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Ross (3284 KP) rated Of Gods and Men in Books

Jan 31, 2018  
Of Gods and Men
Of Gods and Men
Stephen Aryan | 2018 | Paranormal
10
9.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Enough hints to anticipate twists and reveals (1 more)
Short and concise
Fantastic taster of Aryan's writing and world
*** I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ***


This novella serves as an excellent taster of Stephen Aryan's writing style and the world in which his other books take place. I haven't read any of his other work yet, but as this is a prequel I didn't feel I was missing out on any inside knowledge. If anything, this book serves as an expanded backstory to one of the main characters of the first series, Vargus.
I really enjoyed the entry into the world, Aryan's easy-flowing narrative and the short, concise self-contained story which contains some good, well described action scenes, good dialogue and hints at a larger world to be explored and does lead you to want to read more.
  
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Cyn Armistead (14 KP) rated The Iron Hunt (Hunter Kiss, #1) in Books

Mar 1, 2018  
TI
The Iron Hunt (Hunter Kiss, #1)
Marjorie M. Liu | 2008
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
<i>The Iron Hunt</i> is a beautifully written book with some interesting twists on established fantasy memes. To some extent, I felt that I'd come in to the world on book 2 or 3, but as far as I know (and from what Amazon says) this is the first book of the Hunter Kiss series. There was a bit of Buffy and a little Witchblade, with other elements I'm sure I'm overlooking.

For once, it's good to see a novel in which an established couple has a seemingly-healthy relationship. Maxine and Grant have very different skills, but they work together well. That said, this is <b>not</b> a romance.

Edited to add: I just learned that there is, in fact, a prequel to this book in <i>The Wild Thing</i> anthology, which I hadn't heard of before. I'll certainly be looking for it.
  
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Steph (468 KP) rated The Wall of Storms (The Dandelion Dynasty #2) in Books

Jul 9, 2018  
The Wall of Storms (The Dandelion Dynasty #2)
The Wall of Storms (The Dandelion Dynasty #2)
Ken Liu | 2016 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I am incredibly impressed with the amount of research that must have gone into this book, for politics, military strategy, engineering, physics, and more. That being said, to me the most important thing is characters and I think they fell a little short on this one. Parts of the plot were a little confusing and hard to follow as well. Jia's struggle for power/efforts to unite the throne seemed silly and it was difficult to see the political accumen involved. I was also surprised at how cold and calculating she became. The plot started off rather slow and seemed to end too soon with a lot happening far too quickly at the end. Ultimately this book read more like the first in a series with The Grace of Kings as a prequel. Nevertheless, I still admire the work that went into this book and the brilliance behind the ideas.
  
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David McK (3425 KP) rated The Star Wars in Books

Jan 30, 2019  
TS
The Star Wars
J.W. Rinzler | 2014
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Based on George Lucas' original rough-draft for 'Star Wars', this is an interesting read not so much for the (somewhat disconnected) story, but to see how the movies grew out of the original rough draft: this is very different from those movie(s), albeit with some of the characters and place names still showing up but in a different manner - most noticeable, perhaps, in the characters of Han Solo and Darth Vader (and 'May the Force of Others be with you' just doesn't sound right, does it?).

Having read this, it's also now VERY clear that Lucas was to re-use elements of his original rough draft in the Prequel trilogy, particularly in the whole Princess-in-hiding section(s) that are included in both The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones.

The art is impressive, but the dialogue/story? Not so much.
  
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BookInspector (124 KP) rated Grim Inception (A Grim Trilogy #0.5) in Books

Sep 24, 2020  
Grim Inception (A Grim Trilogy #0.5)
Grim Inception (A Grim Trilogy #0.5)
Jennifer Reinfried | 2020 | Thriller
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The description of this short story is quite self explanatory. It tells a story of a lawyer Henry, who works for Russian mafia’s head, Vance. During one of the meetings with another mafia family, Henry’s friend Julie, gets killed. He supposed to take care and protect Julie, but he failed, and he wants revenge on the people who have done it.

This short story introduces some of the characters, who will be in the next part of the book. They all are cruel and vicious. It does explain why the story of Grim began, but doesn’t explain the story of the Grim itself. I would’ve liked to know the story of the Grim, how he was born, how he became Grim, as a prequel. And yes, the story told could’ve been as the follow up. But I think author left the juicy bits of the Grim for later…