Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

 

I Love Books, A Christmas Video

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Alden and the Trash Truck

A Parent's Struggle: Helping Children Understand Alcoholism

A Lab Of A Different Color

A Quirky Christmas

The Mighty Pranksters of Bright Lives Academy

Dizzy's Diary

The Puppy Mill Escape

Hardy Belch and The Gold Train

If reviewing a product, it may have been received free of charge. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases if you click on a purchasing link below.#CommissionsEarned

Dancer's Lament by Ian C. Esslemont

This author is fond of complexity and that forces you to pay attention. Li Heng is a city-state protected by the Protectress and her mages. Dorin, a professional assassin is trying to establish his “rep”.   To establish a reputation you need to assassinate someone notable or difficult.  On his journey, he meets Wu an aspiring mage who may be insane.  The two of them end up in Li Heng where they discover a surfeit of opportunities for wealth, knowledge, and reputation. 

 

Esslemont provides plenty of interesting characters such as the NightBlades, and Jaghuts that may or may not be the offspring of higher beings.  There is an allusion to another dimension.  One which seems to have had a devastating war. For unknown reasons, Wu wants to go there or at least control the beings he finds there.  They both run afoul of Li Heng’s criminal environment with disastrous results. The Kanese have decided to add Li Heng to their string of conquests.  They then besieged the city and challenged the mighty sorceress, the Protectress.   

 

Dorin has had his humanistic side burned out by his training.  He is befriended, much to his dismay, by a healer of birds.  She brings out normal human feelings that he was unaware of having.

 

The book provides a decent enough closure that you could read it as a standalone.  It is the first book in a trilogy that precedes another trilogy so their hooks aplenty to get you to buy the next book. 

 

Due to Esslemont’s attention to detail and the complexity of the plot, I would recommend reading the books in order. 

 

I recommend the book.This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases if you click on a purchasing link below.#CommissionsEarned

A Beast Within by Aidan Lucid

The Boyd family has a terrifying experience that leads to an unknown future.   Jeremy is an ex-con who can’t catch a break.  He encounters his childhood best buddy Stephen who is accompanied by Natalie his girlfriend.   The encounter leads to action and mayhem.

Lucid, paints Jeremy with compassion.  Lucid seems to see the challenges of the incarcerated population reintegrating with the normal populace.  He shows how both intentional and unintentional cruelty, even if verbal, can cause major injury to someone trying to change.

The Boyds have their morality play to contend with.   David, their son, requires morally questionable or even abhorrent help to survive.   Their solution has its own forboding knell.

Lucid provides scenarios that make you ponder on what your response might be in a similar situation.

A thought-provoking book that provides an entertaining read.

 

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases if you click on a purchasing link below.#CommissionsEarned

Kakistocracy by Alex Shvartsman

Conrad Brent is a mage without magic.   A middling or possibly a god-in-waiting with an abundance of ethics and morals.   His power is in his out-of-the-box thinking.   He successfully offends a segment of the fae and comes home to discover that a wealth of enemies has invaded his city.  

Shvartsman has come up with a highly likable character who recognizes that occasionally it is imperative to be ruthless.  Kind-hearted and yet filled with righteous indignation over any kind of mistreatment of “his” borough citizens, Conrad gets his butt kicked but bounces back.

I’d hoped for a rapprochement with Herc would happen but perhaps in the next book.  Moira O’Leary has grown into a full-blown character.   She may be my new favorite with her skewed understanding of karma.

God, fairies, trolls, guns, spells, battles what’s not to like?

I recommend the book and the series!

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases if you click on a purchasing link below.#CommissionsEarned

Happy Halloween!

Futility of Defense by Bryan Cole

I’m fond of a back story.  This book does not have one.   It is part of a saga, which is fine but you’re expectations are colored by confusion.  Krell is a paladin of ReckNor, a minor deity.  He is charged with defending his home against sea devils who oddly come from the sea which seems like the area where ReckNor is in charge.

There is action, fighting, interplay where Krell seems to be fascinated with an assortment of female characters and their physical characteristics. 

I never was able to invest in the book.  

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases if you click on a purchasing link below.#CommissionsEarned