There is plenty to enjoy but it does not fulfil the promise The Mark of Ran created. -- Owen Jones, SFFWorld.com
Kearney crafts gripping, richly imagined shipboard scenes, but Rol's personas ... hard-bitten sea dog, mystic demi-god ... don't mesh. -- Will Boisvert, Entertainment Weekly
I'll be waiting eagerly for the third volume. . . -- Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
Readers will appreciate this sword and sorcery thriller and look forward to more tales of yore from Mr. Kearney. -- Harriet Klausner's Review Archive
Parts of This Forsaken World have a bleak beauty that reminded me of Cormac McCarthy's recent post-apocalyptic novel, The Road, while other passages are as lively and well observed as anything in the oeuvre of Patrick O'Brian. -- Paul Witcover, Scifi.com