False Gods (Horus Heresy Book 2) - Graham McNeill

I was apprehensive. I will easily and readily admit that I adored the characters in Horus Rising by Dan Abnett and looked forward to reading about their trials in the next instalment of the story. That it was written by another person gave me pause. What if they were different? What if they were shown in a different manner and everything I liked about them was stripped away and they were left flat?

There was nothing to worry about, the characters were developed further from the point where Abnett left them and were still essentially themselves. In fact, it would be safe to say that I am even more emotionally invested in them now than before.

The book is so masterfully written and carefully thought out that there were times that I genuinely feared for some of them. It made picking up the book, and putting it down, incredibly difficult and I found I had to take a break now and then to prepare myself for the outcomes. My heart was genuinely thudding during some of the events of the story, while others made me want to scream, 'If you just listen to that guy....' I'll say no more because I want you to go and read these yourself.

McNeill is another master of the craft and I really don't have a bad word to say about the novel either. There is a balance of action, character and intrigue so as not to make it dull in any way and I was more than eager to read. The action scenes are incredibly well written and I was gripped, heart pounding and for want of a better phrase, on the edge of my seat, needing to know who lived and who died...

The third book is written by yet a different author but this change does not scare me half as much as it did the first time, I look forward to reading it, though am scared for the future of some of these warrior characters, and shall let you know my thoughts afterwards

Horus Rising (Horus Heresy book 1) - Dan Abnett

It had been a while since I read anything. Not even going to add a decent into that sentence because my work life has been manic. My own fault of course but that is not the subject of this post.

My stretch of non-reading has been broken by Horus Rising by Dan Abnett. This is not something I would normally read. I have very little interest in the Warhammer 40K universe and was determined to not really get on with this book and anything it might contain. I didn't like Space Marines so what could this story possibly do for me?

I was hooked from page one.

The characters this book contains are utterly engaging, adding a very human elements to the genetically enhanced super 'people' that are Space Marines. They have enough personality to make me care about what happened to them and I was gripped, forgetting to breathe at some points within the story.  The charisma of the main character is such that the reader really does care about what goes on, what happens to him and why he does what he does. Coupled with a cast that has a good sense of humour, it makes this story utterly engaging.

The world in which this is set is vast and I was a little daunted that I would not have a clue what was going on within the setting. No such thing happened! It was all explained carefully within the book but in such a way to make it interesting, there was no information dump at the beginning of the novel, which would have made it stale. I'm not going to say how it was done as that would be a spoiler but believe me when I say it is cleverly done.

Only thing I will say about Abnett's technical skills are his use of similes; there are rather a lot of them, which I found rather curious. When there was more than one if a paragraph it became a bit jarring but overall it wasn't much of an issue for me. The masterful way in which ABnett writes makes this a wonderful book to read, even for people who are not heavily in to the 40K universe. Give this one a go, it is well worth it.

Good Day

It's been a while.

I could make up some lame excuse as to why I've not been reviewing anything but I'm not going to. There was a career change and I've spent the past couple of years training to be a teacher. I am now fully qualified and got through my first year. I've not had the time I would have liked to dedicate to reading and reviewing, which has been unfortunate but it is what it is.

That's now going to change. I still love reading, I still write when I can and so I shall make more of an effort to post some reviews.

It also turns out that one of my reviews has made it onto the cover of a book; an actual book! I had no idea until this morning that this was the case. How amazingly cool is that?

Time to get reading I think!

Magic of Thieves: Legend of Dimmingwood book 1 - C Greenwood.

 

I have been a bit remiss with my blog posts of late, once again due to the lack of time to read during my teacher training year. That said, I did get time to read a fair bit over Christmas but failed to update due to lack of anything regarding motivation. January has rolled around and so has the guilt. Here is my latest read and my thoughts on it.

The best part of this novel by far was the characters. The story follows the journey of the protagonist through her early life up until her late teenage years. The reader is told on numerous occasions that she has inherited the ability of magic, an ability that she would be hunted for and slain by the evil types who currently rule that part of the world. Her entire village was slain and she was orphaned. She end up banding with a bunch of thieves and living in the woods with them until she leaves. She is engaging and certainly has her limitation. The progression from child to moody teenager is well written and she came across as a balanced character to me.

The overall plot for the novel is generally OK, however, to me, it seemed as though it was a set-up novel. The end sees our protagonist leaving her childhood home in search of something (I'm not saying what) and to me, it seems the rest of the novel was all back story. It was well written and held my interest well enough, however I feel a lot of it could have been paraphrased and inserted into another volume to skip over some of the more tedious details.

To say this story was bad would be a lie, it has some very good actions scenes in it and it is wonderfully easy to read - perfect for a Christmas evening or two when all you want to do is relax. However, if you want a perfectly crafted masterpiece with plot twists and turns at every intersection, this is not the novel for you. Good dialogue and interesting characters are present but it just needs something more than background information. I will say, it was a freebie on the Kindle Store and did offer some enjoyment. I am unsure about reading any followup however, unless they too are free and I have nothing better to read at the time.

Mistborn: The Final Empire - Brandon Sanderson

My word! I managed to finish a book in the five minutes a day I now get to read. That's the five minutes between getting into bed and passing out exhausted every night. My training course is intense and is keeping my very busy. I'm loving what I do though so nothing to fear there. Onwards to Sanderson's novel then...

This is the first high fantasy book I have read in a long time. I read it as a paperback (not on kindle *shock*) and I must say, it was a blinder. The plot kept me guessing throughout and there are some twists and turns that I didn't see coming. I was left guessing until the very end when the resolution happened and this left me a happy reader. I love to keep guessing, I detest obvious plot and this novel was far from that.

The world-building in the novel is right where it should be. I invested a lot of time reading the six hundred or so pagesof it and every one was worth it. The world was well thought out, highly developed and above all, believeable. The split between the nobility and peasent class, or Skaa, is well thought out and there is enough information to show the vastness of the world. The 'magic' system is like nothing I have ever read before, it was well balanced and had enough limitations to make it real. Top marks from me Sanderson, well done.

I shall also touch on character, which as you know, is a thing close to my heart. All the characters are believeavle, if not likeable (and most of them are). At first, one of the protagonists, Kelsier, appears to be a bit of a 'Mary Sue' type, like Kvothe in Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind but it soon becomes apparent that this is not the case, his flaws are just hidden to begin with. I do like a character with flaws, it makes them that much more real to me. The trials that he and his friends face are real and they each act according to their talents.

I'm going to leave it there for this novel, just leave with the final note of how much I liked it. It was a welcome change from some of the rubbish fantasy I have read. Go and read it, it is well worth the time investing in.

Queen of Alendeortor - Jan Doncom

This post is brought to you from my iPad while in the comfort of my own bed! Sundays are the best. Not sure about the blogger app as yet but we shall see how that goes.

I had a random email asking me to review a book, which was a lovely ego boost by the way, first time that has ever happened.  I was more than happy to do so but had to tell the author I was training to be a teacher (and reading the Dark Tower) and that it may be a while. Then I got this dental abscess thing and all I could do was read and sleep. So, here we are in all its honesty, as requested.

It didn't take me long to read this novel and that's because I enjoyed it. It wasn't a chore to read like some books I have had in the past. The characters were easy to care for and there was no initial getting to know you period. The protagonist is an underdog in his society, a bonkers one at that, and from the moment the book starts your on his side. His cast of 'sidekicks' are equally as rounded and balanced. They all have their flaws and that makes them believable, a lot of effort has gone into this characters and that really pays off.

The plot and pacing of the novel work well too. The reader is drawn in from the first chapter and taken on a whirlwind race through the story. The action is portrayed well and the plot has significant twists and turns to keep most readers attention. It's not the most inventive plot in the world but it has enough to be a decent standing point.

The novel isn't all perfect however, there are some areas that could use improving, as with most novels. Another round of editing and proofreading would solve the grammar and spelling mistakes that I spotting. There were not hundreds of them however there were enough to warrant me making a point of it. It would also rid the novel of some clumsy sentences, which can only be a good thing. I also spotted a loop hole where one of the characters kills a child of sixteen. The next page goes on to say how he has been considered an adult from fourteen. They are of the same race then this seems a bit strange to me.

My next issue was with the world building. The concept was fantastic and the small details that were the helped paint a lovely picture of the places the characters lived, however I believe, that the world could have been developed further. If you pardon the cliche, the devil really is in the detail and I like to know a lot about the places characters live. What is there is good but it needs more information and more development. This tendency to gloss over important details is evident in other parts of the novel too, I just feel that as I have invested time into reading the novel, time should also be invested in really bringing the world to life. It may come at the sacrifice of a bit of pace but most fantasy readers relish those details that transport them to another world. This is, after all, the reason we read them.

All in all, I enjoyed reading the novel and shall be following the author to see if she writes and more. It will be interesting to see where she takes this good start.

Follow the Stone (An Emmett Love Western) - John Locke

I have once again strayed into the realms of the Western for entertainment dear readers, this time from a recommendation by a friend who said this book was an easy read and even better, it was free. Free being the magical word in this time of austerity I decided to take her up on the offer and give it a go.

It wasn't a bad read either. I do enjoy a good Western and this novel isn't shy on that count. The details are all there and the characters all counted for - a cool gunslinger, a fiesty maiden and a bunch of whores, lets not forget the Indians and the cowboys either. Mix this up with an intricate setting and you've got yourself all you need for a Western novel. The characters are easily recognised and fairly simple too. There is no great need for understanding with this novel, the characters do what is expected of them and I feel this simplicity is part of the enjoyment I took. I knew I wasn't going to be reading a gret epic from the first page but this didn't put me off at all. I knew the hero was going to end up sleeping with at least one of the prostitutes during the journey and I knew there was going to be some form of change on his part too - that's what story is after all right?

The plot of the novel is somewhat predictable however and I found I could guess what was going to happen before the words appeared. Most of the time I would find this annoying however in this novel, because I knew what I was getting, I found it was a good thing. John Locke may be the first 'kindle millionnaire' but he hasn't written a great masterpiece nor shocked the world with beautifully crafted writting.

I liked this novel for all its simplicity and I didn't pay a penny for it which was nice - which is a good thing. If you want a simple easy throw-away read, this is the book for you. If you want some hardcore detailed writing with fast paced fights and gunslinging wizards, go and read The Dark Tower series... Until next time!!