Tag: book review

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Book Review – The High Lord by Trudi Canavan.

The High Lord (Black Magician Trilogy, #3)The High Lord by Trudi Canavan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The High Lord is the third book in Trudi Canavan’s Black Magician Trilogy. It carries on the journey of Sonea as she continues to learn the art of magic. In this final instalment, Sonea and Akkarin have been exiled from Kyralia for the use of Black Magic.

The Cover: I love this cover, the white background gives it a crisp look and the the robed figure holding a staff screams fantasy to me. The font choices work well too bringing the whole thing together in a beautiful cover that represents the book and the genre well.

The Good Stuff: This story carries on the story from the previous 2 books. It is set in a well defined world with colourful cultures and continues to interest with its familiar characters and plot twists. The story flows smoothly and brings the series to a good conclusion.

The Bad Stuff: As with previous Trudi Canavan books, I struggled with the internal monologue and its use to lead the reader. There are some obvious plot twists that could have been presented more subtly.

Overall, this was a great end to the Black Magician series. The bad stuff aside, I did enjoy all three books in the series and so far, have found this title to be my favourite of Trudi’s books both inside and outside of this series. I give this one 4 out of 5 golden bookmarks.

Want to know if you agree with my review? Grab your own copy from these links:

Amazon.com.au
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com
Kobo

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

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Book Review – The Novice by Trudi Canavan.

The Novice (Black Magician Trilogy, #2)The Novice by Trudi Canavan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is part 2 of the Black Magician Trilogy and continues the story of Sonea as she develops her skills as a magician.

The Cover: I really like this cover, the image and fonts work together to create a great fantasy cover that comes together with the other books in the series.

The Good Stuff: This is an interesting fantasy story with a world that is well developed. The magic system is established in book 1 and this book builds on that, as well as the characters, adding more dimension to them and the world.

The Bad Stuff: As with the first novel, I was frustrated by the internal monologue. This is a mechanism that is well used by writers to lead (or mislead) the reader. It just seems to be very obvious to me when Trudi uses this technique.

I personally enjoyed this more than the first book in this Trilogy. This series is a good read with a few twists you won’t see coming. I give it 4 out of 5 golden bookmarks.

Want to know if you agree with my review? Grab your own copy from these links:

Amazon.com.au
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com
Kobo

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

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Book Review – The Princess Bride by William Goldman.

The Princess BrideThe Princess Bride by William Goldman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Princess Bride by William Goldman is a story of love and adventure. It is the story of a farm boy who falls in love, goes away to make his fortune and gets captured by a pirate, and returns to save his true love from marrying a conniving prince.

The Cover: There are a few editions of this book, the cover on the edition I have depicts a man in black (think Zorro) holding a sword which cuts through the title, replacing the I’s in the words Princess and Bride. I would say it conveys an adventurous story in the fantasy genre. I have no issues with the font types, but some words are in red and do not show up clearly against the red background of the cover.

The Good Stuff: First let me say that I loved the movie and I watched it over and over with my daughters when they were younger. I was pleased to see the movie had been true to the book (mostly anyway). I loved the humour, the characters are just as they were depicted in the movie, the key lines in the movie are word for word from the book, and the Arch dean really was written with a speech impediment. The book generally moves along at a good pace and was mostly an enjoyable story.

The Bad Stuff: Okay, something that didn’t come through to me in the movie was the sexism. If it had, I certainly would not have watched the movie over and over with my daughters. This really irked me about the book. Buttercup is made out to be simple and is shut down, ignored and disregarded by the male characters throughout the pages. I understand this title was first published in the early 70’s, but that doesn’t make it any less disappointing. The other issue I had with the book is that I found it very dull and even a little confusing at the start. I almost gave up on it until I got to chapter 4 and that’s where it really turned around for me. However, the constant interjections are not done nearly as well in the book as they were in the movie.

Overall, aside from the very slow start, I enjoyed the story. But if you ask me, this is one instance where the movie is better than the book. I’m only giving this one a sword swishing 3 out of 5 golden bookmarks and that’s bolstered by my fond memories of the movie.

Want to know if you agree with my review? Grab your own copy from these links:

Amazon.com.au
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com
Kobo

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

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Having Déjà Vu? Don’t Worry, You’re Not Going Crazy.

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Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com

Hello Readers,

If you’re feeling like you’ve seen some of my posts before, don’t worry. I am in the progress of re-posting book reviews from my old wordpress site (so they can all be found in the one place). As some of these reviews were written a long time ago, I have also been making some small changes to them to standardise the format and improve them a little. However, I’m not rewriting them completely and therefore they may seem a little less informative than usual. Sorry about that, but I feel I would need to re-read the books to write more comprehensive reviews… and that would take me forever. I guess what I’m trying to say is they are a little rough around the edges compared to my more recent reviews. Anyway, I hope there are one or two you haven’t already seen and that you get some enjoyment from them (even if it just highlights how much my reviews have improved).

Happy Reading.

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

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Book Review – 5 Secrets Of Story Structure: How To Write A Novel That Stands Out by K.M.Weiland

5 Secrets of Story Structure: How to Write a Novel That Stands Out (Helping Writers Become Authors Book 6)

5 Secrets of Story Structure: How to Write a Novel That Stands Out by K.M. Weiland

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book Review – 5 Secrets of Story Structure by KM Weiland
5 Secrets of Story Structure by KM Weiland covers off on the fundamentals of structuring a novel.

The Cover: This is a solid non-fiction cover that clearly conveys what the book is about.

The Good Stuff: This book is well presented and provides the formula for writing a good story in an easy to understand way. The content is very similar to Planning Your Novel by Janice Hardy, but presented in a slightly different format. From memory, I paid around $16.00 for the Janice Hardy book and I have no regrets, but (at time of writing this review) this one by KM Weiland is currently free on Amazon and Kobo and is just as insightful. Excellent value and a great book for anyone who needs to gain a better understanding of story structure.

The Bad Stuff: If there is any bad advice in this book I couldn’t find it. My only qualm would be with the term ‘plot points’. In my opinion this term is a little vague and did not fit, but this is only my opinion and it is a minor thing considering the value of the content in this book.

Overall, this book will be of great use to those starting out with their writing and anyone who struggles with story structure. It will teach you the fundamentals of the structure required to write a good story in an easy to understand, tried and tested way. I’m giving it 4 out of 5 golden bookmarks.

Want to know if you agree with my review? Grab your own copy from these links:

Amazon.com.au
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com
Kobo

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

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Book Review – Castle of Wizardry by David Eddings.

Castle of Wizardry (The Belgariad, #4)Castle of Wizardry by David Eddings

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Castle of Wizardry is an epic fantasy novel. It has a prophecy, a magical orb that only an innocent child can touch, sorcerers, magic and all that stuff that makes up a good fantasy.

The Cover: The cover feels a little dated, but you’ve got to expect that with a book that was published in 1984. Taking that into consideration, I think the cover has aged well and it has all the elements I would expect of a fantasy novel cover. I love the title font, it works really well for me and the image itself clearly resonates with me as a fantasy reader.

The Good Stuff: David Eddings writes a solid fantasy story with well developed characters in a well developed world. He tells a good story that will pull many readers in, even if they do not enjoy the style of writing. With so many fantasy novels to his name, if you do enjoy his books, Mr Eddings has the bibliographical ability to take you on an epic fantasy adventure.

The Bad Stuff: The writing style can have a tendency to tell rather than show. I have a personal dislike of strange spelling for names, eg. ‘Ctuchik’, I have to pause as I wonder at the pronunciation. This held me back from immersing myself into the book at the initial stages, but I got over it as I read on.

I enjoyed this book, David Eddings makes good use of his vocabulary in the novel and in my opinion, despite the tendency to tell, this book is still a thoroughly enjoyable read. This one gets 3 out of 5 golden bookmarks from me.

Want to know if you agree with my review? Grab your own copy from these links:

Amazon.com.au
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com
Kobo

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

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Book Review – The Heir of Night by Helen Lowe

The Heir of Night (The Wall of Night, #1)

The Heir of Night by Helen Lowe

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Heir Of Night is a tale of Malian, heir to the house of night, finding lost powers and protecting the people of Haarth against the Darkswarm.

The Cover: I have a different version of the cover displayed here. The copy I have has a young girl with a sword standing in a brick archway as flames rise up in the background behind her. I prefer the one I have to be honest, but both of these convey a fantasy novel and fit well with the genre.

The Good Stuff: I found this book to be a well written with a richly crafted world. The protagonist and other main characters are well defined, and there are some very dark creatures.

The Bad Stuff: You may get the urge to give up on this book as it is quite slow to get started.

There seems to be a lot of mixed reviews about this book. I sit in the camp of those that enjoyed it. In my opinion it was an interesting read with a good storyline. I’m giving it 4 out of 5 golden bookmarks.

Want to know if you agree with my review? Grab your own copy from these links:

Amazon.com
Amazon.com.au
Kobo

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

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Book Review – The Magicians’ Guild by Trudi Canavan.

The Magicians' Guild (Black Magician Trilogy, #1)
The Magicians’ Guild by Trudi Canavan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Magicians’ Guild is basically a story about Sonea, a girl with innate magical abilities that appear when she throws a stone at a magician of the guild in anger. On realising she has magical power the guild search to find her before her magic consumes her, but she thinks they want punish her for throwing the stone and so is in hiding.

The Cover: There is a great cover on this book. The Black image on the white background is clean and crisp. The font works really well and the image is a good fit. All together it clearly represents the genre and targets the audience it is aimed at.

The Good Stuff: I liked the different characters and cultures within this story. The character is likeable and well developed and crosses a clear arc within the story. The world is also well established.

The Bad Stuff: Trudi Canavan tends to use a lot of internal thought to convey what she wants the reader to know or think, this irritated me a little. Some of the story was also a little predictable.

Overall this was a very enjoyable book, Trudy Canavan has created a solid fantasy world with interesting characters that will carry you through the story and leave you wanting more. I give this one 4 out of 5 golden bookmarks.

Want to know if you agree with my review? Grab your own copy from these links:

Amazon.com
Amazon.com.au
Kobo

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

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Book Review – The Orc King by R.A. Salvatore.

The Orc King (Forgotten Realms: Transitions, #1; Legend of Drizzt, #17)

The Orc King by R.A. Salvatore

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Orc King is a classic fantasy novel about the search for peace amid the struggle for power.

The Cover: I love this cover. The artwork is great and screams fantasy, but if it wasn’t clear enough the title cements it in the genre. The font also works with this title.

The good stuff: The characters are well rounded and interesting. I aslo liked the magical weapons, the creatures, and the locations. The story is set in a well established world and has all the elements of a good fantasy novel.

The Bad Stuff: There are some over technical explanations within the fight scenes that detract from the story. Some long and clunky sentences.

In my opinion, this is a great fantasy novel with Orcs, Elves, Dwarves, magic and magical weapons. What more could you ask for? This one gets 4 out of 5 golden bookmarks from me.

Want to know if you agree with my review? Grab your own copy from these links:

Amazon.com
Amazon.com.au
Kobo

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

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Book Review – Structuring Your Novel by K.M. Weiland

Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story

Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story by K.M. Weiland

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story, as indicated by its title, is a book for writers who want to learn about novel structure.

The Cover: This has a strong non-fiction cover. The clear font, title, artwork and colouring clearly show what the book is about and who the target audience is.

The Good Stuff: If you want to learn more about story structure, this is the book for you. I was familiar with the content, but it served as a refresher for me. It is written in plain language and explains the key components around structure. I was actually surprized by the amount of content in this book and I recommend it if structure is something you wish to improve on.

The Bad Stuff: There really isn’t anything I found that was bad about this book. The experienced writer will probably know the information within the pages, but this is inevitable really. Any writer who practices long enough will eventually learn most of the knowledge and techniques that are available.

Overall, Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story is well written, easy to read and takes a very comprehensive look the elements of structure. I am giving this one 5 out of 5 golden bookmarks.

Want to know if you agree with my review? Grab your own copy from these links:

Amazon.com
Amazon.com.au
Kobo

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

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