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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
I didn’t finish this book. In discussion at book club one person called it ‘too rapey’ and didn’t finish either. There were several factors and that probably contributed for me as well. More annoying for me was Faith Hunter’s attempt at some kind of ‘authentic’ Appalachian voice. It came off as trying too hard and just annoyingly like a caricature instead.
This sentence bothered me :
“To hide my reaction, I swiveled away and stepped slowly into the dark of the shelving behind the kitchen, where I kept preserves and seeds and dried foodstuffs, dishes and pots and serving bowls and crockery.” WOW. WTF is going on with that sentence? I can’t even.
This sentence bothered me :
“To hide my reaction, I swiveled away and stepped slowly into the dark of the shelving behind the kitchen, where I kept preserves and seeds and dried foodstuffs, dishes and pots and serving bowls and crockery.” WOW. WTF is going on with that sentence? I can’t even.
4.5★'s rounded down on GR ~ 5 ★'s as always for narration by Khristine Hvam. Well I'd been putting off this book because Rick LaFleur was in it. I needn't of worried. This was a fabulous start to a new series. I loved it. I found Nell to be an intriguing character along with the new crew she is working with and am looking forward to reading more. Oh and Rick LaFleur ~ honey, your life is a mess and I couldn't be happier for you.
Interesting. Shows promise to be another awesome series by Faith Hunter. Also is a bit recycled though if you've read the Jane Yellowrock series. The big religious theme, this time in the form of a religious cult is, present. Characters in this series are crossovers from the Jane Yellowrock series. All in all, I am curious as to where this series is going.
While I've read the first 8 Jane Yellowrock books (and that, folks, is why I keep a book log), I'm pretty sure I never read the story this is a spin-off from. But I was home, sick, and needed something to read. I think I devoured this one in a day.
I definitely like Nell better than Jane Yellowrock - it's not as if I was reared in a polygamous cult, but Nell is still more relatable. Maybe because she's kind of a hermit, maybe because her competencies are closer to mine (less murder, more gardening), but I just like her better. I mean, so far, she still has time to go off the rails.
Also, Rick LaFleur! Absolutely the best of Jane's interests. So I'm glad to see him.
I definitely like Nell better than Jane Yellowrock - it's not as if I was reared in a polygamous cult, but Nell is still more relatable. Maybe because she's kind of a hermit, maybe because her competencies are closer to mine (less murder, more gardening), but I just like her better. I mean, so far, she still has time to go off the rails.
Also, Rick LaFleur! Absolutely the best of Jane's interests. So I'm glad to see him.
Sale Alert: Yes that's right I liked this one way more than Jane Yellowrock and it is the audible daily deal today for $5.95 here
4.25 Nell What Are You Stars
Jane Yellowrock is one of those UF series that I can completely take or leave. I like it, it’s okay but if I wasn’t reading it with other people it isn’t one I’d run out to buy the newest book in on release day. That said I LOVED Nell and her Soulwood.
Nell is completely a character I mostly get and can relate to for the most part. She is so incredibly broken because of the way she was brought up but she is a fighter through and through and has just gotten to a place in her life where she is asserting her independence and really learning how to spread her wings and fly so to speak. It made her very easy to root for.
Nell’s past is a bit harsh. She grew up in a religious cult, she was married off to someone when she was twelve and he wasn’t mean or anything but he definitely had very specific ideas of what the roll of a woman in his household would be and do and Nell fit into that tiny little space until his death. No finally free and on her own she is fighting to keep the land he left to her and that she is in some magical way a part of. Nell is special and different and even she isn’t sure what she is.
If you have read the Jane Yellowrock books then you know who Rick and Paca are and like me maybe you were not excited to see Rick again. I almost…almost felt a little sorry for Rick. But then I remembered how he treated Jane and thought again he is getting his just desserts in a way and turnabout is pretty much fair play. Still the relationship between him and Paca wasn’t really what I was expecting to be.
Still he is there and he can still be a huge ass at times but he didn’t detract from my enjoyment of this story. That could have been because I really liked Nell so much and she did get to teach him a very gratifying lesson at one point in this. But also the reason that it didn’t get in the way of my liking the story was because he came with a team of other people with various powers/conditions that were almost as equally interesting as Nell. My favorite was probably Tandy, a man hit by lightning who gain empathic insight. His new superpower seemed like a curse as much as a blessing. Then there is Occum who I think might have a bit of chemisty going with Nell. But I don’t think anything will happen on that front for awhile, because like I mentioned before Nell is a bit broken.
The plot had some different and interesting lore used in it and I always appreciate when that happens and the villains aren’t just your run of the mill monsters. Plus I liked where Faith took Nell’s storyline with the cult and her family. I don’t really want to give too much away on that since I liked that development that it gave to the plot. But let’s just say that no matter what culture you live in there are good people and bad people in it and no matter what when you are on the outside looking in sometimes you can’t tell who is who.
This was a fantastic start to a new UF series and I liked it so much more than the early Jane Yellowrock books. Even if you aren’t a fan of Jane I think this series is one worth taking a look at.
Great buddy read with the peeps at
4.25 Nell What Are You Stars
Jane Yellowrock is one of those UF series that I can completely take or leave. I like it, it’s okay but if I wasn’t reading it with other people it isn’t one I’d run out to buy the newest book in on release day. That said I LOVED Nell and her Soulwood.
Nell is completely a character I mostly get and can relate to for the most part. She is so incredibly broken because of the way she was brought up but she is a fighter through and through and has just gotten to a place in her life where she is asserting her independence and really learning how to spread her wings and fly so to speak. It made her very easy to root for.
Nell’s past is a bit harsh. She grew up in a religious cult, she was married off to someone when she was twelve and he wasn’t mean or anything but he definitely had very specific ideas of what the roll of a woman in his household would be and do and Nell fit into that tiny little space until his death. No finally free and on her own she is fighting to keep the land he left to her and that she is in some magical way a part of. Nell is special and different and even she isn’t sure what she is.
He was feeling some inexplicable kind of ache, like a throbbing in his red-lined flesh. “I beg your forgiveness for overstepping my bounds. But I find you . . .” He shook his head as if searching for a word he couldn’t find. He settled on, “. . . fascinating.”
I took another step back at that, surprise slipping through me like a cold rain down my collar, knowing my posture was still defensive.
“We all do,” Occam said, “the ones of us who aren’t human. You smell like . . . like home, sugar. Like safety, perched in the trees with fresh kill before us.”
“You smell of jungle and tall trees,” Paka said. “Of deep water and rich earth. And death. Much death, the earth wet with the blood of prey, an offering, a gift, that I might eat and live.”
If you have read the Jane Yellowrock books then you know who Rick and Paca are and like me maybe you were not excited to see Rick again. I almost…almost felt a little sorry for Rick. But then I remembered how he treated Jane and thought again he is getting his just desserts in a way and turnabout is pretty much fair play. Still the relationship between him and Paca wasn’t really what I was expecting to be.
He seemed entranced by her, but not like a normal man in the presence of a beautiful, wild woman. More as if he was pulled to her, like the moon to the Earth, held in her orbit, but always separate. I couldn’t guess at the nature of their relationship, but whatever their bond was, peace wasn’t part of it.
Still he is there and he can still be a huge ass at times but he didn’t detract from my enjoyment of this story. That could have been because I really liked Nell so much and she did get to teach him a very gratifying lesson at one point in this. But also the reason that it didn’t get in the way of my liking the story was because he came with a team of other people with various powers/conditions that were almost as equally interesting as Nell. My favorite was probably Tandy, a man hit by lightning who gain empathic insight. His new superpower seemed like a curse as much as a blessing. Then there is Occum who I think might have a bit of chemisty going with Nell. But I don’t think anything will happen on that front for awhile, because like I mentioned before Nell is a bit broken.
The plot had some different and interesting lore used in it and I always appreciate when that happens and the villains aren’t just your run of the mill monsters. Plus I liked where Faith took Nell’s storyline with the cult and her family. I don’t really want to give too much away on that since I liked that development that it gave to the plot. But let’s just say that no matter what culture you live in there are good people and bad people in it and no matter what when you are on the outside looking in sometimes you can’t tell who is who.
This was a fantastic start to a new UF series and I liked it so much more than the early Jane Yellowrock books. Even if you aren’t a fan of Jane I think this series is one worth taking a look at.
Great buddy read with the peeps at
Love the Jane Yellowrock series. Loved the first Nell short story, "Off the Grid", in which we meet Nell via a Jane Yellowrock adventure. And now here's Nell's first full-length story in a promised series. My take: Faith Hunter has serious chops. That doesn't prevent the first novel with a new character from having some bumps. The good stuff: great premise, totally fun cult details, plus the benefits of established AWESOME worldbuilding and characters from JY's world (full disclosure: I think Faith Hunter's vampires are the best in the business). I especially loved getting a bit more of Paka, plus a new wereleopard named Occam (oh so hot). The bumps: Nell's voice isn't clear and consistent yet, and sometimes the different facets of her personality didn't feel congruent to me. I have complete faith in Faith to evolve Nell into some serious, whole, distinctive, kick-assedness, complete and total faith. For now I'm still too aware of the pieces of her character floating around (refugee from cult; off-the-gridder; voracious reader; deductive reasoner; unusual supernat stiff discovering what she's all about; woman who's still sort of a young girl, etc.). So I'm giving this 3 stars because I genuinely liked it. And I KNOW future volumes will soar up to at least 4 or 5. Looking forward to getting to know Nell and her world much better.
Review from Tenacious Reader: http://www.tenaciousreader.com/2016/08/29/audiobook-review-blood-of-the-earth-by-faith-hunter/
2.5/5 stars
Blood of the Earth is the first in a new series by Faith Hunter. It is a spin-off from her Jane Yellowrock books, which I have not read, and so I confirmed this would be a good entry point before reading. I definitely never felt I was missing information, or was hindered by having not read Jane Yellowrock. That said, I did feel like my reading experience definitely lacked something. This is a hard review to write because while I can’t say I actively disliked much about this book while reading, I also can’t say there was much about it that I did like or enjoy. The trick is figuring out why that is and expand beyond just the general ‘meh’ impression this book left on me.
I guess my first roadblock was that I never felt a connection with the main character, Nell, despite feeling like I really *should* like her. Nell has been living by herself on property left to her by her late husband. She has a very unique and special connection with the land around her. Her ownership of this land is a point of contention with the church/cult she grew up in (but has since abandoned, because, you know, cults are bad). But through some unfortunate events, she is dragged out of her isolation to aid an investigation that will require her to make contact with the church again.
I wanted to like Nell. But for some reason, I just felt she came across as naive. I think this is a trait of her character and was intentional (its hard to live in isolation and not be naive), but instead of sympathizing with her, I started to feel a bit impatient instead. There was also a ton of repetition in this book. Sometimes, in big tomes of epic fantasy where you have a lot of information to remember or in books aimed at young readers, repetition can be beneficial. Here? It was extraneous page filler material that pulled me out of the story as previous information was rehashed and slightly reworded.
And as for the plot? Well, once again, I felt like I should have found it more intriguing than I actually did. I just didn’t find myself engaging with the entire cult/church threat. There are also girls who have gone missing, but as a reader I felt rather removed from them, and so I really did not feel any emotional investment in them, their capture or their recovery (gosh, that makes me sound horrible, but really, it was just like a story check point, side information for me rather than feeling like I was reading the harrowing disappearance of young women).
For the Audiobook version: I don’t feel like I would have enjoyed this book any more in print than I did in audio. But I have to say that I didn’t enjoy the narration much either only because I found the southern accent a bit hard to listen to. Although, in all fairness, it may have been spot on for how the character should sound. So, it could just be another aspect of the book that didn’t quite work for.
Overall, I can’t say I would recommend this book except maybe to people who are already huge Faith Hunter fans (that wouldn’t need my recommendation anyway). For readers new to the author, this book definitely works as a starting point, but seeing as how the Jane Yellowrock books are so popular, they may serve a better introduction to the author.
2.5/5 stars
Blood of the Earth is the first in a new series by Faith Hunter. It is a spin-off from her Jane Yellowrock books, which I have not read, and so I confirmed this would be a good entry point before reading. I definitely never felt I was missing information, or was hindered by having not read Jane Yellowrock. That said, I did feel like my reading experience definitely lacked something. This is a hard review to write because while I can’t say I actively disliked much about this book while reading, I also can’t say there was much about it that I did like or enjoy. The trick is figuring out why that is and expand beyond just the general ‘meh’ impression this book left on me.
I guess my first roadblock was that I never felt a connection with the main character, Nell, despite feeling like I really *should* like her. Nell has been living by herself on property left to her by her late husband. She has a very unique and special connection with the land around her. Her ownership of this land is a point of contention with the church/cult she grew up in (but has since abandoned, because, you know, cults are bad). But through some unfortunate events, she is dragged out of her isolation to aid an investigation that will require her to make contact with the church again.
I wanted to like Nell. But for some reason, I just felt she came across as naive. I think this is a trait of her character and was intentional (its hard to live in isolation and not be naive), but instead of sympathizing with her, I started to feel a bit impatient instead. There was also a ton of repetition in this book. Sometimes, in big tomes of epic fantasy where you have a lot of information to remember or in books aimed at young readers, repetition can be beneficial. Here? It was extraneous page filler material that pulled me out of the story as previous information was rehashed and slightly reworded.
And as for the plot? Well, once again, I felt like I should have found it more intriguing than I actually did. I just didn’t find myself engaging with the entire cult/church threat. There are also girls who have gone missing, but as a reader I felt rather removed from them, and so I really did not feel any emotional investment in them, their capture or their recovery (gosh, that makes me sound horrible, but really, it was just like a story check point, side information for me rather than feeling like I was reading the harrowing disappearance of young women).
For the Audiobook version: I don’t feel like I would have enjoyed this book any more in print than I did in audio. But I have to say that I didn’t enjoy the narration much either only because I found the southern accent a bit hard to listen to. Although, in all fairness, it may have been spot on for how the character should sound. So, it could just be another aspect of the book that didn’t quite work for.
Overall, I can’t say I would recommend this book except maybe to people who are already huge Faith Hunter fans (that wouldn’t need my recommendation anyway). For readers new to the author, this book definitely works as a starting point, but seeing as how the Jane Yellowrock books are so popular, they may serve a better introduction to the author.
I finished this a while ago and thought I'd already marked it so. I loved it and am excited for the next in the series, [b:Curse on the Land|28953491|Curse on the Land (Soulwood, #2)|Faith Hunter|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1459397931s/28953491.jpg|49178594]!