The Licanius Trilogy, by James Islington

I just waded through three gloriously large books. The Shadow of What Was Lost, An Echo of Things to Come, and The Light of All that Falls. And they tick every box for people who like gigantic epic fantasy. 

Are there names with random apostrophes in them? Yes there are. Are there so many characters that the author has to provide a glossary in the back for you to keep up with them? Yes, there are. Are they so large you could easily use these books to prop open a door? You sure can!  These books are very much in the tradition of Wheels of Time or the Mistborn series—vast sweeping landscapes of story, all interwoven with many smaller stories and covering years of time. Whether you think those traits are a negative or a positive, I think the story itself is worth reading.

The Licanius Trilogy follows Davian and his friends Asha, Wirr and Caeden through a war between good and evil—but evil doesn’t know it’s evil. This is one of the most impressive things about these books: the bad guys don’t think they’re bad guys.

They are lovable people who legitimately believe that what they are doing is right, even holy. And yet, they do horribly evil things—slaughtering millions for their god in the name of bringing back choice, giving everyone a chance to right the wrongs of the world by freeing their god, El.

Caeden, who was once at the head of these atrocities, most enthusiastic to do anything to get El free, has changed his mind. He’s not sure that El is who he says he is, or that the freedom to choose instead of live a predetermined, destined path would actually fix the nightmares that he’s done. But he is not easy in his mind about his change of allegiance because if he is wrong, then his friend Damian is doomed to a terrible death. While Caeden wrestles with his change of heart, Damian, Wirr and Asha are sucked into the politics and powers of their day. Ash and Damian, as Gifted, learn how to manipulate the two different power sources, Essence and kan, and Wirr steps into a role neither of his friends knew he was destined for.

I love the thoughtfulness of this book, and the doorstopper fantasy is exactly the right genre to tackle a tough subject like predestination! –By the way, just because I love the philosophy undergirding the storyline doesn’t mean that Islington spends pages pontificating about theological truths. The question “Is predestination an awful curse, meant to lock humanity into slavery to their own predetermined fate” simply ripples through the action of the story, peeking out in conversations and decisions the characters have to wrestle with, but never becoming heavy-handed.

This is not probably the series for you if you want a light, quick read. But if you enjoy massive fantasy worlds, these are fantastic. I actually enjoyed the characters (something I felt Wheel of Time struggled with) the pace is quick, and whether or not you’re a Christian reader, Islington’s argument for predestination is worth interacting with.