A crazy BR with the best squad ever! Mimi and Sreyas 😉 Thanks guys for going into this rollercoaster ride with me!
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This Full review now up 😉
3,5🌟
A crazy BR with the best squad ever! Mimi and Sreyas 😉 Thanks guys for going into this rollercoaster ride with me!
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This book blew my mind!!! 😱 At first I felt like reading a not successful story from a soap opera with unlikely theory. That really REALLY annoyed me! But after some time and 200 pages in, the situation changed to better, even awesome! I ended up loving this book and craving for more! And it left me emotionally drained....
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“Humor me,” Frank said. “Don’t tell me till I’ve finished. Once you’ve heard me out, you can tell me to f**k off all you like, and I won’t say a word. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”
NARRATIVE
So, here it goes! When I firstly heard about “The Likeness”, I was really excited as I loved Cassie in book one, looked forward to meet her again so it was great to know that she has her shine hour without that mind-pooper Rob! Also the main idea to use the doppelganger theme sounded brilliant as I was making evil plans about a twin lost in birth, some crazy plastic surgery or a really talented actress with fascinating make-up skills! (view spoiler)[Well, to my great disappointment it wasn’t so and that’s where the main flaw of the story lies for me. (hide spoiler)] The lack of believability for the whole doppelganger story made a great trouble in the beginning. However, I quite liked book one in this series, despite the flaws, I could clearly see the talent of the author and once again I could see that she knows how to entwine a very good story. As my GR friend Sreyas said, real Murder on the Orient Express gem!!!!
Reading the opening sentences in “The Likeness”, I felt like I was transferred into Rebecca’s story, with an old house full of haunted past.
Some nights, if I’m sleeping on my own, I still dream about Whitethorn House. In the dream it’s always spring, cool fine light with a late-afternoon haze.
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And it delivers, a spooky old house is presented to me further in the story. Even the stories of both Whitehorn and Manderley are somehow connected….
Like “In the Woods”, “The Likeness” centers on Dublin and we get yet another murder investigation for mah gurl, Cassie, who’s the main narrator 💜
Cassie’s emotional state is interesting to observe, the beauty of simple, ordinary life is explored in great attention and at the same time if left me craving for a comeback to the investigation, looking for suspects as it’s a detective story, dang it! The detective part had its ups and downs, in comparison to book one, the mystery is almost fully solved in “The Likeness” and that is a huge plus as we know who and why did it, there are some shady things left but this uncertainty wasn’t that obvious and unsatisfying as in Rob’s mystery in book 1. That being a tasty ‘up’, I encountered the not so tasty ‘down’, I had a strong suspicion about the killer from the middle of the book as the person’s emotional profile fit the killer’s for the situation in the book, well, I must admit, I had two killers in mind and cheers to French that she managed to toss the bone to another person to make me turn my suspicions elsewhere! One more means to enlarge the haunting theme is the tie between two stories of (view spoiler)[pregnant lone women and their some kind of similar end. I mean the maid in old times, who was killed (?) and Lexie who was pregnant and was killed due to the connection to the house. (hide spoiler)]
PACE
“The Likeness” isn’t a common detective mystery. The tension, the haunting atmosphere takes time to get built and only some 150 pages in I could feel the point striking in. Some of what happens in the story is quite predictable and too convent, but certainly not all of it. The slow a bit pace let me dive into the world of “The Likeness” struggling for most of the beginning, it almost felt like a soap opera, but later on I was pulled into Cassie’s world and it kept me hooked till the very last page. But I must admit, the doppelganger’s theme still irritated me, thought, I just put it aside for a time as the story just shines with tension, haunting atmosphere and secrets when you are past the struggle in 150 pages or so.
CHARACTERS
The biggest part of the story centers on Cassie-Lexie and her time in Whitethorn House with the Fantastic Four: the cold and bossy Daniel, the self-absorbed Rafe, the eccentric Abby and the nervous Justin. That’s where the core of the story lies, the simple difficultness of the inner relationships and difficult simplicity of the emotions, grips with effective fulfillment and, in some scenes dumps a load of unnecessary heavy mood. So instead of enjoying the story all the reading time, I felt a bit tired and thinking sad thoughts.
Danger, of course, lurks around every corner and lets us see the tender, vulnerable side of Cassie, who at heart, is very lonely, so no surprise that she responds to the warmth and affection which was offered in Whitethorn by the Fantastic Four and sucks her into the world of Lexie. I enjoyed my playdate in “The Likeness” after all, despite the wish for the doppelganger’s story to have more credibility. I just couldn’t believe that exact likeness of body, face features and place can be reached in one situation. Moreover, the fact that the close, really close friends believed the fraud, except one person with enough wit! In this case I felt that this undercover operation had a bad effect on Cassie as a detective. I cheer for her deduction skills, but all the secrecy and hiding the important facts didn’t give her credit.
To sum up, “The Likeness “isn’t a fast paced detective thriller, it fuels mostly on the character development and fitting atmosphere building. The story is rather predictable, not very believable sometimes but definitely thought provoking and gripping. ...more
“There are no monsters that did not spring from the minds of men.”
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A dirty BR with my fave Geisteskranken Mirrorist and an awesome Queenof “There are no monsters that did not spring from the minds of men.”
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A dirty BR with my fave Geisteskranken Mirrorist and an awesome Queenof the Cheese Stew, Mili 💜
Oh my god, what a book we’ve read! It was as dirty, twisted, insane as the first book, even more. After liking book one I just fell in love with book two, it is funny, creepy, emotional and full of delusions more than ever! Absolutely amazing 5 million 🌟 worth read!
WORLD AND PACE
Ohhhh, Mr. Fletcher doesn’t fear to get dirty and once again, the grimdark world in this series is well-written with precision. All the scenes feel alive, entwined with emotional, detailed narrative and splattered with all the crazy ugly stuff a living being can produce! The story follows several POVs giving us a chance to see the same scene from various angles. I loved the pace, there’s no time to get bored while I rolled with the characters in the mud when watching the battles or followed them in their journey to finding themselves or losing themselves in the corrupt world with no possible HEA. Writing is engaging and just so you know guys, this book is perfect! 💜
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MAIN CHARACTERS
I loved the trio in book one and was happy to find and follow them in book two. Quite the same but also changing, becoming softer, more emotional, sharing more and revealing the talents they thought were lost, Stehlen, Bedeckt and Wichtig won my heart again. Also I couldn’t stop laughing as they got so much fun like for example (view spoiler)[when Stelhen left Wichtig bare-assed and with a dull horse, all the clothes dumped in the midden pit 😂 (hide spoiler)] There were many touching emotional moment which melted my heart and some which made me sad, too.
The pain and worry of mine, my precious boy. I was worried and angry because of what he got to experience in book one. And now I got a different take on him, his darker side was revealed and IDK if I will forgive Mr. Fletcher for doing this! Aww, my precious boy is gone 🙁
“I think the reasons people do things should matter,” said Morgen. “Maybe, if I knew those reasons, I might make different choices of my own.” “Basing your own choices on the whims and needs of others is foolish.”
“In a truly perfect world there is no need for a god to tell everyone what to do. They’re perfect, they’ll do it on their own. But you don’t want to lose your power. You like playing god, moving men like toy soldiers.”
SIDE CHARACTERS
Side characters is the part I really enjoyed. Some had a huge role to fulfill! They are well-written and give a great addition. Also the names, omg 😂Sacrifice lamb? 😂 A**hole? 😂 Would like to know more about the other trio of assassins (view spoiler)[(Ungeist, Drache and Erdbehüter. They reminded me of another trio with quite a similar task in book 1. But I hope this time they won’t fade into oblivion? Such a potential!!!!). (hide spoiler)]
MAGICAL WORLD
Oh my, various types of delusions, creatures, geisteskranken, original magical world is unforgettable. Soo excited to learn about the new creatures stalking it! Oh and lets not forget freaky magic places, like an oasis with (view spoiler)[vampire (hide spoiler)] grass! 😱 But don’t worry, I sent my two best agents to investigate 😎
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One agent down, one agent down, abort mission, retreat to the headquarters! Ah well, until next time!
TOTAL: 5 million 🌟
“Self-examination is pointless shite.“
Can’t agree more and eager to continue my adventure in this world!
A wonderful after ever after bike ride with my awesome GR friend, Eilonwy for our second BR! I loved our first BR for Drums, Girls & Dangerous PieA wonderful after ever after bike ride with my awesome GR friend, Eilonwy for our second BR! I loved our first BR for Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie, and it was great to BR the sequel together as Steve and his little bro, Jeffy won my heart. I’m probably getting too melodramatic lately as it’s the fourth book this year, which really got me crying. Damn it, how can I turn into a hardcore Godzilla again?! Jk
I expected a lot from "After Ever After", and I must admit, it didn’t disappoint. It was a fun, heart-warming, heart-breaking and interesting ride with Steven’s little bro. Both books mainly started the same, main characters being in the 8th grade, so it was interesting to compare Steven’s and Jeffy’s POVs during that period. Why is Jeffy special? Well he survived cancer, duh. But despite that, I met a flawed, kind-hearted teen, who grew up from a sick cute kid and now tries to deal with his problems himself, having time to fall in love. Also he uses humor to mask his insecurities.
Sometimes it's hard to know whether I should curl up in a ball and die of embarrassment, or give myself a hearty high five.
The people around us might get all flipped out about it, but pretty much any illness I get isn’t a big deal compared to what I’ve already been through. That’s why I was calm, even when the fever and shakes started at around nine. Mom, on the other hand, was about as calm as Bambi after the forest fire.
I loved Tad, another special character in this book, too. He's hot-tempered, distrustful, and difficult to understand. Maybe that’s why he and Jeff became BFF.
As soon as the teacher begins telling us about our next social studies assignment, I lean over and whisper, “Hi, I’m Jeffrey. I had cancer, too.” He looks at me like I’m a particularly loathsome slice of school-lunch meat loaf and says, “Wow, congratulations! What do you want, a medal?” That’s how I meet my best friend.
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I thinks the charm of this series is there, voice of such ordinary but at the same special kids. Oh and the teachers, too. How couldn’t I adore such a charming colleague? :D
“And let me tell you, when I was a kid, we didn’t have any of this Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Wii, three-D GameCube stuff. Our three-D game platform was called a park. Our Nin-ten-do virtual reality war game was called hide-and-seek. And Wii was the sound we made when we jumped fifteen feet from a tire swing.”
To hells, I have a teen son myself, who’s crazy about his bike and basketball and who sometimes has a tough period dealing with his teenage emotional issues as well as meeting girls. It was really great to read this series and spend some memorable hours diving into teen’s world and tasting some desserts as well as some sour candies. Highly recommended ;)
An awesome BR with Craig and Michael :) Best comrades ever!!!!! You are the best ;)
What a book, what a series with an epic finale. The Faithful and tAn awesome BR with Craig and Michael :) Best comrades ever!!!!! You are the best ;)
What a book, what a series with an epic finale. The Faithful and the Fallen is a series, which started quite slow for me, but it was a struggle only with the first part of book one. Overall it’s a great mix for readers stumbling into fantasy genre anew and a wonderful journey for those, who consider themselves “Old Wolves” of this reading genre. I just can’t forget the characters, I followed from the very first book. It was amazing to see them reach the peaks of their character development, doesn’t matter villain or goodie. Ban, Cora, Craf (the twin of Crone <3), Cy, Veradis, Maquin and many others will always be in my heart. Not forgetting the wonderful Storm <33333
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Let’s return to “Wrath”. It’s the final book and I knew that I’ll be mind-blown, I sure was and also impressed with a perfect blend of subtle politics, true to life and complex characters, and……… quite a lot of blood. And the baddies, oh my, great ones!
Each of the book in the series had a share of these parts, but the strongest I felt, was in “Wrath”. The writing is smooth, gripping, full of tension. It left me on the edge of my seat, craving for more. Complex world, fragile alliances, betrayals, scheming, intense descriptive prose, battles for survival. Some felt expected, some not, but nonetheless the touch of greed, cruelty and evil was always there. Does it mean that the great Good was forgotten? Not at all. I think the narrative clearly shows that the larger good can be compromised too easily and can lead to self-justifying evil as well as bad – turn into good. The balance is always changing and engulfing all the characters in a great place of myths.
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“Wrath” shows a risky path – there’s more than one unexpected or well-deserved twist. More than once my heart broke and I was so angry to see some rascals, still living through the cruelest battles. Oh, the battles – there was always gore and fighting through the series, but what I got in “Wrath”….. Oh boy, grim, intimidating and explicit, with screams of the dying, clash of the armies, cruel duels……. REAL for sure.
The best part. The characters. Some of my favorite characters finally met up and what a meetings it were. Heart-warming, heart-breaking and so awaited for sure. “Wrath” presented the great development, maturity and depth of the characters I came to love from the very first book. I’ve watched them mature, change, become scarred and broken by events, deaths of their beloved ones and now they are my family.
You’d probably think that I’m insane giving 4 stars after such praise? Maybe I am. I found two flaws which struck me as unbelievable at first as to find such holes, small ones, in plot in the fourth book….. it was unexpected and it made me angry.
(view spoiler)[At first, the gender of Scratcher, Rafe’s dog. The dog is a side character, I know, but it’s a beloved one to him and dang it, it’s so easy to write all the characters down to remember who/what are they!!!! Oh and I love dogs so, it’s for sure that I pay more attention to them in a book!
...“Besides him Scratcher ran, Rafe was still not used to seeing her without Sniffer.”
And voila, a gender change :O
...“Scratcher barked as he loped beside him.”
“ ‘Scratcher,’ Rafe commanded, his hound loping forwards, baring his teeth at Buddai.”
Also the thing with Meg, her jaw was broken. I haven’t had such awful stuff happened to me or my close people, but I goodgled it. It needs a couple of months to heal. It was strange seeing Meg ok and even no mention about her injury later after a short time. (hide spoiler)]
I just can’t forgive such things to find in a great series :O But
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To sum up and despite these two flaws, “Wrath” is a great, gripping book, a wonderful finale to the series, wrapping it all up in a great treat. ...more
Sanity. Insanity. Genius. Rampant stupidity. Frankly, I can no longer tell them apart. —FEHLENDE WAHRHEIT, GEISTESKRANKEN PHILOSOPHER
An intriguing Sanity. Insanity. Genius. Rampant stupidity. Frankly, I can no longer tell them apart. —FEHLENDE WAHRHEIT, GEISTESKRANKEN PHILOSOPHER
An intriguing BR with The Queen of Cheese Stew :) Thanks for BR this horribly awesome book with me! <3
I guess I’m beyond redemption. When I saw this book firstly, read and reviewed by my GR friends, I thought: To hells, no way I can read this cruel book. Then almost a month passed, going around it, kicking it from the TBR list, adding again. What really helped me is support of my lovely GR friend, Sarah , the awesome purple goddess and an amazing reviewer <3 Love you girly and thanks!
“Beyond Redemption” is a grim, filthy and twisted tale, it’s disgusting but intriguing for sure. The world there is full of delusions and psychoses, forming the reality, and of course there’s a need for a religious tyrant to be a cherry on this dessert of madness. Faith and corruption crave there, putting the nature of belief, religion, and power on the chopping block.
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I was amazed how Mr. Fletcher cleverly pulls the strings of religion and belief systems, juggling the quotes and thoughts of the mentionable people in the world of “Beyond Redemption”. Blending religion with the delusions and magic make this story an unforgettable and outstanding one. I can say for sure, I haven’t read anything like this before. How to survive in this grim dystopian world, which floods characters with terror, breaks them and takes away any hope? Fighting back, moving forward with determination, not giving up……
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The story started quite slow to me, I didn’t care much about the world or characters at first, concentrating more on the trio, which clearly stole the show as others just annoyed me (Yes, Konig, I’m looking straight at you and your boring snout). To my loss I didn’t pay much attention to the info, which was dumped on me in great loads as 1. German words sounded a bit alien to me. 2. I didn’t care about the world which didn’t surround my fave trio. This pacing problem followed me throughout the book, while I cheered for fighting and action and crawling through mud, observing the scenes, I didn’t care much.
My fave part, the trio I became to love: Bedeckt, an old rascal with his wish to retire quicker, Wichtig, he Greatest Swordsman in the World and the best mind-pooper; Stehlen, my fave girly, the goddess of thieving and assassinating. If I ever give up my dashing career as a Godzilla, I'm returning as Stehlen. Beware :D
[image] My team <333
They all came so alive and truly nonredeemable, with doubts and dreams and fears, lost in the filthy prose of life, poetic and brutal at the same time, clinging to their last straw of humanity.
And of course, the precious boy, in the middle of this insane “Beyond Redemption” world. (view spoiler)[What it did to him….. He was my main concern, together with the pain and hardships other kids had to suffer. I was crying, clutching Morgen in my emotional embrace and cursing Fletcher for doing the stuff to him. That was the part, crucial to me, where I needed to decide, to read or not to read further. Cause, damn but it was too much. I read further as I needed the assholes to suffer for hurting my precious boy :O And thank you Mr. Fletcher for the revenge they got. (hide spoiler)]
To sum up, this book is grim and dark. I MEAN IT, I wouldn’t recommend it freely to everyone. But if you do want to read it, be prepared to be surprised, tangled in, disgusted and intrigued....more
A wonderful BR with my son and Eilonwy :) I want to thank Bonnie for turning my attention onto this book and also to Eilonwy, who is so patient with sA wonderful BR with my son and Eilonwy :) I want to thank Bonnie for turning my attention onto this book and also to Eilonwy, who is so patient with such a terrible BRer like me! Hah, even my son read faster than me :D
What a wonderful book it is, we laughed from the jokes, were teary in some moments and of course, we were charmed by the main character. The main reason my son and I loved this book, is that it's about a 13 years old boy, who has life struggle. My son is 13 and it was a fun read for him as some situations from the book reminded him about his ordinary day at school. The book is full of humor, sad parts, interesting facts about music and health issues, crazy sneak peeks into a world of teen and his thoughts :)
You'd expect
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but you'll get
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who loves his family a lot and could do almost everything for them 💜
What more can I say, it was a great thought provoking and entertaining read :) Can't wait to get to book 2! :)...more
A Lovecrafty BR with my great GR friend Craig. Viva la Cthulhu and his kin 💜💜💜💜
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What a nice read with monsters! :) I liked this story a lot, theA Lovecrafty BR with my great GR friend Craig. Viva la Cthulhu and his kin 💜💜💜💜
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What a nice read with monsters! :) I liked this story a lot, the pace was quicker, the writing more engaging, the info about the main plotline - gripping . Dark family secrets, creepy cult, monsters, MONSTERS, suspense, ancient mystery, juicy fighting, other universes. Omg, the only flaw is that this story is too short! Btw, there are some movies! :)
DNF at page 4. YES, I could read till that page before puking overwhelmed me! That's the most disgusting, stupid, pointless and creepy book I've ever DNF at page 4. YES, I could read till that page before puking overwhelmed me! That's the most disgusting, stupid, pointless and creepy book I've ever read.
After I finished puking, the only thoughts in my head were...
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See, even Godzilla agrees!
I have one question to Nancy...
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To sum up....
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P.S. My dear friends, you are safe, I won't ever rec this to anybody! P.S.S. If you'd like to read something more coherent and more passionate please drop an eye onto
A BR with a faithful member of Cthulhu Cult, Craig.
Quite a nice ride to sunset with Cthulhu. I liked the spooky atmosphere, the info about the [image]
A BR with a faithful member of Cthulhu Cult, Craig.
Quite a nice ride to sunset with Cthulhu. I liked the spooky atmosphere, the info about the Cthulhu Cult and Old Ones,and the tickles that it gave to unbelievers! :) It would have been really cool to get more limbs flying from the main Thing, but the ending was quite nice :) ...more
A BR with my wonderful comrade at arm and a great kick-ass lady, Nils 💜
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'I will be what I will, not what anyone else wills, as can you3,5 🌟
A BR with my wonderful comrade at arm and a great kick-ass lady, Nils 💜
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'I will be what I will, not what anyone else wills, as can you. Be what you choose'.
I saw The Traitor Son Cycle series in updates/reviews quite a lot when my GR friends read it and I was the one who was determined to wait. I should have known better 😆 So when as usually stalking my GR friend Jody, I saw him reading this series and read his awesome review, I felt the right kick to start this series at last.
At quick first sight “The Red Knight” has all the things for a fantasy read I like a lot.
1. Interesting, medieval plot with knighthood and stuff ☑
2. Memorable characters I can root for ☑
3. Magical creatures and magical world in total ☑
But why 3,5 stars then? Well, not all went as planned for me!
Interesting plot with knighthood and stuff.
I liked “The Red Knight”, I really did. The writing is detailed, the story twists and turns are well planned and hard to guess and it left me excited for the next book. The fighting scenes are brutal and full of technical stuff (I could clearly imagine all the fights in my mind, the author even added the various parts of armor as a treat). The story is centered on one timeline, which spreads into multiple storylines. The chapters in “Red Knight “are quite long and it was confusing a bit for me as they contained several POV’s. It certainly helped that each POV part in the chapter was presented with a name and location. It’s interesting to follow and….stumble on grammatical errors. I am not sure if other editions had it, but mine clearly had. At first I was so interested that I didn’t notice it. But when some things started wearing me off, I added the grammar issue to the main complaint list. This is something I hope the sequels won’t have!
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Memorable characters I can root for.
“The Red Knight” is a promising fantasy read with quite a big cast (oh bro, I wished it had a cast list for real). One of the most important parts of reading a great book for me is enjoy it without going back some pages to find who was that or this important character. And to my great disappointment some characters were just cast aside for 100 pages or so. It felt like losing a thread as when the character reappeared after being missing for 100 pages I just forgot who he/she was and again got a bit lost in mix of different POVs. It was like that for almost half a book. Also I felt that one character was totally unnecessary in the book. (view spoiler)[I mean the queen. She had so many scenes which had no real importance to the story. (hide spoiler)] I am eager to be proved wrong in the sequels!
Putting that aside, I think, the characters’ personalities and names are really great and I enjoyed them greatly. There are heroes, villains, some both and some simple nice people to root for. Names like Cuddy, No head, Wilful Murder, Sauce and Bad Tom gave interesting spices to characters and helped to tell their story. The story mostly centers upon the fight between good and evil. Nasty and gripping even more than you can hope!
’Hope in one hand and sh*t in the other and see which one smells most.’ Hector
War is simple. That’s why men prefer it to real life Hywel Writhe
Bad Tom slammed his fist into the thing before it was done moving. ‘I name you – meat!’ he shouted.The mercenaries laughed. Some of the men-at-arms were even applauding and the guildsmen began to realise they might live. They began to cheer.
‘Never use this power on your emotions, boy. Our humanity is all we have.’ Harmodius
The camp of the good is well-formed, having a bunch of well-fleshed out personalities to root for. Apart from the Captain, the Red Knight himself, a born leader with wonderful powers and crappy past, there is my Tommy Boy, Bad Tom, an admirable kick-ass pal with amazing humor. The crew is worth their captain! Though, I must admit, I missed some great kick-ass heroines the biggest part of the story. I literally needed to wait for two thirds of the book to get some! Hah, but it was totally worth waiting! My love goes to Sauce, Amicia, the Abbess and Mag 💜💜💜
’We are strongest, we mere humans, when we unite. Together we can resist. As individuals – we are no stronger than our weakest.’ The Abbess
'Captain, I intend to pray. Try not to vanish in a puff of smoke,’ said the Abbess.
The evil side is supported by various creatures like boglins, irks, daemons, wyverns and so on. Of course, not forgetting the greatest evil ever – humans. They all have their own plans, personalities, strengths and weaknesses. Not leaving aside the very top villain Thorn, a real thorn on the butt of the goodies.
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Magical creatures and magical world in total.
The book is packed with various creatures, beautiful and ugly, they are well-written with details and their way of life. The magic system is new to me, l haven’t encountered such in other reads and that is a huge plus!
(view spoiler)[
The Magus narrowed his eyes. ‘That’s a human woman bound to a statue in a memory palace?’ he asked. ‘Inside your head.’ The captain sighed. ‘Yes.’ ‘Heresy, thaumaturgy, necromancy, gross impiety, and perhaps kidnapping too,’ Harmodius said. ‘I don’t know whether to arrest you or ask how you did it.’(hide spoiler)]
The beautiful creatures of the wild 💜
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To sum up, I think “Red Knight” is a great read. A fan of fantasy genre will find a great treat with interesting battles, gripping magical system and memorable characters.
‘Victory and defeat are for amateurs,’ Tom said. ‘For us, there is only life and death.’
Here it goes, I finished this book at last and don't want to review it. How do I feel? Tired, frustrated, happy, disappointed and ranty for sure. LikeHere it goes, I finished this book at last and don't want to review it. How do I feel? Tired, frustrated, happy, disappointed and ranty for sure. Like :)
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Yes, that's my true form, deal with it! :)
I wonder
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What happened to my fave series? I didn't find a proper connection to the characters, the narrative felt a bit scattered. What happened to great nasty villains? Why didn't some great characters have a proper time and chance to show their greatness? Why instead of having a great time reading, I feel like after a tiring day?
Ok, ranting mode off. I gave this book 3 stars not out of good memories. There were scenes I loved and enjoyed, though not so much. There were jokes and true, they made the book a bit better. I liked the heroic attempts, they really showed the characters from the best side, especially in the final battle. Also the last 100 pages really worked for me, it touched my heart.
To sum up. I liked book 1, absolutely loved book 2, was a bit discouraged after book 3 and book 4 nearly killed my love to them.
Oink Oink my lovely piggy tails 😊 Can someone of you tell me where’s the line between a beastA BR with a conch bearer and fellow bigun, Craig.
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Oink Oink my lovely piggy tails 😊 Can someone of you tell me where’s the line between a beast and a human? Lets find out 😊
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For the first time, I’ve read this book in my teens, I liked it a lot as when I started reading, the book represented a free-of-adults life, with fun :) In beginning I felt like reading a random kiddy adventure story with an interesting turn in kids’ life. But that lasted not for long :) What seemed like a nice game of boys, turned into a sometimes cruel game for life with feral savages, bloodlust. Soon the boys forgot that they came from a civilized land and their values had changed.
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So what happened? When was the line between a beast and a human overstepped? What makes a human be human? That’s the main theme in this book. Maybe that’s why the book is so outstanding, to feel the cruelty of life through the kids’ angle is smth unexpected and to see that even such an experience can have a happy ending (can it be called The End? I’d like to know about the further lives of the boys.)
I liked the main leading characters in this story. I mean Ralph and Jack.
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Their friendship, with a touch of hate deep in the heart, let the best and the worst features bloom. Ralph represented goodness and order, his voice of reason and the help of his backup, Piggy, helped to manage the group and invoked the respect and reliability. Jack on the other hand, was wild, ambitious and cruel a bit and the freedom affected him the most as the rescue wasn’t the goal for him, maybe because he didn’t listen to his voice of reason but instead relied on his feelings. They both are like the two sides of human soul, fighting for the right to lead, reason and emotions. One more boy, who charmed and surprised me the most, is Simon. The episodes with him and the HEAD are priceless.
The story in “The Lord of Flies” made me think more about life. Can I feel safe and say, nah, this will never happen to me or my son? I mean the emotional side of the story. It can, all of us have a part of Piggy, Ralph, Jack and Simon in ourselves. We can’t predict the limits we have and how much freedom do we need to let our demons loose.
It’s a heart-breaking story, which shows the essence of life and it’s cruel side. I’ve read this book for three times already, maybe that’s the cause why I didn’t find it so amusing or gripping as it was for the first time. But nonetheless it’s a great book, worth a time for a teen or an adult 😊
Another spellbinding, rip roaring story with the Special X, adding an interesting twist in genetics, joining forces in a BR with the British Mounted aAnother spellbinding, rip roaring story with the Special X, adding an interesting twist in genetics, joining forces in a BR with the British Mounted and a great GR friend, Craig.
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This series just never fails to keep me guessing and the characters just make me sit back with my jaw hanging. After the third book in the series I’m stunned as this book surprised me on it’s take in genetics, China culture and gripping characters.
After reading two books by Slade before "Cutthroat", I expected it to be full of police work. But it wasn’t so. You'd think that I was disappointed, but I wasn’t. Slade filled this gap with cool historical facts and some freaky genetics. After the mind-blowing secrets and well-knit mysteries in earlier two books, I expected “Cutthroat” to have this, too. But again, it wasn’t so. I guessed the killers identity and their plans quite early. But again, was it a disadvantage? In a way, though not so much as this read is not simple, it’s complicated and it left me wondering what happened to some baddies as some ends were left loose and the surprise factor really worked for me regarding one of the cops past (kids issue), also what happened to one baddy who was left for good and didn’t participate in the last stand, did this person reach the goal? Was the mission to find smth, successful?
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Also the “dream” issue. That was mindblowing, I loved the action, the suspense, the thrilling discoveries and dang it, it was almost a perfect finish!!!! I know why Slade didn’t approve it to book-reality, the information was scarce on the real subject and the authors wanted to play safe making it more believable. But this left me in confusion a bit as some of the story lines were left hanging suspended.
The genetic point. Omg, that was juicy and so interesting. A bit of speculation, a bit of bloody mess, cover it with interesting history using Custer's Last Stand and Charles Darwin and voila I’m craving to know more as I love such stuff in books. It reminded me of James Rollins and my fave, Sigma Force. Though I must confess that Rollins does it better, especially having a better basis on the subject.
a cop reciting poetry, some hairy freaks – missing links in humanity, medical researches on genetics
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a super awesome doggy hero (love you, Napoleon <333), a creepy Chinese family with secret and bloody history, a sneak peak into Chinese culture and history, quite a fine detective part in the story and what is really awesome – a touch of surprise, when you finish a book and think, WTF has just happened.
Side note. Dear authors, can you now leave Zinc in peace, stop torturing him and let him have his HEA? Too much is too much :S (hide spoiler)]
To sum up. “Cutthroat” is very different read comparing it to the first two installments. It has really great points which I loved, but also it left me a bit confused, not in a pleasant way. What I really loved is that like previous books, “Cutthroat” charmed me with gripping writing, complicated plotlines, historical spices and the characters I came to like from the very first book. I’ll def continue my playdate with Slade as new adventures await 😊 ...more
What a peculiar book. When I started reading “Kings of Wyld” I was a bit distracted, couldn’t connect toWe are each what the past has made of us.
What a peculiar book. When I started reading “Kings of Wyld” I was a bit distracted, couldn’t connect to the characters and felt like reading a random book, hah even thought of putting it on hold and read some other time. Putting my crappy POV aside, I was surprised as this book is really well written and it feels so. Though the story is not so unexpected or new (It reminded me of Joe Abercrombie), it’s quite quick-paced, it has monsters, peculiar history, quite nice worldbuilding and of course characters, with interesting backstories and what’s more important, they aren’t fluffy. A bunch of comrades get back together to reunite the band for a noble cause. The most part of the story follows them in their perilous journey to reach that cause. Rather than presenting dashing young heroes as main characters, the author chose some older men with great experience and gripping old days to remember and repeat :) And they did it great!
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So what didn’t work for me at the start? IDK, if you do, please tell me and I’ll be most grateful :D
The moment I started liking this book is when I stumbled into arena with the guys and of course I loved all the monsters in action. Hah, had to wait for that a bit :)
The story told in “Kings of Wyld” has tasty cynical spices (I love it in my fantasy), it’s grim a bit (not so dark as Malazan) and of course it’s funny. Though, I must confess, the jokes didn’t always work for me. But for the biggest part it did.
“You look like shit, by the way. What happened to your face?” Clay shrugged. “I was born this way.” “Your momma keeps an axe in her womb, eh? Was thinking of trying that myself, to keep the boys out.”
What else I liked about this book is that not everything is explained in details, so some stuff must be gathered by the reader himself/herself. Oh and the fighting, well done scenes, with all the juicy bits and crunchy sounds :)
The baddie. Oh I liked this person a lot.
A tyrannical self-proclaimed ruler +check Powerful with a large army as backup +check A representative of almost lost race with peculiar life span and armory +check A creepy pet +check A backstory as an ex-adversary +check A creepy appearance +check
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Sorry, I drooled there a bit, my apologies.
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Well, he had one disadvantage, there wasn’t a lot moments with him, but I was also charmed by a certain angel :) Oh boy, she’s awesome!!!! <3 The unexpectedness, toughness, kick-assesness, cool backstory and charming qualities!
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Did I mention monsters? Oh yes, there are a lot them! *fangirling mode on* There’s wyverns, goblins, ogres, centaurs, dragons and a few I haven’t even heard of! Like kobolds or ettins.
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The ending pretty summarizes the main themes of this book: courage, loyalty, friendship and family. That’s what matters. It definitely gave me a great satisfying feeling after finishing this book.
To sum up, “Kings of the Wyld” is a fun, entertaining read. It wasn’t mind-blowing for me but def a pleasant playdate, which I’ll be happy to continue with other books in this series.
And so it goes, thought Clay. Life was funny, and fickle, and often cruel. Sometimes the unworthy went on living, while those who deserved better were lost. Or not lost, he considered, since they lingered on in the hearts of those who loved them, who love them still, their memory nurtured like a sprig of green in an otherwise desolate soul. Which was, he supposed, a kind of immortality, after all.
A BR with my best BR partner, Craig, with me as a tail, traipsing in the back :D
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Here I am, in Riyria again :)
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One more great adventure wiA BR with my best BR partner, Craig, with me as a tail, traipsing in the back :D
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Here I am, in Riyria again :)
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One more great adventure with Riyria. It was so great to meet R&H and other characters I got to love, amazing backstories, cool action, nice fighting, some jokes. A bit predictable, but a great read nonetheless! :) The story of Reuben and the beginning of love between two main characters really touched my heart <3
A nice story, proper scary atmosphere, with a hint of madness.
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I'm struggling with my reads and IA Lovecraft BR with great GR dweller, Craig :)
A nice story, proper scary atmosphere, with a hint of madness.
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I'm struggling with my reads and I feel that Lovecraft is not getting proper attention from me as it should. I'm putting Lovecraft on hold for a bit. Sorry Craig.