AnHeC (I'm too fucking busy and vice versa)

Word count: about 95 000

Rating:  The further you go the better it gets.

“Sharks don’t eat seafood because they like it. They eat it, because chickens don’t swim.”

I don’t really have a lot to say right now (for reasons well known). But I can tell you this – it’s better than the previous one (The Crown Conspiracy). Which is good, since Sullivan had me worried there for a minute.

“We’ll need to check it out tonight.”

“Tonight?” he asked. “Shouldn’t such things be done in the daylight? When we can both see and things with complicated names aren’t flying around?”

“Not if I’m right.”

“And if you’re wrong?”

“If I’m wrong we’ll both certainly die – most likely be being eaten.”

That’s the spirit!

Sullivan admitted that he wrote all 6 books simultaneously. He had a big plan and wanted to make it all intertwine. Which is good, but that also meant a lot of first book was a set up of a whole situation. Crud and clumsy set up, I might add. Now things begin to have a flow.

Pacing was much better. (Does phrase like that make sense in English? Fuck me. ) Story had faster and slower moments; dynamics worked and pulled you in.

First half was quite disappointing and had me worried. I actually think it funny how the story slowly gets better. No sudden jumps in quality, just a steady rise. It’s good. That is a much better direction of change than other way around. It makes you want to read more.

Riyria: Royce & Hadrian (an epic duo)

We see more of their relationship dynamics. We’re really shown how different they are, how well they work together and their camaraderie. Now that is something I love – a strong bond  (nothing romantic, get your head out of the gutter). Their mutual trust really turns me on. Yes, I’m a sucker for US vs. THEM; for rising against the odds together. I love them both and am always happy to see more of their adventures, conversations, tasks, tribulations, squabbles… They’re… cute. Yes, the way they interact is cute. Royce and Hadrian have differences of opinion, and the way they go about convincing one another, adjusting so that both sides are happy, is sweet. That’s not very manly, and Royce would probably stab me for saying this, but that’s how I see it. Especially Royce, the way he gives in to stubborn, honorable side of Hadrian with an attitude ‘I know where it’s going but I’ll stick with you, because man, you’re like an innocent puppy and you need me watching your back with all the backstabbing that goes on in this world’. I love him! LOVE HIM! I LOVE THEM BOTH!

Reading a book in which you genuinely love main characters is rare for me. Usually I’m ok with them, sometimes they annoy me a bit, sometimes I hate them, but love? That’s freaking rare. So that’s a humongous plus for Sullivan.

Plot is still quite predictable (come on, it’s a fantasy book, we all know how it goes), yet with better execution and pacing it feels good. It flows and pulls you in. The worldbuilding/storybuilding details are nicely interwoven (before they were incredibly ‘out of the blue’ visible)

Characters stopped being one dimensional. Author utilizes every scene, every piece of dialogue to show their personalities. Those scenes suddenly matter, when before they were just a platform to jump to the next bit of action. Action, that didn’t make much sense. I like things to make sense. Logic is my SWAG.

Big picture is foggy and we’re still unsure of who the real baddies are.

If you’ve read the prequels, you see one of the plot twists coming, ant that just rocks ^^ I couldn’t wait to find out if I was right :D

In short:

I’m not wow-ed out of my shoes (hell, I mostly walk barefoot so that’s rather hard for a book to do) but I did enjoy it quite a bit. Plot thickens. Things that annoyed me before, like very crude worldbuilding devices that were ‘in your face’ obvious are getting less prominent. It bodes well for the future of this series.  I’m genuinely fond of characters, which for me is rare.

I like my fantasy with dark sense of humour ,  lots of sarcasm and very creative spurts of profanity. Cynical view of the world is my thing, so keep in mind that this book isn’t a perfect fit for me. Maybe it would be for you?