Never Die

Absolutely incredible book! 3.9 stars is shameful by the Goodreads community. This is one of the most unique stories I've ever read but I've also never read a fantasy book using Japanese mythology. I loved how the author would include 1 character at a time and made sure that you enjoyed yourself with one before bringing in another. So nice to be slowly brought into a world vs massive info/character dumps.

The story follows a small boy who was brought back to life by a god to kill the Emperor but first he must find a crew to help him, and they can't be just any crew, they have to be dead for reasons that I'll let you find out about. The merry band of heroes and some not must go on a quest battling mythological monsters as well bandits until they reach the end goal of killing the emperor.

This story was action packed as well as character driven. I didn't realize until finishing that this series are all standalones which is unfortunate because that ending was a BEAST and I really wanted to find out more about Einrich.

It is very formulaic in the beginning like Robin Hood to where it's meeting a new character, beat that character, said character joins merry band, rinse and repeat. I could see how that can be annoying but it worked for me and it doesn't last long and the ending is worth it

Wuxia action, spooky yokai, creepy supernaturalness everywhere. Reminded me of “Monkey”, a crazy old TV show I grew up on. The only thing I didn't much like was the ending, which seems to negate a lot of what happened throughout the book. Might've been a 4 star otherwise. But a fun read.

4.5 stars. I really enjoyed this book, especially the quest and friendship elements. My problem was I kept getting pulled away by the descriptions of the character with leprosy since from the start he felt really stigmatized. Then I deep dived into symptoms and realized Hayes got the symptoms wrong and was really perpetuating myths about the disease. From then on the repeated mentions of “the leper” and his symptoms just made me really angry every time. Not sure why Hayes chose to go this route...and how could someone with such severe “symptoms” of the disease be an expert marksman???

I was gifted a copy of the audiobook narrated by Kim Bretton to judge for the Indie Ink Awards for Best Audio Narration. Sad I don't own it now because the cover is too damn good. 

This was amazing. You get sucked right into a world utterly different from ours. It makes you want to know more and more. It's transformative with action that lights up visually. The world is very Asian inspired. Kind of like ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'-esque with the action styling. But with vengeful reanimated spirits throughout! 

The author does a great job with a group of completely different characters. They do learn and grow, but they are also so definitely themselves through the story. My favorite is ‘The Whispering Blade', Itami Cho. Her character has personality and purpose and she was such a cool fighter. 

The narration is absolutely top notch. The narrator's accent and voices are perfect for the distinct characters she's bringing to life. You can tell who's talking right by the voice she's doing and that's pretty unique. I would 10/10 recommend going the audio route.

Personally a 5/5*. I need more. And again, I'm really loving this new age run of short fantasy books!

Just couldn't connect either with the writing or the characters or the secondary world. Second book from this author i felt like having had to read smth else first (as if it's a 2nd or 3rd book in a series) and found difficult to understand. Note to myself: stop trying Hayes!

CAWPILE SCORE
C-7
A-8
W-7
P-8
I-8
L-7
E-9
TOTAL-7.71/10

A fun and enjoyable read

Good twists at the end

3.5 stars!

3.5 stars!

I really like it, the characters were amazing, the story was good too. Though, it was kind of short. But, a really good read! 4 stars.

This has to be made into an anime show! Oh my god!
Never Die is fast paced and full of action. Every battle, every fight is so well written. All the strange and creepy yokai literally jump off the page!
It took me some time to adjust to the changing POVs. About half way through though, I really started to enjoy it.
The ending was my favourite part. The last couple of chapters were just outstanding!
I really really want this to be a show!

After how much I loved [b:The Sword of Kaigen 41886271 The Sword of Kaigen M.L. Wang https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546137241l/41886271.SX50.jpg 65383313], I was so excited to read another SPFBO winner. However, this was a miss for me. It was too plot-driven for my tastes with little character development. It was battle after battle and after the first couple of battles, I was tired of the whole schtick. I don't see myself reaching for another Hayes book anytime in the future.

I originally gave this book four stars when I first finished it and forgot to review it. That was maybe 7 weeks ago? I liked the book a lot, but felt it was too short, and I enjoy sitting with characters/story a bit more than this book provides. There are a few moments of pause, but mostly, this book is plot fuelled the entire time. So I docked a star because of that.

But since I finished it, I've thought about it a fair amount. I've recommended it to two friends who were looking for a short, great read. There are a few scenes that are still very vividly painted in my mind.

So I'm bumping it up to what it deserves, a 5 star. Perhaps any longer with this story would have been a detraction, who knows. Leave them wanting more and all that. But when I'm reading 20ish books a month, and I'm still thinking about a book I read two months ago with nothing but positivity, it deserves five stars.

The characters in this are great. The action is great. The ending is great. Go read this book!

3.5 stars.
i felt tsok vibes so it must be good ?

What have I just read? What was this?? A weird child is going through pseudo-Asia. He has the mission given by a Shinigami of killing an evil Emperor. Now a small child needs to have some relevant skills to make it so, yeah? Ein can take dead people, bring them back to life and make them help him through this. They are all notable, great fighters, special for some reason and if they manage to do this they will be fully alive again. Not much to lose, right? Getting into this short little book took me much longer than I expected, mostly because a huge chunk of the book is basically the characters going around, finding the next member of the group, making them join the mission, then going on. It makes it easier to remember the characters as they are not dumped at your face all at once and I appreciate that, but also it didn't feel all that exciting. In a way I would say it wasn't. It was fine, it was okay, the writing is good, but it did not feel much more like than your average wacky character heist story. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. It's not particularly exciting either. The buildup was good, though, by the end I was made to care about these assholes. Because yes, they are not really nice people and Ein is creepy as all hell. But still, I started rooting for them because after everything it only felt right for them to get their way, partially because this wasn't a complicated book and that just seems like the just thing for the characters. They weren't bad enough to not deserve it, damn it. The end, though. Without the end this would have been a one book deal, not even a long one at that. Then things got much more complicated than that. Was it too late to make this an amazing book? I don't know. I couldn't give it a full 5 stars and I needed some time to think about what just happened. At this point I don't know where we are going for the sequel either. Part of me feels a bit salty about the fact we are left at this point of the story. It was a setup. We were made to read something that could have justifiably been half a book. This was the exact opposite of what happened with [b:The Ember Blade 34673711 The Ember Blade (The Darkwater Legacy #1) Chris Wooding https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1490348335l/34673711.SY75.jpg 55844744] and I am not 100% sold on either being the better way to divide a story into volumes. This was definitely interesting and creative, but also a very frustrating read. Short, though. I would recommend it because even if you are not on board with what is happening and how... it doesn't take too much effort. It's accessible and short and I think worth at least a look.

First off I'd like to say that I really enjoyed the story and the characters. Never Die reads very much like a manga or anime and since I enjoy them on the whole, it really appealed to me. Not to mention that I really appreciate an Eastern influenced fantasy novel, since on the whole they are fewer and farther between the modern urban fantasy and Western European influenced books and a breath of fresh air in the genre. It was fast paced and definitely kept me turning pages. Getting to know the characters was a treat and I certainly didn't expect the ending! There wasn't a lot of world building, the focus was more on the characters, and I almost wish there was more about the world itself and how it all worked and functioned, but that might be my personal preference for massive world-building books. My only gripe would be the amount of typos...there were unfortunately a lot. Usually I can overlook a few here or there, but it got to the point that it actually bothered me while reading and took me out of the story. I realize this is a self-published book, but it could have used a few more read through's to eliminate some of those. Otherwise, I really enjoyed the story and recommend it for fans who enjoy shonen type manga or anime or those looking for a story set somewhere different from the over saturated Western middle ages influence. I'm not sure I was super emotionally invested, but it was and enjoyable and fun read.

Mark Lawrence, the author of the grimdark series “Broken Empire,” said of Rob Hayes's writing ability, “(he) is one of self-publishing rising stars.” Mark Lawrence is unquestionably right. This story is the epitome of fantasy; it pits dark against light, has epic fighting scenes, heroes that are not quite perfect, and a subtle undercurrent of rye humor.

“Never Die” is centered around Ein. A boy who is not quite right and has been sent on a quest from God, a death God. For Ein's mission to succeed the mysterious and powerful Emperor of Ten Kings must fall. Also, to succeed in his quest Ein must walk barefoot across the cities, mountains, and rivers of the countryside and never don footwear. Ein must select champions to fight the Emporer for him, and these champions must die first so that their souls are tethered to Ein.

The champions are where Hayes really excelled in his story writing. Often when reading fantasy characters, an author tends to muddle together different character tropes to be some kind of quasi trope hybrid. But usually, they are similar from story to story. That isn't the case here. First of the champions is Itami Cho, AKA Whispering Blade the fastest and quietest warrior in the kingdoms. A spoken word from her can shatter walls and tear apart bodies. Secondly, Emerald Wind is a bandit who is the real self-centered bastard most of the story. He is able to blink in and out of existence moving from place to place. I find that his unabashedly disreputable character is refreshing and adds an excellent counter-balance to Itami Cho because not all heroes are good people. Thirdly we have Iron Gut Chen. He has an impenetrable skin and an impenetrable ego. He needs to consume massive amounts of wine to be happy and reminds me of a jolly sumo wrestler. Lastly, Bingwei Ma rounds out Ein's literal dream team. Bingwei is the greatest living master of wushu ever to live. He uses no weapons and has never lost a fight.

As you can see, this is a team of heroes not cut from the traditional cloth. Each also has a weakness one is good but tortured, in the case of Ikami. One is gregarious but full of himself in the case of Chen, and you have one that is chaotic with a streak of goodness, buried deeply. During the journey of the story, there is the day to day peril of existing, not enough food to eat or angry villagers, punctuated with bouts of violence and battles. This keeps the frenetic pace of the story plausible and comfortable. Hayes knows as a writer how vital pacing is, that the slow moments in a story are just as important as the wild crazy ones. As these heroes move towards their overall goal of slaying the Emporer, I found myself cheering for this band of miscreants and heroes. Will they succeed in their quest? Will they tear themselves apart first. Can Ein keep the band together through the threat of not giving them a full life again? The questions are answered beautifully in the denouement of the novel. It takes the reader to places that I had no idea where coming. I absolutely loved and appreciated the ending.

I am new to the worlds of Rob Hayes and his wonderful fantasy novels. But I am sure as hell going to stay around and make myself comfortable. If his other books are one-tenth as good as this one is, I am in for a treat. Come for the story of “Never Die” but stay for the heroes. You will be happy you did.

I was sent an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.
I have had Rob J. Hayes on my TBR for quite a while now. I have a kindle, but much prefer physical books. I think that is the only reason I haven't read any of his stuff until now. When offered an ARC, I decided to finally check his writing out. I was not disappointed.

This story follows eight year old Ein on a mission to kill the emperor. To do this, he has been granted the power to bring warriors and heroes back from the dead to aid him. He already knows who he'll raise from the dead. They are heroes from the stories his father used to read to him. Now they have to die so he can bring them back to life. It's the only way to kill the emperor.

I really enjoyed this. The characters are so different from each other. I loved how they started off strangers and grew to be a team and a dysfunctional sort of family. They each have their own kind of magic that was interesting. I loved some of the names they gave each other.

I liked this book so much that I have already bought physical copies of his first 2 series! Highly recommend for all fantasy readers.