The Dragon’s Path – Book Review

The Dagger and the Coin #1

3.5 out of 5 stars

The Dragon’s Path is the set up to a larger series. You may be thinking, “Well no shit, it’s book one,” but my point is, it is clearly the beginning to a more in depth story. There are a few important things missing from this first installment; a better description of the races of humanoids and more explanation of the world history. Both are dabbled with but neither is fully fleshed out, however the interest is definitely there on behalf of the reader.

As with most fantasy series, war is brewing. Here you follow the point of views of four main people and their different experiences leading to a possible world war.

Marcus, soldier turned hired mercenary. Cithrin, orphan raised in a bank. Geder, nobleman sent to battle but a laughing stock of his fellow soldiers. Dawson, nobleman working the politician angle.

After finishing, I still don’t have a clear choice on favorite character but my poor, sweet, naïve Geder, I feel bad things are heading his way. More so than the poor fool has had to deal with already. I want things to turn around and go his way but I feel that he is doomed to a darker destiny. I guess I’ll have to read the next book to find out. Regardless of a mediocre beginning, I feel good things are to come, except for Geder.

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Providence of Fire – Book Review

Book Two of the Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne.

5 out of 5 ‘Kent-kissing stars!

The Malkeenian empire has been usurped. Murder attempts have been made on two of the three children of the slain Emperor, both have failed. Now all three follow separate paths in their quest for vengeance and to save their homeland, Annur.

Adare must win over a religious sect, even though she recently killed their favored priest and blamed him for her father’s murder. They are the only ones with an army large enough to take on her ex-lover and general of the Annurian army.

Valyn saves his brother Kaden from the massacre of his monastery in the mountains. Their paths converge for a short time but they must separate once again to complete different tasks to the save the empire. Valyn and his wing of Kettral warriors are pursued by corrupted comrades and become stranded in barbarian tribe territory.

Kaden seeks an ancient monk sect to help him take back his throne. These monks are not what the legends tell of and easily become enemies instead of allies. With only the help of two friends, Kaden must skip through magical portals across the empire in his quest to bring allies to his side before he will have the power to challenge the usurper.

It has been three years since I read the first book in the Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne (The Emperor’s Blades), and I had no problem falling back into that world. I loved the second book every bit as much of the first. Why did it take me so long to pick up the sequel? I have series ADD and skip from one to the next before getting back and completing a series. I won’t make that mistake with the third book. It will be mine by Christmas at the latest.

Of the three main characters, I really only care for Valyn and Kaden. Adare seems to be a bit of a sheep currently and those are characters I always have a hard time sympathizing with. Nira, whom you will meet in this book, is probably my favorite character overall. I aspire to swear as much as she does when I’m old.

Red Sister – Book Review

3.5 out of 5 stars

“I hope he comes back full of devils and they eat his heart.”

Where to begin? I hate trash talking an author I consider an auto buy but this one just didn’t quite do it for me. It was enjoyable but I felt sure that there would be a plot twist to surprise me at any moment, that there were red herrings galore and I would be dumbfounded when the truth was unveiled. These are things that I’ve come to expect from a Lawrence book. Turns out, things were pretty much exactly as they seemed.

I had a hard time believing that the older nuns were very deadly. They pretty easily overlooked an obvious villain in their midst. I had a hard time keeping their double names straight as well. I still don’t entirely understand why it’s necessary for them to have two names to begin with.

Can I complain that is wasn’t dark enough? Because it wasn’t, at least not for me. The ending didn’t quite quench my thirst either.

Okay enough bitching. There ARE reasons to read this. Despite my list of complaints, it’s still better than 90% of the garbage out there about girls in special assassin schools. The characters were great, their relationships interesting. They had good personal growth. I’m definitely interested in learning more about the world building in future books. I’m undecided if this is a distant Earth or another planet altogether. Just what kind of lives will our tiny assassins lead in the future? It was a good first installment but I’m hoping for a more fleshed out and coherent sequel.

“All that is given to you is choice: meet it with open eyes and peace in your heart, go gentle to your reward. Or burn bright, take up arms, and fight the bitch.”

Kings of the Wyld – Book Review

5 out of 5 stars

Goblins, wyverns and manticores, oh my!

This novel hit me with some serious World of Warcraft nostalgia.

“Matrick plied his knives like a parade drummer, his rhythm so fast his enemies didn’t know he’d murdered them until their god asked them if they took milk in their tea.”

I’m stretching the classes with this but bear with me:
Clay = warrior
Gabe = paladin
Ganelon = death knight
Matrick = rogue
Moog = mage

A melee heavy group of friends quest together through the dangerous Heartwyld, fighting in dungeons, gearing up for the big raid. At times they faced vicious creatures of the horde, but by working together they conquered their enemies and won new friends to their side.

If you’ve ever played World of Warcraft, you’ll never un-see this comparison now. You’re welcome.

*cough cough* Just had to sneak that in there.

This story literally had it all. Bizarre creatures, princesses, kings, treacherous lands, mercenaries, airships, gladiator arenas, giants, bounty hunters, friendship, love, disastrous relationships, adventure and humor.

“They do look like trouble, at least until the wizard trips on the hem of his robe. He stumbles, cursing, and fouls the steps of the others as he falls face-first onto the mud-slick hillside.”

There is not a single good reason to not read this book. In fact, if you don’t, we can’t be friends anymore.

New House Book Haul

I penny pinched for seemly forever to get this house, so I splurged a little and bought myself some new books as a house warming present. I still don’t have much time for reading but that should be changing in the next week or two, I may as well have a mighty selection to choose from. Of course, after a weekend of doing things, I’m kind of regretting my splurge, but I cannot undo the past.

On the Kindle:

  

Physical copies:

  

I’m about to finally finish Kings of the Wyld and then I’ll be picking up Red Sister as it’s my Goodreads group’s Book of the Month. Super excited to start it though because I love Mark Lawrence.

Strange the Dreamer – Book Review

5 out of 5 stars

Laini Taylor is the master of gods and monsters. I read her Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy years ago and loved it (aside from the last book), but in that time, as a reader, your tastes develop. So, I was a little apprehensive that this wouldn’t live up to all the hype for me.

Then, Taylor laid the smack down on me.

She could have wrote gibberish and as long as she did it in her own poetic way, I would still have read the whole damn novel. The writing is only a small portion of the epic that danced across the pages. Lazlo Strange may have just taken rank as one of my favorite male characters. The plot line was alluring, with an ending that is satisfying yet leaves you desperately wanting more. Holding out for the next book is going to be a bitch.

It seems a disservice to regale you with a summary of the story. This is to be tasted by each and every person on their own, sipped like a fine wine. (I don’t drink wine but this is how people have been telling me you do it. You get the description though.) I firmly believe this, I’m not just being a lazy reviewer.

I’m a Winner Dad!

I’m SO horribly pumped about this that I just had to share.

ALL the years I’ve been entering book giveaways on GoodReads and I FINALLY won one!

I’m so excited that I’m going to read this AS SOON AS I get it. Which according to the email will be in 4-6 weeks. Snail mail style.

 

Rat Queens Vol. 1 – Comic Review

5 out of 5 stars

I have the WORST best friend EVER.

She hands me comics and says things like, “I think you’ll love this.”

And then I DO.

Like I need more obsessions.

Thanks dick! ❤

(If you love epic fantasy novels, try this awesome epic fantasy comic. Blood, guts, battles and sass!)

Royal Assassin – Book Review

5 out of 5 stars 

The Farseer Trilogy Book 2 – No Spoilers

I read the first book in this series almost exactly three years ago, before I began reviewing books. I was surprised at how much of it I remembered but not enough to go back and do an actual review. So I will tell you that Hobb roped me in hook, line and sinker. Her writing has a subtle poetry to it. In the first book, the beginning of each chapter feeds you a little of the history of the world you are entering. I found it a clever and enjoyable way to learn the world building.

She continues this in the second book, but the beginning of each chapter explains instead the politics behind the royalty and sometimes background stories of other characters.

I am confident in saying that, if you enjoyed the Song of Ice and Fire series, you will enjoy this as well. Hobb has a way of making small details, rich. If one of the things that you put off of GRRM’s work is the multitude of characters each chapter switches it to, here, you follow only the view of Fitz. This does not make any of the other characters any less important.

Nevernight – Book Review

5 out of 5 stars

If this novel could have an anthem, it would unquestionably be The Exploited’s “Sex and Violence.” If you’re not familiar with the song, YouTube it and get it stuck in your head immediately, much like this book.

Now there isn’t much I can tell you that the synopsis for the book doesn’t cover, while not giving away all the juicy tidbits. So instead, I’ll just tell you about my one major beef and one joyous squeal, that happened out loud and startled my husband.

The worst thing about this entire novel is the constant asterisks and cliff notes. Holy-ever-living-fuck, Batman, were there a metric fuckton of them. So by page 55, I decided to skip every single one. Best decision. If I hadn’t, I don’t know how much longer I would have trudged on. It was that bad. An asterisk infestation. The constant pausing to check the notes really pulled away from the experience of the tale attempting to be told. Since I’ve finished the book, I can solidly tell you that I don’t feel like I missed anything by skipping out on them. I would really love to knock it down a full star for this alone. Alas, gentlefriend, I cannot.

Now that I’ve convinced you to skip the cliff notes, you should definitely give this a whirl, you won’t be disappointed. There’s sex and violence. The writing is good, the characters solid, the world-building awesome. At first the protagonist, Mia, seems a little too “badass heroine that never gets scared or fucks anything up,” but a few chapters in, this is explained and plays beautifully into the rest of the book.

Squeal moment: Book worms are real guys. Not only are they real, they’re monstrous and they eat people who fuck with books. FUCK. YES.

1,2, Mia’s coming for you
3,4, better lock the door
5,6, no lock she can’t pick
7,8, gonna stay up late
9,10, never breath again