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abigcoffeedragon's review
4.0
An enjoyable read
I will tell you the truth. I was not expecting much from this. But, I received massive enjoyment from this story. Part Conan, Part Witcher, and all fun. This is not classic literature and it could do with some edits on misspelled words, but it is enjoyable none the less.
I will tell you the truth. I was not expecting much from this. But, I received massive enjoyment from this story. Part Conan, Part Witcher, and all fun. This is not classic literature and it could do with some edits on misspelled words, but it is enjoyable none the less.
calbowen's review
4.0
An enjoyable read
I will tell you the truth. I was not expecting much from this. But, I received massive enjoyment from this story. Part Conan, Part Witcher, and all fun. This is not classic literature and it could do with some edits on misspelled words, but it is enjoyable none the less.
I will tell you the truth. I was not expecting much from this. But, I received massive enjoyment from this story. Part Conan, Part Witcher, and all fun. This is not classic literature and it could do with some edits on misspelled words, but it is enjoyable none the less.
dantastic's review
3.0
When an ancient amphora containing a demon is stolen, Kormak tracks the thieves down until one remains. Staggering out of a blizzard, Kormak finds himself at a fortified manor where both the last thief and the amphora are guests....
I knew William King from [b:Gotrek & Felix: The First Omnibus|833205|Gotrek & Felix The First Omnibus|William King|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348049747s/833205.jpg|818834] so I was pretty excited when this popped up on my Freebooksy email one morning.
Basically, a body-stealing demon gets loosed upon the world and Kormak crosses an entire continent to slay it before it becomes immortal. The story is told in five smaller tales, all linked, much like some of the old Conan paperbacks this was inspired by.
King's prose is a cut above it's media fiction roots. Much like the Gotrek and Felix books, there's a good dose of humor interspersed with the gratuitous carnage.
Kormak is much deeper than the Conan ripoff I originally had him pegged for. He's a member of a religious order dedicated to fighting the forces of darkness and doesn't have a great love of wizards.
Still, if you're not a fan of the way the Sword and Sorcery subgenre of fantasy treats its women, you aren't going to find it to your liking. The female characters are largely interchangeable.
While he's not going to unseat [a:Joe Abercrombie|276660|Joe Abercrombie|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1207149426p2/276660.jpg] or any other of fantasy's current juggernauts, William King delivers the goods in Stealer of Flesh. It's bloody good fun. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
I knew William King from [b:Gotrek & Felix: The First Omnibus|833205|Gotrek & Felix The First Omnibus|William King|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348049747s/833205.jpg|818834] so I was pretty excited when this popped up on my Freebooksy email one morning.
Basically, a body-stealing demon gets loosed upon the world and Kormak crosses an entire continent to slay it before it becomes immortal. The story is told in five smaller tales, all linked, much like some of the old Conan paperbacks this was inspired by.
King's prose is a cut above it's media fiction roots. Much like the Gotrek and Felix books, there's a good dose of humor interspersed with the gratuitous carnage.
Kormak is much deeper than the Conan ripoff I originally had him pegged for. He's a member of a religious order dedicated to fighting the forces of darkness and doesn't have a great love of wizards.
Still, if you're not a fan of the way the Sword and Sorcery subgenre of fantasy treats its women, you aren't going to find it to your liking. The female characters are largely interchangeable.
While he's not going to unseat [a:Joe Abercrombie|276660|Joe Abercrombie|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1207149426p2/276660.jpg] or any other of fantasy's current juggernauts, William King delivers the goods in Stealer of Flesh. It's bloody good fun. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
branch_c's review against another edition
2.0
This was available free for Nook and sounded interesting enough, so I thought I'd give it a try.
Haven't read much pure sword and sorcery recently, though I've enjoyed the works of Tolkien, Leiber and Moorcock over the years. There was certainly some of that here, though in this case, while a typical Dungeons and Dragons adventure derived from those stories, this book seemed to derive in turn from the derivatives. The characters are fairly flat, with repeated statements of their defining characteristics and little in the way of arcs.
The writing was straightforward and transitions were a bit abrupt; the ending in particular being a bit anticlimactic. The bantering dialog was well done in short doses, but it went on a bit long in many cases. There were a few grammatical errors and non sequiturs, and virtually every page had a sentence that was missing a comma. At least that aspect of the style was consistent, but it's a style I think most editors would consider non-standard.
So it's safe to say I wasn't thrilled by the book, but there were some creative elements and enjoyable moments.
Haven't read much pure sword and sorcery recently, though I've enjoyed the works of Tolkien, Leiber and Moorcock over the years. There was certainly some of that here, though in this case, while a typical Dungeons and Dragons adventure derived from those stories, this book seemed to derive in turn from the derivatives. The characters are fairly flat, with repeated statements of their defining characteristics and little in the way of arcs.
The writing was straightforward and transitions were a bit abrupt; the ending in particular being a bit anticlimactic. The bantering dialog was well done in short doses, but it went on a bit long in many cases. There were a few grammatical errors and non sequiturs, and virtually every page had a sentence that was missing a comma. At least that aspect of the style was consistent, but it's a style I think most editors would consider non-standard.
So it's safe to say I wasn't thrilled by the book, but there were some creative elements and enjoyable moments.
abigcoffeedragon's review against another edition
4.0
An enjoyable read
I will tell you the truth. I was not expecting much from this. But, I received massive enjoyment from this story. Part Conan, Part Witcher, and all fun. This is not classic literature and it could do with some edits on misspelled words, but it is enjoyable none the less.
I will tell you the truth. I was not expecting much from this. But, I received massive enjoyment from this story. Part Conan, Part Witcher, and all fun. This is not classic literature and it could do with some edits on misspelled words, but it is enjoyable none the less.
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