Gautam Surath
Nice way to relive the times when I used to read “The Executioner” series cover to cover. I must have read 50 of these novels and thats just 6% of the total written!!!!. The Beretta 93R and Big Thunder are always going to bring back great memories:-)
After reading the first book I could not wait to get to the next one. Ofcourse, having read many a series now, I expect that there will be a drop in quality as you progress in to the series (Connor Grey being a prime example). Black scars delivers exactly that. The writing style that was so fresh in the first book becomes overwhelming in the second. The wafer thin plot also does not help and puts and even more emphasis on the detailed descriptions which at times start bordering on the senseless. Too many characters come and go and while we get a lose background for most of them they never really make an impact for themselves or are discarded without leaving a compelling memory. I will try the third book in the series in the home that the author recovers some of the mix that made the first book so awesome. Dresden Files is always going to be the benchmark!
There we go! Steven makes a comeback. The text continues to be extremely descriptive to the point of being unimaginable but I guess thats his style of writing. But the good thing here is that Steven has discovered a plot that begins to span a longer arc and its really interesting. He has also chosen to create a team rather than focus only on Cross and it clearly works. We get Black's POV and it is as gripping as Cross's. Ofcourse with the landscape he has created (The Black) he is free to screw around with just about anything so there is a complete disregard to any logic anywhere but that does not take away from the fact that every page has tons of action and drama. Soulrazor is Steven going back to the success of the first book and making it stick!
That was all I hoped it would be. Well almost. Ideally I would say 4.5 but let me give credit where its due. Steven has done an exceptional job of bringing the pieces together and giving us some respite after three books of hurt and pain. Its still not closure yet but you feel that the midpoint has been achieved. You can feel the empathy that Steven has developed for his characters and his writing style has been toned down thus allowing him to focus more on the plot rather than describing the landscape. My only gripe will be the fact that he does not handle the interpersonal relationships too well with reunions being too superficial. But thats just me cribbing. All in all its a fantastic rounding up of the breakneck speed that he has built over last 3 books and makes the three books a single sitting read.
A fitting end to an interesting series. Overall, given that it is set in an age which is quite recent in history and not a lot is known about this series is a tremendous piece of work. The merging of fantasy is done seamlessly with the reconstructed history with the required exaggeration thrown in for good measure. Excellent read and highly recommended as long as you have the stomach for it.
If I was to describe Blood Skies saga, I would say its a graphic novel in text format. Most of the descriptions make no sense but are out of this world. Most of the creatures sound exotic but there is no way to picture them in my head. Despite this they work. And so does what appears to be a side track book for we leave the current Blood Skies worlds and travel to a new one to meet one new terror and reacquaint with an older one. By the end though a lot more is getting clear on the black and its perpetrators. Its more sword and sorcery (not the traditional kind) is enhancing our journey and I hope that Montano can now bring this saga to a crescendo finish.
Short story which I hoped was Stevens way of giving insight into what was The Black. Well it does that to some extent but it also confuses you by focusing on the wrong characters not enough on the avatars. Am hoping these shorts will give us a complete picture someday!
Well I guess I had high expectations from Mark given the work he has written has been some of my favorite this year. I guess this is just a simple story with a different kind of POV. It has a sixth sense feel to it but the reveal is way to early. Pass
This was a strange book. Felt like Isaac had an idea. He wrote it down in bits and pieces and then did not take it anywhere. The whole book was like that. Matrix meets the Maze Runner or something in that space but without the purpose or suspense of either. Read and forget!
Well the pace definitely picked up and the loop Garou certainly lived up to expectations. And just how beaten up Dresden can get is really brought to life. I hope they churn these out fast enough to catch up with the books at some point though I am still considering starting the series all over again
First Hulk book I have ever read and it was brilliant. Thanks you imgur for throwing this up in my feed. Maybe I need to venture into the Marvel world a bit more now.
By happenstance i picked up a book that I had assumed myself to have outgrown almost 20 years ago. Mack Bolan reminds me of my teenage days and fantasies of going out there and changing the world all by myself. So when I decided to go back to his world, it made sense to explore it from Don Pendleton's viewpoint and not the many other writers who have followed. Which brings me to this book. To put it simply it was extremely refreshing. For the people who are going ga ga over Reacher, Mack Bolan has been there and done that. Mack's logic is simpler and his task even more so. Also, Pendleton's understanding of the Mafia is not some fluke so if you are looking for a western based in the heart of Mafia owned america, its time to ride with The Executioner.
That was a fun ride. A different side to Bolan as he uses the chameleon approach to stack the mob in Chicago against each other. It's been fun so far catching up with Bolan from the very start. Onwards
Its a nice touch to give the Grim Knight a separate arc. He is an intriguing character and reminder to us about what the principles of Batman stand for. However, we must say that he has been successful where the Bat has failed and in his world ended up doing much more good than the Bat. Maybe there is a parallel series here? Onwards
Highly avoidable. Amateur translation and no attempt at making it more palatable. If a story can get lost in translation then this is a prime example.
And with that we reach the conclusion of the Mafia Wars. And what a ride it has been. Mack Bolan is the Jack Reacher of the 80's of that there can be no doubt. Don weaves in the nature of each city and you get a glimpse of the american way of life at that time. Albeit a very tiny glimpse. The series always will strike a chord for the direct approach it takes to solving the mafia problem and the capability of one man to be an engine of change. I have always read Bolan as a random pickup and now going through 40 repetetive books has not really diminished my appetite for more reading. I will probably pick up the new war sometime sooner or later. Farewell to the Don though. Thank you for one of the more memorable characters in Fiction.
Leave your brains at home
Interesting plot, a little heart and a whole lot of unrealistic prose leave you confident of giving the next one a skip. There is a glimmer in parts that this could have been a memorable series but alas!
On the face of it, this once seems to have all the ingredients of a Batman thriller. However, the art was not very appealing and the story telling a little complicated for my liking. All in all worth a read but nothing memorable!
To be fair to Steven, I guess he tried his best. But as a huge fan of this series could not help but feel a bit cheated. Its just too complicated right from the start and things never really make much sense all throughout. Somewhere along the line Steven regressed back to the over descriptive nature and with so much to accomplish the repetitiveness of his characters thoughts and descriptions of the landscapes and death was really something he could have avoided. Still, the series does close with quite a few question resolved even though there are still many open ones. Character deaths are pretty much par for the course for Steven so not many surprises there. All in all a nice series if a bit tough to read continuously. Recommended reading for sure!
Thoroughly enjoyable read and topics right up my alley and hence the 5 stars rating. Things are explained fairly easily and enough hints to do your own research in case you want more details. Also clear call outs on where we still don't have answers. Specifically I want to know why the moon appears so close.
A rather timid ending to what I thought was a fairly well written world with an interesting protagonist. Some surprises, some good additions but in the end no proper closure. Makes me feel like the author might want to come back to this series on a later date?
So we follow Alex as he travels into the city and suddenly the scope of this series is dramatically altered. We go a single self contained prison to a global pandemic. The genre shifts from prison break to a Post apocalyptic saga. There are points where this book seems unnecessary, but AGS manages to recover it towards the end giving us a glimpse of the Warden and feeding us some burgers. All in all we barrel our way towards the climax
Wow! What an absolute ride that was. Well done and thank you to Ernest Cline for a great journey into some of the highlights of my youth. The setting is also so brilliantly crafted that you wish that such a simulation existed in our world or that technology takes us to this frontier soon. OASIS is an awesome creation and while many a book have done Virtual reality this one just makes it a fun ride without really getting into the technical aspects of how its done i.e the writer takes some significant leaps and you don't really care. In the end this book is more about living in the 80s than about Sci-fi and I dare you as a child of those years to not like this book. Highly recommended!
What a surprise this series has been so far. Far exceeds the quality I had expected from Jonathan. Its so starkly different from the world of plagues and catastrophies of his other series and this has to be his masterpiece. We follow Benny and his friends and family right after the events of book one and nothing works out as expected. Each character continues to get his unique flavor though the billions of the piece are a bit over the top for my liking. But the addition of people like Greenman and the surfer dudes are nice touches. Overall a fine addition to take the series forward and keep the reader hooked. Onwards!