Tag: war

Mage Errant, Book 7

Disappointing, unbelievable, and anticlimactic. Those are the only words that capture the essence of The Last Echoes of the Lord of Bells (Book 7) by John Bierce. The narrator – Ralph Lister -was great! But even his excellent narration couldn’t save the story. This book is like taking a trip with a GPS that is constantly recalculating you and taking you to places you didn’t need to or want to go.

The great war that is anticipated between “the madman” (name withheld to prevent spoilers for people new to the series) and Hugh and his friends lasts from Chapter 27 to Chapter 71. This 44-chapter war is told from multiple characters’ perspective – the main characters, other characters from previous books (who you may or may not remember), and possibly even new characters. In all honesty, there were so many characters and perspectives involved in this book, I couldn’t keep them all straight.

I was thoroughly disappointed as I really enjoyed the first 5 books in the series. Other readers claimed that book 6 did not really accomplish or add anything plot-wise, and I agreed with them. However, I had hoped that book 7 would be a return to the story quality I had known and loved from the beginning. That, unfortunately, was not the case. I couldn’t even finish the book. I got so tired of the battles that I only made it to chapter 54. Then I skipped to chapter sixty-something hoping the war would be over. I was wrong. So, I skipped to chapter 71 which, thankfully, was the last chapter of the fight.

A lot of my opinion has to do with events in the story itself. However, those events contain spoilers. If you don’t mind spoilers, keep reading. Otherwise, stop here, and you can read the story and come to your own conclusions.

*** Spoiler Alert (Click to Expand) ***

Hugh and his friends start off fighting Alustin and Valiah. (I listened to the audiobook, so I’m not sure how the characters’ names are spelled.) Then, they join sides with Valiah to take down Alustin. During their entire fight with Alustin, they talk to him and try to convince him that his plan is going to destroy the entire world. And you know what? They do! So Alustin has this “change of heart” in the middle of the battle where he realizes his plan to release the Tongue Eater would destroy the entire continent and he decides to work with Valiah and Hugh and his friends to stop the Tongue Eater from being released. How totally unbelievable! How does the main villain for the last two books all of a sudden have a change of heart and try to stop his plan while working with the very people he tried to kill?

*** Major Spoiler (Click to Expand) ***

At the end of the book, they Alustin is executed which made me sad, but ultimately, I knew it was justified and the end result. I mean, how could anyone allow someone who caused that much destruction to go unpunished; his actions caused the deaths of not only Havath’s city and people, but many of Skyhold’s allies as well. As the story-wrap up continues, it turns out that Kanderon did not in fact execute Alustin. She only pretend to. Instead, she intends to use him for one of her other plans, which I thought, was completely outrageous and unbelievable. Alustin expressed no remorse for his actions; he admittedly tried to kill Kanderon several books ago, and now she thinks she can use him to carry out her plans? How long will it be before Alustin tries to escape or betray her again?

Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker

It amazes me how people can see the same movie and come out with drastically different opinions. Two of my friends really liked Rise of Skywalker; I, on the other hand, kept checking my watch to see when it would be over.

Personally, I found the movie to be slow and poorly scripted. As it is incredibly hard for me to support my opinion without giving away spoilers, you will just have to watch it and decide for yourself.

If you like it – GREAT!

If you don’t, I’m sorry you wasted $15 dollars and 2.5 hrs of your life.

My suggestion – wait until you can view it on Disney+ or get it from the library.

#riseofskywalker #fallofstarwars

Ice Forged by Gail Z. Martin

IceForgedI just finished reading The Ascendant Kingdoms Saga by Gail Z. Martin. I’m not entirely sure what to say other than I really enjoyed it and couldn’t put it down.

This is a four book fantasy series (first book: Ice Forged) about a group of convicts who ultimately find themselves responsible for restoring a kingdom destroyed by the collapse of magic. Sent away to prison for various crimes, this group of convicts soon finds that being exiled to Velant was the only thing that saved their life when magic broke and destroyed their home country of Dondareth. Determined to find answers, they return to Dondareth and discover that the loss of magic isn’t the only problem that Dondareth faces.

From humans to vampires to mages to necromancers to ghosts to wraiths, this book has a host of characters that will either endear themselves to you or make you hate them.

Like I said, I couldn’t put the series down. I read all four books within the span of 2 or so weeks. This is definitely going on my “favorites” list for young adults.

Echoes of Fate by Philip C. Quaintrell

Echoes of Fate.jpgEchoes of Fate, a book series by Philip C. Quaintrell, is a very engrossing story. At first I wasn’t sure I would like it because the story follows many different lead characters, all with weird sounding names. I didn’t think I would be able to follow the many different story lines. However, it was not long before the stories intertwined, making it easier and much more enjoyable to follow.

My favorite aspect about this story is the path for redemption that two of the characters – Asher, the main character, and Galanor – are on. Each of these characters has had a tumultuous past. Whereas Asher has already turned from his old life as an assassin when you first meet him, Galanor is conflicted between duty, which calls him to perform unsavory actions, and his desire to be a good person. While you get to see Galanor in the before-and-after stages of his path to redemption, you meet Asher after he has turned away from the life of an assassin. However, trusting and friendship are two things foreign to Asher, and it is fun to watch his relationship with the characters develop as he struggles to live life as a better person while carrying the guilt of his past life.

Due to the content of this series, I would say it is rated R. There is intermittent use of the F-word and some fairly graphic violence (at least by my standards). However, it is the scenes in which the Darkakin torture/rape the queen of the elves that is primarily responsible for my rating the book as R. It is hard to describe these scenes; they are not graphic but there is enough description and allusions to what is going on that it is bothersome. While this did not stop me from reading the book (as you can easily skip those scenes), it does make me hesitant to recommend it to anyone but a mature audience.

Note: I continued reading the book despite the scenes with the Darkakin because I am enjoying (I’m on the last book) the path to redemption of Asher and Galanor. I also enjoy the internal struggle of the other characters who, after experiencing horrendous torture or loss, fight to retain their virtues and moral beliefs. The characters in this book experience very real, human emotions. You see them struggle to be the people they want to be despite the torture they’ve experienced or the losses they have endured. For that reason alone, the book is worth reading as you see that no matter how horrible life can get, you should always strive to be the better person, even if you don’t always succeed.

P.S. I will be adding this to my favorite books for adults.

Age of War by Michael J. Sullivan

Age of War.jpgI eagerly awaited the release of Age of War by Michael J. Sullivan. It is the third book in the Legends of the First Empire series. The book is well written, but a little slow. The characters are well developed, but overall I was disappointed.

As the title suggest, there is a lot of war and death in this book (not graphic though). There is also a lot of scheming among many characters, and no humor like in Riyria Revelations (his first, and by far his best, book series.)

Will I continue reading the book series? Yes. Will I buy the books/audio? No, I will wait for it to arrive at the library. It will also be removed from my top-10 list of  favorite book. It just doesn’t live up to the standards he created when he wrote Riyria Revelations.