 Hello and welcome friends! I'm Philip Magnus and this is my last of three catch-up reviews. I'm playing catch-up with myself, incidentally, as I'm bringing three reviews of Rob Hayes' books, the first three in the War Eternal series, to YouTube. These are all the reviews once I posted back in 2020 as blog posts, but now I thought it would be a good time to transition them into YouTube. It's exciting, it's good, it's fun, and as soon as I'm done with this, on Monday the 30th of January, I will also start uploading and doing all kinds of fun things on Sins of the Mother and their Speeding Heart, the fourth and fifth books of the War Eternal series which, incidentally, conclude this much beloved, by me and many others, fantasy series, dark fantasy series. Without further ado, let's jump into From Cold Ashes Risen. If I learned anything from Rob Hayes over the first three novels in his War Eternal series, it is this. That creature of shadow and nightmare wrapped around the core of everything you are. Well, it was your best friend all along. From Cold Ashes Risen is the conclusion of a self-contained trilogy telling the early chapters in Escarra Halzien's life and story. A better ending to these chapters I couldn't have hoped for. Escarra proves herself one of the most satisfying, dark villainous protagonists I have come across take-headed and uncompromising, violent and resolute. Her connection with the horror of the underworld, Sever Eyes, the creature known as Serakis, continues to be sent to stage. The nightmare is Escarra's ace in the hole, her trump card when everything else fails, and her constant companion. The extension of that bond throughout Cold Ashes will bring any emotionally engaged reader great satisfaction. The imagination Rob Hayes shows does not fail to impress. I've written elsewhere about the delightful way in which Source Magic works. Hayes has continued to build on top of what was a very solid foundation in along the razor's edge. Expanding and adding layer upon layer of complexity. The summoning of demons through the magical school Sorcerer's School of Impermancy, for example, is a process both graphic and painful and pretty disgusting too. Every demonic entity that is summoned passes through the Sorcerer's body in some way, either through cuts, through vomiting, up of us growing, flashy monstrosity, or even through a horrifying belch. Gut-frenching stuff. It doesn't end with the magic either. The worldbuilding is an inspiration. There's much that might be familiar to it but always twisted in thrilling novel ways and even more that is fresh and exciting to dive into. Anytime the book expanded on the gen and round this world's self-styled cruel, capacious gods, I couldn't look away. Let's return to my earlier example. Reading about how Impermancy works, I was itching to start working on a D&D seminar or demonologist class or subclass that makes use of this very unique and visual magic. I was immediately thinking about what the mechanics of that would look like in the game. It's not that Asher's risen draws you to read alone. It inspires you to participate, to enter into a dialogue with its rich ideas. Which is no small accomplishment. And it's not translated into the worldbuilding alone. Some of the lines Rob has penned struck so deep. I wanted to do nothing so much as show them off to my friends, to the world at large. Here's one. The Iron Legion shook his head. There is no reasoning with you. It is the last recourse of those with no reason to accuse others of being beyond it. Such words strike to the heart of things well beyond the fantastic Donde. There's, again, to the prose, to the reflexive rhetorical quality to it. At the early onset of the second book, The Lessons Never Learned, that inward examination was almost wearying. But Hayes has evaded that trap this time, in part because of the sheer ground he covers, but also because Eska's supporting cast draws her out in more challenging ways than ever before. Her allies were always an intriguing bunch, but her foes have never been more challenging, never more loathsome, never more personal. Conflict is near constant past the opening first act, and the character work that comes with it, both for Eska and her friends, hard, horror line, Imiko, BioKid, is riveting. The war tunnel has shaped up to be my favorite fantasy trilogy of 2020. I can think of a more consistent close to a series read during that weird year, then from Cold Ash's risen. Rob Hayes has outdone himself with perhaps the darkest fantasy novel he's written to date. In some ways it's the most hopeful too, and the one that sees a character of his grow to new heights. My advice, treat yourself to this exemplary trilogy, you shouldn't regret it. And if it proves not to be enough, well, soon I'll be telling you all about Sins of the Mother and Death's beating heart as well. Fascinating conclusions as they are to this war eternal. See you next time, and don't forget to subscribe, like, share, whatever it is, or read a damn book. Bye!