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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
This story takes place seven years after the events of Heroes Die; Hari is back home on Earth, upcaste to Administrator, living with his wife and daughter, and is completely miserable. As Hari struggles with life back on Earth, Overworld faces a danger that threatens to destroy it along with Earth. Once Hari realizes the danger, he once again dons his Caine persona and heads to Overworld to face the dangers. The second offering of Stover's excellent series is just as gritty, action packed, and suspenseful as the first. Caine, even a nearly 50, half crippled Caine, is a hard core bad ass whose exploits are extremely entertaining.
Great book, my only issue with it was how long it was. However, the characters of the book are sensational, the book is action packed, which makes it really a pleasure to read. The evil beings in the book are really despicable, they do the worst any being can do, and they called themselves human. You will read about cannibalism , rape, abuse, genocide. Real beauties. But what makes things great in a book with so much evil and despair, is knowing that biggest bad ass is on the side of the good. In general I loved the book, it would have been perfect if not for how long the book is!!!
Don't even think about reading this book unless you've already read Heroes Die by the same author. Blade of Tyshalle is a sequel to that book, and it follows on directly from the consequences of the end of that book. Blade is a much BIGGER novel, both in its size and in its epic scope, with a greater number of protagonists. It's a very different sort of book than Heroes Die, but it's just as good, and I can easily recommend it to anyone who liked Heroes Die.
If you read Heroes Die then this should go without saying: there's a lot of violence and gore in this. It's not for the faint of heart. I think it's even more severe and gruesome than in Heroes Die, and there is even more heinous sexual violence (like in Heroes Die, much of the violence is perpetrated by the protagonists, but the sexual violence is only perpetrated by the villains). If there's a squeamish bone in your body, stay away.
If you enjoyed Heroes Die you probably already want to read this book so I won't say much about it, other than that it involves a massive threat to Overworld. There's also much more about Earth than there was in Heroes Die, including a lot more of "worlds colliding" with the two worlds affecting one another more.
If you read Heroes Die then this should go without saying: there's a lot of violence and gore in this. It's not for the faint of heart. I think it's even more severe and gruesome than in Heroes Die, and there is even more heinous sexual violence (like in Heroes Die, much of the violence is perpetrated by the protagonists, but the sexual violence is only perpetrated by the villains). If there's a squeamish bone in your body, stay away.
If you enjoyed Heroes Die you probably already want to read this book so I won't say much about it, other than that it involves a massive threat to Overworld. There's also much more about Earth than there was in Heroes Die, including a lot more of "worlds colliding" with the two worlds affecting one another more.
The fantastic action and plots of this book unfortunately is completely sunk by becoming overwhelmed with meta-physical battles. The philosophy would have more impactful (and fun) if it hadn't taken been pushed that far, and changed the rules of the world in way that felt like it unmoored it.
I started "Blade of Tyshalle" with the knowledge that not everyone likes this book as much as "Heroes Die". I always thought those people must be wrong and Blade would be just as awesome as "Heroes Die". That one had great writing, amazing characters (Caine!!!), a very intruiging world, a good story throwing you from one action sequence into the next, a lot of blood and gore and a great ending on top of all this. It would be difficult for Blade to match all that, but more of the same would still be great. Problem is ... Blade isn't entirely more of the same and I think that's exactly the reason why I didn't like it as much as the first.
I still liked Blade a lot (otherwise I wouldn't have given it four stars). It has many of the strong points from the first book, starting with an interesting world that's even more fleshed out now than it was in the first. The writing is still great and we still have a lot of amazing characters; Caine and Tan'elKoth are great characters returning from the first book, but there are off course some great new characters as well (e.g. Raithe). Also Kosall plays a very important role again in all the events throughout the story. BUT ...
I still feel the first book had more amazing and fleshed out characters than the second one has. Further, it needs to be mentioned that Caine is a different man after the events in the previous book. It takes a long time to get some glimpses of the Caine we know from the first book. With Caine being one of my all time favourite characters this was a bit of a let down; it seems my expectations weren’t really in line with the actual story. But I can admit that Stover did a great job with his writing; his 'broken' Caine was very convincing, as were Caine's motivations throughout the book, even until the very last chapter. Once more it is emphasized that Caine really strives for his goals without any regard to the consequences for anything or anyone else. This makes for a great character!
The story is good as well. In "Heroes Die" the story was clear from the start, but this time Stover really takes his time to built his story and it takes a while before all the pieces fall in place. Stover is very ambitious with Blade and throws in a lot of ideas, some philisophy, multiple plot twists ... and at times it felt to me that he dragged it out a bit too much. After finishing I can say it was maybe necessary to do so, but at the moment itself I didn't especially like it. Also because it didn't always have a good influence on the pacing of the story.
Luckily there are plenty of great action scenes throughout the book that reminded me a lot of the first book. The number of such scenes has however been turned down a bit. The story that's being told is very different, more profound, and needs less of such scenes. Still, the ones we have are very thrilling. What finally pulled me over to REALLY like the book was the ending. This was very nicely planned out by Stover; it's a very long sequence of events that turns out perfectly. Once the roller coaster starts, it's all action-packed mayhem. It's also here that we can see Caine really shine again and recognize the character like we've got to know him from the first book. I thought it was absolutely amazing how everything played out in the end.
I highly recommend this book, but everyone should be aware that it doesn't provide exactly the same as the first book. This irked me a bit at the start, but the more I think about it the more I appreciate "Blade of Tyshalle" for what it is. I'm definitely going to reread it somewhere in the future, and now that I know what to expect, I think I'm going to like it even more on a reread.
Rating: 8/10
I still liked Blade a lot (otherwise I wouldn't have given it four stars). It has many of the strong points from the first book, starting with an interesting world that's even more fleshed out now than it was in the first. The writing is still great and we still have a lot of amazing characters; Caine and Tan'elKoth are great characters returning from the first book, but there are off course some great new characters as well (e.g. Raithe). Also Kosall plays a very important role again in all the events throughout the story. BUT ...
I still feel the first book had more amazing and fleshed out characters than the second one has. Further, it needs to be mentioned that Caine is a different man after the events in the previous book. It takes a long time to get some glimpses of the Caine we know from the first book. With Caine being one of my all time favourite characters this was a bit of a let down; it seems my expectations weren’t really in line with the actual story. But I can admit that Stover did a great job with his writing; his 'broken' Caine was very convincing, as were Caine's motivations throughout the book, even until the very last chapter. Once more it is emphasized that Caine really strives for his goals without any regard to the consequences for anything or anyone else. This makes for a great character!
The story is good as well. In "Heroes Die" the story was clear from the start, but this time Stover really takes his time to built his story and it takes a while before all the pieces fall in place. Stover is very ambitious with Blade and throws in a lot of ideas, some philisophy, multiple plot twists ... and at times it felt to me that he dragged it out a bit too much. After finishing I can say it was maybe necessary to do so, but at the moment itself I didn't especially like it. Also because it didn't always have a good influence on the pacing of the story.
Luckily there are plenty of great action scenes throughout the book that reminded me a lot of the first book. The number of such scenes has however been turned down a bit. The story that's being told is very different, more profound, and needs less of such scenes. Still, the ones we have are very thrilling. What finally pulled me over to REALLY like the book was the ending. This was very nicely planned out by Stover; it's a very long sequence of events that turns out perfectly. Once the roller coaster starts, it's all action-packed mayhem. It's also here that we can see Caine really shine again and recognize the character like we've got to know him from the first book. I thought it was absolutely amazing how everything played out in the end.
I highly recommend this book, but everyone should be aware that it doesn't provide exactly the same as the first book. This irked me a bit at the start, but the more I think about it the more I appreciate "Blade of Tyshalle" for what it is. I'm definitely going to reread it somewhere in the future, and now that I know what to expect, I think I'm going to like it even more on a reread.
Rating: 8/10
3.5
In this volume Stover tries both to expand the world building and to show more depth to his heroes. I’m afraid both do not really reach the desired level. The world building is now much more detailed, but also complicated and full of mostly irrelevant details on one side and has no sufficient explanations for some technical solutions on the other.
Harry’s character development is reasonable enough, but all the others feel strained and often illogical. Female characters are flat.
The plot as such is very good and is a good continuation of both stories, the Earth and the Overworld. At the end all the loose story bits are are picked and tied together, each significant hero has a logical ending.
In this volume Stover tries both to expand the world building and to show more depth to his heroes. I’m afraid both do not really reach the desired level. The world building is now much more detailed, but also complicated and full of mostly irrelevant details on one side and has no sufficient explanations for some technical solutions on the other.
Harry’s character development is reasonable enough, but all the others feel strained and often illogical. Female characters are flat.
The plot as such is very good and is a good continuation of both stories, the Earth and the Overworld. At the end all the loose story bits are are picked and tied together, each significant hero has a logical ending.
Matthew Woodring Stover is a virtuoso musician who has chosen Technical Brutal Death Metal for his chosen method of expression. This was absolutely pummeling.
I'm confused why this series doesn't have a larger cult following, impact, or influence on the genre. Where is the praise/derision that this series should have left in it's wake?
I'm confused why this series doesn't have a larger cult following, impact, or influence on the genre. Where is the praise/derision that this series should have left in it's wake?
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is a read. I don't know how to describe it. Much more philosophical than the first book. There is still some action, but not as much. There are some weird and disturbing moments. I enjoyed this book, but not as much as the first.
I did enjoy the philosophical nature of this book, Stover brings up some good points about people
I did enjoy the philosophical nature of this book, Stover brings up some good points about people
I didn't think it could get crazier than book 1, but lo and behold!
Another great book, which also concludes pretty well without feeling like you need to move onto the 3rd book. But I will!
Another great book, which also concludes pretty well without feeling like you need to move onto the 3rd book. But I will!