The war between the "Faithful" (the Ben-Elim) and the "Fallen" (the Kadoshim) was prophesied long ago, and the time has finally come. This is a classic "good vs evil" battle, although the cast of characters on the side of evil don't see it that way. Nathair has been convinced for a while that he is the Bright Star, the avatar of good, and he has shown a willingness to do whatever it takes to make that a reality. Of course, there are plenty of hints that he is likely the Black Sun, the champion of the evil god Asroth, who is also known as the Great Deceiver. So while there was a lot of jockeying for position and forming of alliances in the first book, in this book the sides start to clearly take shape and it is obvious that the God War is indeed a reality for the Banished Lands.

The are a number of interesting characters and scenarios forming on both sides, and there are plenty of characters to root for. This allows the pace of the series to pick up steam and I really started to get into it. Corban and his friends are easy to root for, even if he is a classic trope of a chosen one character, but I also found myself becoming a fan of Maquin, who gets transformed from a loyal shieldman into a hardened killer driven solely by vengeance. Even some of the characters on the evil side have dimensions to them that makes them more than just paper thin villains. I love a good vengeance story, and there are ton of revenge storyline options here that could come to fruition. 

After a complicated start to the series, Valor firmly establishes this as a solid epic fantasy series which now has a lot of storylines set up with the potential for satisfying payoffs in the future.

Damian Lynch continues his excellent narration of the audiobook version.