Bookstooge's Reviews On the Road

Monday, October 26, 2015

Red Blade from the East (Gonji #1) (Deathwind Trilogy #1)

Review:

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 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 Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.

Title: Red Blade from the East

Series: Gonji

Author: T.C. Rypel

Rating: of 5 Battle Axes

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 316

Format: Kindle

Synopsis:

Gonji, half breed Japanese ronin, wanders Europe as a sell-sword, looking for the legendary Deathwind.

What that is, we're never told.

Ending up in the town of Vedun, a safe haven made up of a large Christian community, Gonji must decide whether to help the townsfolk with their new supernatural overlord or to seek out the deathwind on his own.

How is a ronin supposed to keep his Honor, when everything around him conspires against that?

My Thoughts:

I wished I enjoyed this more. However, I did like it and will keep on reading this series. I know there are at least 4 more books, so I'm hoping with some experience that some of the rough patches in this book are smoothed out in later books.

I think that how Gonji's past was handled, dribbled out in tiny doles, was what I disliked the most. A sentence in this chapter, a sentence in another. In another circumstance, it might very well have worked. But here, it just didn't.

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1277347/red-blade-from-the-east-gonji-1-deathwind-trilogy-1

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Farlander (Heart of the World #1)

Review:

Title: Farlander

Series: Heart of the World

Author: Col Buchanan

Rating: of 5 Battle Axes

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 402

Format: Kindle

Synopsis:

Ash, a Farlander and an assassin, is forced to take on an apprentice. Soon after the apprentice's training is finished, an assignment comes up that will take them into the heart of the Empire to kill the prince.

The Empire knows they are coming.

My Thoughts:

Much more than just an assassin story. A full blown, Empire growing, religious strains, etc, etc. It also does not have a happy ending.

And yet it drew me in, kept my attention and interest and even when things happened that I wasn't expecting, or liked, it was ok. I'll definitely be checking out the second book in this new series soon.

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1276248/farlander-heart-of-the-world-1

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Skin Deep (Legion #2)

Review:

Title: Skin Deep

Series: Legion

Author: Brandon Sanderson

Rating: 3 of 5 Battle Axes

Genre: Paranormal

Pages: 208

Format: Kindle

Synopsis:

Stephen Leeds is back, this time to find a body that might be infected with dna tech that could give cancer or the plague, to every single person on the planet.

As are his splintered mind psyche fragments. Old and New. With Old and New Problems.

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed this more than the first book and had more issues with some of the philosophy spouted out, which is why the rating is the same as the previous book, Legion.

I liked how Sanderson showed the problems that Leeds has and how they are growing. Being a super-genius isn't all that it cracked up to be. ha. Leeds has issues with the number of psyche fragments and even greater issues with a random one showing up. My first thought was "What would it do to Leeds if he simply had one fragment take out a bunch of others to give himself room"? He'd lose skills, but would he take a step back from the edge of completely losing it? The fact that Sanderson can make me even think these questions is great.

The story itself was pretty good. Potential world plague, intrigue, corporate espionage. All good thriller stuff.

The main issue that brought this down for was the philosophy and the idea of Time being Infinite. Sanderson is at least nominally a mormon and hence I know we share a large amount of philosophy in common. However, I do use the word nominal and the idea of Time being Infinite is not something that is Biblical [not sure if that issue is addressed in the Book of Mormon or not]. In fact, while it might seem like a small issue, the reason it is so big to me is that so far in existence, only God Himself is infinite. Saying that anything else is is tantamount to saying that that is God as well. Wrong theology is one thing, but claiming Divinity [in a real world situation, not in a fantasy story] is Blasphemy.

To finish up, I sure do hope that Sanderson keeps up writing these Legion novellas. They are just plain interesting and engaging.

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1276017/skin-deep-legion-2

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Mouse and Dragon (Liaden)

Review:

Title: Mouse and Dragon

Series: Liaden

Author: Sharon Lee & Steve Miller

Rating: 4 of 5 Battle Axes

Genre: SFF

Pages: 512

Format: Kindle

Synopsis:

A direct sequel to Scout's Progress. In which we see how Daav becomes the man we know him from in other books and what happened to Caylon.

Not much actually happens, but a lot of setup of events that shape future events.

My Thoughts:

I wish I had read this directly after Scout's Progress instead of waiting 18 months. I didn't actually realize that it had been so long until I went to look for the previous book and realized that, in publication order, there are several books between that and this. Next time around I'll be reading in Chronological Order. But for now, Publication is the best I think.

Anyway, this was just as good as the previous Liaden books. Romance that I enjoy instead of gagging over. In space.

But it is definitely a sequel and not be read before Scout's Progress. This would make no sense without that backdrop.

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1275053/mouse-and-dragon-liaden

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Demonsouled (Demonsouled #1) DNF

Review:

Title: Demonsouled

Series: Demonsouled

Author: Jonathan Moeller

Rating: 0 of 5 Battle Axes

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: DNF

Format: Kindle

My Thoughts:

I've read one other Moeller book and enjoyed it. But I read this when I was sick and the utterly cliched Hero fighting the Bad Minions was more than I can take. I think I gave up at 3 or 5 percent?

I'll be trying more Moeller, just not this series.

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1274573/demonsouled-demonsouled-1-dnf

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Dawnthief (Chronicles of the Raven #1) DNF

Review:

Title: Dawnthief

Series: Chronicles of the Raven

Author: James Barclay

Rating: 0 of 5 Battle Axes

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: DNF

Format: Kindle

My Thoughts:

I was sick with the flu when trying to read this and it just couldn't hold my attention. Plus, for whatever reason, the edition I had had all the quote marks removed.

It was like someone had converted a pdf to azw3 and done some "auto" cleanup, which never goes well.

No interest in re-trying this or other works by Barclay however.

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1273842/dawnthief-chronicles-of-the-raven-1-dnf

Monday, October 19, 2015

In Siege of Daylight (Light, Dark & Shadow #1)

Review:

Title: In Siege of Daylight

Series: Light, Dark & Shadow

Author: Gregory Close

Rating: of 5 Battle Axes

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 620

Format: Kindle

Synopsis:

A young man, son of a Hero, goes to Court with his mentor, only to become embroiled in something that is larger than the one kingdom. Prophecy is involved as are all the different "Kinds" [ie, species] of beings inhabiting the world.

My Thoughts:

This came across my radar thanks to Gene sometime last year.

Overall, I would say this book was much too long and complicated. I wasn't reading as an editor, so I can't point out specifics, but at least one point of view [and there were more than a handful] should have been cut and a lot of small details should have been edited down. For the story that was told, the 600+ pages should have been cut down to under 400 OR expanded into 2 books. My other issue was the naming convention. I'm used to complicated names, after my years into anime, but even this was beyond that. It felt like it was made complicated to give it a feeling of reality but only accomplished actually being complicated.

I enjoyed this but little things just kept distracting me from the overall story. I felt like "I" could have done some editing to tighten this up. Which isn't a good sign overall.

I did track down the author's blog and it turns out he has the titles up for the next 3 books. However, I saw no posts or details about the actual books themselves and when I left a question, over a week ago, it hadn't been answered at this date.

I guess I get spoiled by authors like Brandon Sanderson and other indies like Michael Sullivan.

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1273495/in-siege-of-daylight-light-dark-shadow-1