderful kiddos that I adore to the end of time, and there’s a part of this story that honestly completely wrecked me. It made me understand the ache, the pain and the absolute torment that destroyed a man’s heart and made me like a certain character more than I ever had, because I would be him… and he’s actually now my favorite character because of this. Cahill said this was not a happy story and he didn’t lie.
“The why of things always matters… If we do not understand why something has happened then we are doomed to watch it happen again. The cause of something is rarely what we see on the surface.”
The Truth is one of those stories that needed to be told more than any other story, because this is, in fact, the truth. Seeing the city of Ilnaen at its height rather than just the glimpses we’ve gotten throughout the series adds an even deeper layer to the tragedy of this story. It makes you realize just how controlled everything is and how long the manipulation has been going on. How deeply rooted it is and how far one is willing to go to see his plans develop. It shows that the “bad guys” all along were just being puppeteered by someone else, the mastermind behind it all.
One of my biggest issues as a reviewer is how much Star Wars I see in things and I wish I didn’t see it everywhere. I can’t help but see the Star Wars parallels within the story even more than what I’ve already seen throughout the series. I may be grasping at straws here but these feel correct to me: Amatkai feels like Sidious, Fane as Count Dooku, Eltoar as Anakin, Farda as Maul, Alvira as Qui-Gon, Aeson as Obi-Wan, Salara as Ahsoka and even Chora has a Yoda-like feeling about her. The Truth feels like a mix of the prequels. The corruption happens differently and at a later time in life, but we now know how it all started. This reminds me of one of the most famous quotes in all of Star Wars: “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”
By weaving this intricate web of manipulation, Cahill has crafted a tragedy that strikes with absolute precision. The Truth isn’t just a prequel, it is a vital expansion of The Bound and the Broken lore that proves the most terrifying monsters may not be the ones we suspected all along. It is a stunning, heartbreaking, and completely unmissable achievement that will linger in your thoughts and discussions long after the final page is turned.
Wolfmantula.com 