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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An emotional rollecoaster. A thrill ride though the depths of human emotion. Perfection.
6.5/10 Ultimately a good book in my opinion. It's hard to level criticism given I don't read the hard-boiled genre, but do read a lot of fantasy. Thus much of my criticism could simply be genre conventions. , I found the pacing to be a little slow for my taste.
Reading this after watching hours and hours of Colville's D&D videos I could only laugh at all the language pulled from the game.
The book was good most of the time, a little frustrating at others, and kind of a little indulgent on the authors part at some points.
A female character who didn't die, or disappear, or want to sleep with the MC would have been nice too.
The book was good most of the time, a little frustrating at others, and kind of a little indulgent on the authors part at some points.
A female character who didn't die, or disappear, or want to sleep with the MC would have been nice too.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual content
Minor: Ableism, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Loved and hated this book. Ok not really hated but spoiler alert...there is no happy ending here. Heden was too real, too close to my heart. I loved the character and really saw Matt himself in there too. The story of the knights and the murder of one of them is frustrating, you feel it just as much as our reluctant hero does. Overall I would recommend this book. Loved his dialog with the polder! Looking forward to reading Thief.
Finally got a physical copy of what is one of my favorite books of all time. It's not a perfect book, but that's okay. The writing is a little rough at points, the formatting in the physical edition looks like it is 1.5-spaced, straight out of microsoft word, and there's sometimes so errant typos. Basically, it could have done with an editor. This makes it all-the-more impressive that it as good as it is. I like it this way. I am not sure I would like a "perfect" version of this book more.
Priest is a book that is an exploration of the feeling of being powerless. Our main character, Heden, who by all evidence is quite powerful, is consistently made to feel emotionally powerless. This is the underlying theme of the book.
Heden has a sword that can rain stars upon his enemies, a magic carpet, seemingly limitless money, priceless artifacts, etc. But he is also a veteran adventurer who has seen some shit. He has seen men die for nothing besides dumb luck and bad timing. He has seen whole countries fall to darkness, people corrupted, and the frivolity of mortality. He is a heavily traumatized veteran, and this is central to his character, the book's plot, and the book's themes.
So, despite of all of his power, riches, fame, glory (etc.): Heden can never help but to feel powerless, because he is trapped by his trauma. He refuses to acknowledge that he is also someone who needs help. So he goes out of his way to make sure no one ends up like him, and this only worsens his situation. He self-actualizes how his trauma has made him feel about himself. He believes he is powerless, and therefore he is. And it bites him hard.
I can't give out too many spoilers, but I have read this book for or five times. It's got nice fantasy action, it's relatively easy to read, and it is an awesome exploration of the mechanics of paladins and clerics wrapped up with good thematic and character bows.
Priest is a book that is an exploration of the feeling of being powerless. Our main character, Heden, who by all evidence is quite powerful, is consistently made to feel emotionally powerless. This is the underlying theme of the book.
Heden has a sword that can rain stars upon his enemies, a magic carpet, seemingly limitless money, priceless artifacts, etc. But he is also a veteran adventurer who has seen some shit. He has seen men die for nothing besides dumb luck and bad timing. He has seen whole countries fall to darkness, people corrupted, and the frivolity of mortality. He is a heavily traumatized veteran, and this is central to his character, the book's plot, and the book's themes.
So, despite of all of his power, riches, fame, glory (etc.): Heden can never help but to feel powerless, because he is trapped by his trauma. He refuses to acknowledge that he is also someone who needs help. So he goes out of his way to make sure no one ends up like him, and this only worsens his situation. He self-actualizes how his trauma has made him feel about himself. He believes he is powerless, and therefore he is. And it bites him hard.
I can't give out too many spoilers, but I have read this book for or five times. It's got nice fantasy action, it's relatively easy to read, and it is an awesome exploration of the mechanics of paladins and clerics wrapped up with good thematic and character bows.
Short and sweet but seemed to lose its way a little towards the end.
It's nice to see a fantasy novel that isn't just magic and dragons, it has a story that would work just as well in a mundane setting. It's also very deliberately not a door-stopper, keeping things brief and skipping whole time periods in a manner that keeps up the pace but occasionally seems a little jarring.
It's nice to see a fantasy novel that isn't just magic and dragons, it has a story that would work just as well in a mundane setting. It's also very deliberately not a door-stopper, keeping things brief and skipping whole time periods in a manner that keeps up the pace but occasionally seems a little jarring.
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Priest was rough around the edges, but had a solid, well conceived core in its main character and world.
This was obviously a first effort, and the beginning felt very much like the beginning of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign might, but despite that I enjoyed Priest. It felt like something between The Dresden Files and a Forgotten Realms novel.
I really enjoyed the character of Heden, who was definitely unique and interesting, as well as Aderyn, but found myself mostly uninvested in the other characters. If I had more time with the other characters, I might have found them more compelling, but since the novel never presents us with more than a surface view of most, it was hard to stay interested in them. Mostly, I just wanted to solve the mystery, even if I saw the final twist (and the hook for the next novel) coming pretty early.
There's some excellent world-building here, even if there's a few tropes I could have done without. The personification and diversity of the saints was a high point.
There were still a few errors in the text, but nothing that took me out of the story. Overall, this was a great first book, and I'll definitely be reading the sequel. I mentioned The Dresden Files earlier and that is applicable again: this felt like Storm Front, Jim Butcher's first novel. That first novel was rough, but the sequels got so much better so quickly. This feels like it has that same potential.
This was obviously a first effort, and the beginning felt very much like the beginning of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign might, but despite that I enjoyed Priest. It felt like something between The Dresden Files and a Forgotten Realms novel.
I really enjoyed the character of Heden, who was definitely unique and interesting, as well as Aderyn, but found myself mostly uninvested in the other characters. If I had more time with the other characters, I might have found them more compelling, but since the novel never presents us with more than a surface view of most, it was hard to stay interested in them. Mostly, I just wanted to solve the mystery, even if I saw the final twist (and the hook for the next novel) coming pretty early.
There's some excellent world-building here, even if there's a few tropes I could have done without. The personification and diversity of the saints was a high point.
There were still a few errors in the text, but nothing that took me out of the story. Overall, this was a great first book, and I'll definitely be reading the sequel. I mentioned The Dresden Files earlier and that is applicable again: this felt like Storm Front, Jim Butcher's first novel. That first novel was rough, but the sequels got so much better so quickly. This feels like it has that same potential.