Bookstooge's Reviews On the Road

Monday, May 13, 2019

[Manga Monday] Mt Osore le Voile (Shaman King #19) ★★★★☆

Title: Mt Osore le Voile
Series: Shaman King #19
Author: Hiroyuki Takei
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 210
Format: Digital Copy

Synopsis:

Yoh gives up the Shaman King fight to save Ren. The X-Laws begin to work on Ren to save his life and we begin a flashback sequence about Yoh and Anna.

Things start out with Yoh finding out the Asakura's have found a bride for him and the introduction of Matamune, a clan spirit of a cat that had been serving the Asakura's for a millennium. Yoh accidentally meets Anna outside an inn and she tells him to die. Quite the auspicious start. Then Yoh is attacked by a demon and once at the shrine, he is snubbed by Anna and told by Matamune that Anna bears a curse.

Turns out Anna creates demons whenever she goes outside and has no control over them. Yoh meets her at a souvenir shop and another demon appears. He grabs a sword to protect Anna and somehow she makes it disappear.

While this is going on Matamune and Yoh's grandmother are talking and reveal Matamune was a former spirit ally of the original Hao and then turned on Hao in the previous Shaman Fight. This act of betrayal, while saving the world, has haunted Matamune and kept him from crossing over. It is revealed that Hao was an empath and that is why he turned bad. Anna is an empath who can read minds and without help from Matamune and the Asakura's she'll turn out as bad as Hao.

Yoh breaks the dam of ice around Anna's heart with his heartfelt desire to be friends and they watch a music program ringing in the new year. The first steps along the path of their friendship have begun.

My Thoughts:

This had a lot of emotional content. Yoh placing the life of his friend Ren before his desire to become Shaman King, even before defeating Hao really showed us the readers what Yoh truly valued.

I was a little bit pissed off at the beginning when it went straight to flashback land, but the story of how Yoh and Anna met and how they became what they are today was very touching. Anna was a tragic heroine destined to be consumed by her own ability and while Matamune was brought on board to help train her, it took Yoh's true compassion for her as a person to help her make the first step in breaking free. She couldn't believe in herself until someone else showed her they believed in her.

Now that Yoh has given up in the Shaman Fight I am REALLY interested to see how Takei continues the storyline. I suspect shenanigans of some sort will be pulled to get Yoh back in or something. This is a fighting shonen manga after all so the battles can't be over.

★★★★☆

Friday, May 10, 2019

Howard's End ★★★☆½

Title: Howard's End
Series: ----------
Author: E.M. Forster
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Literary Fiction
Pages: 334
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Helen falls in love with a young man but he has overcommitted and secretly breaks it off. Helen's Aunt goes to straighten things up and ends up making an enemy of the oldest son Henry. Helen's older sister Margaret smooths things over and becomes friends with Mrs Wilcox, the mother of the young fool. This all happens at a country house of the Wilcox's called Howard's End.

Mrs Wilcox dies from cancer and Margaret ends up marring Mr Wilcox. Mr Wilcox and Helen can't stand each other, as one is a businessman and the other an impractical dreamer with an independent fortune to succor her. Helen has an affair, gets pregnant and when Henry Wilcox finds out, he hunts down the man and ends up accidentally killing him. He goes to jail and Mr Wilcox suffers several business setbacks.

Margaret smooths things over and Helen and baby live with her and Mr Wilcox at Howard's End. Mr Wilcox leaves Howard's End to Margaret in his will and everything else goes to his 3 children.

The End.

My Thoughts:

This was a finely written soap opera of absolutely zero import. It didn't help that the introduction by whoever Barnes & Noble (this was a Barnes & Noble classic from their Classics Line) hired pissed me off. Talking about literary devices and creating motives wholesale out of 2 word choices is idiotic and useless. Huh, kind of like Helen in the story. If all one does is write papers swanning on about other papers and books, then you might be feeding the soul of the world but in my books you are useless lump and do more harm to this world than any 1950's Cadillac Eldorado ever will. Go dig some ditches you useless waste of resources.

Ok, with that out of the way.....

I did enjoy this. Reading about ordinary life of small people is a nice break from Epic Fantasy or galaxy spanning plots with aliens waiting to suck our brains out. Forster, whatever you may think of the filthy pervert, could write and deserves his place in literary canon. I am sure a useless waste of resources could spend their useless life mining his stuff for “meaning” but for people who actually “do” something with their life, Forster writes in such a way as to draw you in to the story and make the people real and sympathetic. I mean, who doesn't know that relative that is well meaning but bungles things up, or that friend who is trying to be something more without even knowing what they want to be “more of” or that in-law that you just shut your mouth around to keep the peace? Forster knew people and wrote people and he did a fantastic job.

Between this and A Room with a View, I am quite impressed with Forster as an author. Knowing about him as a person however, I'll probably leave my reading of him with these 2 books and call it good. Better to leave with a good impression than to keep on and end up face down in the mud.

★★★☆½

Wednesday, May 08, 2019

The King Beyond the Gate (Drenai Saga #2) ★★★☆½

Title: The King Beyond the Gate
Series: Drenai Saga #2
Author: David Gemmell
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 321
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Several generations after the events that took place in Legend, Drenai is now ruled by a mad sorcerer who discovered ancient machines that allowed him to fuse men and animals, thus creating super warriors completely under his thrawl. Ceska started out as just an advisor but now he rules. Along the way he destroyed the one group that could have destroyed him, The Dragons. Elite Warriors, the Dragons chose not to oppose Ceska when he initially took control but were later destroyed by him. A few of them survived the ambush mainly by not being there. One such Dragon was Tanaka Khan, a half caste of Drenai Nobility AND Nardir nobility.

He sets out on a quest to assassinate Ceska, not caring if he lives or dies afterwards. Along the way he comes across old and new friends and realizes he really doesn't want to die. He gets help from the new 30 and eventually must seek the aid of his Nardir brethren. However, the only way to gain such aid is to become their Chief. He does so but visions of Nardir supremacy begin dancing through his head like sugar plums on Christmas Eve.

Ceska is destroyed along with his Dark Templars (dark versions of the 30) and Tenaka returns to the Nardir. The Epilogue reveals how he comes back to Drenai with a Nardir army in several years and is opposed by former allies from this story.

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed this a tiny bit more than Legend even while the action was a bit less. It “almost” bordered on the repetitive what with the multi-walled stalling approach but the Joinings (the man/beast hybrids) were a cool idea even if a bit under utilized.

I was talking with someone on Librarything about Gemmell and I realized that I would have enjoyed this stuff much more 15-20 years ago. I think this is geared a bit more towards the adolescent and young adult male but I don't know how the modern soyboi would take it. Anyone CAN read this but if you've read fantasy for close to a decade I suspect this won't tickle your fancy quite as much.

Nothing bad and I enjoyed this and plan on continuing the series, just not “fantastic” if you know what I mean.

★★★☆½

Legend (Book 1)

Sunday, May 05, 2019

The Wrecking Crew (Matt Helm #2) ★☆☆☆½

Title: The Wrecking Crew
Series: Matt Helm #2
Author: Donald Hamilton
Rating: 1.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Action/Adventure
Pages: 272
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Matt Helm is back working as part of the Wrecking Crew, that shadowy blacker than black government organization that carries out assassinations against targets around the world who are enemies of the United States.

Helm's wife served him separation papers after finding out about his secret past during World War II and with nothing else to occupy him, Matt returns to the only thing he really knows. This time he is sent after a shadowing agent working for Russia that took out a valuable double agent for the United States. Hooking up with the dead man's wife, Helm uses her to find his way to the Mastermind. With lots of twists and turns (who is working for who, are the good guys actually the good guys?), Helm bulls through it all in Norway. Using women like sanitizer soap, Helm eventually gets his man.

The book ends with his wife sending him signed divorce papers and a note that she and the boys are now with another man, a “good” man.

My Thoughts:

I liked the story. The twisty turny Cold War aspect was great. It was fun, it was thrilling and it kept the suspense up right until the end when Matt shoots the Mastermind.

Sadly, that just wasn't enough. Helm's sleeping with multiple women while still married is not something that I want to give countenance too. Someone as controlled as Helm CAN control himself in the area of sex. He simply chooses not to and I consider that a fatal flaw in a book character.

Throw in that he's pretty “Awww, whatever” about his wife leaving him and the fate of his 3 children and he just sickened me. When he found out they were all with another man they liked, he was like “Oh good, now I don't have to worry”.

Very disappointed with how this turned out. Matt Helm is no hero and characters like him, with an empty moral framework, do more to destroy this country than any hardline communist ever could. So I'm done with this series and will be moving on.

★☆☆☆½

Death of a Citizen (Book 1)

Thursday, May 02, 2019

First and Only (Gaunt's Ghosts #1) ★★★☆½

Title: First and Only
Series: Warhammer 40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #1
Author: Dan Abnett
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 416
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Ibram Gaunt lost his father at a young age and the data surrounding that loss was classified. This drove young Gaunt to become a Commisar, a military and political appointment where he is able to root out the evil of chaos in the emperor's name.

During his first battle right before becoming Commisar, he is confronted by a prophetess who foretells several things. While everyone else thinks she is just raving, Gaunt keeps all she says in memory and uses it to steer his life.

Once a Commisar, he finds out that his uncle, a highly decorated officer, committed a grave act of cowardice that doomed Gaunt's father to death. Gaunt duels and executes his uncle, thus leading to a schism between Gaunt's new military order, the Ghosts and the order headed by his uncle.

During one battle against Chaos, Gaunt increases his fame. A second battle does the same and marks him as a target. The third battle is for a world overrun by Chaos that holds a secret that only the Leader of the Expedition knows about, and Gaunt. The Leader wants the power of the artifact for himself so as to become Warleader of the entire Host while Gaunt knows it is truly chaos tainted and something that lead to the downfall of Humanity many millennia ago.

Gaunt wins and with the surviving Ghosts (known because they are trackers and spies) truly begins his career.

My Thoughts:

This is formulaic franchise fiction. So I expect certain things and this didn't disappoint. Another thing is that I'm reading about an already established universe and so my questions might have been answered 14 thousand books ago or simply dismissed. Franchise Fiction never stands up well to scrutiny; it's simply not meant to.

So my questions. If Chaos is so bad that it can infect people, planets, etc out of no where, why the heck doesn't the Imperial Fleet destroy every planet that has Chaos taint? Sure, that seems extreme but if Chaos is worse than the black plague and way more virulent, why is it treated so casually? Why aren't Imperial scientists working on ways to “vaccinate” against Chaos? Why all the money on the military and NO money on research? If the Emperor is, in essence, just an undead Lich King, how is he any different from the forces of Chaos he claims to be striving against? These all popped into my head and were never addressed. So I just tossed them aside so I could enjoy the book.

This is a fun “soldiers kill stuff and fight battles” kind of book. The infighting between Imperials pissed me off, but it was supposed to. Abnett shows just how corrupt Humanity is, even in the face of raw Chaos. Considering this is Ground Pounder action, I am planning on reading all 14 or 15 of these. Wouldn't surprise me if Gaunt dies right at the end though, that's how Warhammer seems to roll.

★★★☆½

Monday, April 29, 2019

Under My Heel (Kurtherian Gambit #6) ★★★☆½

Title: Under My Heel
Series: Kurtherian Gambit #6
Author: Michael Anderle
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 306
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

BA and Michael and the rest of the Queen Bitch's Guard must take down the Forsaken so that they can begin dealing with the potential threat from space. At the same time the military has begun sniffing around the AI project. BA is going to have to accelerate her plans in acquiring a secure military base where she can move the AI and begin producing prototype starships.

The remaining son of Michael, the most powerful of the Forsaken, sets a trap for the Guard and eventually BA herself. BA and her crew get to test themselves against a whole host of nosferatu and have a test run of their new attack ships.

Of course BA and Co are successful, in just about all their endeavors. The ambush is unsuccessful, the military base is procured, the prototype ships a success and the AI is moved into the Ether and begins learning with TOM as a (rather unsuccessful) gatekeeper.

My Thoughts:

The profanity is just stupid. It's not amusing, it's not actually profane, it's just an ignorant stringing together of as many curse words as possible. It felt like a teenager trying to show how tough he was by saying everything he knows he's not supposed to.

I had fun reading this even while knowing the outcome. BA is just so powerful. But that is ok because I'm not reading these for dramatic tension but for butt kicking action, which is delivered in spades.

Sorry, I just don't feel like writing and I really don't have anything else to say. These are popcorn books. So if you like that, great. If you want epic fantasy or {L}iterature, then this won't do it for you. It really is that simple.

★★★☆½

Never Forsaken (Book 5)

Bite This (Book 4)

Love Lost (Book 3)

Queen Bitch (Book 2)

Death Becomes Her (Book 1)

Friday, April 26, 2019

The Bear and the Serpent (Echoes of the Fall #2) ★★★☆☆

Title: The Bear and the Serpent
Series: Echoes of the Fall #2
Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 465
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Asmander has returned to the River Kingdom with Maniye and her Steel wolfpack, only to find he is too late and the kingdom is already riven asunder between the 2 siblings vying for control. Asmander's father continues his manipulation to make the best of a bad situation (in his eyes) and Asmander is finally forced to realize how bad his father truly is.

The male heir, who Asmander is championing, is set upon by assassins and his own supposedly loyal servants. He escapes with the help of Maniye and the Wolfpack and they have adventures out in the swampy swampland. They come across a segment of the Serpent that is trying to make a deal with the plague people, who are their mythical enemies. However, the plague people are on the run from the soul-less people from over the ocean. A lot of pointless crap happens and Asmander finally sneaks his two friends (the siblings) together so they can talk. The female heir takes the crown and her brother takes the number 2 place. Their storyline ends with the news that the soulless have already started attacking the River Kingdom and the Horse People are almost gone.

The second storyline deal with the Bear and his attempt to bring all the northern tribes together when he finds out that the villages of the Seals have been attacked and all the Seal people have turned into their animal forms but lost their minds. He puts together an Olympic style event and everyone does feats of this and that and eventually they go after the soulless people invading their land. They drive them off but with horrific losses and we the readers are shown an airship in the colors of Black and Gold.

That storyline ends with the Tribes victorious but the Bear realizing just how small their victory actually was.

My Thoughts:

This is the first book of Tchaikovsky's that I'm actually disappointed in. Even when I read Spiderlight back in '16, I was more pissed off than disappointed. I was bored for most of this book and it felt like it was re-treading so much from the first book in terms of the Tribal abilities and the reveal about the Wasp Kinden being the soulless people, while it should have been wicked awesome, just left me feeling kind of “Oh, ok, whatever. Next!”

I can remember halfway through when Maniye and her crew are dealing with the male heir and all I could think of was “throw that pussy to the crocodiles and get this story moving, please”. The Bear story didn't please me any more with “fear” just turning everyone into animals. Whatever. Master your fear or you DESERVE to go extinct. Needless to say, I was not feeling generous and nothing in this book made me feel like being generous.

Now, with all of that being said, the reason I gave this 3 stars is because it is completely up to par in terms of technical writing. Tchaikovsky can write like a master wordsmith and even in books like this where I'm just blah'ed out, I can still appreciate the skill even while not really enjoying the ride.

My expectations for the third and final book have really taken a nosedive with this. Poop.

★★★☆☆

The Tiger and the Wolf (Book 1)

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Torchship (Torchship #1) ★★★☆½

Title: Torchship
Series: Torchship #1
Author: Karl Gallagher
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 300
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Michigan Long is some sort of undercover agent. After rescuing a scientist who is delving into AI and getting him out of the Fusion (a collection of worlds with a lot technology), she takes up residence as a pilot on a Disconnected (a group of worlds without tech and where slide rules are used for space travel) ship, she has several adventures.

One, their ship is hired as a tour ship that is a cover for a high profile kidnapping. Michigan helps save the day and brings some much needed attention to their ship by powerful people, with money.

That leads into them coming to the attention of the Terraformers, humans who still have contact with uncorrupted AI (corrupted AI are known as Betrayers as they took over the Sol system way back when and are now at quiet war with humanity). They go to a terraformer world only to find a powerful poacher killing wildlife left and right. They deal with him.

The third adventure is a story and a story. They are approached by a man who claims that his grandfather fled from Earth during the betrayal but buried 2 cargo loads of invaluable treasure on a meteor in the Sol system. He has the coordinates but needs a ship and crew willing to risk their lives to enter AI space. To avoid treasure seekers following them, they hire out as a Pilgrim ship. Pilgrims are humans who want to return to Earth, thinking that they will be integrated with the AI. No one, or even any information, has ever returned from a Pilgrimage. They are successful at dropping the pilgrims of in the Sol system and at picking up the treasure.

On their way home they run into an eruption of the war between AI and humans. They are used as bait by the Fusion navy, who uses a new secret weapon to wipe out the Betrayers. Michigan marries the mechanic on the Torchship and is instructed to inform the captain of the ship on her secret military status.

My Thoughts:

This was science fiction in the vein of Heinlein, what with the slide rules, etc. Gallagher did a good job of revealing information about the existing universe without me feeling like he was infodumping OR with-holding info “because of reasons”.

I was not expecting the various adventures format, so it threw me at first but once I realized what was going on, it was enjoyable.

In regards to Michie, there is a lot of hints but very little concrete. I figure the next 2 books will delve more into what is going on with her. This book felt like an introduction to her, the crew & ship and the existing universe in general.

There was a little side plot about the scientist she rescues at the beginning running through the book and I figure since he's into AI that he'll be central to defeating the Betrayers if that is the route Gallagher takes us. I hope so because I LOVE humans vs AI stories where humans kick some silicon butt.

The nice thing is that I already know this is a trilogy, so no cliffhangers for me!

★★★☆½

Monday, April 22, 2019

Haunted Forest Tour ★★★☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Haunted Forest Tour
Series: ----------
Author: James Moore & Jeff Strand
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Horror
Pages: 270
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

A forest grew up in one day in New Mexico, destroying a small town and killing almost all of the inhabitants. The survivors reported seeing otherworldly monsters.

The owner of the land opened up a tourist attraction where people could take a ride on armored buses through the edge of the forest to see the various creatures. He also hired cryptozoologists to study the remains of the creatures. The Haunted Forest Tour has a 100% safety rating and no one has ever gotten hurt.

For months now, crew have been laying down new track to the center of the forest. On Halloween a select group of 80 people are invited to go deeper into the forest than anyone has ever gone before. Unfortunately for them, the power goes out on the track and an accident occurs between 2 of the buses. Also, the monsters begin attacking, something they've never done before. The tourists split, some staying in the buses to wait for rescue and others to try to strike out and rescue themselves. Those who stay are eaten rather quickly.

The group we follow make it to an abandoned facility within the Forest. They realize they've gone even deeper into the forest and one of them strikes out on his own to follow the rails back to the edge of the Forest. The remainder are split up. It is revealed that the Forest is an intrusion from a demonic dimension and that the ruler has made a deal with the owner of Haunted Forest Tours. This demon needs a willing sacrifice AND a willing host to fully integrate his dimension into ours. He gets the sacrifice but is outwitted and some other humans destroy his host.

The whole forest and all of its denizens return to the their dimension and only a few people survive.

My Thoughts:

I have to admit, I was hoping for more. Part of that was me wanting answers well before the authors chose to give it. I didn't learn that the Forest was a hell pocket until well past the 50% mark and up to that point I was trying to figure out what was going on. The deal with the devil explained almost everything but it came too late for me, as I was too distracted by my own questions up to that point.

I was also disappointed in how the military reacted. They're shown as a bunch of lackwits and idiots. I was hoping for something a bit more in the vein of Through the Looking Glass by John Ringo.

The violence was pretty high but felt like some sort of B movie violence where it was just so splatterific that it moved into silly territory when that was NOT the intention. There was one torture scene near the end though that was just grotesque.

For a horror book, I never felt a moments dread. Horror is atmospheric, not just describing people getting killed horrifically. This had as much atmosphere as an empty elevator.

Overall, I don't feel like my time was wasted, as I got all the splatterific I could handle but there was no nuance and the whole supernatural side of things was just shoehorned in. The ending seemed to happen in 5 pages and authorial handwavium definitely occurred. This book didn't leave me wanting to seek out any more by either author.

★★★☆☆

Friday, April 19, 2019

Malice (The Faithful and the Fallen #1) ★★☆☆½

Title: Malice
Series: The Faithful and the Fallen #1
Author: John Gwynne
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 641
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

A thousand years ago there was a god-war between the Creator and his highest created being, Asroth. Asroth and his allies came to the physical world to destroy what they could. In the god-war Asroth and his minions were banished to the realm of the spirit. Not content to exist, Asroth sent a star from heaven to the earth from which both giants and men fashioned items. Being from Asroth, such items corrupted their bearers. Eventually, giant warred against giant and man against man and each against the other. The Creator finally had enough and sent a cataclysm that destroyed much of the world.

The remnant of humanity that survived washed up on the shores of the Banished Lands and started the 7 kingdoms. Now, 1000 years later, a prophecy is found that foretells of another god-war in which the Creator will have his champion of Light and Asroth his Dark Champion. It also reveals that Asroth will try to return to the physical realm to completely destroy it to simply spite the Creator.

One of the Princes' of the land is convinced he is the Champion of Light and determines to unite the various kingdoms into an Empire, the better to fight Asroth. We also follow a young village boy who is growing up and his challenges as he works toward becoming a warrior.

Eventually the Prince murders his father, attacks the giants and takes one of the objects of power and the readers realize, even while the Prince does not, that he is the Dark Champion. The young boy saves a small company from treachery by the Prince and it is obvious that he is the Champion of Light.

My Thoughts:

This book went all over the place in terms of rating from me. I enjoyed parts tremendously and would think “Oh, 4 stars easily” then I'd consider dnf'ing and at other points I thought “Not even Robert Jordan and Sanderson were this arrogant in their books”. So this might turn into something a bit longer than I intended.

I deliberately cut the synopsis down to it's absolute minimum because Gwynne doesn't. Gwynne makes things as complicated as possible in several ways. First off, he introduces over 35 named characters within the first 10% of the book. I counted and listed them on Librarything because it was NEVER obvious who was a main character and who was just somebody that Gwynne gave a name and backstory to. The second part of the complication was Gwynne's shifting of Point of View every chapter. Sometimes a chapter would be 2 pages and at others 20. But it was always from somebody else than the previous POV. Finally, Gwynne had no problem with worldbuilding. He'd give as much character time to some one who we'd never see again as to some of the more central characters.

I found all of these authorial choices frustrating and incredibly anger inducing. The thread of the story was obscured by all the loose ends and dead ends, etc. I WILL NOT pay attention to 45 characters (that was my rough count by the end of the book) just because the author wants to be clever. It was overwhelming and even now, writing this, I'm getting steamed all over again. Even the Malazan books were easier to keep track of than this and that is not any sort of praise if you've read my Malazan Re-read reviews. I felt like I was juggling 45 balls never knowing which one had the live grenade inside that I needed to pay attention to. Juggling 45 live grenades is very stress inducing, let me tell you! I also felt like Gwynne was wasting my time as this book was almost 700 pages. Why did I need to know about Jack the boy farmer and his whole family when he dies 3 chapters later? It just came across as the author telling me that every idea he had was more important than the time I was spending on reading about them.

On the positive side, I absolutely loved the story. Two Chosen Ones is awesome. It is obvious to the reader that the Prince is the dark champion but to those around the Prince it seems like he truly is the Champion of Light. He is trying to unite the humans, comes up with new fighting tactics, achieves goals no one thought possible and wants to protect the land from Asroth. Knowing that Asroth is the arch-deceiver, it is no surprise that no one thinks they're the bad guy. I like Epic Fantasy and this is definitely Epic Fantasy. The politics going on between the kingdoms is great and adds a real depth to the story too.

A few final negative thoughts though. I'd been warned that Gwynne takes his time and that reviewer wasn't kidding. This meanders, but once again that is a product of Gwynne placing world building above all else. Secondly, this book doesn't have a beginning, middle and end plot point. There is no goal. Even Robert Jordan and his first Wheel of Time book, The Eye of the World, told a complete story. This was just 1/4^th of a story artificially cut into a separate book.

I do plan on reading the next book. I am desperately hoping that there is not another list of 40 new characters to juggle. If there is, then I'll be parting ways from Gwynne after that. All of the before mentioned issues might not bother you, but they bother me immensely.

★★☆☆½