Review: The Wilds Exile by J.D.L. Rosell

Blurb:

The best-selling Ranger of the Titan Wilds series continues in the next harrowing installment, The Wilds Exile.
 
She broke a siege. Bonded a titan. Lost the one she loved most. But Leiyn must rise above her anguish, for Unera still needs a savior...
 
Exiled and grief-stricken, the ranger Leiyn has grown numb to the world. Now she lives for one purpose: hunting the one responsible for her sorrow.
 
No matter the cost, she will bring Sharo to justice. But an aeon of plotting won't come unraveled without bloodshed...
 
The Wilds Exile is the fourth book in the Ranger of the Titan Wilds series. Continue the tale of war, found family, heartbreak, and sorcery in the penultimate chapter today.

Review:

The Ranger of the Titan Wilds series has gripped me from the first book with its unique take on the sword-and-sorcery genre, where swords are swapped out for bows and the sorcery involves summoning giant titans from the earth. Along this journey, we’ve witnessed the remarkable growth of Leiyn Firebrand, from her roots where she has denied the magic that has long dwelled within her, to a hardened warrior standing against an ancient evil come to plunge the world into shadow. With the series’ penultimate entry, The Wilds Exile, J.D.L. Rosell has set the stage for an epic conclusion where the stakes have never felt higher, and the fate not only of Leiyn and her companions, but also the entire world, feels tenuous in the balance.

Leiyn has been brought to her lowest point. Her actions should make her a hero, but she is instead an exile, her closest companion slain, and unable to feel anything but her own anguish…and the anger she holds toward the one responsible for it all. Sharo still walks free, his wicked plots still unfolding. No matter what it takes, Leiyn, along with her panoply of allies from near and far, will stop at nothing to bring Sharo to justice and avenge all who have been destroyed in his wake—no matter the price, no matter what stands in her way, and no matter the blood that must be spilled.

I’ve said it with past books in the Titan Wilds series and I’ll say it again here: Leiyn Firebrand is one of my favorite characters in modern fantasy. She’s a perfect example of a flawed character done well. Her faults are not downplayed, and her ability to overcome them all and emerge richer for it has made for a fulfilling and believable arc. With The Wilds Exile, we get to explore a grieving side to Leiyn different from what we’ve seen in earlier books. In the first book, such grief took shape in the form of anger and vengeance. In this book, however, Leiyn is broken. It’s been the buildup of blow after blow that she’s endured, that no matter how much power she has accumulated and how much of herself she has accepted, there are still people she cannot save, outcomes she cannot prevent, that her being numb to everything around her hit all the harder. We instead see an overprotective and cautious Leiyn emerge alongside the reactionary part of her, and it’s a perfect evolution of having her no longer be singularly focused while still being driven by her fiery nature.

The supporting cast remains as strong as ever, from the plainsrider Batu to the last dryvan Ata, as they all struggle to make sense of the state everything has been left in since the close of The Hidden Guardian. Rosell has allowed all of Leiyn’s companions to grow just as much as she has, and for as much as I’ve loved the Firebrand’s growth, seeing that same growth from characters like Batu has made the entire experience all the better. While The Wilds Exile has a greater plot focus than character focus relative to previous books in the series, the character work is no less stellar for it.

And it helps that the plot is a big step forward from the previous book. I will admit to feeling a bit of “middle book syndrome” from The Hidden Guardian, but I’m very glad to say that The Wilds Exile has no such slog to wade through. It’s a fast paced book, at times a bit too quick, but not once did it ever feel bogged down by everything that it’s setting up. Much of the book revolves around Leiyn and company taking down the power structures that have propped up Sharo, the result of which is some exhilarating action sequences and pulse-pounding narrative that made me eager to get to the next page. Throw in some truly shocking twists—including a phenomenal ending that has me itching for the final book—and The Wilds Exile ends up being a great return to form for the series that sets up what is sure to be a marvelous conclusion.

Without question, the Ranger of the Titan Wilds series is one of my favorites of modern fantasy, and Rosell continues to carry its torch high with The Wilds Exile. The legend of Leiyn Firebrand is soon to end, but four books in have made it a journey to remember, and one for which an epic conclusion is all but assured.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna do my part in helping Leiyn by punching a tree or something.