Theft of Swords by Michael J.Sullivan || Book Review

Royce Melborn, a skilled thief, and his mercenary partner, Hadrian Blackwater, make a profitable living carrying out dangerous assignments for conspiring nobles—until they are hired to pilfer a famed sword. What appears to be just a simple job finds them framed for the murder of the king and trapped in a conspiracy that uncovers a plot far greater than the mere overthrow of a tiny kingdom.

Can a self-serving thief and an idealistic swordsman survive long enough to unravel the first part of an ancient mystery that has toppled kings and destroyed empires in order to keep a secret too terrible for the world to know?

And so begins the first tale of treachery and adventure, sword fighting and magic, myth and legend.

Introduction:  I have known about this series for a time now because of Fantasy Book Critic i.e.Liviu’s excellent reviews of the books, and had been planning on reading the books. So when the author’s publicist sent us a review copy, Theft of Swords jumped to the top of my reading list. Theft of Swords published by Orbit Books is actually an omnibus consisting of two novels (The Crown Conspiracy &Avempartha) previously published separately by indie publisher,Aspirations Media Inc. The books are written to work as standalone volumes but have an overall broader storyline which losely joins them together to form a series called The Riyria Revelations.

Analysis: Theft of Swords is traditional fantasy in the sense that it uses many of the familiar tropes such character archetypes i.e. elves, dwarves, goblins and men; a medieval era type setting etc. But the author tries enough new things so that the plot remains fresh and engaging. First the pacing of the novel is very unlike most fantasy novels I’ve read. Events move so quickly in the first half of the novel that at first I found myself a little disconcerted, being used to lots of details relating to world building and character development. The first part doesn’t even try to do any of these things it just introduces the characters: Hadrian and Royce (who are likable from the very start) and a few others and the roller coaster ride of adventure and action begins.

Hadrian and Royce collectively called Riyria are hired on a job to steal a sword from the Royal Palace, the King is murdered and the thieves framed. So begins an adventure that takes them across the kingdom and into an ancient Prison maintained by the Church wherein lies captive the only sorcerer known to be living and considered to be extremely dangerous. This sorcerer known as Esrahaddon is also a very intriguing character but his role is larger in Avempartha than in The Crown Conspiracy.  This fast paced action adventure driven storyline makes the first part a page turner and very enjoyable but it does have its setbacks. For one the world and the characters suffer from depth issues and the rich history alluded to is not explored. But to be just one must also consider the small page count of ‘The Crown Conspiracy’. The author probably intended to focus on the action and adventure in the first novel and leave the details for the second.

The second novel allayed my fears by doing exactly this. The starting act of the novel reveals some bombastic information about Royce’s character and throughout the novel much of the World’s history is revealed through a number of interesting POVs including Esrahaddon’s. The villainous dwarf Magnus and his obsession with Royce’s dagger is a fine addition. The church troubled by Esrahaddon’s escape escalates its plans for finding the Emperor. Our heroes find themselves on a monster hunting expedition in the unlikeliest of places. Some very interesting facts about the elves are revealed which increases the potential of the series. The author does a very good job at adding depth to the series in this novel but what is extraordinary is that the pace remains steady and the plot flowing throughout. Because of the second book the main characters rose from interesting but almost unknown to ultimate badass. The death of one of the major characters was unexpected and shows that the author is not shy about taking harsh decisions.  Mr. Sullivan slowed his pacing slightly to do all this but the result was an overall rise in writing quality and a truly epic feeling.

 Conclusion: Overall, Theft of Swords is an excellent book it is extremely fast paced and a very quick and entertaining read. The characters, world and storyline it develops are one of the best created in fantasy literature and from here on it can only get better.

Prince of Thorns By Mark Lawrence || Book Review

"Before the thorns taught me their sharp lessons and bled weakness from me I had but one brother, and I loved him well. But those days are gone and what is left of them lies in my mother's tomb. Now I have many brothers, quick with knife and sword, and as evil as you please. We ride this broken empire and loot its corpse. They say these are violent times, the end of days when the dead roam and monsters haunt the night. All that's true enough, but there's something worse out there, in the dark. Much worse." 

Once a privileged royal child, raised by a loving mother, Jorg Ancrath has become the Prince of Thorns, a charming, immoral boy leading a grim band of outlaws in a series of raids and atrocities. The world is in chaos: violence is rife, nightmares everywhere. Jorg's bleak past has set him beyond fear of any man, living or dead, but there is still one thing that puts a chill in him. Returning to his father's castle Jorg must confront horrors from his childhood and carve himself a future with all hands turned against him. 

Prince of Thorns is the first volume in a powerful new epic fantasy trilogy, original, absorbing and challenging. Mark Lawrence’s debut novel tells a tale of blood and treachery, magic and brotherhood and paints a compelling and brutal, sometimes beautiful, picture of an exceptional boy on his journey toward manhood and the throne.

Introduction: Prince of Thorns is the first book in The Broken Empire series, it is a debut by British author Mark Lawrence. The book has been hailed as one of the finest debuts of this year. It is revenge driven epic fantasy, and has a rather brutal and gritty atmosphere.

Analysis:  Prince of thorns focuses on the central character Prince Honorous Jorg whose life has been shaped by the murder of his family and his need for vengeance. Jorg is the heir to one of a number of realms the rulers of which all have a claim to the title of Emperor of the Broken empire(since the series name The Broken Empire). The struggle between the numerous players for the title of Emperor forms the broader story arc.  Jorg will do whatever it takes to get this revenge, he will lie, cheat, steal, murder and betray anyone and everyone as long as it gets him closer to his goal. At barely ten years of age he intentionally falls in with a very nasty breed of criminals and so begins his long road to vengeance.  The writing in the first person POV of Jorg really brings out Jorg's character and the motivations behind his actions. Some people may find the brutality and viciousness of this character odd or unsettling for a kid of merely 10 years of age but I think the author does a very good job at the characterization.

“You soon learn there’s no elegance or dignity in death if you spend time in the castle kitchens. You learn how ugly it is, and how good it tastes.”
 For a person whose whole life revolves around the gruesome murder of his loved ones, his sociopathic and murderous qualities are perhaps justified. Also the author succeeds in making the reader question whether Jorg with his desire for murderous repayment for the death of his loved ones is truly the evil one or others who coldly trade away their deaths are more deserving of being called so.
“War, my friends, is a thing of beauty. Those as says otherwise are losing.”
 Jorg's companions are a particularly nasty outlaw group. I found myself especially enjoying the tid-bits the author added as introductions to a few of Jorg's roadside companions, these provided some added insights into the cuthroat nature of Jorgs companions and how the savageness required to survive, shaped Jorg's personality.

“Brother Roddat stabbed three men in the back for each one he faced. Roddat taught me all I know about running and about hiding. Cowards should be treated with respect. Cowards best know how to hurt. Corner one at your peril.”


“Every brotherhood has a pecking order. With brothers like mine you don’t want to be at the bottom of that order. You’re liable to get pecked to death. Brother Jobe had just the right mix of whipped cur and rabies to stay alive there.”


“Assassination is just murder with a touch more precision. Brother Sim is precise.”


The secondary characters do not receive too much character development aside from these occasional bits, and it really is a shame since a number of them are interesting, likable and badass. I was especially disappointed by the author’s treatment of the Nuban, the enigmatic tribal warrior could have been fleshed out and developed so much more. Makin, Jorg’s champion is arguably the only other character who received a bit of real attention so readers can have some understanding of his personality. But given the breakneck speed and continuous action one can really forget these lapses and enjoy the ride.

Prince of thorns covers a lot of events and places in a rather small page count. This does not allow the author to delve too deep into the world building. There are references that give us an indication of the rich history behind the world as it stands in the present, but overall it covers a rather small portion of the World, the author has created for this series. The world from what little has been revealed is post apocalyptic, it is a time when humanity is thrust back development wise after some major catastrophe ended a much superior and technologically advanced civilization. In the present the world could be described as medieval era with some structures and other remnants from the technological age. The appearance of references to Plato, Socrates, Nietzche, Sun tzu, Shakespeare, and even Jesus made for an interesting and original addition, since many fantasy novelists refrain from mentioning people an events from the real world.

Prince of thorns is not a very large book and what it lacks for in size it makes up for in pace, the pages whirl past while reading. The book is packed with action and suspense,the atmosphere created in the novel is suitably grim and for the first three quarters the novel was one of the most engaging I've ever read. The author writing in fluid and flowing prose takes the reader into the darkest recesses of the human mind which is a disturbing yet entertaining journey.  The sword and sorcery type action was vivid and non-stop, and the hero although a tad on the evil side was one I rooted for.

But I had a number of problems with the last quarter of the novel. Although these problems didn’t quite cripple my enjoyment of Prince of Thorns but did cut down on the immense potential and expectations I had developed for the book.  Firstly, the author seemed to be in a hurry to get to the finish line as if he was getting out of pages to write on. The last quarter could have achieved so much more and been so much more meaningful had it been fully developed and taken up the necessary space to achieve this. Second, his use of timely good-luck to bail Jorg out of impossible situations in quick succession really agitated me, since it made things appear contrived, contrary to how believable things were before. There really could have been so many other more entertaining/roundabout ways of dealing with those situations.

Conclusion: Even though there are number of flaws one can pick out from the last quarter of Prince of Thorns, the fact remains that it is a very enjoyable book and one of the year’s better debuts. The flaws felt more pronounced because of the immense expectations it developed earlier, this by itself is an indication of the author’s talent and potential for the future. It will certainly be interesting to see where Mr. Lawrence takes this series in future installments.

Returning After a Period of silence || What's Up

Well, we've been really busy, with exams and a whole lot of other not so entertaining stuff going on. But the important thing is, we're back to blogging with a new zealous feel coursing through. I've been reading and have a couple of reviews planned, coming up soon.

I finished reading Theft of Swords, our first review copy granted by the author's publicist. I wasn't quite convinced by the first part, however, the excellent second part won me over and possessed the "wow factor" that makes reading fantasy such a pleasure.  I am already hungering for the second book, Rise of Empire. I planned on reading and posting a review of Theft of Swords by the end of November, but with the busy schedule and all... Anyway, enough excuses, the review will be going up on December 22.

Also, I've been going head to head with Prince of Thorns and damn would I not want to go head to head with its fourteen year old,  homicidal maniac of a protagonist. Seriously, its some really grim and sinister stuff but I am enjoying it, somehow I am feeling a bit mischievous myself these days, so its right up my alley.   The review will be coming up soon, probably before that for Theft of Swords.

And there's Skyrim. The game I've been waiting for all year. I must admit I am a bit in love, certainly addicted. This one has been eating away at any spare moments I might have had for other activities including reading and blogging. This game is just so HUGE, I have invested a whole load of (massively entertaining) hours into this, but have hardly gone through a third of the game. Maybe even less. Even now, trying to stay away from the game is physically painful. Perhaps that's what it means to be going through withdrawal. Anyway, this marvel, deserves a  a bit of writing space on the blog, with my views in greater detail.  But it'll probably take some more time for me  to get through the whole game, and I want to experience it all before I put it down in words. 

Circle of Magic by Tamora Pierce || Some Thoughts (By Amna)

This series comprises of “Sandry’s Book”, “Tris’s Book”, ”Daja’s Book” and “Briar’s Book”.

Quite some time before actually reading the books I caught a glimpse of the first 3 pages from Elvenarya’s bookshelf. The start seemed good so I got it and started reading it.

Sandry’s Book

The story started out fine but after reading about half of it I realized it was getting nowhere. It was just a happy little life story of 4 bratty kids and a dog . I kept waiting for something anywhere near interesting to happen, but in vain. The book refused to hand over anything even mildly enjoyable. I totally hated everything in the book from the teachers to the trainees, the bratty kids to the bratty dog and especially all the unnecessary details. As expected, I found myself skipping pages……not being a long book skipping all the boring things (which unfortunately made up most of the book) meant that I finished it far earlier than expected. My reaction throughout reading and after the book was one of boredom. It was only near the end that something happened in a plot that crawled at a snail’s pace all through the novel.

Nevertheless the author has written many good books so I decided to give the second book a shot. Also I had heard that it was the best of the series so I thought I’d give the author another chance.

Tris’s Book

 ‘Tris’s Book ’ was far superior to the first one, the plot pacing was better, there was more depth added to the characters. I liked the author’s writing style and her vivid descriptions, but these descriptions are a double edged sword when her pacing slows down it starts to weigh down the writing. Unfortunately this one suffered from the middle book syndrome of building up on characters and world building from the first novel at the cost of plot flow and so eventually the pacing got bogged down. In my opinion the books major weakness is the absence of any significant plot developments or events. I agree that the four characters along with their teachers did lots of activities depending on their powers but it amounted little in the overall scheme of things.  It failed to pull me in and lacked that special factor that makes one just fall in love with the pages. Being underwhelmed by the second book I have dropped the series. But since I do like her style of writing, I may just pick up another one of her series sometime in the future. 

The Son of Neptune || Book Review (Reviewed by Elvenarya)

Finally percy is back!! It was with much anticipation that I awaited the sequel to " The Lost Hero".  Riorden's sense of humour -which the first book, so clearly lacked- makes a banging appearance right from the first paragraph, accompanying greek-hero class action. It was clear that Percy hadn't had as major a memory loss as Jason and we join him once he has been trained by Lupa - the she-wolf Roman patron- after slumbering for months. he gets tricked by Juno into giving up his Achilles curse entering the Roman Camp Jupiter where he is distrusted, held in contempt and for some resason hated by their leader. It does not help that he's a son of Neptune and has managed to befriend the two ultimate losers in camp: Frank and Hazel both of whom guard deadly secrets.

I sorely missed the highly enjoyable first person pov as in the Percy Jackson series and the lack of a prophecy, without which no quest is complete. But then giving a first peron pov of Percy would have made it difficult to put in Hazel and Frank's points of view which were essential to the storyline. And since the Roman way of deriving prophecies doesnt work (maybe because it was the sacrifice of ENTRAILS OF STUFFED ANIMALS :D ) there are no prophecies in Camp Jupiter. Except of-course the Prophecy of Seven.

Gaea is the enemy, far more calculating and deceptive than Kronos. She leaves little room for maneuvering and the heroes constantly have to face enemies they never imagined they could have. Her gloats that Percy will end up serving her cause makes one really fear for the heroes future for with Gaea, there are no idle threats.

This book is one of the best Riorden penned and is a must read for his fans. This book is definately darker than its predecessors. Humour is definately there but then so is the seriousness of the situation, proving that Riorden has greatly improved as an author, for in the Percy Jackson series the danger never seemd so great. More action, more story and more complexity to the characters makes this book rise to five stars. I absolutely loved it from the Roman demi-god lifestyle to the mystery of the Lares. Octavian creeped me out while Hazel gained my sympathy. There were more battles with great details which had me double minded about the outcomes because in this book there is too little that can be predicted.Sometimes I rolled over laughing while at others I was biting my nails in suspense. Overall it is a great read that left me craving for more but at the same time completely satisfied with what I had got.

My Rating: 9/10.

Buy the book from:
Amazon.com || Amazon.co.uk
Book Depository || Indiebound

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood || Game Review

         Game Info:

        Publisher: Ubisoft

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal

Genre: Historic Action Adventure

Release: Mar 22, 2011 

ESRB: Mature

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is the third game in the series; the setting is renaissance period Rome. Our Protagonist is basically a modern day man named Desmond who is able to access his ancestor Ezio’s memories through a machine called the animus. The storyline in the present is a little vague with a group of four (one of whom is Desmond) trying to evade Templar enemies, all the while trying to find out the location of a certain artifact called the ‘Apple’. Anyway, the game is mostly based in Renaissance Rome so it’s not much of a concern. The main arc follows Ezio’s enmity with the Borgia Family who are the most influential and powerful people in all of Rome.

The game looks very slick and sharp all around and the since the game is third person based so the camera is a very significant part of the game. Fortunately unlike many other games which suffer from bad camera issues, Brotherhood’s camera works very smoothly throughout. The city of Rome is shown in all its grandeur and the visuals provide a very immersive and satisfying experience.

Brotherhood is a very addictive and entertaining game and to enjoy it to its fullest one must enjoy the little things. You can decide to disregard everything other than the main story arc but this will deprive you of the truly immersive experience you’re likely to get from partaking in the side stuff. There’s a lot to do in the city of Roma. From collecting treasures, completing shop quests (to unlock prized items), robbing robbers, bribing heralds, renovating shops and other landmarks for income,  building faction buildings, destroying Leonardo di Vinci’s war machines (at his own request!), building a brotherhood of Assassins,  to following Ezio’s and his love interest Katarina’s relationship in the past. 

Hiring of Assassins is a new feature in Brotherhood. Brotherhood Assassin’s can then be called on for assistance in fights, to dispatch enemies you’re too lazy to kill yourself. They can be sent on foreign missions to increase skills and assassin levels or to gain rare treasure items which are useful for unlocking new kinds of weapons.  

The weapons menu is very user friendly, one can easily and quickly shift between weapons and take medicine (when health is low) with no tedious steps involved in the whole process. The Assassin does a number of wicked moves and performs executions with flamboyance and flair which are very pleasing to the eye. I found the ranged weapons to be the most useful for killing off enemies quickly and with great finesse. Among the crossbow, the pistol, throwing knives and the poison darts there’s a lot of variety to choose from. The poison darts were my favorites, just shoot an enemy with a dart and get away long before the poor guy dies and his dead body gives others a whiff of something going awry.

My only complaint was that the main story arc was too short and the ending was rather abrupt leaving the player’s hanging around in the middle with a desperate urge to know what happens next.

Overall the game was very enjoyable and will appeal to fans and newcomers alike. I recommend you get the game right away and spend some time kicking butt as a super cool, badass Asassin! As for me I can’t wait for the next instalment in the series i.e.Assassin’s Creed: Revelations…. 

Athena the Brain by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams || Short Review (Reviewed by Amna)

Blurb:

ATHENA HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABOVE AVERAGE. She's never quite fit in at Triton Junior High, but who would've guessed that Athena is actually a goddess? Principal Zeus's daughter, to be exact. When she's summoned to Mount Olympus Academy, Athena thinks she might actually fit in for the first time in her life. But in some ways, school on Mount Olympus is not that different from down on Earth, and Athena is going to have to deal with the baddest mean girl in history -- Medusa!

Introduction: Athena the Brain is the first book in the Goddess Girls which is 8 books long, I found it from goodreads recommendations and since I love Greek myths related material I just had to pick it up.

Plot Synopsis: Athena always knew she was different from all her friends in earth but she never guessed who she really was. Never knowing who her parents were she always lived with her best friend. Naturally she gets a huge shock when she receives a letter from the gods inviting her to Mount Olympus. Once there, she enters a totally different world with totally different people. She finds that the academy is not only for gods and goddesses but for talented mortals as well. Her immediate reaction is to try to figure out a way her friend (whose life’s dream is to visit Mount Olympus) can visit. Her friends are goddess’s such as Aphrodite and Artemis and not to mention mortals such as Pandora. Also she has a hate-hate relationship with Medusa.
This book gives simple yet interesting reasons for many of the Greek myths like the Trojan War and how Medusa gets her snake hair. The academy and the students are pretty much like a normal school with normal fights and all. The only problem is being gods and goddesses, their fights cause a lot more trouble than normal ones.

Conclusion: Overall the idea of this book is pretty good but the problem is that it is too simple and too short. I recommend it to children of ages 7-10. It can be an interesting bedtime story for them. I did not really dislike the book I just found it childish. Younger children will enjoy it much more than I did.

Buy the book from:
Amazon.com || Amazon.co.uk
Book Depository || Indiebound