Thursday, April 26, 2012

Review: "Night of Wolves (The Paladins #1)" by David Dalglish

Title: Night of Wolves (The Paladins #1)
Author: David Dalglish
Available: Smashwords
Summary: "Wolf-men, savage creatures given humanoid form in an ancient war, mass along the Gihon River. Led by their packleader Redclaw, they seek to cross the river and claim a land of their own, slaughtering those that would stand in their way. Two paladins must lead the desperate defense to stop the invasion."
Source: I purchased this on my own.


Review: This one is a little tough for me. I liked the concept. I haven't seen enough paladins in my epic fantasy reading. I liked the "competing" faiths ideas, and the beacon of faith details. The wolf-men were interesting. I would have liked more on the history of it all, about how they ended up in the Wedge and so on. I got the idea, but would have liked more. And more on the gods.


Generally speaking, I was enjoying the story pretty well. The writing is smooth and flowed well. I was into the concepts, and I liked Jerico and Darius. The build up was good.


Then something went awry. I felt like he was setting up a scene, that a critical event at the end of the story would go a certain way, and I liked where I thought it was going. I liked the idea. It didn't happen that way and I didn't really like how it did happen. (I can't say too much without giving it away.)


I realize it's the author's choice to do as he likes, and he was clearly setting up the second book... but that didn't make me like it any better.


So, I'm actually rather disappointed, because I wanted to end up liking it better but the ending has just left me with a bit of a bitter taste that makes it hard to say I really liked the story over all. I don't know if I'll read the second book or not. I'd like to see what happens, but I was so disappointed in this one, I fear getting disappointed again.


Thus, even though it all went well up until then, I'm forced to give this a 3 Fireballs since I just can't get past my disappointment.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Review: "Bakkian Chronicles, Book II - Insurrection" by Jeffrey Poole

Title: Bakkian Chronicles, Book II - Insurrection
Author: Jeffrey Poole
Available: Smashwords
Summary: "Bakkian Chronicles, Book II! Add one magic-stealing goblet, half a dozen dimwitted trolls, and one conceited wizard. Next add one kidnapped member of the royal family, one concerned son, two bodyguards, a soldier, and an adolescent griffin. Throw in a pinch of green dragon. Mix well and you will have yourself one fantastic action-packed fantasy adventure set in the magical kingdom of Lentari."
Source: I purchased this on my own.


Review: See, this time I was smart. I went into it knowing what sort of book I was going to get, after that little expectation mishap in my review of the first book.


Although the book still straddles an odd line for me between being Young Adult or Breezy Grown-up, it's still a lot of fun. Reading too much dark fantasy makes me expect every "good guy" of being a turncoat, and it's a happy relief at the end of the book when they're actually genuinely good guys. Don't get me wrong, I love a twisty-turning book, but I also like reading stories where I know what I'm getting.


Admittedly, I apologize to Mr. Poole. I'm sure my review would be more enthusiastic if I wasn't in a bit of a reading slump. I was just determined to finish this once I'd started it, so I dragged a little but I know it wasn't the book. The book kicks off the action very fast, which draws you right in, and doesn't require any "info dumps" to tell us what happened in the last book. (A tribute to the author's skill.)


Rhenyon still rocks. Steve, Sarah and Annie all reading more like teenagers than adults is still a bit strange, but far from intolerable. I'll admit I'm a little uncertain about the necessity of the Ylani (that didn't involve Main Characters) scenes, but they weren't so bad either. Otherwise, I got no complaints. I liked the sorceress sister concept, dwarf versus wizard was fun, and I like the set-up for the next book.


So, a solid 4 Fireballs for this fun, exciting romp through Lentari!


Though, reading about Steve makes me really want to up my Crit on my WoW fire mage. That's a dangerous thing! ;-)

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Review: "Die Laughing" by J. H. Sked

Title: Die Laughing
Author: J. H. Sked
Available: Kindle
Summary: "The gods are back in town. Well, one of them is - and he doesn't play nice.


Jane Rossa is trying to find out who - or what - killed her brother. Enter Billy, a nice guy with a few unusual talents, and very unusual friends.


Can a vampire, a ghost, and a shape-shifting house-cat stop a deranged god who thinks killing people and wearing their bodies is laugh-out-loud fun? 


Maybe - with a little help from their friends. And a hell of a lot of luck."
Source: I purchased this on my own.


Review: I've read both "Basement Blues" and now "Die Laughing" and they are, no doubt, very funny. I really did enjoy them. They're fairly short, but entertaining. I like all the main characters.


My only real problems is that it's written in a very... sparse style. Now, I'm one for subtlety. I don't believe authors need to treat readers like idiots and spell things out in crayon, but Sked's style (at least with these books) is a little too sparse for me to be fully satisfied. I feel like I'm left a little confused about what certain things are meant to be or meant to mean.


I also felt the story was kind of short for what should have been a bigger "scope" for the plot introduced.


And yet, all that being said, I did really like it. It was a fast, fun, funny read and I will definitely be back for more from the Blue Moon Detectives. So, a solid 4 Fireballs for this one.