Ink of Blood

(This review may contain spoilers).

This was another book I originally read quite a while ago and when I had the opportunity to read it again, I jumped at the chance.

I really liked the plot of this book. It was a fairly simple, uncomplicated romance. I enjoyed learning about Keir’s people along with Lara. I do have to say that this book was very slow; there wasn’t very much in the way of action. I still found it fairly easy to read and I was drawn fully into the book.

I did like the fact that Lara formed friendships with the other characters, even though she thought she was actually a slave. It was kind of painful to read about how uncertain she was with Keir…though I did think he could have been a bit more understanding when it came to explaining things to her. I found myself getting really frustrated with him at times during the book.

I particularly liked the secondary characters in this book and I have to say, my favourites were probably Joden and Simus. I particularly enjoyed their friendship and seeing Simus’ relationship with Keir, as someone comfortable enough to joke around with the warlord. It said a lot about Keir’s character as well as Simus’.

I also really liked being able to see the contrasts between Lara’s people and Keir’s. While Keir and his people were clearly warriors, it was nice to see how they lived outside of battle. It was somewhat sad to see that warriors believing themselves not to be whole asked ‘for mercy’, though. I thought that was a way in which the people were lacking, considering they didn’t seem to be able to see any other way apart from that of a warrior. No matter what Keir was trying to do.

I would have liked to see some more depth to Xymund, as he just came across as a villain without any redeeming qualities to him. I was left questioning how he’d kept any kind of control over his people, considering he seemed incapable of actually being a king.

While this book didn’t have much action, I did enjoy the romance and I liked meeting the characters. I definitely intend to reread the next books in the trilogy at some point in the near future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

It’s been a while since I read one of the Guild Hunter books, but it didn’t take long reading this book to remember the world and the characters; and even though I hadn’t yet read Honor’s book, I found the events referenced to easy to follow.

Jason was a character I could really empathise with, even though I know he didn’t need or want sympathy. Being able to learn about his history and his motivations was as fascinating for me as it was for Mahiya, a character who I also felt a lot of empathy for. I finished the book with a strong sense of hatred both towards Neha and towards Mahiya’s mother. It was disappointing not to see much depth to Neha, who came across as a villain more as a kind archangel – that was referenced by the other characters, but not shown at all in the book.

I liked being able to see glimpses of Raphael and Elena’s relationship, along with Honor and Dmitri’s. It was nice to see that, even though the focus with the book was on another relationship, the other characters did put in an appearance too.

I found the romance and how Mahiya and Jason related to each other to be very realistic. While both of them came across as broken through the course of the book, I thought that Mahiya in particular showed her inner strength, even if she wasn’t outwardly as strong as Jason. And I really liked the opportunity to see more of the other characters, such as Venom.

Even though the romance was the main focus of the book, there was enough of a plot involved to keep me engaged and reading. I did get the impression that all of the archangels just saw humans as insects or pets…maybe something to be entertained by or care about, but humans played such a small role in the world, it was difficult to see them as anything other than cattle at worst and glorified pets at best.

There were definitely some disturbing scenes in this book, but I didn’t really find it to be too over the top, even when it came to the violence.

All in all, I very much enjoyed reading this book and stepping back into the Guild Hunter world. I definitely plan to explore more of it in the future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

This was another book I read originally quite a while ago and it’s a book I’ve found myself returning to quite a lot as an enjoyable fantasy book.

I found Ben to be a character really easy to empathise with, considering his need to escape and find some kind of magic that was missing from his life, with the death of Annie. And even though she didn’t really put in an appearance, it was clear just how important she’d been to Ben and I could see how her shadow continued to linger over him.

I liked the fact that Landover, despite being a magical kingdom, was far from what Ben (and me, as a reader) had expected. While I enjoyed seeing and learning about the world, though, I did find that there were some areas where there was something of an information dump; when Ben was learning about the history of Landover, for instance.

I really liked most of the supporting characters in the book, but I would have liked to see a bit more depth to the demons, rather than them just being the bad guys. How much power did they really have in Landover?

One of the things I really liked was how Willow played a part in the book. The whole destiny thing actually worked really well, considering Ben was doubting and didn’t feel any love for her straight away. I thought a lot of his reactions were incredibly realistic, even though some of them did contradict his personality and what he’d said and done before going to Landover.

Out of the more villainous characters, Strabo was probably my favourite, as the dragon had a lot of depth to him and it was particularly good to see that he didn’t really follow the normal ‘rules’ for dragons.

There was less action in this book than I would have liked there to be, but I did like the characters and I couldn’t help but feel bad for the G’home Gnomes…even if they did seem to bring an awful lot of their suffering on themselves. I did like the fact they were so loyal to Ben, even when the others thought they were useless.

I really did enjoy reading this book and I plan to re-read the next books in the series at some point in the future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I read this book series originally quite a while ago and found myself really engaged by it. While I do think werewolves are as over-used as vampires have been, I found the Prowlers different and unique enough to really engage me throughout this book. And that was helped along by the fact the characters were interesting enough that I cared about them and what was happening.

While the start of the book didn’t really have much action to it, I found myself enjoying the relationship between Jack and his sister in particular. It was good to see the characters from each others’ eyes. The Prowlers were little more than animals, though, and I would have liked a little bit more depth than actually ended up being shown about them. The Pack hierarchy was really interesting to view, but some of the decisions made by the pack leader seemed to be really arrogant and something that would end up with them being discovered. I was left with the problem that if they didn’t care about being discovered, why would they concern themselves with hiding their lair in the first place?

One of the really interesting aspects I found about this book was the Ghostlands. There wasn’t enough detail about why only Jack could see them and not anyone else, but the descriptions of the world were enough that, in some respects, they felt more real than the world of the living.

One of my favourite parts of this book was the fact that it didn’t follow the formula of the main character being disbelieved by everyone around him. It was really good to see how he was trusted enough by his family that they knew he was telling the truth, even if Jack couldn’t tell them everything about what he was seeing.

One of my favourite characters in this book was probably Artie. He was more interesting as a ghost than he was alive and the fact that he wasn’t alive anymore added a lot of conflict and depth to his friendship with Jack that made both more interesting.

I found this book drew me in really easily once more, despite having read it before. I definitely plan to re-read the remaining three books soon in the future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I’d give this book 3.5 stars out of 5. I remember that, when I initially bought it, the cover was one that really piqued my attention. And while I did find it interesting to be able to see and learn more about the world of ElfQuest, I actually found it wasn’t quite as informative as I was hoping.

My favourite part of this book was definitely the artwork. Even though it was in black and white, it was really obvious how much work Wendy Pini had put into the characters and scenery of ElfQuest. And another thing I really liked was the ability to see the contrast between another artist’s version of Cutter and how obviously different his creator drew him.

While the interviews did work to offer a bit more of an insight into the inner workings of Wendy and Richard Pini, I did find them to be something of a slog and quite repetitive in parts, though that could be said for quite a lot of the book. I lost count of how many times I read about the first failed attempt at getting ElfQuest made into a movie.

I was a bit disappointed in the article about the women of ElfQuest, as about half of it barely even touched on the subject. I wasn’t really left with any more information by the time I reached its end.

While I did find the article about the research to be quite interesting, I also found that to be a bit of a slog, as it was really nothing more than a list of books I ended up finding difficult to remember.

I really liked the article about the art of ElfQuest and being able to see some of the effects for myself, such as the white on black for an inverted effect; and the reflection of Cutter and Leetah in Rayek’s eyes.

It was nice to see some of the more realistic aspects of Wendy’s art, such as the drawings from the Beauty and the Beast graphic novel, which triggered an interest in seeking that out. I also found it really interesting to see the issues that there were in trying to get ElfQuest made into an animated series and I would hope the entertainment industry has come far enough by now that those issues no longer exist.

I don’t think I’d read this book again, as I did find it quite boring in parts. But it definitely triggered an interest in seeking out the ElfQuest graphic novels and more of the comics than those I’ve read already.

(This review may contain spoilers).

The Raven books are among those that have a huge amount of familiarity to me – to the point that, when I’m reading one, it’s like I’m seeing friends again. But out of all of the books in the series, this one is probably the hardest for me to read.

This book has a lot of what I love about the Raven and about these books in particular. While characters don’t die for the sake of it, one of the main things that’s really powerful about this series (in my opinion) is that the ‘good guys’ are not always guaranteed to win. And even when they do, it doesn’t mean that everything’s all sunshine and roses.

Ilkar and Hirad are my favourite characters and this book is really good at showing the relationship not only between them, but also between the rest of the members of the Raven. There’s a reason the group have such a strong reputation and I loved seeing the bonds of loyalty and friendship between them. And if I could ever hear Hirad’s, “Raven! Raven with me!” out loud in person, it would give me goosebumps.

I really liked being able to see more depth to Ilkar in particular. As he’s an elf and fairly long-lived, it wasn’t very clear what his life had been like before joining the Raven, apart from small pieces of information gleaned. I also really liked the opportunity to see more of the elven kind as a whole and also to see the different societies within them. It was nice to get the opportunity to see through some of the other characters’ eyes, as it allowed for the so-called villains to be given more depth, rather than just responsible for potential genocide.

I really liked the fact that magic wasn’t really used as a crutch, or a solve-all. And I couldn’t help but feel for Erienne, Denser and Thraun…each one wrestling with their own demons and having to learn (or re-learn) to rely on their closest friends and allies. The Raven is a lot more than just a band of mercenaries and I felt that came across really well in this book.

This book was difficult to read, but the characters are ones I cared about and the storyline is fraught with so much tension, it was nigh-on impossible to put down. I would absolutely love it if there were more than just the seven books I currently have in the Raven series.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I bought this book a while back and only just found myself with a good reason to read it, as part of a reading challenge.

I actually enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would, considering there were a lot of fairly sadistic tendencies in the book, especially between Baltsaros and Tom. I wasn’t really sure of what to make of Tom for a lot of the book, but I couldn’t help but feel a lot of empathy for him throughout the whole book.

I would have liked to see a bit more of Jon’s skills, considering that it seemed to have made him famous enough for a pirate captain to find him a valuable addition. I’m not a big fan of relationships that start off with a character being kidnapped and imprisoned by their potential love interest, but I felt that did work for this book.

It was really good to see the depth to the three main characters in this book, though it really wasn’t clear how much was true about what was revealed about Tom. There was a savagery about him that the other characters referenced but never really came out.

I liked the fact that, especially between Jon and Baltsaros, they switched off between dominant and submissive. It was really good to see how differently they each viewed their relationship; and even though he was very much an antihero, it was good to see that Baltsaros didn’t really change his personality and become a perfect partner after he and Jon got together.

I was left with a lot of questions about Baltsaros and even by the end of the book, I still kind of saw him as more of a villain than a good guy. Considering the clear amount of secrets he was still hiding from Jon, I can’t really see them having a healthy relationship until/unless Baltsaros opens himself up more to Jon.

I liked the elements of action in this book as well, but I would have liked to be able to meet a few more members of the crew, as there were only a handful who I could really picture in my mind.

I enjoyed seeing the relationship forming between the three characters and I found this book drew me in really well. I would definitely read the next books in this trilogy at some point in the future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I remember purchasing this book originally a number of years ago, but I didn’t get round to reading it straight away.

I felt like I was missing a big chunk of the story, especially in regards to Va’s and Elenya’s relationship. While I did find Elenya a really interesting character, Va seemed to more react to what happened to him for a lot of the book. I didn’t really get a good handle on what motivated and drove him; and even by the end of the book, I couldn’t really decide if I liked him or not.

I did like Benzamir’s character, but there wasn’t nearly enough information about his real motivations. And while he hinted at there being danger for the people travelling with him if they got involved, I didn’t get any real sense of danger or urgency while I was reading this book. Even when characters were being attacked, there didn’t seem to be any real danger. Benzamir’s command of technology meant they were easily able to escape and I was disappointed by how slow this book moved.

It really wasn’t clear what kind of setting this book had. I assumed at first it was in a more fantasy world, but as the book moved on, it became more clear that that wasn’t the case. I found both Said and Wahir to be interesting characters. Alessandra didn’t really have enough detail shown about her for me to feel so concerned about her as a character.

It was clear that the world in this book was a large and far-reaching one and I thought it was good to see some semblance of culture and language problems. However, those did seem to go away when it came to Solomon. And as for Solomon, I was convinced he and Benzamir were from the same people; and it added to my confusion as the storylines began to converge.

When the action started up, it made the book more interesting and engaging. However, that was towards the end of the book and it was a long time before I got any kind of answers. I would have liked to see more depth and background to the characters and more in the way of action earlier in the book.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I wavered a bit at how many stars to give this book. In the end, I think 3.5 stars is about accurate, as I did enjoy the book and found it really easy to read, but I didn’t like it quite as much as the first book.

One of the strongest parts of this book, I felt, was the intrigue and tension felt in the English Court. If I’m honest, I was actually a little bit disappointed not to see more of Queen Mary in this book. I couldn’t help but feel a small amount of sympathy for her, even though she was clearly a tyrant. Unlike Elizabeth, there didn’t seem to be anyone who really cared about Mary or who was on her side.

There was also a lot of tension in this book that kept me reading throughout, but I would have liked more focus on the personal growth of the characters and less on the romance and inevitable love triangle Meg ended up experiencing. Her constant switching and questioning of her feelings for Alejandro made my head spin, as there were times she seemed fully accepting of her love for him…and others when her feelings seemed so much more negative.

I did feel there was some glossing over of some of the elements that could have been more interesting, such as Meg’s power not being as strong.

I didn’t really like Elizabeth so much in this book. While I could understand she was very much at the mercy of her sister, I felt she abused her power over her servants. Of course, it did fit with the historical figure of Queen Elizabeth…but I really ended up with a strong dislike for how she treated Meg by the end of the book.

While I did find Richard to be an interesting character, he would have had a lot more depth to him if I could have seen him interacting with some of the other characters than Meg and John Dee. His abrupt about-change in regards to Meg really didn’t feel realistic…especially given his entirely disrespectful actions in grabbing her shortly after their first meeting because he was ‘just looking’.

I would like to read the third book in this trilogy, as I did find this book a tense read, apart from the forced romances/love interests.

(This review may contain spoilers).

It’s been a long time since a book held me captive enough to find it nearly impossible to keep reading and I didn’t realise how much I’d missed that until now.

I found it really easy to fall into the world portrayed in this book. While there were villains in the piece, I liked the fact that most of them had enough depth that they came across as more human than not. And right from the start, I was questioning the rumours that had risen about Hallandren. It was nice to see so many role reversals in this book…and two main female characters who were so different from each other and yet still very strong each in her own right.

I did find the usage of the Awakening a bit confusing and even by the end of the book, I still wasn’t quite sure how it worked. Of course, some of the information was gleaned from what other characters said; and that wasn’t always accurate, whether due to ignorance or other, more sinister reasons.

The parts of the book I found the most interesting were when Siri was trying to navigate her way through the court, learning about politics and how to use the power she now wielded. I did find myself liking the God King, though I hadn’t expected to when he was first talked about.

It’s very hard to pick out a favourite character in this book, as most of them either went through some kind of growth that had me rooting for them by the end…or they were so engaging throughout, I found myself drawn to them straight from the start. Despite how he saw himself (and the religion surrounding him), Lightsong was actually a good example of both. I found myself laughing outright at some of the interactions he had with Blushweaver.

While I understand it wasn’t necessarily possible in this book, I would have liked to see a bit more from Nightblood. The sword itself became a really intriguing character throughout the book and I enjoyed its little asides to Vasher, along with the fact that it was really quite innocent and childlike when not in use.

I really enjoyed this book and I found the characters easy to empathise with and the world a really engaging one. I would really like to see more of the world and the characters in future books.