My complete review of The Banished is published at Grimdark Magazine.

H.C. Newell captures the brutal aftermath of Curse of the Fallen with her novella, The Banished, which is essential reading for fans of Newell’s dark epic fantasy series, Fallen Light. While the main books of the Fallen Light series focus predominantly on Neer, a young woman cursed with forbidden magic, The Banished turns the spotlight to two of my favorite supporting characters: the elven warrior Avelloch and the halfling Gil.

Emotions run raw throughout The Banished, which picks up immediately following the tragic ending of Curse of the Fallen, the first book of the Fallen Light series. Since I don’t want to spoil the conclusion of Newell’s debut novel, let me just say the characters are physically and psychologically broken, suffering from both bodily injury and post-traumatic stress.

Most of The Banished is told from the perspective of Avelloch, who returns to his homeland, the elven forest of Nyn’Dira, to find solace and hopefully to heal his weary heart. However, Avelloch is caught in the middle of a human invasion of the elven forest, needing to defend his relationship with Neer. Avelloch discovers that the threat to Nyn’Dira may be worse than initially meets the eye, with greater implications for the entire land of Laeroth.

Avelloch shares point-of-view duties with Gil, the shapeshifting halfling who is another close friend of Neer. The relationships between characters are truly a highlight of The Banished, testing the limits of both friendships and familial relationships.

Although worldbuilding takes a backseat in The Banished to focus on H.C. Newell’s outstanding character work, the novella fills in some important gaps left in the main books of the series. There are also some unexpected revelations that will change your perspective on the events of the Fallen Light series.

Already a talented storyteller, H.C. Newell elevates her writing craft to new artistic heights in The Banished, capturing the deep emotions of the characters. It helps that she has slowed down the pacing of the novella compared to the main books of the series, giving her characters the time to reflect and deal with their emotional trauma.

The Banished is a must-read for fans of H.C. Newell’s Fallen Light series, providing additional depth to several of the key characters. The novella format works well for delivering a character-focused story that packs a big emotional punch. The series continues with The Forbidden Realms and the upcoming Shadows of Nyn’Dira.42 s Chad383 18

4.5 Stars

I started reading the Fallen Light series by H.C. Newell last year and I last left off after book two The Forbidden Realms. As I've been preparing to read the third book, everyone including the author has been telling me I need to reading The Banished before I get to Shadows of Nyn'Dira. Now that I've been through this one I can see why.

The Banished timeline did catch me a bit off guard as we do take a step or two backwards to fill in some gaps with characters and story that are taking place leading up to or during The Forbidden Realms. I do feel that this works overall and the stories told in this novella were really good even on their own. It really does help us readers understand what's been going on with other characters from book one that aren't as prevalent in book two.

The pacing seemed very similar to Newell's other works that I've read to this point. There are some names that can trip readers up a bit if you're not familiar, which you should be if you're two and a half books into the series at this point. She also includes some nice reference material at the beginning of the book to help with pronunciations and remind us a bit of who is who which I always appreciate as I often don't get to binge read series and months go by in between reads.

The worldbuilding is one of the key aspects of this read. As I previously mentioned, this helps expand the world by letting us know what some of our other characters from book one and to an extent what some from book two were doing prior to The Forbidden Realms. I think this really helps strengthen the world and story of the series in a whole considerably.

The character development is probably the strongest part of this novella and more than ly the key point of this read in general. While reading book two I did miss Avelloch and Klaud from the first book. This novella helps us reconnect with those two along with some others from book one. We have a bit of character arc in this shorter read but I think we see the larger arcs expand if we take a step back and look at the series overall with this added to it.

To wrap this review up, I want to mention the amount of emotion to this story and its characters especially early on. Without giving any spoilers I will just say some of the eulogies at a sending ceremony by these characters was heartfelt if not heartbreaking. There is also the emotional connection still between Avelloch, Neer and Klaud. Another nice addition to the story was a new animal companion reunited with one of our characters. I'm a sucker for a good animal companion in stories!

I think everyone was correct in reading this between books 2 and 3 simply with what I currently know. I am hoping to get into the third book of the series in the next month or two at the latest. We all know there are so many books we want to read and simply not enough time in the day.5 s Jeremy Schwab21 3

Just as reading Novellas written by Sanderson and Cahill, this amazing story from H.C. Newell is a 170ish page Novella that reads a full length novel and is absolutely jam packed with excitement, adventure, revenge and hope.

In "The Banished" we get the story of Avelloch and Klaud as it happens directly after the events that ended book 1...and wow, what a cliffhanger ending it was! As I imagine was the same with most readers of this series, I was engrossed in Neer's journey in book 2 but just couldn't help but wonder what happened to Avelloch and Klaud. Well this is what we needed!

We get to tag along with them (with a few other familiar faces and a new companion) and experience the events unfolding in Nyn'Dira and the human invasion. With new pieces to Neer's magical puzzle requiring more sacrifice and help, Avelloch, Klaud and the rest of our group must make some dark and possibly damaging choices...in hopes to help Neer and save their home. What madness will the decisions being made by both parties lead us to in book 3?! God I can't wait to find out!
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