Week 51 Reviews: Deepwoods, Blackstone, Origins, Fallen Ward, Jioni

From Goodreads:

Siobhan Maley is the Guildmaster of Deepwoods, a small guild of ten people that serves the four continents as travelling escorts. She has no ambitions for a larger guild, either, as keeping track of those ten people is more than enough work for her. As long as she can make some money and keep Wolf and Tran from accidentally destroying any buildings, it was a good day.

But Siobhan's peaceful days take an abrupt turn when the Guildmaster of the city sends her out on a mission to go and rescue his missing daughter, Lirah Darrens. Siobhan sets out, expecting to find that Lirah was either ambushed by bandits and slain or that she was simply lost somehow along the treacherous open road.

What she finds is much, much worse. The truth behind Lirah Darren's disappearance is nothing that anyone expected. The more that she learns, the less sense it all makes.

But Siobhan acts quickly—and that’s good, because she's about to be embroiled in trade agreements, assassins, and mystery. Quite a deadly combination.

From Goodreads:

"Well, let's have it. Where do you think we should go?"

"Saoleord."

Siobhan and Conli both froze. Saoleord? The city that no one ever visited and only natives could find? "Why?" Conli asked slowly, blue eyes studying Fei's face.

Fei seemed to take a breath before admitting quietly, "Because I think we'll need help very soon."

"Fei, I'm lost. Why would you want to go home?"

"I have seen this pattern before. The last time that one country was pushed into an economical depression by another country, it led to war."

Siobhan's blood froze. "War?"

"Can a war even be possible?" Conli objected. "A skirmish I can see, one guild or one city attacking another is very possible. But to have a war, an actual war as you mean it, you'd have to get several main guilds to cooperate enough to fight in a united front. We can barely get them to agree on trade agreements."

Fei shook his head, mouth set in a grim line. "Orin is desperate. They will band together to pillage and loot, if nothing else. I tell you, the history that I learned showed this exact set of events happening over and over again. We are primed for war but we are not ready for it. If Orin pulls together an army and marches against us, they can destroy us city by city without anyone being able to stop them."

From Goodreads:

A Deepwoods Book - A Collection of Deepwoods Short Stories

As Rune grows curious about his new fellow guildmates, he decides he needs to hear their stories in full. So he asks.

Set in the midst of "Blackstone" as the group travels to Saoleord, learn with Rune how Deepwoods came to be.

In true Wynnguardian, this is the story of Deepwoods.

From Goodreads:

"Siobhian-jia. Something is amiss?"

"I don't know. That's the problem. Ryu Jin Ho-zhi. I need you to think like a strategist for a moment. If someone were to tell you about the situation in Fallen Ward, all the facts that we heard yesterday, what would you do?"

Ryu Jin Ho's dark eyes focused on her face in a penetrating way. "Is this question purely academic?"

"No. Rune is missing and we don't know where he went. I suspect it has something to do with what he learned this morning, which was all about the condition of Fallen Ward."

"So what you are truly asking me is, if I were Rune, and I learned all of that, what would I do?"

"Yes. You're both students of Hyun Woo. Knowing strategy as you do, knowing Rune's skills, what do you predict he will do?"

Ryu Jin Ho didn't even think about it for a full second before he answered her. "Assassinate the Guildmaster of Fallen Ward."

From Goodreads:

"Siobhan, I need to go home."

Blinking up at Tran's dark face, Siobhan pondered that statement, not quite understanding what he meant. As far as she knew, he was home. She was sitting in the newly finished guildhall that very moment. Pete was even napping on her foot, how much home could they be? And then the meaning clicked, "Jioni?"

Note: This is an epilogue short story and should not be read before the Deepwoods Series. 

My Review:
Oh, reading this series was so freaking good! I love Honor Raconteur's writing, and the worlds that she creates and the characters who inhabit them! And oh, this was another amazing world, with some really great characters that I loved reading about!

This is another series of Honor's where the map is very helpful, to know where characters are from, and where they're traveling. Especially since their guild does a lot of traveling! I had a tab open on my computer to look at the map throughout reading this series, and I'm so glad that I did! 

Deepwoods was really great in that it introduced this world and these characters, with the guilds and some of the politics, or at least, the politics that are going to be the main focus. What with the joint project to renovate the bridge between the lands, well, that interferes with another's plans. 

This series deals with some big political events, but it also has these members of the Deepwoods guild at the focus. I loved this group and their interactions, how Siobhan is the mother figure of the group, Wolf and Fei being the ones always getting into fights. I adored them and their relationships! 

Loved reading these series, and now to read the Artifactors series, so I can read the crossover story, Crossroads! 

Author: Honor Raconteur 
Series: Deepwoods Saga #1, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.75
Read: December 23rd, 23rd, 23rd, 23rd, 23rd, 2022
Source: Ebook.bike 
Reason Why: Love her writing and it sounded really great, and they're Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2022 Books, and Fallen Ward is a End of Series 2022 Book! 
Publisher: Raconteur House 
Published: August 31st 2014, May 26th 2015, May 8th 2016, August 28th 2015, December 20th 2021

Deepwoods: 

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

Blackstone: 

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

Origins: 

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

Fallen Ward:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

Joini:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars