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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
This is the second instalment in the "Immortal Treachery" series with the Reaper returning as the main protagonist. I loved the first book a lot; it had great characters, brutal action and an amazing battle as ending. The second provides more greatness!
In the first book it became quickly clear what you're in for; not so in the second one. The second book provides much more mystery and in the end you'll notice that the story is very different. The queen goes missing and it's up to the Reaper to go in pursuit. You also have Long and his band that are thrown into the adventure and are responsible for the search of any accomplice in Lunessfor.
That's the outline of the story, and this time it takes a lot of time before something gets revealed regarding the fate of the queen. The story itself is slower than the first but it remaines interesting and has some great scenes and adds good humor on the side. A lot of the action from the first seems to be replaced by intrigue, mystery and spying. Don't get me wrong, you still have some fights along the way (and some nice surprises as well), but it has been toned down a bit. It depends on what you expect from a book if you'll like it or not. I for one, liked it a lot! And when the moment came I started to aks myself the question when the real action would start (around the 65% mark) ... Allan Batchelder delivered in a fantastic way and I really couldn't put the book down anymore! Even after the resolution of the story he still has some nice surprises up his sleave.
The world still remains a big mystery and adds to the overall intrigue. Allan Batchelder expands his world further and brings more questions to the table. He has planted several seeds and I expect him to sow them in one of the next installments. Don't expect too many answers just yet.
Also one of the main strengths in this book is the characterisation; the developement of Kittens is a very good example and probably one of the best ones done in this book (but definitely not the only one). The Reaper is his amazing self again and many of the other characters remain great to read about as well.
I feel that the writing, already good in the first book, has even improved further in this one and that Allan Batchelder has developed further as a writer. He has proven again that he deserves much more acknowledgement.
In short: a must-read!!!
Rating: 8/10
In the first book it became quickly clear what you're in for; not so in the second one. The second book provides much more mystery and in the end you'll notice that the story is very different. The queen goes missing and it's up to the Reaper to go in pursuit. You also have Long and his band that are thrown into the adventure and are responsible for the search of any accomplice in Lunessfor.
That's the outline of the story, and this time it takes a lot of time before something gets revealed regarding the fate of the queen. The story itself is slower than the first but it remaines interesting and has some great scenes and adds good humor on the side. A lot of the action from the first seems to be replaced by intrigue, mystery and spying. Don't get me wrong, you still have some fights along the way (and some nice surprises as well), but it has been toned down a bit. It depends on what you expect from a book if you'll like it or not. I for one, liked it a lot! And when the moment came I started to aks myself the question when the real action would start (around the 65% mark) ... Allan Batchelder delivered in a fantastic way and I really couldn't put the book down anymore! Even after the resolution of the story he still has some nice surprises up his sleave.
The world still remains a big mystery and adds to the overall intrigue. Allan Batchelder expands his world further and brings more questions to the table. He has planted several seeds and I expect him to sow them in one of the next installments. Don't expect too many answers just yet.
Also one of the main strengths in this book is the characterisation; the developement of Kittens is a very good example and probably one of the best ones done in this book (but definitely not the only one). The Reaper is his amazing self again and many of the other characters remain great to read about as well.
I feel that the writing, already good in the first book, has even improved further in this one and that Allan Batchelder has developed further as a writer. He has proven again that he deserves much more acknowledgement.
In short: a must-read!!!
Rating: 8/10
I love what Allan did here: though keeping within the epic grimdark fantasy world created with the first volume, the plot flavor (if you will) of this one is more along the lines of mystery. The Queen has disappeared, there are virtually no clues as to what's happened to her, and our heroes from book 1 are dispersed to various places to find out what they can. It leads each of them into a crazy adventure of his or her own, some mostly comic, some mostly tragic, many a blend of the two. And I had truly no idea how the mystery (or rather, mysteries, since the questions multiply) were going to turn out, and was thus surprised by the ending. (But satisfied!)
That's actually one of the things I like best about Allan's writing: the whimsical delight and bawdiness thrown in to lighten up the grimdark. In fact, it sometimes made the darker parts catch me off guard and gave them more shock value. There was at least a death or two that made me suck in my breath in disbelief ("That didn't just happen?? No!!").
We also get a splash of romance in this one, which I really enjoyed, being all sentimental like that. Some of it even gets LGBTQ representation points, which was even more fun. And that ending--ha! Some quite incredible new twists to throw us into the next volume, whose plot flavor I can't even begin to imagine yet.
I...dare I say this?...yes.
That's actually one of the things I like best about Allan's writing: the whimsical delight and bawdiness thrown in to lighten up the grimdark. In fact, it sometimes made the darker parts catch me off guard and gave them more shock value. There was at least a death or two that made me suck in my breath in disbelief ("That didn't just happen?? No!!").
We also get a splash of romance in this one, which I really enjoyed, being all sentimental like that. Some of it even gets LGBTQ representation points, which was even more fun. And that ending--ha! Some quite incredible new twists to throw us into the next volume, whose plot flavor I can't even begin to imagine yet.
I...dare I say this?...yes.