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The Pariah (The Covenant of Steel Book 1) by [Anthony Ryan]

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Anthony Ryan

The Pariah (The Covenant of Steel Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Anthony Ryan (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

3,909 ratings

Book 1 of 3: The Covenant of Steel

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"A gritty, heart-pounding tale of betrayal and bloody vengeance. I loved every single word." —John Gwynne

The Pariah begins a new epic fantasy series of action, intrigue and magic from Anthony Ryan, a master storyteller who has taken the fantasy world by storm.

Born into the troubled kingdom of Albermaine, Alwyn Scribe is raised as an outlaw. Quick of wit and deft with a blade, Alwyn is content with the freedom of the woods and the comradeship of his fellow thieves. But an act of betrayal sets him on a new path - one of blood and vengeance, which eventually leads him to a soldier's life in the king's army.

Fighting under the command of Lady Evadine Courlain, a noblewoman beset by visions of a demonic apocalypse, Alwyn must survive war and the deadly intrigues of the nobility if he hopes to claim his vengeance. But as dark forces, both human and arcane, gather to oppose Evadine's rise, Alwyn faces a choice: can he be a warrior, or will he always be an outlaw?

"This makes a rich treat for George R.R. Martin fans." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

For more from Anthony Ryan, check out:

Raven's Shadow Trilogy
Blood Song
Tower Lord
Queen of Fire

Raven's Blade Duology
The Wolf's Call
The Black Song

The Draconis Memoria Trilogy
The Waking Fire
The Legion of Flame
The Empire of Ashes

Print length

609 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

Orbit
Publication date

August 24, 2021
File size

3334 KB
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Total Price: $19.98

Books In This Series (3 Books)

Complete Series

The Covenant of Steel

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1
The Pariah (The Covenant of Steel Book 1)
Anthony Ryan

(3,909)

Kindle Edition

$9.99
2
The Martyr (The Covenant of Steel Book 2)
Anthony Ryan

(2,385)

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$9.99
3
The Traitor (The Covenant of Steel Book 3)
Anthony Ryan

Kindle Edition

$9.99

Anthony Ryan
2,385
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Anthony Ryan
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $9.99
Anthony Ryan
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Anthony Ryan
1,084
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Anthony Ryan
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Anthony Ryan
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Popular Highlights in this book

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One of the curses suffered by the intelligent is the power of imagination, for a clever mind will explore the dark possibilities with far more dedication than the bright.
Highlighted by 108 Kindle readers
However, the principal lesson he would teach me in very short order would be this: all ambition is folly when it fails to be matched by reason.
Highlighted by 94 Kindle readers
There are things folk will voice to strangers they would never confess to friends or family, for a stranger’s judgement matters little.
Highlighted by 72 Kindle readers

From the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

Review

''Gritty and well-drawn, this makes a rich treat for George R.R. Martin fans.'' --Publishers Weekly (starred review) --This text refers to the audioCD edition.

About the Author

Anthony Ryan is the author of the Ravens Shadow novels, including Blood Song, Tower Lord, and Queen of Fire. He lives in London, where he is at work on his next book.

--This text refers to the audioCD edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08PV49R1G
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Orbit (August 24, 2021)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 24, 2021
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3334 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 609 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #14,290 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #79 in Action & Adventure Fantasy (Kindle Store)
- #169 in Dark Fantasy Horror
- #218 in Dark Fantasy

Customer Reviews:
3,909 ratings

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Anthony Ryan

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Anthony Ryan is the New York Times best selling author of the Raven's Shadow epic fantasy novels as well as the Slab City Blues science fiction series. He was born in Scotland in 1970 but spent much of his adult life living and working in London. After a long career in the British Civil Service he took up writing full time after the success of his first novel Blood Song, Book One of the Raven's Shadow trilogy. He has a degree in history, and his interests include art, science and the unending quest for the perfect pint of real ale. For news and general wittering about stuff he likes, check out Anthony's blog at: anthonyryan.net.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5

3,909 global ratings

5 star		67%
4 star		25%
3 star		6%
2 star		1%
1 star		1%

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theresah

new world of adventure

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 24, 2023

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The Pariah (Covenant of Steel, #1)
by Anthony Ryan
A dynamic new RPG series that allow political science to be commented on. The book looks into the role of a hero, how he sees himself and how the world sees him. The main character faces hard conflicting situations that allows him to find villainy and heroism in each choice. the sad commentary of how politics can color perceptions of individual actions.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 3, 2023

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The quality of the paper book is a bit poor, but the content is totally worth it

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 5, 2022

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Good characters, good plot and good pacing make this a fun read. I'm not a huge fan of demon historical fantasy but this is pretty well done. I liked it better than his other series which lost its way with all the P.O.V changes with characters I didn't find believable or as interesting. Hopefully Mr. Ryan learned his lesson and stays focused on the main character.

One person found this helpful

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Laurs Schifter

Excellent

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 14, 2023

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This is by far the best book I’ve read in a long time.
Cheers for Mr. Ryan. What a ride

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Joe G Kushner

Clever Writing and Low Fantasy Grimdark

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 9, 2022

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One of the things it's hard to emphasis enough on this novel, is the smooth writing. Now that's important because writing preference is very personal so what I consider smooth, others may feel clunky or wordy.

After my enjoyment of the writing, I have to note, this almost feels like three novels condensed here into one novel. There's a lot of forward movement going on with big changes in scenery and background characters.

Alwyn Scribe is an interesting character in that while he starts off as a clever rogue, a 'chance' encounter with a witch puts him down a different path that may entangle him in the affairs of 'his betters'.

There were multiple surprises in the book and things didn't always flow as one would think which IMO, is a good thing. It's pleasant to be surprised.

The book ends on a hell of a cliffhanger though so be read to buy the next volume immediately after finishing.

4 people found this helpful

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SM

Great book

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 5, 2023

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Well written, entertaining, and action packed. I am very excited to read book two. Highly recommend time vested in this book.

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LJ

Exceptional writing, intense action, a savory book one.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 20, 2022

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Anthony Ryan at his best,…again. Outstanding story telling, great pacing and wondrous world building. Immediately captured my interest, with compelling characters, a solid plot and story development. Epic beginnings of another classic winner, well done, Anthony Ryan, well done.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 20, 2022

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Anthony Ryan is a fine weaver of tales. Having read much of his work you can see how his story lines have matured over the years. This book is slow at times due to the fact that is a retelling, like someone is writing the tale and then reading it to the reader. It reminds me of Rothfuss ‘s style, though with hopes that the series will be completed before the original readers pass on without knowing the end of the tale.

3 people found this helpful

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R. Desai

A tale of vengance, a story of revenge

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 25, 2021

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I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The main character is Alwyn, the illegitimate son of a prostitute. Fleeing for his life at an early age, he finds himself in the company of thieves, robbers and murderers in an outlaw band living in the forest. Here he grows and learns his skills in life. Alwyn is content to live amongst the lowest of society until his life takes a sudden twist. Betrayal abruptly results in a dramatic change in Alwyn's life. What follows is Alwyn working his way up, becoming a warrior in a bloody quest for vengeance.

For some reason, I struggled to get into the book at the start; however, I was very soon engrossed in the story. Pages flew past as I sunk into the mesmerising tale. The biggest problem with the story is the delay till the next book in the series. The plot flows smoothly for the most part. As expected from the author of the blood song, the world-building is phenomenal. Similar to blood song, the story is from the protagonists perspective.

The characters have depth; the protagonist, Alwyn, is noted for his intelligence early in the book. Organically this lends to deeper introspection and thought. Women are fascinating and brought to life, unsurprising given the strong female leads in previous books. Throughout a journey set in a medieval world, a variety of individuals appear at pivotal moments. Each one changes Alwyn's life, and thus the story. Magic, surprisingly, is barely present. The tale takes life through the heroes journey. A path through a landscape influenced by faith, politics and battle. Fight scenes are vivid and enchanting, a marked improvement. Maybe Anthony has taken lessons from John Gwynne, whose quote graces the amazon page.

This is a brilliant book and a great start to a new series. Recommended and worth buying.

11 people found this helpful

Suzanne Clune

Surpassed my high expectations...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 12, 2021

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This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and it did not disappoint. Mr. Ryan has a talent for creating memorable characters and Alwyn Scribe has certainly left an impression on me! The story starts out as a coming of age tale of Alwyn as we follow his life as an outlaw. There is plenty of action and twists throughout. I know I'm being vague, but you know, spoilers and all...

One of my favourite aspects of this story is the writing style. Alwyn himself is chronicling his story to the reader and I always enjoy this kind of style. It makes it feel more personal and immediate, especially when he speaks directly to us. There is also some great prose in here and so many quotable lines. If I weren't so immersed in the story I would have stopped to write them down.

This is very much a character centred story around Alwyn, but there are plenty of interesting secondary characters too and I was so captivated by the journey and the people Alwyn meets along the way. I really enjoyed his observations of the world around him and of his wit and intellect, although sometimes his recklessness gets in the way of his good sense.

I didn't read the synopsis first, which I'm glad of because it's actually quite spoilery in my opinion. My advice would be to avoid it if possible. So for me, the story went in some very unexpected directions which I loved. The ending opened up some fascinating possibilities to my imagination and I'm looking forward to seeing where Ryan decides to take Alwyn in the sequel.

4 people found this helpful

Vivian Evans

Strewth - how brilliant was this!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 26, 2021

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I was so looking forward to this book - and gawd, was the waiting rewarded! If my eyes hadn't given out I'd have read this cover-to-cover, non-stop, in 24 hours.
There's everything in it - realistic fights, melees, witch craft, bad men, good people - the lot. And the main character developing, flaws and all.
And then there's the forest ...
Must we really wait for another year for the next instalment?

8 people found this helpful

Philip Spick

Gritty tale of thieves and heroes

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 16, 2022

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Excellent read. I was really sorry I came to the end of this book. Anthony writes such a good story, you feel you could be there, living the characters he describes so fluently. No spoilers here but an enthusiastic appreciation of a good story, well told and with vision to set the people he describes vividly and in detail. A hint of magic but mainly relating how individuals actions can change and undo an unfair world. Highly recommended to lovers of believablely good stories.

2 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

A fantastic start to an incredible new series!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 29, 2021

Verified Purchase

As soon as I saw the cover and read the synopsis I knew reading this book would be like experiencing blood song again for the first time. Ryan knows how to write characters and dialogue. Alwyn Scribe may be one of my knew favourite characters in this genre. His adventures are enthralling just as Vaelin’s were. I really loved this book, just as much as blood song and I can’t wait for the sequel! Make no mistake, this is no blood song copy though and it seems Ryan has made Alwyn deliberately as far from a hero than Vaelin was and although Alwyn may think of himself as an outlaw there are the stirrings of the birth of another legend. Fantasy at it s best!

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