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MY ⭐️ RATING: 5/5
Format: Kindle Whispersync
BOOK DESCRIPTION
A Bound and the Broken short story inspired by Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et decorum est.”
MY REVIEW
If you thought The Fall was intense, brace yourself, because The Old Lie is The Fall on steroids and in a shorter form. The way Cahill was able to deliver a story like this within a short amount of time is nearly as impressive as the story itself.
Before you dive in to this story, do yourself a favor and read Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et decorum est.” It’s one of Cahill’s favorite poems, it’s in English aside from the title and the final stanza, it’s also the inspiration for The Old Lie. I decided to read it prior and it’s beautiful, it also lets you understand that Cahill’s story is going to be brutal. Owen’s WWI masterpiece rips apart the romantic myth of war, Cahill takes that same fury and transplants it into the Bound and the Broken world, and the result is easily the darkest, most brutal thing he’s ever written.
The Old Lie is told through a single pov of Vander Horst, son of a baker from Maristop and is set 2 years after The Fall, on the plains north of Torebon in a world already on fire. When a massive Lorian army advances, Vander is forced to pick up a spear and march into a battle he never asked for, a battle that history will remember.
“I know you’re scared, son. I am too. We all are. Fear is the thing that stands between us and everything we want in life. It exists for the sole purpose of being overcome. Don’t let it take you.”
The marching scenes, the buildup, the battle itself, everything feels terrifyingly real. You feel Vander’s pounding heartbeat, the mix of fear and fragile pride, the chaos when it all erupts. The combat is visceral in a way that reminded me strongly of the Battle at Rook’s Rest in House of the Dragon Season 2, it’s raw, messy, and absolutely unrelenting.
Cahill has said this is probably the darkest story he’s written so far, and he’s not exaggerating. Like Owen, he refuses to glorify sacrifice. There are no pretty heroics here, just the grueling, senseless cost of war and the way nations sell young people the lie that dying for country is beautiful.
What I love about Cahill’s writing is how it keeps getting better with every story he releases, whether it’s a novel, novella or short story. He’s always trying new things, pushing into darker, more experimental territory, yet the prose remains effortlessly readable and elegant, full of lines you want to highlight and save forever.
And then the way he finishes the story off is even more heartbreaking and honestly a bit fist-pumpingly exciting for what is to come in the future.
Wolfmantula.com 