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onemanbookclub's review
4.0
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The Value of a Star: Ratings Explained
Nathan Van Coops, time-travel extraordinaire, has changed gears with his latest--Sword Fight: Kingdom of Engines. It was the perfect summer popcorn read, and I had a blast with it.
What’s a popcorn read, you ask? Same thing as a popcorn movie—it doesn’t try to make you think, it never gets too deep, and it doesn’t have an agenda. It’s just entertainment: sit back, eat some popcorn, and enjoy the show! A popcorn read!
Sword Fight: Kingdom of Engines is Mad Max plus King Arthur plus a little bit Beverly Hills 90210/Dawson’s Creek/One Tree Hill/Riverdale (depending on when you were 17!) It’s a mashup I loved and didn’t even know I needed.
Imagine a modern world where Kings still rule by the sword, a duel can settle any disagreement, the rich families own the land, and the peasants are poor and looked down upon, and the knights drive War Cars instead of horses. Sounds fun, right? Yes it does!
It took a little bit to overcome disbelief enough to let my mind accept this unconventional reality. But once I got there, I found myself thrilled by the Mad-Max-war-car style battle races, enamored by the cool swords, and happy to follow along with the protagonist on her top-to-bottom-to-top journey toward redemption, righting all the wrongs, and winning back her family’s good name. If you can suspend disbelief a little further, there’s even a popcorn-book, snuggly romance to enjoy in between the races and the sword fights. The whole story was so much fun I didn’t even care when I saw the “big twist” coming from miles away!
Parents may want to know there is some PG language (none of the “big” 4-letter words), heterosexual romance (just kissing), and violence (lots of stabbing and getting stabbed). There is a same-gender married couple and a stereotypical best-friend-gay-guy who never actually says he’s gay but dresses in drag when he's not working on cars.
I enjoyed checking out with Sword Fight: Kingdom of Engines immensely and can’t wait to start book two!
Best for 14 and up.
Happy Reading!
The Value of a Star: Ratings Explained
Nathan Van Coops, time-travel extraordinaire, has changed gears with his latest--Sword Fight: Kingdom of Engines. It was the perfect summer popcorn read, and I had a blast with it.
What’s a popcorn read, you ask? Same thing as a popcorn movie—it doesn’t try to make you think, it never gets too deep, and it doesn’t have an agenda. It’s just entertainment: sit back, eat some popcorn, and enjoy the show! A popcorn read!
Sword Fight: Kingdom of Engines is Mad Max plus King Arthur plus a little bit Beverly Hills 90210/Dawson’s Creek/One Tree Hill/Riverdale (depending on when you were 17!) It’s a mashup I loved and didn’t even know I needed.
Imagine a modern world where Kings still rule by the sword, a duel can settle any disagreement, the rich families own the land, and the peasants are poor and looked down upon, and the knights drive War Cars instead of horses. Sounds fun, right? Yes it does!
It took a little bit to overcome disbelief enough to let my mind accept this unconventional reality. But once I got there, I found myself thrilled by the Mad-Max-war-car style battle races, enamored by the cool swords, and happy to follow along with the protagonist on her top-to-bottom-to-top journey toward redemption, righting all the wrongs, and winning back her family’s good name. If you can suspend disbelief a little further, there’s even a popcorn-book, snuggly romance to enjoy in between the races and the sword fights. The whole story was so much fun I didn’t even care when I saw the “big twist” coming from miles away!
Parents may want to know there is some PG language (none of the “big” 4-letter words), heterosexual romance (just kissing), and violence (lots of stabbing and getting stabbed). There is a same-gender married couple and a stereotypical best-friend-gay-guy who never actually says he’s gay but dresses in drag when he's not working on cars.
I enjoyed checking out with Sword Fight: Kingdom of Engines immensely and can’t wait to start book two!
Best for 14 and up.
Happy Reading!
lusragray's review
adventurous
funny
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
feliciar62's review
5.0
Action, adventure, royalty, and romance. Great character development. I felt all the highs and lows; I cried, I yelled, I laughed. I was hooked from the git-go.
Highly recommended!
Highly recommended!
liantener's review
4.0
Me gusta mucho la serie de viaje en el tiempo del autor, de manera que no dudé en darle la oportunidad a su nueva serie.
La premisa no es muy original, pero si bastante cool: La sociedad del Rey Arturo, pero en un mundo con la tecnología de hoy en día, en particular con automóviles. Por lo tanto, hay nobles y plebeyos, caballeros de la mesa redonda, espadas, duelos a muerte, torneos ... y autos :)
Van Coops es muy bueno para la aventura, personajes divertidos, y para explotar los clichés adecuadamente. La verdad es que, sin ser extraordinarios o profundos o complejos, sus libros son muy entretenidos, se van como agua y no son tan predecibles como pudiera sonar.
Sin duda terminaré de leer la saga.
La premisa no es muy original, pero si bastante cool: La sociedad del Rey Arturo, pero en un mundo con la tecnología de hoy en día, en particular con automóviles. Por lo tanto, hay nobles y plebeyos, caballeros de la mesa redonda, espadas, duelos a muerte, torneos ... y autos :)
Van Coops es muy bueno para la aventura, personajes divertidos, y para explotar los clichés adecuadamente. La verdad es que, sin ser extraordinarios o profundos o complejos, sus libros son muy entretenidos, se van como agua y no son tan predecibles como pudiera sonar.
Sin duda terminaré de leer la saga.
marufahoque's review
1.0
Mad Max meets Battle Royale/Hunger Games in an alternate universe America...with no guns. I just had to read this, but to be honest, the cover makes it seem like this is a dystopian/post-apocalyptic when it's not!
The premise was good, loved the actions, but I didn't like the forced diversity. We all know the white MC is gonna win, so why bother to put a bunch of non-whites in the fight??? She won't even befriend any, so what's the point? For the sake of diversity? Oh, please. Also, I hated the drilling that the tavern owner was "not-straight" like why??? What agenda do these authors have nowadays? Trying to be "inclusive" to an unnatural, confused group of people when there are millions, if not billions of others who are still treated as minorities??? PLEASE MISS ME with that BS. She could've been best friends or sisters for that matter (it would've made them getting recognized by SPOILER ALERT, guild-masters/royalty so much more worth it), since RARELY in YA do we see ANY form of familial love (and no, showing how close the MC is to her brother before he SPOILER ALERT kicks the bucket doesn't count).
And, of course, the first dude to help her out is her lust-interest. By the way, I saw his alt identity from a mile away (the race scenes reinforcing it before the big reveal were unnecessary, VERY unnecessary, like why do authors think we readers have no brains, that we can't put two and two together???).
I wouldn't recommend this.
The premise was good, loved the actions, but I didn't like the forced diversity. We all know the white MC is gonna win, so why bother to put a bunch of non-whites in the fight??? She won't even befriend any, so what's the point? For the sake of diversity? Oh, please. Also, I hated the drilling that the tavern owner was "not-straight" like why??? What agenda do these authors have nowadays? Trying to be "inclusive" to an unnatural, confused group of people when there are millions, if not billions of others who are still treated as minorities??? PLEASE MISS ME with that BS. She could've been best friends or sisters for that matter (it would've made them getting recognized by SPOILER ALERT, guild-masters/royalty so much more worth it), since RARELY in YA do we see ANY form of familial love (and no, showing how close the MC is to her brother before he SPOILER ALERT kicks the bucket doesn't count).
And, of course, the first dude to help her out is her lust-interest. By the way, I saw his alt identity from a mile away (the race scenes reinforcing it before the big reveal were unnecessary, VERY unnecessary, like why do authors think we readers have no brains, that we can't put two and two together???).
I wouldn't recommend this.
saccalai's review
3.0
Valerie has always loved war cars and has been driving as long as she could reach the pedals. When her brother is tragically murdered in front of her, she's determined to bring the murderer to justice, no matter that he is from one of the most wealthy and powerful families. The only way she can do this is to somehow gain an audience with the King, and to do that she must enter the most dangerous tournament and win.
This is a medieval world of sword-fighting and war car racing. The start of this book actually made me think of a kind of grown up, evil, Wacky Races. But it was no where near as light-hearted! The story was gripping, I really wanted Valerie to get justice from the horrible Jasper, he was just so smarmy and irritating. I think the chapter headings definitely give too much away as I often knew the outcomes just from those. I loved Rico, he was the best character and I don't know what Valerie would have done without him.
I did think the book was let down a little bit by the narration. It got a bit tiring as the reading sounded constantly dramatic and desperate, even when just saying normal things.
This is a medieval world of sword-fighting and war car racing. The start of this book actually made me think of a kind of grown up, evil, Wacky Races. But it was no where near as light-hearted! The story was gripping, I really wanted Valerie to get justice from the horrible Jasper, he was just so smarmy and irritating. I think the chapter headings definitely give too much away as I often knew the outcomes just from those. I loved Rico, he was the best character and I don't know what Valerie would have done without him.
I did think the book was let down a little bit by the narration. It got a bit tiring as the reading sounded constantly dramatic and desperate, even when just saying normal things.
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