A Review: Of Bone and Thunder

ARC received from NetGalley

3/5 stars

First thing, let’s talk about the cover. Beautiful, amazing, intriguing. The cover drew me to this book. I love it. Pure fantasy.

Now let’s talk about the book.  I have a hard time connecting with books that have an epic war at the forefront of the storyline without knowing some background information. This is where I would have appreciated a LOTR worthy prologue.  The literary world says prologues are dead, but I think this book deserves one, especially since Of Bone and thunder is hailed as a LOTR-esque read. From a LOTR reader, what do I see that this book has in common with LOTR? Dwarves and Dragons and the hint of an epic battle. Except, I don’t care much for the battle, since, as a reader, I have not been introduced to the danger of the Slyt’s, as I have been to the evil of Sauron. I can understand why the soldiers didn’t understand their mission, because neither did I.

Moving on.

Of Bone and Thunder is told from multiple points of view. We see through the eyes of the enlisted men at the forefront of the battlefield, a man on the ground who just might be a secret weapon in winning this war, and the eye-in-the-sky dragon riders. There is war, deception, drug use, the mistrust of new technologies,  the role of women on the battlefield, and they are all artfully intertwined.

What did I love? The scenery and the mixing of magic, dragons, weaponry that deserve a fantasy novel of their own. Our most captivating characters, Jawn, a trained Thaum (think mind magician with electricity) and trained military officer in the Kingdom’s army, as well as Vorly and Breeze with their dragons are the plot points that kept me reading. Not only were these characters the most captivating, but the scenes were well written and imaginative. I think I did fly on a dragon while reading this, and I did that crazy mind-meld thing that Breeze and Vorly did using the crystals. But what we were given wasn’t enough for me. Deep in my heart, I wanted more dragons, More  magic of the Thaum, More Jawn, more Vorly and Breeze and Carduus. We are only given hints at the strongest characters and most interesting storylines, and then they are heavily coated in jungle sweat and frontline banter and combat. I really wanted to connect with the front line military men, but since (yes, I know I’m beating a dead horse here) I have no way to connect with this war, they were simply a lot of static in the storyline. That being said, Of Bone and Thunder is still a great read.  

Does Evans combine the best of fantasy and military fiction? Yes. Is it for me? Some of it is. I think my problem is that I just prefer more fantasy and less military fiction

If you’re more into military fiction than you are into fantasy, this is a good read for you. If you’re fond of fantasy, but not a fan of military fiction, consider moving on.

Find Of Bone and Thunder on Amazon.com 

 

#10 books that have stayed with me

I was nominated on Facebook to take the #10 books challenge.
These are the results:

This was a bit of a walk down memory lane. Of course there are plenty of books I would like to add but there just isn't room. Super-boo.

The Edge of Never by J.A. Redmerski

I guess I have to give any book that keeps me reading until 5am five stars. Not only did it keep me up until 5am, but when I woke up a few hours later, I turned on the coffee and read until I finished the book. This was a great read. I will say, I could sense a bit of a tragedy coming on, and when I started chapter forty, I wanted to kick myself in the teeth and then I got to the fourth paragraph and all was well with the world. 

The Edge of Never starts out sweet and while I felt like I easily could have put this book down during the first few chapters, I didn't, and then it was too late because I didn't want to put the book down. The author gave me everything I wanted from a NA romance read, it wasn't over the top, it wasn't raunchy. There was simplicity and fun and just enough "Deepness" to stick in my heart. My only negative idea was that I did get a little annoyed with every male character wanting to bone Camryn.
Great read.

A day spent in the garden

Spent the day outside today! Unfortunately, I wasn't reading. I was sweating it. 

Note to self, stake up tomato plants before the last week of august!

True story

#FreeBookFriday

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Rainy Day revamp

Revamped the merchandise today. Everyone got a rainy day makeover (except Sparrow Man)

Review of Gates of Thread and Stone by Lori M. Lee

I came across Gates of Thread and Stone by Lori M. Lee via email from Amazon. In this email it was promised that I could read this book for free. A few clicks later the book arrived in my Kindle. I’m not sure what I owe Amazon for this, maybe a kneecap or my first born? Or can I simply pay them in gratitude?

So, let’s start from the cover. Can I just say, holy hell, have you seen anything so beautiful as this? Whoever did the cover work has talent and I would consider doing certain things to get a cover like that for one of my books. 

Before reading Gates of Thread and Stone, I perused a few reviews and saw some people liken this book to the Clockwork Princess series by Cassandra Claire. Well folks, you can’t judge this book on its cover, this is not your mother’s Cassandra Claire. Actually if Cassandra Claire’s books were an apple and you picked up Gates of Thread and Stone, you’d be holding a carrot in your hand. Ergo, they are on opposite sides of the spectrum.

It took me until about 12% before I started really getting into this book. At first there seemed to be a lot of information that wasn’t necessary or that I felt should have been reworked to fit into the story better. And I got a little uncomfortable with all the mackin’ Kai was doing on her brother. I mean, I have four brothers and not once did I gaze at them as they slept. Anywho, we find out why later in the book why this is acceptable. At 37%, the book really picked up, the story got really interesting and things started to come together a tiny bit, although there was still plenty of mystery. 

I see in my reading progress I noted that at 67%, this book got really good. And then I couldn’t put it down. Still, while reading I felt like there was something missing. It seemed to be plagued by vagueness and gloss and a bit dreamlike. But I kept thinking to myself, this is fantasy, let’s just go with it. So I’m still on the fence with some aspects of this book. I had a hard time connecting with Kai, I feel like her character needed more development. And I guess I’m a selfish reader because I yearned for more uses of Kai’s ability to dapple with the threads of time. I really enjoyed Avan and Reev’s characters, and truly, those two are what kept me reading. 

Overall, the setup is a Young Adult Dystopia with magical/fantasy elements. When I step back, I see elements of Hunger Games, Divergent, and Red Rising, with the cadets and the training, etc. The author did a great job of mixing the dystopia with the mythology but I wanted more. There was so much more that could have been said or delved into with relationships and events instead of glossing over them. So while I enjoyed the last half of this book very much, I still have that nagging feeling that something was missing. Also, this is the only book I’ve ever read and kept asking myself, where is the rest of the world? Are we on a flat plane where there is only Ninurta, a forest, the void, and Etu Gahl. Humans are mentioned, a Rebirth, the one week of sun but… where is the rest of the world?

After all is said and done, I find that Amazon knows me a little too well. It's creepy really.

Bonuses: the ending brought everything together; when I was done I was satisfied and even consider reading this again.

I recommend this, 3/5 stars.

Sparrow Man Kindle Version Now Available

But it here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MLUIIV0

Happiness is....

Review Lux Series by Jennifer Armentrout

My first introduction into the alien/human world created by JLA was by reading Obsession, and I loved it! Over a year later (because I'm cheap and have been stalking this series yet never reading), Obsidian goes on sale for free and I finally swoop down and dig my claws into that mother, and I couldn't put it down.
So here I am, having read the entire series in 7 days (so lucky that the last book was just released), and I loved it all! 
This series starts out as YA romance, but I feel by book five all of our favorite characters have definitely become adults, matured & changed, and the romance is very strong, especially in the last 2 books, but it's not overwhelming as in some YA books, there's a whole lotta plot and twists and turns and ups and downs that kept me on my toes and kept me reading. Plenty of humor and awesome one-liners. The ending had me scared for a bit, but it turned out to be perfect. 

Now I'm sad that it's over :(
Enter ensuing book hangover... 

I'm just going to go ahead and rate all the books in the series 5/5 stars

Review of HORNS by Joe Hill

 
Overall, this was a thrilling read! A great mix of love, heartache, godliness, and the supernatural. I enjoyed the ups and downs of the story and many times I felt like I was hanging around my brothers as a kid, the dialog was real.

The only negative I have about this book is the ending, which seemed to drag on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on. People were supposed to leave but then showed up again, other characters showed up and the interactions that followed didn't seem to add anything to the story, just drew it out. And how many times to we need to read about Lee beating the crap out of Ig in the bowels of that building? It was a repeated scene that got old.
 

Overall, a good read. The ending could have been a bit better, and less drawn out. I'm excited for the movie!

4/5 stars