Hanzel

By the 3rd page, I was already hooked!!!!

There are books that sinks in its fangs, before you even finish the 5th page (Richard A. Knaak's “Legend of Huma”, The Belgariad Series by David Eddings, The Event books by David Lyn Golemon, you know what I mean.....), this would have been a one to two day read, if I was not so distracted(life and reality...........even with a good book, it just intrudes)!!!!

Military personnel are usually good protagonist to any situation(or almost all the books I read), the discipline, their intelligence, the “spunk”, I mean if something happens before a soldier, policeman, surprise would register in their actions but the gears on their head would start spinning, then there are the “Special Forces”, the cremé de la cremé, it takes a lot to frighten a SEAL, Rangers and etc. Such was the case with this story, from the start to the end, action, action, action, who needs character development.......if everywhere you go, every corner you turn, results in a dead end!!!

Some of the reviewers called this a machisimo book, well if every character act and think like this, it makes the story flow smoothly, why not, every once in awhile, we need books like this, but this book has a deeper story(what is the veil??? Yes it separates the real from the unreal......too vague, the community.........uhhhhhh a group of individuals who passed through the veil, and changed their thinking), man-ness aside, there are things hinted in the book, that I know is not just macho-ness. Ohhhhhh you should read this universe's version of a vampire!!!!

Short, simple, full of action, always good in a story, place that in the supernatural genre, that is a 5 in my mind. I hope there is a Book 2!!! Hoorah!!!!!!

He died!!!!!!!!!!!

I wanted to see his ideas, I wanted the en-marabi to gain some sort of good karma, but he died!!!!!!

Was there no other way?????? Did the sajaam disrupt the environment so much, that a slowly changed the surroundings...........

A good open ended book, where Ms. Doore can just come back and spin some new tales, I want to have some continuation, I want to read some new things, new abilities(if only..........sigh............I really felt like Ms. Doore could have opened up a lot of possibilities), the third book was a bit slow, but action and reaction are still fine........I love the adventure in another city Hathage, Merrabel Barca and her ideas..........

I felt the third book was rushed, honestly you introduce so much additional lore, then just cut off, so maybe, just maybe another trilogy!!!

WOW!!!!! That one word, there are few trilogies that set-up the second book as better, much, much better than the first one, THIS is one of those, the first book was about laying out the Desert world of the Cousins(I do not have a better catch phrase), at first I thought it was just assassins pure and simple with a bit of magic, there are a lot of those around, but then came the healers, the marabi, then in Book two we are introduced to the en-marabi(I do hope I am right, since I honestly do not know if those two mean the same marab and marabi, I tried googling the words and they came out different, as the author is a linguist, I would love to ask her!!!!).

Book two just progressed from being familiar with your backyard(or backcity), to opening your horizons, now we see the bigger cities and we are introduced to an empire that cites Gahdid as a satellite city, The Mehewrat Empire ruled by the Empress, the story starts with Amastan(the hero from the first book) and Thana the daughter of the Serpent of Ghadid, unfortunately Amastan just became a footnote here, a little bit of action here and there(but honestly, he was ummmmmmmm.......), So Thana, the newest cousin to “graduate”, as far as the saying that the apple does not fall far from the tree, this does not apply to her, there are actions, reactions that simply is just Thana, none of her “legendary” mother's calculated thinking(truth be said though, Thana must be very, very young still), I wonder what Ms. Doore's reason was for portraying Amastan, the way he is and for portraying Thana in her own pay, such a marked difference, getting back to the story, as the story broaden, same with the characters viewpoint, we are introduced to Heru, the second emissary of the Mehewrat Empire and a healer Mo, the meeting of the three primary protagonists and their subsequent adventure is where book two revolves around in.

Honestly, this was a really fantastic story, the actions never die down, the lore just keeps building and the interaction between the three is funny, lovely(well I am not that affected by gay romance, but it still is a view that needs getting used to and understand), and not at all “dry”, Heru is such a fascinating character that sometimes, I feel he became the focal point of the story, but again Ms. Doore's ability to shine all her characters to his/her own spotlight, when the situation suggests, you appreciate them more.........

I have started reading the third book as I write this and again........well, that is how interesting this trilogy is..........

There are a few of these gems, most fantasy are derived from the north american style, so an arabian influenced fantasy setting is quite refreshing!!!!

Ghadid, a city always in constant battle with the sands, water, the lifeblood of any desert civilization, the city boasts of an aquifer system that generates this most important commodity, an engineering marvel from the earlier times, the scope, materials used unknown to the latter population, a unique system that when putting a single baat(the currency used), results in a skinful of water, hoarded by its inhabitants. The city is ruled by a group called the Drum Chiefs, they enforce the law and also divide the city into neighborhoods, each governed by a drum chief, the law is simple, water is too important to be wasted, hence any form of wastage is punished, but for the more heinous crimes, the drum chiefs also has the authority to call an assassination or employ assassins(assassins belong to this unique brotherhood, an individual can train to be one, hence assassins refer to other assassins as “cousins” for they all belong to one family), but something happened that brought to a halt this practice, a mystery that Amastan and his newly vested “cousins” have the chance to solve.

Such a unique world, you have the aforementioned assassins, healers that use water to heal, and marabi, the magic-users/shaman in this culture, not all the troubles that plagued this society come from human hands, there are the spiritual also, stories of jaans, jaani, guuli abound, and a marabi is employed to placate them, for an unruly jaan can possess anyone and bring havoc to the city.

Fantasy derived from the Greek/Roman mythos have always been the norm, but there are gems such as this, that remind you there are A LOT MORE, to dragon slaying, epic quests, and so forth. To those who would try, PLEASE DO SO, it might not give you the same satisfaction, but the story by itself is wondrous, and that is just the story, you have not yet met Amastan, Menna, the Serpent, Barag and the others.

A real start till the end battle, this volume truly took John Gregory, Tom, Bill Arkwright and the Alliance of witches against the Fiend(a long name, but I still have not thought of a better and shorter grouping) from their comfort zones, Goodbye dreary, rainy England, Onwards to Mrs. Ward's homeland Greece!!!

Such a treasure trove of fights, internal musings, war of principles(if you are a do-gooder, do you embrace evil or use evil ways to win, does the end really justify the means????)
Tell that to John Gregory the oldest Spook(that I have read of)who still fights the good fight and his unwavering and unswerving principle(but when it comes to female.......well we all have our shortcomings), to our embattled Tom and his beliefs, to Alice(the Fiend's daughter, yes unbelievable!!), Grimalkin the foremost Witch Assassin(the person who turned the table, from true defeat to a fighting chance, Book 5 that is.........) and finally Bill Arkwright(with the weight lifted up from his shoulders, a better Spook for me, for he gets the job done also without much dilly dallying unlike his mentor).

Finally, an adventure not in the county, nor the northern or southern part of the country. Welcome to the Greece, land of olives, the greek culture, their myths and lore, the lamia witches and their version of the Fiend, the Ordeen, a goddess from the Olden times(I wonder if she Golgoth are of the same pantheon), a blight on the Greeks, every seven years, she and her army from Ord would arrive and terrorize, slaughter and feast. The story revolves around the plan to finally end the Ordeen's reign of terror, again we see much griping from our traditionalist, the ingenuity of Mrs. Ward, her long term plans(imagine giving birth to not 3 or 4 children but 7, because the seventh son is the culmination of her plans) and the bravery of a mother, to sacrifice herself and one of her child to battle and give hope to their world.

The sixth book was truly riveting, so much ideas, nuances and finally so much death..........I will miss them, especially.........such a waste, really such a waste........but the development in both Tom and Alice's lives has finally intertwined!!!!! Onwards to Book 7!!!

Wow!!!! That was simply one of the best twists I have ever read..........again Book One and the rest leading to Book Five, they were just the appetizer, these little bits and pieces, you feed to a fish, until................they are just swinging back and forth from your fishing tackle.........

Book Five, Tom was sent to one of John Gregory's former apprentice who has now become the Spook for Northern part of the land, a land of water, marshes and canals, as usual with anything, humans adapt to their environs and well, so do the witches and the evil creatures found there, Chipenden had witches, ghosts and other land bound evil, The North had water witches and selkies, wraiths and others..........

Bill Arkwright one of the few apprentice who became a full fledge Spook, but that is where the similarity ends, John Gregory as a person or Spook will always follow his rigid code, be they be against fellow humans or the evil that festers his world, Bill on the other hand is different, where John Gregory adheres to a principle of “no using of anything or anyone that comes from the Dark”, Bill uses whatever he can that helps, another difference, he does not mind a little bit of cutting and bruising to toughen apprentices, Bill has a story that made him the kind of Spook that he is now and Tom manages to change him.

Book Five for me right now is one of the best, the addition of so many information to the lore of Last Apprentice!!!

Wraith vs. Mummy vs. Human hunters, what can be more exciting..........

Wraith is the ghost template for the White wolf Universe, a wraith is formed, when a person dies a horrible death and has unfulfilled tasks left to perform, not all deceased individuls can become a wraith, only those with tremendous will even after they passed away can become a wraith, as I was writing this review, I tried to google The Wraith game, and another factor in creating a wraith is their anchor to the past life, it can be an object that has tremendous sentimental value or someone that the deceased has an unfinished business with.......this is what is exciting and at the same time frustrating part of the White Wolf mythos, everthing had a story to tell, a part to play......

Mummies are the immortals that underwent ritual preservation in order to further serve their patron God or Goddess.........

Monster Hunters or Hunters in general are the.........well they hunt those that go bump in the night but these hunters have extra special abilities, I do not know if for this particular series they gave some advantages to the Hunters to take on their adversaries

As the story goes, we have a group of Hunters doing what they do best, hunting monsters, this particular group caught the eye of the the series' prime antagonist Maxwell Carpenter, a mafia cleaner who was betrayed by his girlfriend and killed in an agonizing way by his own Mafia Don(Boss???), the betrayal fueled the rage and thoughts of revenge and helped Carpenter to escape from the netherworld(where all would be wraiths come from), in trying to kill one of the Sforza's(the Mafia family he was working for and betrayed him), I think he helped the spirit of a mummy to come and inhabit the body of his botched kill........

Now I know why sometimes, there are readers who give half of a rating......this was to be a five but being the last book(according?? to the author, Really Mr. Tieryas, just when everything is about to become more exciting??!!!), I am hijacking that half star, to force you to write more stories of this amazing, amazing reality!!!

Finally!!! Action from the start, the past two books were a bit on the ummm descriptive type, it was always, history, world building, day to day habits, until the shooting starts, then action!!! This time action, reactions, actions, more world building, as more stories come out, the better (Mr. Tieryas)writes. I really like this third book a lot, gone were the day to day descriptions, self monologues by the protagonists, the one thing I never get tired of......those eating sessions hahahahha, if you watch korean tv series, they will always feature breakfast, lunch or dinner, same with these stories.

The story has truly progressed, taking the three books, I would say the first book is from 1945 until the 70's or 80's, the second one from the 80's to 2000 something, and the last maybe from 2005 till present, his writing style, the pacing, and mechas(new ones, there were a lot more), even if among the three books, book two had more mecha action, use, better and stronger mecha were always a plus........making each book a standalone, we never get to see what happened to the previous characters, Captain Beniko Ishimura, Makoto Fujimoto, but with book two continuing to book three, it was really a very pleasant surprise to read the further exploits of Nori and Kujira.

Until the next book.........
Glory to the Emperor!!! Kōtei e no eikō!!!
BANZAI!!!! BANZAI!!!! BANZAI!!!
Heil Hitler!!! Heil Mein Führer!!! Seig Heil!!!

What if the Axis truly won?????? The world would have been a darker, bloodier and more technologically advance.........

World War II was the bloodiest and most heinous time in the short span of human history, two of the world's best(technology and strategy, sadly racist)tried and almost succeeded in conquering the whole world, honestly reading all the battles, Germany's blitzkrieg tactics, Japan's fierceness(kamikaze), it was a wonder the Allies won, there were significant events that pave the way for both countries defeat(for me), the bombing of Pearl Harbour(galvanized the US into entering the War, Japan now had an opponent in the sea, where they were the master)and Russia's winter(completely stopped Germany's plan to control the whole of Europe)........even with all of these D-Day was still the most important hour of all......

Reading both books(United States of Japan was the first volume), I remember again and again all of those mentioned above, truly the human race is the most fearsome opponent of itself, imagine thinking of ways to kill en masse just because you are not German or Japanese, the author portrayed both people in their most sadistic and racist glory, every beginning until the middle point of the book, we see the awfulness of our race, and you might think it gets old, but no it enhances the story, and teaches you how lucky our reality is compared to the books.........

Enough of the gloom and doom, the first book was a trial of writing(I guess to introduce Mr. Tieryas' universe and style of writing), We see the start of both Empires, the budding technology, and eventually those against them, the first book was a bit slow moving, a lot of first(I guess), breaking ideas, the second book, it deals with the surety of both Empires, of course you can never, ever have two Alphas as they say, the one or the other will have an itch that it cannot scratch, until both empires collide, this was the basis of the second book, the itch to be the only Empire remaining, technology becomes more advance(warfare), sadly humanity suffers more, I only wish the characters introduced in the first book continued to the second one, the pacing is still the same but we now have more meat to the bone, the fights are better, more intense........I can say the first book was the stone age of this universe, the second one, the modern age.......and boy the third book(alrready started)the space age..........narration is more fluid, characters are better or more diabolical......

Finally.......finished it......after 15 years, it was just recently, I got the book, imagine reading a trilogy, without book 2....

Garou ,White Wolf lore, were Gaia's(Mother Earth)soldiers, fighting against her nemesis - The Wyrm(spirit of corruption), being both blessed and cursed with the trait RAGE, this ability further enhances their spirit and strength, they were divided into tribes, 13 to be exact(these were the famous ones, although in succeeding years, more were introduced), The Stargazers(mystics), Get of Fenris(warriors), Silver Fangs(rulers), for the purpose of this review, I just gave the three that had a major impact in the novel, King Albrecht “the last Gaia King” from the Silver Fangs, Antonine Teardrop from the Stargazers.......and their counterpart the Black Spiral Dancers, garous possessed by the Wyrm.....

This is the second book of their “Time of Judgement trilogy”, the end times of the whole White Wolf universe, the first was for the vampires, and now it is The Apocalypse, wherein the Wyrm is set to devour Gaia, reading this without any knowledge of their shared universes might be a lot to digest for a casual reader, even I had a hard time following the story, reading any White Wolf novel, that is a feeling you might get, so many references, characters, abilities, the story was straight forward as can be, it felt like a movie that should have been a trilogy but was instead condensed into one, then fast forwarded to focus on the final fight......and then that cliffhanger(???!!!!).........

For 15 years, I hunted for this volume, White Wolf had the most unique take of these monsters, and honestly who does not love Vampires, Werewolves, Mages, Mummies(ohhhhh), as I have stated, reading any works, you have to have some knowledge, did I enjoy this gem, well a bit, imagine waiting for such a long time, then finally........reading it......anticipating this and that.........and(insert car braking)what happened...........your anticipation drops.....and ohhhh.....rises......then drops......until..........the book ends......

I wish they could have made it into 2-3 books, flesh out some of the characters, this was the Final Battle not just a battle, none of the grandiose war, more like a footnote.......”and so the Final Battle has begun........then.......end”!!!

And Done!!!!!

Reading the first chapter, I knew we were back with Darien(Rome), hoping Shiang(China or any Asian Empire) will become an ally nation or anything just to hold on to Hondo, Bosin and Taeshan, just to mix up the story a bit and YES!!!! We do have some mixing up and a new nation Féal(European more like French undertones because of the names Jean and Louis).

So many good things, Elias is back and that surprise tidbit in his family life WOW!!! We see the return of Nancy again(Darien's version of Shandril), Vic Deeds as good as ever with pistols and as self centered as ever, of course a lot more(three more to be exact, characters) Arthur, I was hoping Mr. Iggulden would finally use him or something but.........(I mean you have a golem albeit the stature of a kid, but can learn anything[I wonder if he sees Vic, can he suddenly use and shoot as good as him]), such a waste of materiél, the formation of good team(sort of the Seven Samurai).........

The story was fast paced, faster than the previous books, I like his pacing method, build up, build up and then fighting starts, so many plot lines, there were some that the author finished, there were some still hanging, Arthur........the Fool(the last of the Returners), Lord Jin, the other families and one heck of a cliffhanger(honestly please resolve this story, Mr. Iggulden, I love your characters, everyone, even those that passed away.......biggest one was........(ooopppsss)

All I can say is the whole trilogy felt like it had so many unfinished stories, threads, a new trilogy would really be great to really finish those unfinished topics, also some more hints on the other cities, the formation of Darien, the family stones.........The Salt Empire, where the heck is the salt.............why was it called the Salt Empire, I know during the Greek Empire, salt was used as payment.......I just hope someone really answer this one.

All in all the whole series was good, a lot of threads unaswered, those answered were done in spectacular battles, I will definitely come back for more, for Arthur, for the stones, the ancient history, the knacks, magic........ohhhhh also a new follower of C. F. Iggulden!!

Hmmmmmmmm..............when you usually start something with that first hmmmmm, either you were so baffled by what you read or......the thing is, I am at the or side.......Darien was a straightforward book, a Roman like setting with real magic, peppered with some eastern flavor(I was guessing a sort of East meets West will be written in the near future, well, here it is), it had all the roman culture that we love to read about(assassinations, politics[eww], LEGIONS[somehow no matter how many times writers have spun this unit, it is considered the best military unit EVER{!!!!}], I love the story, the people introduced(you still killed him....WHY?????), so naturally I was looking forward to the continuation of Tellius and the twelve families, Tellius back story, the ahhhh magic system or artifacts that was introduced...........

Shiang came in fast, lightning fast, east has finally been revealed and the dreaded(!!!????) mazer techniques is slowly being introduce, the culture of the east too, uhhhhh this is where I got hit Mary Shelley's Frankestein...........oh wait no........it looks like the lab of Dr. Frankenstein, the same set up, the same techniques, but magic is the key component ,ok ..ok still holding on.....love this sort of twists and turns, and uhhhhhh soul exchange..........then the story took hold and we are introduced to three exchanged souls riding in new bodies with supernatural abilities, and..............wow.......I think I got lost in Shiang and never got back(I seem to think, I was one of those who got their souls exchanged, just got back when........)

Story wise, still excellent although the shift from POV's might offend some readers, the abilities this time were a bit forced(????, superhuman strength, speed and later on........)
Still......it was nice to read about the Shiang Emperors, some of the inhabitants, a sword saint(ummmmm sword saints hahahhaha), Tellius, our beloved golem king, and finally some of the 12 families are slowly being revealed(Bracken, De Guise, Regis, Canis)......

Mr. Iggulden your approach to storytelling is so refreshing, I hardly have a dull moment(cough, cough, Tolkien, King), descriptions are neat, straight to the point and sometimes funny........

Well almost done with this trilogy, one question though, what is the relevance of salt in your narrative?????(Badump........romans lend me your corns..........)

Finally after suffering reader's block for weeks, I finished this one just before the month ended!!!

Conn Iggulden or C.F. Iggulden, one of the better historical writers, finally has his own fantasy world.........

Maybe because of the block I mentioned or something else, when I read the first few lines of his opening paragraph, I was looking for something captivating, and there it was, a telling of Elias story, no frills, no long winding description of the trail, how the leaves on the surrounding trees were of this colored, while walking some of those would fall lightly........and so forth and so on, I like the way he describes things, to the point with some embellishments, but that dreaded block came about, and much as I tried to read it, it just clutched at my head.......that was why it took me a long time to finish this one......and the story seemed to drag along........

Character wise Mr. Iggulden writes believable protagonists and antagonists, when a new character is introduced, everything is revealed(or almost everything), then you start to like the said characters, only to find that, they were just part of the embellishment (Daw, I really liked him........dang........

After a long hiatus, I have finally finished the whole trilogy, the ending of book three, was not the one I was anticipating, I was really sad to see Mr. Bennett, killing off the Divine, some of the greatest slaughter in human history stemmed from religious war brought by the fervor of each faction's belief, the crusades, inquisition to name of few, with that concept running around in my mind, no wonder the Kaj did what he did to the Divinities, it was freedom from divine oppression, Shara, Turyin and Sigurd, were just the latest in a line of deiciders(??? hopefully there is such a word), after the incidents in the first two books, I never imagined they would go after the sons and daughters, as the book progresses, we read the why, how and what, at first I felt the wastefulness of such killings, if only some of these demigods were allowed to live the humane way, they might have some appreciation of the humans, there might have been a way for both divine and humans to live together, but Mr. Bennett was already two to three steps ahead to my way of thinking and the conclusion was most satisfactory........I hope to read another story of this fascinating world....

That ending...............what man giveth, man taketh away too.....

I was just reading some of Ms. Novik's accomplishment, and there, right there, history buff, that is why her stories reads like a history lesson in an alternate world, where Dragons fly in the sky, the early British conquests, the european conquerors, China as one of the powerful albeit mysterious country, then Russia, Prussia, now in this novel, Africa, the land of the wild, and that most grotesque achievement of early man : Slavery, whenever you visit the era 14th to the 18th century, this was one of the most brutal practices, along with opium addiction, I was completely caught unawares on how it was incorporated, and became a storypoint, let alone one of the reason for that cliffhanger of an ending......come to think of it, man has never been a good neighbor, he is callous, greedy and murderous, to think that the book is about Dragons and Man, yet in a way, it is also slavery of Dragons, horses, dogs and etc, we are the prime Alpha of this planet, everything else is usable, edible and when there is no longer any use discarded, a fine, fine study of man hidden inside a story of fantasy!!!!

War, the sole province where the human race is at it's best, from the least reason, the beauty of Helen, to territory/land........

I have forgotten that the setting of this particular world, the Napoleonic Wars, wherein Britain was facing war in two fronts, the new world(America) and the French, against one of the greatest tactician ever known and unsurpassed in the whole world, according to their generation, I was so enamored with how the Chinese treat their Dragons, that I was reminded again, when they were flying out off China, a sad reality, during those times, wherein in boys are already allocated to the war front, those were the times, where hard labor was much needed, boys as young as 10, who should be idling away their time, are forced to shape up and become a man, even as I read through the novel, I would remember histories gone by, the British Empire, the Chinese Empire, the Spanish Armada, the conflict waged, for land and wealth, mirroring the novel, war, truly man's invention, the justifications of each empire, add to this the fantastical creature known as Dragons, their naiveness, the growing realization of being used and hoping for some reforms...........

A splendid, historical drama of the war fought by Man, entangling one of the most fearsome imaginative creature of all time, Man and Dragon, ware those who would combat them........

I love Mr. Olivo's Caulborn series, fast, simple and action pack.............

Vincent Corinthos, a demigod, child of Janus (God of Doors, also God of beginnings and in a sense endings{do correct me if I am wrong}, A caulborn operative, people who patrol the known worlds against those that seek to destroy the equilibrium of modern society(natural and supernaturally speaking), a god in the making, simply put think of it as policedemigod(ahhhhh......huh.....).......

The story so far, after becoming the God of the Urisk(a psychic fae race that aside from strengthening him with their faith, shares with him additional abilities, that manifests whenever they survive hardships) and rescuing their resident techgenius gremlin, Vincent was introduced to another God to hone his true ability, opening doorways/portals, A new enemy also surfaced an organization called The Keepers.......this book also introduced Herb, a necromancer...........

A lot happened, and the finale was really unexpected.......things are really gearing up for something.........

White Wolf had a winner here, the whole World of Darkness platform, those that go bump into the night are given new origins, divided into two factions Camarilla and Sabbath, these factions are made up of 13 clans (Ventrue, Toreador, Nosferatu and etcetera for the Camarilla, For the Sabbath we have Salubri, Lasombra, Tsimiczse and etcetera) each, so 26 clans in all, oh wait these were just the Vampires, the king of the undead, excludes the werewolfs, ghosts and mummies, they had so many(for me) stories to tell, so much lore and then just like the story, the whole company just vanished...........

A beautiful world to traipse around, not just your ordinary run of the mill vampires, we had vampires that dabble with magic(blood of course), techno savvy Vampires, Political ones, just like their prey the human race, each has their own legends, and so we talk about Gehenna, according to World of Darkness lore, this was the time the Antideluvians or the third generation(vampire strength, wisdom and etcetera decrease as the generations go by, so the antideluvians were the most powerful of these vampires except for Caine, the progenitor)would rise and feed off their progeny signaling the end, while a lot has been said and read, ordinary vampires(mostly newly embraced ones belong to the ninth or tenth generation, therefore too diluted or weak), no one has ever seen these third gen monsters, even the most long lived from both sides, as time goes by, the stories became legends, then myths until finally, they were just stories, the novel starts with Beckett (a Gangrel, or those akin to werewolves but only by attitude and some hairiness{??}), finally found all the necessary components to free a compatriot from his age old prison, thus the story goes.......we see the paranoia, dementia and finally the sheer brutality of a vampire unmasked, the story was as linear as possible, although the cast were the more known characters Theo Bell, Lucita, Beckett, Victoria and more........for a casual reader with no prior knowledge about this world, this novel would be truly confusing, to us who truly embraced the whole Darkness thing it was a story come true............except as we near the end of the tale.........things became like the Vampires themselves, unpredictable and unknowable..........

I have read this twice, the first time was in my 20+, this second reading was in my 40+ and still the end.........just confused me, was it all true or just like vampires themselves, simply my imagination gone wrong................

Maybe a third reading would be the charm, well I need to wait another two decades...........

An alternate reality story, what if Japan was able to step into America (with the movie, Midway soon to be shown, this was a timely, what if............)

So we all know what happened in World War II, Allies won against the Axis, but what if the Axis forces won against the Allies, this novel clearly shows the result, there have been stories about the Third Reich winning, but this one touches on the war in the Pacific, wherein the small nation of Japan, was able to carve it's own empire and it reaches as far as the United States of America, history has shown how brutal both Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan to their prisoners, or those they deem inferior, it was like reading my history lessons, except English is not the 2nd language of the world, but Nihongo, every detail of inhumane acts, every movement of their upper echelon, terrifyingly accurate, we never ever want to go back to those barbaric times, and I hope even if this is just a superbly researched and written novel, those things REALLY DID HAPPEN!!!

Astounding how both states Germany and Japan, was almost able to conquer all it aspired to, and how small their nations was compared to their neighboring countries.........

Mr. Tieryas, I hope a lot of people read this work of yours, truly a fine and praise worthy novel........

I felt I had to rush this last one, when I started reading the first one, I thought nice, cool opponents, human ingenuity saves the day, second one, same result, better opponents gargantuan possibilities, human ingenuity again saves the day, and so forth and so on........unfortunately, I was truly saddened that these gargantuan possibilities, remained possiblities, from book three until the last book, as I have said again and again, so many ideas and concepts could have been written, but I guess the author was in a hurry......

So Destructor, the title already gave you the idea of how book seven is going to end(hahahhahah, although you still have to read it, that is why the series was not a total loss), Human ingenuity, if used for preservation, wonders never cease, if used for destruction.......well we all know where that lead to, anyway back to the novel, so the bigger they are, the harder they fall, never has this been true, we finally see or I think we are given the description of the Creator and his opponent the Watcher, the concept truly boggles the mind, the size of his domain, the fleet that it can muster, I felt there was something missing with the narrative, Mr. James was able to heighten the tension and the strength of opponent, but a bomb again........this feels so flat.........there were some new things that was again introduced, why not use that ,or the collaboration of Human, Estral and Ghast intelligence.......after reading the last few lines, I really felt robbed, my expectation squashed...........

All in all a good series..........I just wished............

Why did I stop reading this series, almost humane dragons, can you imagine Takhisis or Paladin, sitting down drinking tea, eating biscuits, lazing about while someone reads to them(Takhisis would have looked at the reader and depending on her mood, froze, spat acid, poisoned, burned the fool, Paladin would just ummmmm..ummmmm....what was that spell again??? ohhhhhhhhh.....gunpowder......drat........), honestly, why do the English seem to write better dialogue, story is prim and proper, hilarious comebacks(maybe because they invented the language, please forgive me Mr. Eddings, Mr. Feist, Mr. Jordan and others).....from start to finish, you can read this in one seating........

After their victory at Dover, everything became a routine again, until the Chinese came, insisting on returning Temeraire to them, after a lot of shouting, some underhanded moves, Laurence, Temeraire's pilot/better half(could I even use the word, I am assuming better half means someone who makes you better......)was forced to leave for China to resolve the situation, and so the story unfolds........honestly, the parallelism between reality and make believe was so thin, it might have been what our world would have been.......the phrasing, narration, why I thought I was back in my elementary days.......such attention to details(ok so not that detailed, well so were my history books).....the only difference, dragons took the place of horses.......is it a wonder why I thought reality was so blurred, the only thing that did not appear was dragons pulling carts............

I was quite surprised, I thought ohhh a journey to the West(shhh...I really thought boring)........surprise, surprise.....and a lot of surprises.........it's making the fan in me giggle while writing this review, I hope.........this and that..........oh well.......on to Book Three!!!!

I finally finished a trilogy under Ms. Richardson, is it worth it??? Do I want to read it again??? I am of two minds to read it again, we have strong female leads, of course Dragons, any one ever read a weak portrayal of these massive, destructive, regal creatures, but on this particular trilogy, they came out as weak, even Zaxx, I am not that impress, another down for me, a rather whiny and not so impressive male protagonist, Ansall was a bit impressive but theatrical, there was a bit of fascinating detail that I am looking at, which I was led to believe to be included in the first book, I am now reading..........

My personal thinking maybe the trilogy was not that impressive because it was the first time human and dragons's met, so naturally they have to know each other's capability, I am now reading The Darkening and I can say it is getting intersting..........

Soooooo......ok little by little the story is coming around, we know the prime antagonist(at least I think , I know), but up until now I still am looking and sorting out the differences of the Dragons of Naomi Novik, Dragonlance and now Ms. Richardson's, wherein Ms. Novik's Dragons are human like in their attitude and traits (hopefully I am correct), the metallic and chromatic Dragons of the Dragonlance Universe are power incarnate and truly frightening to behold, somehow Ms. Richardson's Dragons seems to be in the middle of these two, the verdict is still unknown for me, but the story is progressing in a linear way, with some surprises............

On to Book Three!!!!

Ok my first Ava Richardson novel, her dragons are different, there are some similarities, but as of now
I am enjoying the mystery of this particular universe, wherein these magnificent Dragons are just “that”, no geniuses, no breath abilities(as of now), no magical affinity...........but the male protagonist, what the heck are you Neill.............coward, Char is more of a warrior than you............

So waiting for the second book...................

For a book with a monster squad as it's protagonist, not a lot of monster hunting, but more on looking for monsters, for now this one is sort of a rallying point/getting to know your friend and foe, as well as a jumping point for new readers, some of the new lore I picked up or learned is the difference between so called Cursed and True Lycans and the same with Vampires.

Not a lot of happening on this one, as I have mentioned since both sides are getting ready for the BIG WAR!!! I see elves or in this universe they are further divided into Great Elves and just Elves, we have the usual gnomes, pixies and others................so far not a lot “action”................

well time to look for the next chapter for this one................ohhhhh did you know that the Monster Squad is literally the true name for them because...........heheheehh why don't you read it to find out???