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4.29 AVERAGE
4.29 AVERAGE
I really wanted to like this book. The story was actually pretty interesting for the first half. But when there are repeated occurrences of “who’s” for “whose”, “it’s” for “its” and spelling and punctuation issues galore, it’s hard to stay focused. And because you can’t focus, that’s when you realize that you’re 30% if the way in, and the only female character aside from a dead mother has been a mute girl who appeared for ten pages. I’m going to pass on the sequels.
Excuse me one moment please, while I run out and get my hands on book two Tower Lord because This was so Awesome, I'm left wanting no needing More more Morrrrreee!!!!
This was highly praised in one of my book clubs. Most of the people awarded it 4 or 5. So when i had the chance to start it, i had fairly high expectations.
I decided to listen rather than read, and spent an audible credit. It started off promising, but the narration was a little off. I continued and enjoyed the first part. Then it started to get a little unwieldy. I think this is because i listened rather than read. The narration was fairly poor - the narrator rarely varied his voice, keeping it fairly monotone. This made some conversations confusing and i had to pause and listen again to work out who was saying what.
The story itself was good, but lacked that certain spark. I had no connection to any of the characters in the book. I put this down to the narration.
I think i will wait for the third book to be released and i will buy them all in ebook and try again and hopefully will increase my rating to 4. This certainly has promise, but i want to connect more before i continue reading the series.
I decided to listen rather than read, and spent an audible credit. It started off promising, but the narration was a little off. I continued and enjoyed the first part. Then it started to get a little unwieldy. I think this is because i listened rather than read. The narration was fairly poor - the narrator rarely varied his voice, keeping it fairly monotone. This made some conversations confusing and i had to pause and listen again to work out who was saying what.
The story itself was good, but lacked that certain spark. I had no connection to any of the characters in the book. I put this down to the narration.
I think i will wait for the third book to be released and i will buy them all in ebook and try again and hopefully will increase my rating to 4. This certainly has promise, but i want to connect more before i continue reading the series.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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:
No
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Wow, that was amazing. I write this almost immediately after finishing it, and that was something. I have read dozens of books this year, many becoming some of my favorites, First Law Trilogy, Broken Empire Trilogy, Chronicles of the Black Company, and this may just be my favorite, I may have found my perfect book.
The characters in this are real and believable, Vaelin makes a great protagonist, with realistic flaws and shortsightedness, great talent where it makes sense, and intelligent actions as well. His brothers of the Sixth Order are all excellent as well, I found myself loving all of them, my favorites probably being Caenis and Nortah. They each hold a distinct place in the group with unique talents and personalities and greatly believable friendships.
The world is interesting, you rarely ever get exposition, and when you do it doesn't feel forced, the world is very religious, dark, violent, political, and also very believable. The Faith is very interesting and as are all it's orders, I have a bit of a thing for Religious Warrior factions in fantasy, rather they be Inquisitors, Crusaders, Temple Guards, etc, and the Sixth Order is a great addition to that.
The amount of set pieces in this book is insanely diverse and naturally added, my favorite still being the first one and the one we spend the most time in, the House of the Sixth Order, I also have a thing for schools in Fantasy, and this was such a well done one, from the teachers to the tests to the friendships it was perfect. But we also have slums of cities, tournaments, fairs, mountain castles, tundras, deserts, etc, it's amazingly fun to see where the journey goes next.
The writing itself is excellent and full of character, with very intelligent writing with plenty of callbacks, worldbuilding, and an undeniable style to it. The combat especially is visceral and realistic where you can imagine every beat of combat, every slash, block, parry, dodge, and dismemberment.
Just all in all, if you're a fan of fantasy, you gotta read this.
The characters in this are real and believable, Vaelin makes a great protagonist, with realistic flaws and shortsightedness, great talent where it makes sense, and intelligent actions as well. His brothers of the Sixth Order are all excellent as well, I found myself loving all of them, my favorites probably being Caenis and Nortah. They each hold a distinct place in the group with unique talents and personalities and greatly believable friendships.
The world is interesting, you rarely ever get exposition, and when you do it doesn't feel forced, the world is very religious, dark, violent, political, and also very believable. The Faith is very interesting and as are all it's orders, I have a bit of a thing for Religious Warrior factions in fantasy, rather they be Inquisitors, Crusaders, Temple Guards, etc, and the Sixth Order is a great addition to that.
The amount of set pieces in this book is insanely diverse and naturally added, my favorite still being the first one and the one we spend the most time in, the House of the Sixth Order, I also have a thing for schools in Fantasy, and this was such a well done one, from the teachers to the tests to the friendships it was perfect. But we also have slums of cities, tournaments, fairs, mountain castles, tundras, deserts, etc, it's amazingly fun to see where the journey goes next.
The writing itself is excellent and full of character, with very intelligent writing with plenty of callbacks, worldbuilding, and an undeniable style to it. The combat especially is visceral and realistic where you can imagine every beat of combat, every slash, block, parry, dodge, and dismemberment.
Just all in all, if you're a fan of fantasy, you gotta read this.
I really enjoyed this book. It was great fun, and kept me entertained. It wasn't overly convoluted and slow like some epics (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just I wasn't particularly in the mood for a long, snail-paced book describing all the intricacies of a 17 course meal).
With this review though I more want to give a response to two of the highly-rated 1-2 star reviews to this book by 'Khanh (the Grinch)' and 'Becky'.
One of Khanh's major grievances was how Vaelin was a "bloody fucking perfect" character who has no faults and "succeeds in every fucking thing".
I'm not sure if we read the same book, but in the Blood Song I read, Vaelin was certainly not "bloody fucking perfect". His Brothers were all better than him in different ways - he was a poor horseman and a poor archer (well, in comparison with the other Brothers), and he regularly found himself injured, poisoned, stabbed, or otherwise near death.
This is all relative, of course - yes, he was a fantastic warrior who ended up becoming pretty much world-renowned for his fearsome skills, but this is hardly unusual for the protagonist for a fantasy book. Much less one who has been put through nothing less than brutal, intense, training every day of his life from a young age. Not to mention the whole prophecy thing, and the Blood Song that guided him through life. .
Maybe Khanh should stay away from fantasy epics if this sort of thing upsets her so much.
Or maybe she should read something like Prince of Thorns, if she wants to put it in perspective. Now THERE'S a book where the character is running on god-mode.
I'd call her complaints here "utterly pretentious rubbish", but then it pales in comparison with hers and Becky's even larger, more whiney complaints about the Oxford Comma, or lack thereof.
Yes, the Oxford Comma is nice and all, but it's not necessary. I'm sorry, but it just isn't. The human brain and its understanding of language is a wonderful thing! Becky uses an example of why you should use the Oxford Comma: "I had eggs, toast, and orange juice" vs "I had eggs, toast and orange juice".
Her insinuation is that without the Oxford Comma, the reader will have their brain completely flip out and assume someone is telling some toast and orange juice that he had eaten eggs.
Hey, turns out most people aren't so brain-dead and stupid that they can't handle any of the examples Becky seems to be struggling so much with. I don't know, maybe she's a robot or something. I can't really think of any other explanation. If you really, truly have so much difficulty with a sentence like "...he took his dagger from his belt and struck it with the pommel", or a greeting such as "Honoured Sir", so much so that this is the reason you give it a 1-star review... well, it's truly a wonder that you manage to get through day-to-day life.
What a couple of completely and utterly pretentious, pedantic wankers.
Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to book 2, and I won't let some (let's be honest) barely noticeable grammatical inconsistencies spoil an otherwise great read.
With this review though I more want to give a response to two of the highly-rated 1-2 star reviews to this book by 'Khanh (the Grinch)' and 'Becky'.
One of Khanh's major grievances was how Vaelin was a "bloody fucking perfect" character who has no faults and "succeeds in every fucking thing".
I'm not sure if we read the same book, but in the Blood Song I read, Vaelin was certainly not "bloody fucking perfect". His Brothers were all better than him in different ways - he was a poor horseman and a poor archer (well, in comparison with the other Brothers), and he regularly found himself injured, poisoned, stabbed, or otherwise near death.
This is all relative, of course - yes, he was a fantastic warrior who ended up becoming pretty much world-renowned for his fearsome skills, but this is hardly unusual for the protagonist for a fantasy book. Much less one who has been put through nothing less than brutal, intense, training every day of his life from a young age. Not to mention
Maybe Khanh should stay away from fantasy epics if this sort of thing upsets her so much.
Or maybe she should read something like Prince of Thorns, if she wants to put it in perspective. Now THERE'S a book where the character is running on god-mode.
I'd call her complaints here "utterly pretentious rubbish", but then it pales in comparison with hers and Becky's even larger, more whiney complaints about the Oxford Comma, or lack thereof.
Yes, the Oxford Comma is nice and all, but it's not necessary. I'm sorry, but it just isn't. The human brain and its understanding of language is a wonderful thing! Becky uses an example of why you should use the Oxford Comma: "I had eggs, toast, and orange juice" vs "I had eggs, toast and orange juice".
Her insinuation is that without the Oxford Comma, the reader will have their brain completely flip out and assume someone is telling some toast and orange juice that he had eaten eggs.
Hey, turns out most people aren't so brain-dead and stupid that they can't handle any of the examples Becky seems to be struggling so much with. I don't know, maybe she's a robot or something. I can't really think of any other explanation. If you really, truly have so much difficulty with a sentence like "...he took his dagger from his belt and struck it with the pommel", or a greeting such as "Honoured Sir", so much so that this is the reason you give it a 1-star review... well, it's truly a wonder that you manage to get through day-to-day life.
What a couple of completely and utterly pretentious, pedantic wankers.
Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to book 2, and I won't let some (let's be honest) barely noticeable grammatical inconsistencies spoil an otherwise great read.
I read this series when they were first published, so it's a few years ago now.
The impact that this novel had on me is still vivid. Blood Song is a power-house of story-telling, and I just wish it had managed to maintain the momentum to the series' end. Mind you, any book following this monster would have had a hard time.
From a writer's perspective, Ryan manages something that few authors have. His protagonist is over-powered from the start and yet the story is far from wish-fulfillment. The central character is richly drawn via flash-backs and many moral choices. In a sense, he is a hopeless figure, but despite this, he just won't give up.
The world is interesting and well built, with a magic system that only lightly brushes the canvas. There's even a grim-world Hogwarts, for those with that kink.
I doubt any fans of Fantasy would be wasting their time reading book one in this series, even if they stop there.
The impact that this novel had on me is still vivid. Blood Song is a power-house of story-telling, and I just wish it had managed to maintain the momentum to the series' end. Mind you, any book following this monster would have had a hard time.
From a writer's perspective, Ryan manages something that few authors have. His protagonist is over-powered from the start and yet the story is far from wish-fulfillment. The central character is richly drawn via flash-backs and many moral choices. In a sense, he is a hopeless figure, but despite this, he just won't give up.
The world is interesting and well built, with a magic system that only lightly brushes the canvas. There's even a grim-world Hogwarts, for those with that kink.
I doubt any fans of Fantasy would be wasting their time reading book one in this series, even if they stop there.