Prince of Thorns

Prince of Thorns is the first book in the Broken Empire series written by Mark Lawrence. It is set in a world shattered into 100 kingdoms with each ruler hoping to become Emperor of them all. 

The book opens up in a rather unique way. You follow a group of bandits reaping the rewards from their bloody pillage of a small village, all told through the eyes of their leader, Jorg. This character seems completely devoid of morality and thinks nothing of killing others, even his own men.

So there I was waiting for the hero to turn up. Who was going to destroy this monster and champion my support. Then as chapter 2 started, it dawned on me. Jorg, this heartless, hate filled killer, is the protagonist. I have to say, it took me a few chapters to be OK with this. He isn't some badass with a attitude anti-hero of the movies. He is seriously messed up and will do anything to settle the revenge that has filled his heart.

But you learn more of his past, of his mind and of the world he lives in. You still wont agree with his actions but will start to like him in a strange and twisted way. You want to know what he will do next. You want to know what he did in his past. You want to know what drives him.

You are taken on a truly gripping and bloody tale of betrayal and revenge. But it is far from that simple. There are secrets to this world that will be uncovered. Magic, ancient technology and a past that will completely change your outlook on the world Lawrence has moulded.

Lawrence's writing style has a very unique feel to it. His words leave a surreal feeling in their wake, seeping a sense of mystery into the world. At times I was left truly wondering what was happening and then he pulls it all together giving a situation real impact. If Jorg is left lost and confused, you will be right there with him. By the time the book was over I was absolutely ready for more Jorg. 

“The way to break the cycle is to kill every single one of the bastards that fucked you over. Every last one of them. Kill them all. Kill their mother, kill their brothers, kill their children, kill their dog.” 

The Skull Throne

The Skull Throne is the 4th book in the Demon Cycle series from Peter V. Brett. It takes place in the far future where the human race was all but wiped out by the appearance of demons that walk the earth at night. With only magic wards to protect against the demons (known as corelings), the human race lives in a much more primitive state than we do today.

We were left after book three with Arlen and Jadir having fallen from a cliff and both presumed lost by there followers. The Greenlanders are left with having to fight a war against both the increasing demon numbers as well as the Krasian people. The Krasians are left leaderless and a struggle for the skull throne begins.

Spoiler Alert (although who couldn't guess), Alren and Jadir aren't dead. They are however now locked in their own plot to take the fight to the core while their respective peoples have to learn to survive without them.

I enjoyed this book a lot more than the daylight war. I felt the pacing was much improved and, in the first half at least, we are treated to a lot of Arlen and Jadir, arguably the two most interesting characters. Its great to follow their relationship as they have both hate and love for each other due to there heavy past. They have a plan to take this fight to the core but they need a coreling prince to do it and he needs to be alive. They are not totally alone of course. Arlens slightly crazy wife and a couple of Jadirs trusted people are there to help carry out this crazy plot of theirs.

I also enjoyed the chaos that is caused by the empty Skull Throne. With Jadirs sons all hungry for power, only Inevera and Ashan can hold them at bay. But their grip can only hold so long and the second half of the book focuses a lot on this struggle. 

There is also a strong focus on the Hollow trying to form an alliance with Angiers as this is logically the only hope the Greenlanders really have against the inevitable invasion of the Krasian army.

The pace of this book flows a lot better than both book 2 and 3 and something exciting is frequently happening. You are treated fairly evenly to events involving many of the main characters such as Leesha, Rojer, Inevera and Abbon. As always it would be nice to get even more of Arlen and Jadir but I guess I got more than I expected after reading the Daylight War, so I was left satisfied enough.

I am now looking forward to book 5 as it is set to be the final book in the tale and you can see big things should be happening with regards to Arlen, Jadir and the corelings. However the rest of the world is left in somewhat of a mess due to the lack of their leaders and I find it hard to see how it could possibly fix itself. But that just makes me all the more eager to find out whats next.

One thing I have noticed is that Brett has a tendency to add a new element on mass.  In book 4 its Auras. In book 3 Arlen and Jadir both suddenly started to be able to see auras around people helping him determine there feelings and sometimes thoughts. In The Skull Thrones its seems that suddenly half the main cast can see them. Leesha, Inevera, Ahmanvah, the list goes on. I understand this is meant to be happening because of these peoples continued absorbence of magic, but it just seems a little strange how quickly it happens and to so many people at the same time. It feels more like Brett had a new idea and was desperate to implement it. These are minor quibbles in a series that I have, for the most part, very much enjoyed.

While these books suffer some pacing issues, their biggest strength is Brett's character building. He has a whole host of characters you will love, hate and at times both. Even Jadirs sons are brought more into the spot light and its great to see how they develop and try in their own way to prove their own worth to take the Skull Throne in their fathers place. Its unlikely you will be cheering them on but you will at least be excited to see what they do next.

It's a big step up from book 3 and has me looking forward to the final instalment.

A ripping good read

Air Force Gator II - Scales of Justice

Air Force Gator II - Scales of Justice is the second book in Dan Ryckets Air Force Gator series. The first book took every possible trait and cliche from 80's action films, stuffed them into a mutant alligator and for some crazy reason wrote a story about him. It was really dumb. It was also a lot of fun. 

In the sequel we find Gator living life as a true American hero. He has everything he could want. Fame, booze, respect and of course a super hot stripper girlfriend. He even gets a national holiday named after him. Gator was just getting ready to retire having achieved everything he had set out to do, including wiping out practically every terrorist that was a threat to the USA. That is of course until a disgruntled pig farmer comes along and riles up the local mutant reptile population into a human hating army of death. But their plan for destruction had one big flaw. They pissed off the wrong Gator.

With a little help from an old friend and the coolest political figure around, a new tale of death and destruction follows. What it lacks in character building and coherent plot, it more than makes up for in gratuitous violence and dumb one liners.

Air Force Gator 2 sticks to the true formula for classic 80's action movies and puts them into book format. Its longer. Its dumber. Its even more fun.

Leave you brain at the door and enjoy the ride. "Lick my asshole, asshole"

The Demon cycle books 1-3, micro reviews

I recently finished 'The Skull Throne' which is book 4 of 'The Demon Cycle' series (currently planned at 5 books total) from the author Peter V. Brett. Before I review it I wanted to post a brief run down on the previous 3 books in the series. Think of them as micro reviews if you will. 

Book 1
The painted man (called 'The Warded Man' in the US)

The first entry into the series is the strongest book so far and is truly a fantastic fantasy novel. It has an interesting premise and follows 3 main characters on there own paths that eventually converge. The set up is actually in the far future where the world has been taken back to a primitive state due the the arrival of 'Demons' from the core of the earth. Set far after these events took place we are introduced to a world where by day people live their lives as normally as they can but by night they have to hide from the demons. These demons have no tolerance to sunlight so only rise to the surface once the sun sets. The magic in this world is introduced in the form of wards. Magic fuelled symbols that are mankind's only defence against the demon threat.

The main protagonist, Arlen, starts off in your usual fantasy novel fashion of having grown up on a farm and wants to better himself, gradually rising in power. The other two leads are a herb gatherer called Leesha and a musician called Rojer. The story follows each character and does a great job of building them up and making you care about each of them in equal measure (OK maybe Arlen more than the other 2 but Leesha and Rojer are still great characters).

Without spoiling anything all I will say is go and read it if you haven't already. I would say its a must read if your a fan of fantasy. Obviously there will be some spoilers to this book in the reviews below.

Book 2
The Desert Spear

The sequel to the painted man was some what of a disappointment for me. It wasn't that it was a bad book per se, it was just that it really wasn't what I was expecting. With Alan having recovered the fighting wards, been betrayed by Jadir and warded his own flesh in book one, I was expecting it to jump straight back into exploring Arlens new power and how he would use it to fight the demons.

What actually happens is that it spends about the first 2 thirds of the book talking about Jadir. A lot of this time is about his past and how be became the leader of the Krasian people. This then leads up to present day and what follows is some rather out of character actions between himself and Leesha. Her actions while amongst the Krasian people don't really make much sense for her character and it ends up being somewhat unbelievable. What you do gain is a much better understanding of Jadir and his actions. You understand why he did what he did to Arlen even if you may not agree with his actions. You also learn a lot more about the Krasian culture which I feel is what Brett really wanted this book to be about.

While this is an interesting tale in itself, you really want more of Arlen. He does turn up towards the end and the book certainly gets more interesting again but it can throw you off somewhat. When Arlen does become the focus once more you are treated to new powers, a new love and some great action.

If you liked book 1 enough to want more then I do recommend reading The Desert Spear. Just be prepared for a drop in quality and to have to read through story arcs you may not have either expected or even wanted to read.

Book 3
The Daylight War

The Daylight War strangely enough doesn't really contain that much of what you would think the daylight war is. No where is conquered during the book and its mostly about Rojer and his new wives. I would say Rojer is the main focus here and you see his powers grow with the assistance of his wives and their singing mixed with his fiddle playing. Watching their relationship grow as well as a lot of the politics between the Krasians and the Greenlanders is the focus in book 3.

I was worried another 'Jadirs past' situation was arising as Brett starts talking about Inevera's History. Luckily it was no where near as long and just about didn't over stay its welcome. The rest of the book is mostly based around Rojer and Leesha but you also get a good dose of Jadir as well as Arlen and Jenna (Arlens lady) mixed in as well.

I enjoyed the third instalment more so than part 2 but it wasn't without its issues. It's pace is on the slow side and the main story doesn't really progress that much. Its not really until the very end of the book that a big event really happens. While I found many parts of the story interesting it still wasn't close to the quality of the first book. However it did make me eager to move on to the fourth book as it has a lot of action at the end and a rather big cliff hanger.

One problem I have with the story up until this point is that Arlen and Jadir are so over the top powerful that Brett has to keep throwing mind demons (princes of the demon world) at them to make them even seem threatened. With arlens warded flesh (as well as other powers) and Jadirs scar wards, crown and spear, no normal demon or person is even a slight threat to them. The same can be said in part for most humans as well. Seeing as everyone seems to now have fighting wards on their weapons, demons get slaughterd by the thousands with relative ease. It takes all the tension away from any standard demon encounter. However this has allowed the focus to shift more to the war between the Krasians and Greenlanders which is often both interesting to see unravel and exciting to read.

Conclusion

After the high quality of the first book in the series it has been a bit of a bumpy road after that. It's still a great series but flawed in parts. At times you might feel a little bored but something always happens to pique your interest a little further down the line. While the story can start to plod at times there are fortunately plenty of rich, interesting characters to hold your attention and keep you wondering what lays ahead for them.

Worth Reading - "Honest word"

Air Force Gator

Air Force Gator is Dan Rykerts first fiction novel he has published. 

If you have never heard of Dan Rykert, he is mainly known for being a personality within the video gaming industry. He is a writter for Giant Bomb and is featured on their podcasts and videos. He comes across as dumb and fun and this translates perfectly to his book. Boy is it dumb and is sure as hell a lot of fun. 

Air Force Gator is the tale of a mutated alagator that exists for some reason or another. He is also a legendary figher pilot for the US Air Force. Oh and if I havn’t said the words ‘Air Force’ enough already….. his name IS Air Force Gator. The book starts with Gator spending his time boozing and sleeping with hookers as a washed up veteran. That is until he witnesses the horror that was the destruction of the twin towers and is spured on to get revenge on the monsters that commited such a crime. While on this cold blooded revenge spree, a croc from his past arrives back on the scene and threatens all man kind.

What follows is no brains needed afair of 80′s action movie inspired violence and dialogue which often left a dumb childish grin on my face. You will be treated to gatuitous violence, explosions, blood, more explosions and a healthy dose of cringe worthy one liners.

It only took me 3 hours to read as its really short but all the better for it. It just wouldn’t work if it took itself remotely seriously. 

So if you decide to read this ‘so bad its good’ book, go in with the right expectations and enjoy the ride