Zim

I really wish there was a second book!`

Reviewed: 05-27-24

This book is a breath of fresh air and a really engaging tale for anyone who enjoys fantasy. My only complaint is that it's been a few years and there's not even a hint of a sequel. The story finishes in a way that isn't exactly a cliff hanger, but certainly left me expecting to get more.

So where is it? Book two please!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

I want the next book!

Reviewed: 05-27-24

This is a great story, delving back into one of my favorite worlds. The author seems to have matured and evolved since the original trilogy. Not that the first series wasn't good, but it wasn't as deep as this book. This time the plot is bigger, more audacious, and the stakes are higher!

I really enjoyed this installment in the world of the Empire. I just hope that Brian gives us another installment soon. I've been patiently waiting. Don't leave us hanging!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

I'm still hooked after 12 years and 16 books!

Reviewed: 11-26-23

This book is terrific. The only negative is that it was too short. I would really appreciate it if the author would go back to his original format of 30 hour long books, rather than 20 hour long books with a 10 hour long novella between each major book release. I can only imagine the point of the change was to maximize revenue by splitting what should be the material for one great book into two books. Unfortunately, we don't benefit from this format. In fact, having the material split into two books detracts from the story. The first 10 or so books in the series each seemed longer and had more content, and content from multiple characters' perspectives. Now it seems like each book is getting split into multiple books where we only get one characters' perspective in each. The main books are still terrific. But the novellas suffer since the secondary characters' perspectives aren't really enough to justify an entire book. So the novellas aren't nearly as satisfying. Indeed, some aren't really worth purchasing for the minimal content they include.

Terry, I'd appreciate it greatly if you'd consider reverting to your original methodology and forget about having a .5 version between every major release. That's not to say that the novellas aren't good. Many of them are good, mostly because they're anthologies, or because they are truly content that warrants a separate entry in the series. I'm just opposed to artificially splitting the content that ought to be released as one long but very good book into two for the purpose of selling more books.

Okay, on to the review! Terry is incredibly good at creating characters you can appreciate, admire, cheer on, and support. Even after 16 plus books, Minalin is still a crafty devil who almost never puts a foot wrong, despite being responsible for the wellbeing of an entire world. Terry's ability to continue to write this story is impressive. Terry is still coming up with twists and surprises, challenges and tribulations, and his characters manage to come up with fresh clever solutions. This is no easy feat considering how many times the world has been faced with destruction thanks to this goblin horde, this undead king, or that foolish mortal ruler. Keeping the story engrossing and fresh has to be the most impressive thing that Terry is doing with this series. I've read almost every sci-fi series written in the past 20 years, and there are precious few authors who could do as much.

There is a lot of detail, lots of clever strategy, lots of seat-of-the-pants best-guessing. But however they manage to pull off the save, our beloved heroes always seem to pull their butts out of the fire, while also sticking it to the bad guys far more thoroughly and cleverly than anyone has a right to expect.

It's a detailed world, with realistic characters, deep politics, and variety of all types. And still Terry continues to grow the story. Much like Robert Jordan used to do, each of Terry's books seem to broaden the scope of what the hero is facing. Instead of wrapping up plot-lines, Terry just continues to create new ones and add them into his overarching plot. But he doesn't get lost. It's all very well thought out, with few to no inconsistencies.

Please keep the books coming! I for one will be excitedly waiting for the next one!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

Series takes an abrupt NOSEDIVE...

Reviewed: 03-10-23

Firstly, Dear Jaret Ross, the word "folk" is pronounced FOKE. The "L" is 100% silent. Not partially silent, not subtly included, SILENT. I almost had to stop listening to the book because I couldn't deal with the narrator repeatedly saying "some fulk do and some fulk don't. But the fulk around here are a different fulk. They listen to fulk music at fulk festivals while the local fulks are busy fulking off....." Of course, those sentences don't appear in the book. But they may as well. The author has a strange predeliction for overusing the word "folk." Which might be alright if the narrator would just PRONOUNCE IT CORRECTLY!!!

Now for the main reason for my negative review. Substantively, the plot lines of this series have been good enough so far. Not unique, but not totally rehashed vanilla fantasy either. I don't know what happened in this book. All of a sudden, around chapter 20, every character gets cerebral palsy and stops acting with any amount of common sense. I can usually just push through if a series of books is otherwise good and I've been invested in it. But this book got so absurd, so fast, that I turned it off at the end of chapter 22. And from chapter 19 through 22, I found myself yelling out loud at the stupidity of the characters and the plot. And to be clear, I don't talk to myself. That's how bad this book god. I started talking to myself...

Oh well, Mr. Hayes, please get it together before releasing book 4. I will probably give the series one more chance to redeem itself based on the first two books being relatively strong. Book 3, however, was a train wreck. Please don't try to feed us another steaming pile of $%?#$ in the future.

EZ

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Space Rock 'n Roll!

Reviewed: 02-12-23

This is top shelf space opera that's both fun and easy to enjoy. It's short and sweet, with well developed characters. The plot is interesting and fresh, and there's enough action to keep things moving nicely. What's more, there are none of those little negatives that can ruin a good book/narration. No made-up swear words, no winey characters who spend all their time rehashing their negative feelings. And of course, maybe most importantly, John Lee gives us another masterpiece performance.

An all around great choice, a keeper, and a series of books that I am thoroughly anticipating!

EZ

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

I love the characters!

Reviewed: 01-07-23

So, before I get to my opinion on the book itself, I have to take a moment to ask the author to PLEASE, for the love of god, stop using the word "folk" in every sentence. No one talks or speaks like that. It makes the dialog and narration sound artificial. But the aggravation only gets compounded when the narrator refuses to say the word correctly. Jaret, THE L IS SILENT. Phonetically the word is "fowk" or "foke". It is not pronounced with an L. Please, for the love of all that is good and proper, since i'm sure the author will continue to liberally pepper the entire third book with the word, learn how to pronounce the word "folk."

Now, the book is good. I really enjoyed the first book, and bought the second to see what happened with the story. So far, the second book doesn't seem to be covering all the plot lines from the first book. But I haven't finished it yet.

The characters are great. I find myself liking all of them, even the villains. And there is plenty of depth of character development. It's easy to picture them and imagine who they are. The dialogue is also quite good.

I genuinely appreciate the use of swears. One thing that grinds my gears is authors who make up their own swear words so they don't have to worry about backlash for saying "shit." I mean, really? Grow a pair. One author who I won't name uses the word "crit" instead of "shit." It's like hearing fingernails on a chalkboard every time the narrator says "crit." It's just so artificial and pointless. So, thank you Rob for being brave enough to have your characters swear occasionally. I don't care if swears are in a book or not. I just can't stand fake swears....

All in all, a great second book in the series.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Narrators please do your homework

Reviewed: 02-13-22

For the love of god, pronunciation is IMPORTANT. What is a "Tist"? What is a "Mulazin"? There have been 11 books in this series, is it really that difficult to find out how to pronounce "Malazan" and "Tiste"? DO YOUR HOMEWORK!

The book on the other hand is great! Steven Erikson at his usual level of excellence. Great characters, fantastic dialogue, and a plot that picks up after The Crippled God. Pretty much anything Erikson writes is excellent and something I'll read at least three times. He's in an elite and rarified class of writers. For me, it's Steven Erikson, Jim Butcher, and Joe Abercrombie, with a few others who are reasonable stand-in's for anyone who needs a sick day.

To be concise, this book is excellent, does not disappoint, and is a welcome gift to those of us who have been patiently waiting for their Malazan fix. Thank you Steven!

Finally, i'm not saying the narrator did a bad job. She actually did a surprisingly good job. Her characters are excellent, with unique voices all around. A very strong job. But PLEASE get the pronunciations right! Hearing her say "Mulazin" is like hearing a violent record skip halfway through Stairway to Heaven. It's jarring. It really detracts from the overall audiobook.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

I can't wait for the next installment!

Reviewed: 12-28-21

This series is one of which i'm eagerly awaiting the next installment. It's somewhat traditional fantasy, but done with fresh ideas, strong characters, believable plots, and with clear strong writing.

My only negative critique would be that there can sometimes be too much whining from some characters. I've found that there is a disturbing trend with a lot of my favorite writers whereby the characters spend an inordinate amount of time whining. An obnoxious internal monologue of incessant hand-wringing about how they know they shouldn't be immoral, or whatever the issue might be. I understand that feelings are important, and characters have to have internal struggles. But this is action/fantasy literature. I don't want to read about the same interminable inner struggle over feelings over and over and over again.

I'm not suggesting that this book suffers from this problem overmuch. I think there was one instance of it. Other writers are far more guilty of this.

All in all, I hope this series is more than a trilogy. Follow Terry Mancouer's lead and just keep writing. If you write 15 books in this world, i'll read them all. Or follow Terry Pratchett's lead and write 40 books in this series. Again, i'll read them all!

Thanks for another great book!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Better than a vampire book

Reviewed: 10-29-21

This was my first Jay Kristoff book, and it did not disappoint. I'll try to keep this concise:

1. Empire of the Vampire is long, and I appreciate that. By no means was it too long,

2. The character development is strong, and the characters are believable,

3. The plot is strong and not predictable. This book also avoided a lot of the tropes that other authors use too often,

4. It's a fresh concept and it was written in an enjoyable style.

I can't wait to read the next installment.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

PAOLINI SHOWS WHY HE'S A BEST SELLER!

Reviewed: 08-07-21

To get to the point, this book is terrific. It's well written, fast paced, with a good story that is a fairly new genre for Paolini. Everyone who read his first series about dragons probably enjoyed it. It was a good series and a very strong start for a new writer. That being said Paoline has clearly matured since then. This book is the next step in his evolution. I hope the series is long and that there are many more books to follow. The hero/protagonist is terrific, basically believable (despite being a super-powered space hero created by the melding of an ancient alien artifact onto a research scientist), and seems ready to dominate the entire galaxy. I hope she gets the chance!

I don't usually write reviews, but this book deserved a few minutes of my time. It's not your average vanilla sci-fi/fantasy rehash. It's a fresh idea, well executed, and enjoyable from start to finish. There really is no point at which the story doesn't keep you engaged.

A great ride from start to finish and proof that Paolini is a first class Sci-Fi author.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful