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dunkin_ma_knuts's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
bookswithbets's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
nelljustice's review
5.0
Very intriguing story. I had started it about a month ago and barely got thru the 1st chapter. I restarted it again a few days ago and got sucked in entirely. I guess I wasn’t in the right mood for it the first time. This may fit you, so if you don’t like it right away, you might want to come back a little later because it is a story that kept me highly engaged. I listened as an audiobook and the narrator was spot on. The narrator was so good, I swear I was watching a movie.
This is in an old west setting, which makes it even more an enjoyable story. I will say there is a lot of death, but not a lot of gross descriptions of carnage. There isn’t a romantic story in the middle of the death and chaos, so don’t worry about that if it isn’t your jam.
There is some language tossed around, so if you aren’t a delicate flower, it will add to the flavor of the story. Please listen to the novella before this: “Dead Acre” because it’ll give you more background on the character.
The epilogue does leave a bit of a cliffhanger, but the main story is completed. I really enjoyed this book.
This is in an old west setting, which makes it even more an enjoyable story. I will say there is a lot of death, but not a lot of gross descriptions of carnage. There isn’t a romantic story in the middle of the death and chaos, so don’t worry about that if it isn’t your jam.
There is some language tossed around, so if you aren’t a delicate flower, it will add to the flavor of the story. Please listen to the novella before this: “Dead Acre” because it’ll give you more background on the character.
The epilogue does leave a bit of a cliffhanger, but the main story is completed. I really enjoyed this book.
tonibby's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
iam_griff's review against another edition
5.0
I stumbled upon "Dead Acres" on Audible purely from coincidence, but the fact that the story was narrated by Roger Clark (Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption II) made the story perfect. So you couldn't imagine my excitement when I found "Cold as Ice" available. This is a great weird wild west story! James Crowley is a Black Badge a servant of the White Throne. Cursed to roam the Earth as not quite dead & not quite alive being directed by his guardian angel to fight against Demons, Monsters & Witches. I loved this book as Crowley isn't a nigh-invulnerable hero, he isn't a amazing gunslinger who always makes the best decisions & he definitely isn't the smartest. These just endear the character to me more as I've always enjoyed the flawed protagonist in any story.
mistymoon24's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Decent enough western with a touch of fantasy, but not my favourite
schnoebs13's review
3.25
In a former life, James Crowley used to be a highway man who only cared about getting to the next big payday. Now having no other choice, he’s a black badge who gets sent out to prevent the worst supernaturals from winning in the continuous battle against God and his angels. When a group of bank robbers appear to have more than their fair share of skills, Crowley is told to handle the situation. He’ll do it but that doesn’t mean he’ll like it, especially because it’s going to be a lot harder than he anticipated. Ghosts from his past are making an appearance and vengeance is desperately wanted from all sides.
I’m having a hard time wanting to review this because this was honestly my most anticipated book last year and I struggled getting through it. The concept of black badge and this monster of the week story-telling style is honestly like bread and butter for me, but I just couldn’t connect with the story as badly as I wanted to.
First off, this was not a bad story. I absolutely loved the vibes of this world, and the narration was spot on. Crowley as a character is one I always appreciate, and his no bullshit and sarcastic personality make him an ideal main character for me. The first half of this book had me really connected and loving seeing more of this supernatural world in the western frontier of America get flushed out. The concept of the devilish harmonica really gave me the creeps but it's part of the type of world building that sucked me in since the beginning. Sadly, once we gained this subplot with Rosalie, I was having a hard time caring. I wanted to get back to Crowley figuring out how to take down the bank robbers, but it seemed to take forever for us to get back to that part of the plot. Once we moved away from dead husbands, and got closer to the actual big moments, I found it a lot easier to keep going in the story.
I really loved the prequel to this, so having book one drag so much at times made it hard to really enjoy it. The ending of this story was great though and the epilogue has me wanting to continue on even though this fell a bit short for me. I think there’s a lot of potential in this world and I hope I can enjoy the next book more.
I’m having a hard time wanting to review this because this was honestly my most anticipated book last year and I struggled getting through it. The concept of black badge and this monster of the week story-telling style is honestly like bread and butter for me, but I just couldn’t connect with the story as badly as I wanted to.
First off, this was not a bad story. I absolutely loved the vibes of this world, and the narration was spot on. Crowley as a character is one I always appreciate, and his no bullshit and sarcastic personality make him an ideal main character for me. The first half of this book had me really connected and loving seeing more of this supernatural world in the western frontier of America get flushed out. The concept of the devilish harmonica really gave me the creeps but it's part of the type of world building that sucked me in since the beginning. Sadly, once we gained this subplot with Rosalie, I was having a hard time caring. I wanted to get back to Crowley figuring out how to take down the bank robbers, but it seemed to take forever for us to get back to that part of the plot. Once we moved away from dead husbands, and got closer to the actual big moments, I found it a lot easier to keep going in the story.
I really loved the prequel to this, so having book one drag so much at times made it hard to really enjoy it. The ending of this story was great though and the epilogue has me wanting to continue on even though this fell a bit short for me. I think there’s a lot of potential in this world and I hope I can enjoy the next book more.
pjonsson's review against another edition
2.0
ok started out quite well and then went downhill to end with a really crappy ending.
For starters, it is a well written book. I’ve read other books by Rhett C. Bruno and he is a good writer. So when the book started off pretty good with this cynical, undead, western gunslinger and his monologue I had some hopes.
I have to confess though that I was a bit hesitant from the start since the genre is not really my cup of tea. I read a lot of urban fantasy and I guess you could call this book urban fantasy but with its setting in the old west it felt more like a weird fantasy book than an actual urban fantasy one to me.
Still, as I wrote, it started of pretty well. But from there it started to go down hill and already about a third in the story started to get bogged down. It just became a lot of bla bla and I felt like we where not moving forward.
It didn’t really help that the main protagonist, who started off as a kick-ass gunslinger, turned out to be quite stupid and got his ass kicked more often than not. Also, apart from being immortal, he didn’t really have any powers to speak of.
To add to this, his angel handler is a real asshole and not at all helpful. As a matter of fact he is just annoying, behaves like a spoiled brat and drags down the book more than anything.
Still, up to this point I was about to give the book a three star rating. Then came the ending. What a load of illogical crap! A typical Hollywood style illogical bullshit ending that really pissed me off.
So thus we arrive at a two star rating and another series that goes on the do-not-read shelf.
For starters, it is a well written book. I’ve read other books by Rhett C. Bruno and he is a good writer. So when the book started off pretty good with this cynical, undead, western gunslinger and his monologue I had some hopes.
I have to confess though that I was a bit hesitant from the start since the genre is not really my cup of tea. I read a lot of urban fantasy and I guess you could call this book urban fantasy but with its setting in the old west it felt more like a weird fantasy book than an actual urban fantasy one to me.
Still, as I wrote, it started of pretty well. But from there it started to go down hill and already about a third in the story started to get bogged down. It just became a lot of bla bla and I felt like we where not moving forward.
It didn’t really help that the main protagonist, who started off as a kick-ass gunslinger, turned out to be quite stupid and got his ass kicked more often than not. Also, apart from being immortal, he didn’t really have any powers to speak of.
To add to this, his angel handler is a real asshole and not at all helpful. As a matter of fact he is just annoying, behaves like a spoiled brat and drags down the book more than anything.
Still, up to this point I was about to give the book a three star rating. Then came the ending. What a load of illogical crap! A typical Hollywood style illogical bullshit ending that really pissed me off.
So thus we arrive at a two star rating and another series that goes on the do-not-read shelf.
dodie_sullivan's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, and Death
Moderate: Murder and Racism
Minor: Racial slurs and Sexual violence
getbeaned's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I'm almost in awe at how completely dull a story about a rootin' & tootin' cowboy with divine powers can be. Our protagonist lacks any defining features outside of immortality and a desire to be a quippy badass, but fails on its arse through sheer incompetencey and a dearth of charisma.
Other characters like Rosa are borderline offensive. She never just exists. We have to be told how beautiful she is, and how much our main character secretly loves her, which is grotesque when you consider he first laid eyes on her when she was a child. It's also just wrong because the two have no romantic energy displayed in the text.
If you're going to imbue your main character with the minor boon of literally being incapable of dying, you better hope you have something to offer is character development or metaphor, because every action scene is a snooze fest in some part because we know no matter how incompetent he is, he just can't die.
Listen to the audiobook if you must read this. Then at least you get a good narration from what I hear.
Other characters like Rosa are borderline offensive. She never just exists. We have to be told how beautiful she is, and how much our main character secretly loves her, which is grotesque when you consider he first laid eyes on her when she was a child. It's also just wrong because the two have no romantic energy displayed in the text.
If you're going to imbue your main character with the minor boon of literally being incapable of dying, you better hope you have something to offer is character development or metaphor, because every action scene is a snooze fest in some part because we know no matter how incompetent he is, he just can't die.
Listen to the audiobook if you must read this. Then at least you get a good narration from what I hear.