John
To be fair I listened to this book on audio and I do NOT recommend that. Ralph Lister has no range for his voices so all the men sound the same which makes it very difficult. Also you have to pay a lot of attention or you'll get lost which is what happened to me. About 25% I was getting very bored and forced myself to get to about 75% and I finally give up. This is a huge surprise for me because I love Japanese culture and historical fiction. Maybe I will reread it physically in 30 years. I did really enjoy the historical facts though
I enjoyed this probably just as much as the first one. Although I'm getting annoyed with some plotlines being ignored like what Loche's real name is, how Chains met his fate, and what happened with Falconer? I realize there are supposed to be more books but are you really just going to prolong the suspense among multiple books?
I loved the pirate battle scenes. I haven't read very many and this by far the best one! This book felt more slow in the beginning than the first one and a lotttt of pages were dedicated to gambling which I could care less about. After the half way mark it picks up and absolutely rocks. Lynch's characters are a blast, I love the dry wit, and I'm immediately reading book 3
Took me a little bit to get into this until around halfway then I LOVED it. It's basically a Michael J Sullivan book but a whole lot better. Idk of any way I can describe this book without spoiling it but I'm probably the only person who hasn't read this anyway. I liked how this could kind be read as a standalone if you want with the only cliffhangers being very minor. The way it ended it at least made it to where there's not a huge rush to read the next one before you forget anything.
I enjoy fantasy that includes cool creatures or at least creatures that aren't overdone like humanoid beasts or dragons. This one included giant spiders which is terrifying for me and sharks! This is a book worth bypassing your TBR for sure
I wish I liked this book but I just wasn't a fan. I enjoyed the first half of the book just because it was so ambitious and strange that I just had to know what the heck was going on. But after that the story seemed to not have any focus for me. You're getting pulled all over the place.
Also every single time you get introduced to a new creepy character who goes by a different name, it's alwaysss the same person just going by a different alias. Every single time I was like “oh I bet that's actually (John Doe)” and sure enough it was.
There are two female characters in this book that have the exact same personality. They both have the same style of crude humor and they both love orgies and what not. There needs to be differentiation.
This is a book that is as strange as and crude as The Dark Tower and as ambitious as The Licanious Trilogy, so I'm certain this book will be a hit for a lot of people and maybe I'll reread it one day and not understand why I felt this way but I don't see myself giving this another shot anytime soon.
This collection was even better than the previous one!
Hope end- Verandish's husband wants a divorce or he will sell their daughter to slavery. Verandish must either kill herself or get her father to approve the divorce. She has other plans.
5 ⭐️
Girl of Hrusch Ave.- Vlora meeting Taniel and Bo as children.
5 ⭐️
Green eyed vipers- about Baroness Pentara and the behind the scenes events that brought Erika's demise
5 ⭐️
Face in the window- Taniel involved in a battle with the Kez. Involves swamp monsters and redemption of his Aunt.
3 ⭐️
Return to honor- Vlora has cheated on her husband and has lost respect from all her friends. She goes on a mission with Olem which is when she falls in love with him.
4 ⭐️
I really enjoyed this one but mainly for the supporting cast more than Hadrian and Royce. Gwen's story as a prostitute and rising above the ashes was fun. But my favorite was Hilfred who is hopelessly in love with the princess and is becoming a castle guard. Great storytelling and it makes me want to reread Ryria Revelations because I think I just wasn't in the right headspace to enjoy them all.
I don't usually like short stories unless they're prequel stories and give more understanding of a favorite character from the series. This collection does just that, especially the first 2.
The first one is about Tamas' wife before she met Tamas, and how she started trafficking powder mages to safety.
The 2nd one is about Tamas training his wife and falling in love with her.
The 3rd one is about Adamat and it was pretty good but didn't really bring anything new to his story. Just him solving another crime.
The 4th one is about Taniel which I didn't care for too much
Who in gods green earth is giving this less than 4 stars? This book was absolutely amazing. The authors prose was perfect for me. I really enjoyed how descriptive he was which I could see as being annoying but my imagination is never as good as the author so I appreciate letting me into his imagination.
The story basically is about a wealthy powerful man that wants to kill everyone above him to be supreme of the land. His daughter Mari is the most bad ass female character you'll ever read. She is the head warrior guard of the man her father wants to overthrow. She gets caught between familial loyalty and her oath before God. Indris is an elite warrior who is set on getting rid of Mari's father but he's also in love with Mari.
One of my favorite parts of this book are the cultures. You have 8 ft tall humanoid creatures that have heads of horses or lions. There are immortal creatures and humanoid creatures that can fly, etc.
The story has top tier character work with tons of politics and an extremely unique world. I 100% do not recommend listening to the audiobook. Not because the narrator is bad but because the story is so different from anything you've read with tons of characters and unfamiliar words that you are going to have to read slow and consult the glossary a bit, at least the first several chapters. I'll immediately be reading book 2 soon!
I loved this more than the first even though it's very formulaic to the first one. Instead of building the church, building a bridge over water and building a spire to the church are the main themes this time. All of the characters are extremely interesting and the evil Ralph is probably the most hate-able antagonist since Joffrey Baratheon. I loved every single page of this book and Follett is definitely a favorite of mine.
My Favorite books this year so far:
1. Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff
2. World Without End by Ken Follett
3. A Wisdom of Crowds by Joe Abercrombie
4. The Crimson Campaign by Brian McClellan
5. The Dragons of Deepwood Fen by Bradley Beaulieu
It isn't very often that a book 2 is better than book 1 but this one was a smash in the park!
The action scenes were much better and more ubiquitous. I'm not used to reading flintlock fantasies so this is all new for me but I can't imagine any of them being better than this one.
The story follows Taniel more which I started to really enjoy. War is ramping up with the Kez and there are tons of spies in the mix. Kresimir, the god, must be dealt with before he wipes out all of humanity. Tamas is still healing from his leg wound and wants revenge of his wife even more now. He won't stop until the Kez are enialated. Adamat is trying to save his family from the evil Lord Vetas.
My Favorite books this year so far:
1. Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff
2. A Wisdom of Crowds by Joe Abercrombie
3. The Crimson Campaign by Brian McClellan
4. The Dragons of Deepwood Fen by Bradley Beaulieu
5. Disquiet Gods by Christopher Ruocchio
This book started out as an America vs Russia spy thriller which I enjoyed then turned into a court thriller which I rarely enjoy.
Jenkins is a retired CIA agent that asked for help from his old boss on a secret mission. Someone is killing their spy operatives in Russia and Jenkins needs to find out. When he gets to Russia he finds out nothing is at it seems and he goes on the run from a Russian badass who pursues him restlessly and will kill anyone who covers for him. Then his own government leaves him out to dry and he's being accused of being a spy against his own country and must prove his innocence.
Not as good as the first two to me but it might because I waited too long to finish the series. I definitely will need to reread this one day because the amount of story I missed because idk what's going on is a lot. This book was at least 500 pages too long as well. Still a great series with cool ideas though.
3.5 ⭐️
A pretty start to a successful career from Janny. She's known for her political intrigue and great prose. There's tons of intrigue in this book. You truly have no idea what the outcome of this book will be and even if you get something right it won't happen the way you'd guess.
The prose wasn't all that poetic like I was expecting so I'm assuming she gets much better in later books.
The novel follows a pregnant girl who was saved by a dead wizard. His ghost tells her she is apart of his plans to save the Prince if she will agree to wed him. In this world, if a Prince isn't fertile then he will be beheaded because they don't want to deal with succession wars/disputes. As a favor to the wizard she obliges and agrees to wed him but there are powerful people in place that don't want him as king so they are trying everything they can to kill her and her baby.
The premise sounds a little dumb but the last half of the book ramps up really good and it was a short quick book. I would recommend this as a little pallet cleanser in between bigger books
Heroes Die was the most action I believe I've ever read in a book and it is very very dark. It kind of reminds me of Assassins Creed or avatar in the sense that you have a real world people that are connected to a machine or something and brought into a new world and you're being televised on your murderous adventures. Caine is the most famous “Aktir” and makes his company lots of money by slaughtering people in this “overworld”. He also has marriage problems with another aktir. She was on her own journey but is stuck in the Overworld and now Caine must save the woman he loves even though she hates him.
I also enjoyed the Joe Abercrombie-esque introspective quotes in this book!
2.5 ⭐️
I can see why people would enjoy this due to its light hearted banter, easy prose, and mystery plot but I didn't really enjoy it because of every one of those reasons.
I don't think James writes conversations well and his attempt to be funny didn't work for me, and most of the conversations were written out way longer than needed and they felt juvenile.
Example:
‘But if we can't see the glowing-‘
‘Gloaming.'
“That's what I said.'
‘It most assuredly wasn't.'
‘It most assuredly wasn't, Flea mimicked, rolling here eyes. ‘you always talk like this?'
‘Like what?'
‘Like a frilly.'
‘A what? Oh, you mean—
‘A rich person.'
Lukan gestured to his travel worn clothes. ‘Do I look rich to you?'
“You sound it.'
‘Well, contrary to your impression-‘
Most of these annoying conversations were in the beginning where Lukan would use his big boy words and Flea would ask what it means and then make fun of him for it, then after so long those stopped and conversations got better but still annoying to me for other reasons.
The prose was really easy but after ready Joe Abercrombie it just didn't help this book which isn't the authors fault but unfortunate timing.
I also for some reason don't like mystery books. Don't get me wrong I enjoy books that have mysteries in them, what good book doesn't? But I don't like books that are built around one big mystery.
All in all it's by no means a bad book it's just not for me. I think if you enjoyed Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks you'd enjoy this. It has very similar YA but not YA feel. I think James will be a great author for my taste one day but I want him to grow and move on to a new series with different plot points.
Another book with a beautiful cover that missed the mark for me