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I’ve finished up a few books within the past couple of days so rather than designate a blog post to each with detailed reviews, I thought I would combine them into one post and give a quick high level summary of each. Let me know your thoughts if you decide to give them a try.
The Viscount and the Witch by Michael J. Sullivan
I have been meaning to read Michael Sullivan for some time and for one reason or another kept putting it off. This was my first sampling of his work and I enjoyed it a great deal. This short story is a prequel to his series entitled The Riyria Chronicles. It did a great job of setting up the relationship of the main characters while also enticing the reader to discover what would happen next.
The short story also has a free excerpt of the first chapter of Theft of Sword, his first book being re-released through Orbit. It is also really enjoyable. Needless to say, I'm going to have to make time for all of Orbit's re-releases of Sullivan's work.
I hope the series will feature a few more short stories/novellas of the early years similar to this one.
Overall a 9/10
Strange Worlds by Andrew Kincaid
This is the second book by Andrew Kincaid that I’ve read. Like his other book, On Dark Paths, Strange Worlds is a collection of short stories. The feel of this book is different than On Dark Paths but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I think as with the first book you can see Andrew’s talent as a storyteller and his ability put down a good idea to paper shine through. However, the biggest complaint I have with this collection is that several of the endings came up short and were not as satisfying as the narrative leading up to that point. Granted, I still think this is a book worth your time and money.
Oddly enough, as with On Dark Paths, my favorite story in each collection was his take on zombies (both original in my opinion).
Overall a 7.5/10
Legend by David Gemmell
Legend is one of those classic books in the fantasy genre that I’ve been hearing about for quite some time and one I’m thankful I finally got around to reading. Actually, I wish I had read this book much sooner.
David Gemmell wrote the kind of book that I love to read. Many of the characters are larger than life but still very relatable. Characters both major and minor are well developed. The plot is engrossing, the description vivid, and the pace never slows down. Best of all, you could almost believe this story really took place in some ancient land long ago.
It’s rare that after only one book I would say that an author is one of my favorites but I actually felt that way halfway through the book. Needless to say, I’ll be picking up more books by Gemmell in the future, specifically moving onto the rest of the books in the Drenai Saga (this was the first book).
If you are still unsure if this is for you then read how one character describes Druss the Legend, an amazing warrior.
When he stares, valleys tremble; where he walks, beasts are silent; when he speaks, mountains tumble; when he fights, armies crumble.C’mon it doesn’t get much better than that! I hope one day I can write something that cool.
Overall a 10/10
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