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The Amphitheater of Souls
The Amphitheater of Souls
Patrick Bryce Wright | 2024 | LGBTQ+, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A step out my comfort zone but a very good one!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

Cian is sent on a journey to find out who or what is causing all the deaths in his village.

I really enjoyed this! It's a step out my comfort zone, and a very good one at that.

I'd class it as high fantasy. Very Tolkien-esque, with an epic journey, lives at stake, elves, dwarves, centsaurs, sea serpents on the rampage and a madman, messing with dark blood magic.

Throw in a slow burn sweet romance, between Cian and his guide, Thanyon, and you've got a near perfect book!

Only Cian gets a say, though, and at points, he had a lot to say.

But a fabulous read.

4 good stars

*same worded review will appear elsewhere
  
NL
Never Let You Go
Erin Healy | 2010
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I was originally drawn to this book because it was about a mother fighting for her daughter. As a mother of two young daughters who has already been through quite a bit of fighting for them, I can relate. Once I got into the book, I was a bit put off partly because I was introduced to too many characters so soon into the plot and a lack of unique characterization made it difficult for me to keep up with the plot (and this is coming from someone who has read Sara Douglass). A second reason was that it somewhat reminded me of another book I read recently with the meth theme. Drugs are just not something that I purposely want to read about in my fiction. The only thing that really kept me reading was Lexi's relationship with her daughter, Molly. Along the way, I discovered that there actually is a fantasy-like aspect to the book that is difficult to see for at least half the book. This is probably as close as you can get to the fantasy genre without actually qualifying for the classification. I so badly wanted the book to come "out with it" over the supernatural aspect that I flew through the rest of the book. The ending was mostly satisfying in that the bad guy gets his just desserts and all the lose ends are tied up appropriately, but my fantasy-loving side wanted a more fantastical intervention than what actually occurred. At times, the plot felt like a soap-opera, with Lexi's affair and two other characters being convicts, as well as Ward's constant harrassments and almost reality-defying omnipresence. I would describe the book as high-intensity suspense combined with overdramatic reality and a dash of supernatural.