I shouldn’t be surprised by now but I freaking loved this book.
Before I gush about this book, I should start Book Review - Thorns of War
Rating 9/10 ⭐️
I shouldn’t be surprised by now but I freaking loved this book.
Before I gush about this book, I should start by thanking João for kindly sending me a copy of his book read and give my honest opinion on.
Seeds of War was one of my favourite books of 2023 and have been waiting patiently for book 2.
It’s been a year since I read Seeds of War and I have to give Joãa big thank you for providing a story so far recap at the beginning of this book. This really helped me with remembering the key points from Seeds of War but also get me very excited to dive into Thorns of War.
Somehow João has managed to take everything I loved from Seeds of War and add a little smoke to it (see what I did there) and produce a book significantly better than its predecessor.
Right off the bat we’re throw into chaos and action. Thorns of War picks up a few weeks post the explosive ending of Seeds of War and we go on a rollercoaster ride with our characters from there.
I have to say the action was so good and the details put into this book made me very invested in the outcome of the characters very quickly.
For the most part the pacing was really good, it was a slow burn from a storyline perspective but when the action kicked off, the pace picked up massively.
My only negative about this book would be that I thought a few chapters were a little rushed, for example, when key characters that got separated come back together we just got a few lines.
I would’ve preferred something more in-depth, I believe the family dynamics of the characters is a fundamental part of this story and skipping over this wasn’t to my liking.
Apart from that I loved it.
The absolute shining star from book 1 was the quality of the diverse characters. Again, João has managed to build the characterisation so well. The character growth was superb, a few characters go through some tragic situations and João makes you feel the suffering along side them.
What I truly loved in this book is the expansion on the magic and lore. I loved the smoke magic from Seeds of War, but in this book João we really get to understand the strength and limitations of this power.
Book 2 of the Smokesmith is a powerful sophomore entry to this series. This is a book where you can expect a blend of brilliant awesome action, complex characters and an awesome magic system.
Firstly let me start by thanking Michael for kindly sending me a copy of his book.
The Peace of FreyBook Review - The Peace of Freysdal
Rating 6.5/10 ⭐️
Firstly let me start by thanking Michael for kindly sending me a copy of his book.
The Peace of Freysdal is a YA fantasy story from the perspective of young Jaren.
Jaren is a thrall with a difficult start to life, however, when we encounter Jaren when he is living in Freysdal, a peaceful town which treats thralls kindly.
Freysdal is the only place where freedman and thralls work side by side.
However, nowhere is really peaceful and after Jaren learns that he is a light-twister, peace will be harder to come by.
A light-twister is someone with the magical ability to manipulate light and he must learn to master this power to join the fight and protect his family, town and more importantly his owner.
The magic itself is a great concept, any magic system around light is always a must read for me.
I liked learning about the magic as Jaren goes through his training, however, I found a number of times, I was a little confused. I suspect this is more a me problem than the book but I just didn’t find the magic easy to understand.
As I’ve already spoken about Jaren is the main focus of the story, however I didn’t find him to be a character I was particularly invested in.
To be honest I found some of the side characters more interesting than Jaren, Tobie and Ella to name a few. I’m hoping we get more background details about them in future books.
Another area I felt didn’t work for me was the pacing. This book spent so much of the middle section giving us so much detail on the magic and little snippets of story that when we got close to the end, I felt it all got a little rushed.
The best part of this book by far is the heavy action, I love an action heavy stories and this is what definitely saved this book for me, without it, the overall rating would’ve been significantly lower.
I feel this is a book that had plenty of promise but didn’t quite deliver for me however, If you love science based magic with plenty of action, this if probably the book for you.
Firstly, let me start by thanking Gregory for kindly sending me a copy of his book to review.
WhenBook Review - The Fall of the Giants
Rating 8.75/10 ⭐️
Firstly, let me start by thanking Gregory for kindly sending me a copy of his book to review.
When Gregory reached out and asked if I would be interested in reading his second release in the Dance of Light series, I jumped at the chance.
I was hugely impressed with book 1 in this series and have been eagerly awaiting the follow up.
I will start by saying it took me a minute to get back into this story, probably because of the time between books 1 & 2. I found myself rereading pages just to try and remember which characters was which and how they fit into the story.
Thank you Gregory for the characters list at the front of this book.
Once my memory kicked though, I was good to go.
In The Fall of the Giants we follow the story through multiple POVs. I lost count of the actual number but one was from the big bad, Walter. Walter is a real piece of work in this book, he is definitely a fantastic character in the written sense, but you also want someone to stab him, haha.
I know multi-POV can be a little scary at times but for a series this size it was definitely required. Each character had just the right page count to make the book feel very balanced.
The story starts pretty much right after the ending of book 1. Elliot, Long Arm, Elenor and Selwyn have all set out on their respective tasks set by Elliot at the end of the first book.
All these tasks will take our friends to different parts of Knightdorn, to try and gather potential allies for the eventual showdown against Walter.
A large chunk of this book consists of the trials and tribulations of said characters travelling and trying to achieve their individual tasks.
This gave us readers the perfect opportunity to really dive deep into the world created by Gregory.
Gregory has spent considerable time in this book on characterisation, the growth all of his characters went through was fantastic, particularly our main man Elliot.
What I really enjoyed in this book was getting to learn more about all the different races and mythology. We got to know more about the Elywn, Elves, giants, centaur, Wyverns and even a Pegasi.
There is significant less action in this book compared to book 1 but I feel that is due a lot of groundwork of the wider story arc being laid out. Plus the awesome character development has definitely been the main focus of this book, IMHO, I could be way off base.
The ending showed that Gregory can deliver some awesome action and I suspect this will be a highlight of the next book.
In this book Gregory has managed to further enhance a deeply rich story with complex characters and world building. Note this series is starting to turn up the notch in the Grimdark themes, so if you like that, you will probably love this series.
This was an awesome follow up to The Return of the Knights and I’m itching to find out what happens in the next book. ...more
I’ll be honest after reading part 1 of The Way of Kings and really enjoying it, I was somehow hopiBook Review - The Way of Kings Part 2
Rating 10/10 ⭐️
I’ll be honest after reading part 1 of The Way of Kings and really enjoying it, I was somehow hoping for part 2 to be a level above.
Boy did I get that…just wow, this book was phenomenal. That’s it that’s the word simply phenomenal.
I really enjoy part 1 but part 2 was completely breathtaking. Everything I loved in part 1 was elevated to extreme heights in part 2.
From the character work, world and development of the overarching story was developed so well. It felt very organic, nothing was force, each knowledge dump was placed in the perfect part of the story.
Most of the characters in this book, I was invested in from the first chapter in part 1, while it took me some time to get invested into some others, but they were still integral to the story, so I pushed on with them.
Towards the end of the is book, I was also very much enjoying their chapters.
The action, what can I say about the action. It was freaking awesome. It was fast paced, intense, a bloody marvel, absolutely levels above from the action we saw in part 1.
I’m so excited to get to the next instalment in this awesome series.
Rating Part 1 - 8.5/10 ⭐️ Rating Part 2 - 10/10 ⭐️
What is that one series that has sat on your TBR forever, for me that is The Stormlight Archive.
IBook Review - The Way of Kings Part 1
Rating 8.5/10 ⭐️
What is that one series that has sat on your TBR forever, for me that is The Stormlight Archive.
I’ve been avoiding this series until I knew when book 5 was coming. As we now know books will be released late 2024, I’m finally going to final start the series.
It’s a little difficult for me to actually review this book as it’s only part 1 of the first book.
What I can say is that from the pages I’ve read, this book is shaping up to be an awesome read..
The lore takes some getting used to, a lot of info to take in initially but I think I’m getting there as the story progresses.
I’ve enjoyed getting to know the great cast of characters, although there is one I’m not fully invested in yet. I hope this changes in part 2. This is the reason this is book isn’t a 10/10 star read.
On the plus side I’ve been enjoying absorbing action and politics intrigues.
I’m hoping to have more of this in part 2. ...more
When you’re in the 4th and final book of a series it difficult to review without providing spoilers, so I willBook Review - A God’s Plea
Rating 9/10 ⭐️
When you’re in the 4th and final book of a series it difficult to review without providing spoilers, so I will keep this short.
I really enjoyed this book, definitely my favourite of the series. I had a great time reading this series overall.
For me, the lore, magic system, world building and character development have all stepped up a level in this book.
The world and characters are definitely the shining stars of this series. The world is rich and large in scale and you get to spend a lot of time in many of the key landmarks through this series 4 books.
The burning question always when going into a final book of a series is, “will the author land the ending?”.
In my opinion “yes”, I really liked the ending but you will have to read for yourself to find out if you liked it.
I definitely think this series deserves more attention, please check it out. ...more
Up until around the 50% mark I was very very close to DNFing this book.
IBook Review - The Malevolent Seven
Rating 6.5/10 ⭐️
Where to start this review?
Up until around the 50% mark I was very very close to DNFing this book.
I seriously struggled to get invested into the characters, which are the main driving force of the book up to this point.
However, I pushed through and I’m happy I did, as beyond that point I felt like I broke the wall and finally started understanding the story and the characters.
The Malevolent Seven is a clever story of twist and turns.
As I said before the main force in this book is clearly the characters and we have a few to enjoy.
The main protagonist is Cade Ombra, a mercenary for hire with a secret past (if you like that trope, you will love Cade).
Alongside his best friend Corrigan, they set off on a job with very limited knowledge of the actual job or benefactor.
Along the way they need to secure the services of 5 other mages, the benefactor of this job has demanded 7 mages must be present to complete this task.
The characters in this book were all different kinds of mages, all with distinct powers and voices. Watching them develop over the course of the story was fascinating, especially when we start to uncover Cade's past.
The magic was fun to read but the true highlight of this story was the witty, sometime grotesque banter between Cade and Corrigan. There were times I was laughing out loud.
All of the plus points of this story for me were in the second half of the book, if you get invested in the characters and story earlier than I did, I truly believe you will love this book.
This was my first book by Sebastien de Castell and I enjoy it enough to want to try his other work....more
The Fury of the Gods, the third and final book in the Bloodsworn Saga has to be my most anticipated bBook Review - The Fury of the Gods
Rating 10/10 ⭐️
The Fury of the Gods, the third and final book in the Bloodsworn Saga has to be my most anticipated book since reading the first two book of this series in 2022.
To receive an arc of the final book is a huge privilege, thank you netgalley and Little Brown Books, you made a huge John Gwynne fan very happy.
In preparation for reading this arc I reread Shadow/Hunger of the Gods, both were as good as the first time, better even.
Rereading these books made me even more excited to start this final book. Especially after the ending of Hunger of the Gods.
After reading The Fury of the Gods, I can confidently say this is what an ending is meant to look like.
I knew from reading John’s other series The Faithful and the Fallen & Of Blood and Bone that John is a master of delivering final books. The Fury of the Gods was no exception, John just know how to deliver everything I want in an ending.
From Good vs evil triumphs, bloody battles, revenge arc, this book was simply magnificent.
I love how John will continue to develop his characters, even to the last page.
John has an incredible ability to make the reader love a character, start to hate them and then draw you back to loving them again, it’s just mind boggling how good he is.
He even manages to make you feel things for the “bad guy” and not just hate, which is very difficult to do.
You will not have a John Gwynne book without marvellous battles and plethora of deaths. Safe to say this book has it by the bucket load.
Another thing I love about John is he doesn’t do gore and death for the sake of it. Everything is perfectly planned out and deaths when they come add another layer to the story.
You need to know going into a John Gwynne series that no one is safe…main POV to side characters, no one is safe with John around.
I have said this on many a review, John is number one when it comes to battle scenes, he has in my opinion, god level ability to capture the rawness of the battle. Draw you in as if you’re standing in the shield wall in the thick of the action. I just do not know anytime that comes close to matching John in this.
No word of a lie it felt like this whole book was one big battle, but let me tell you that didn’t drag or hinder the development of the story.
What it did do was make this a fast pace awesome reading experience.
It’s difficult to add further details without spoiling the book, I will just say, if you haven’t read this series, what are you waiting for.
This series has just reaffirmed John Gwynne as my favourite author and this series will be finding it way into my top 10 all time favourite series. ...more
The Mad Ship, book 2 of the Liveship Trader trilogy by Robin Hobb was just simply phenomenal.
Everything I enjBook Review - The Mad Ship
Rating 10/10 ⭐️
The Mad Ship, book 2 of the Liveship Trader trilogy by Robin Hobb was just simply phenomenal.
Everything I enjoy in the first book was magnified in Mad Ship. Whether that be the awesome setting, the magical ships, or many flaw characters. It was all a level up.
The first book was a slower entry into this series, Hobb needed to first establish the characters, world, and magic. This book didn't need any of that and from the off dived straight into the action. Which I absolutely loved!
The characters continue to receive more development, and with the many new locations explored throughout this book help to enhance the scale levels dramatically.
I’ve been told so many time how good Hobb is at writing characters. I didn’t believe, well, call me converted. I now agree that Hobb is probably the best writer of characterisation in Fantasy. I’m fully on board with this statement now.
I always felt her characterisation was good in Farseer but in the first two books on Liveship, it’s on another level.
I will say it again this book was phenomenal and so excited by the direct Hobb is taking this story.
I’m already convince book 3 is going to be a wild ride and Hobb will deliver a fitting ending to this awesome trilogy.