Tag: Fiction

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Book Review: Half a King by Joe Abercrombie

This was a re-read for me, below is my original review with a few added comments:

Half a King by Joe Abercrombie is the story of a boy with his life planned out, suddenly forced to become a king, only to thrown from grace to the depths of depravity where he strives to take back his life and his rightful place among his people. More so, it is a story of greed and betrayal, friendship and loyalty, but most of all… Vengeance.

The Cover: I like the cover for this book. The image on my copy is that of a party of six figures walking past a twisted tree on a rocky outcrop. It is clearly a fantasy novel with both picture and font lending themselves to the genre.

The Good Stuff: I have been trying to read a wider variety of authors over the last year, but I was only a few pages into this story when I thought to myself – ‘Damn, I’ve missed the quality of Joe’s writing’. This is another great book, which I must say is without doubt, written by my favourite author. This title has the same amazing character development, great description, and everything else I love about Joe’s work. Maybe not as gory or bloodthirsty as his First Law Trilogy, and certainly less coarse, making it more suitable for a broader audience. I am a big fan and with quality writing such as this, who wouldn’t be?

On re-reading, I found that I had forgotten so much of the detail within this story that it almost seemed like I was reading it for the first time again, and I loved it! The way Abercrombie weaves and twists his plot, building character depth with so many great characters (such as Yarvi, Sumael, Nothing, and Shadikshirram to name a few) with a thoroughly engaging story, is masterful in my opinion. This title is a pleasure to read and makes me want to re-read Half a World and Half a War now.

The Bad Stuff: (Insert the sound of Crickets chirping here). On re-reading once again… (Crickets chirping) Overall, this really is a great fantasy novel with all the elements I love – good world building, great characters, and a solid story line with twists and turns you will… and won’t, see coming. I’m giving this one a whip lashing 5 out of 5 golden bookmarks.

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.

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New Release: Shades of Hades

Hello Readers,

Well it is finally here! My new short story ‘Shades of Hades’ is now available. You’ll find all the links below the blurb. And don’t forget the anthology, which will include this short story, will be coming out in the not too distant future.

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It can be tough ruling the underworld. Hades is cold and has a headache, but nobody seems to care, least of all the dead. When he decides to move to a warmer climate, the other gods aren’t pleased.

Will Hades find somewhere warm to call home? Or is he destined to a life of misery?

Shades of Hades is a short satirical fantasy about the gods. If you like fun filled fantasy, comical capers, and tales of ancient gods, you’ll love Shades of Hades.

***

If you don’t want to wait for the anthology, you can get a copy of Shades of Hades at the following retailers:

Amazon.com

Amazon.com.au

Amazon.co.uk

I hope you enjoy the story. I certainly had fun writing it. Please let me know what you think and feel free to share this post with any of your friends or family who might enjoy a good, comical short fantasy.

Thank you so much for your support.

Happy Reading,

Allan

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Book Review: Rogue Ragtime by K.Alexis

Rogue Ragtime

Rogue Ragtime by K.Alexis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In the interests of being transparent, I’d like to note that I know the author personally. To the best of my intention, my review of his work has not been influenced by this and is based on my honest opinion.

Rogue Ragtime by K. Alexis follows a small band of thieves, cursed to steal unimportant items, while trying to complete a collection of a set of novels in a world where books are banned.

The Cover: I really like this cover, it is colourful and has a kind of comic book/Manga feel to it. The image fits well with the story for me and it has a good title font with colours that stand out well against the background.

The Good Stuff: I love the fight scenes within this story, they are done well, there are some formidable foes, and they move smoothly through the action. In fact, as a whole, the story moves smoothly and is well written. The author shows a strong voice throughout this novel and has created a diverse and multi-cultured world with some great characters – Characters with their own distinctive personalities and abilities.

The Bad Stuff: There are some info dumps on the character descriptions which I feel could have been fed into the story more subtly. There is also an ‘instant message conversation’ snippet at the beginning of each chapter. While it is a nice quirky idea, I found it distracting and it didn’t really add anything to the story for me. I also got a little confused with everything that was going on in the story at times. There is also a lot of opinion within the text, which while I do not disagree with it, it is not subtle and I found it quite imposing at times.

Overall, I enjoyed the characters and the fight scenes, but the story is a bit “out there” and not something I would normally read. Having said that, I would love to watch this as a movie, I think I would thoroughly enjoy it. I’m giving this a mind boggling 3 out of 5 golden bookmarks with the added comment that I do not feel I am the target audience for this book.

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 Magician’s Apprentice by Trudi Canavan.

The Magician's Apprentice (Black Magician, #0.5)The Magician’s Apprentice by Trudi Canavan

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The Magician’s Apprentice was an Aurealis award winner and tells the story of Tessia, a girl from a village who wants to be a healer like her father, something that is not acceptable within her culture. But a twist of fate sends her on a path to become a magician.

The Cover: I really like this cover. The picture, the fonts, the colours, and the placement of these elements all present it nicely as a fantasy novel.

The Good Stuff: Trudi’s stories are always well constructed, she has good quality cover designs and her books are well copy-edited. She has created a believable fantasy world with starkly different cultures, making good use of the conflicts that arise between them. It is clearly evident that as an author, she knows this world inside and out. The setting is familiar across all of her books (or at least with the ones I have read), which makes it easy to fall straight back into the fantasy world. In this book Trudi has covered topics that are an issue in some modern day cultures and have been prevalent in Western World society, both in the past, and to a lesser extent in current times.

The Bad Stuff: Trudi uses the characters internal thoughts to tell readers how the characters are feeling or where the plot could go. This internal dialogue doesn’t seem to be natural to me and I struggle with this technique as a reader.

On the whole, I never really got hooked into this book the way I have with some of her others. I have read many Trudi Canavan novels in the past, the best in my opinion being The Black Magician Trilogy, but this one just didn’t have the same level of enjoyment for me. I’m only giving this one 2 out of 5 golden bookmarks.

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 Salvation of Yellow by William J. Grant.

The Salvation of Yellow (NSR: The Silence, #1)The Salvation of Yellow by William J. Grant

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In the interests of full disclosure, I would like to note that William J. Grant is a friend of mine. Even so, I believe that this is my unbiased and honest opinion of his book – The Salvation of Yellow.

In The Salvation of Yellow, we follow the story of Kayley, a thief that steals memories from dead-gods’ and sells them on the black market. Her own memories are limited, even those of the ones she has loved. Kayley is forced to take a job she doesn’t want when her fence refuses to trade with her, unless she helps him.

The Cover: I really like this cover, though it speaks more of a mystery to me than a fantasy novel and I feel it may attract the wrong audience for this story.

The Good Stuff: I loved the characters in this story and it is original and creative. I get a manga vibe from it, a sort of Aeon Flux on acid vibe. There are some good, well constructed sentences that give great descriptions of the characters, the world, and what is going on. The story is a little out there, but if you are after something interesting and new that’s a little bit crazy, you will enjoy this book. I would love to see this as a graphic novel.

The Bad Stuff: First up, I had a problem with the names of the Triple Gods of Death – D, Ea and Th. I get the idea behind them, but trying to pronounce the names in my head every time I came across them detracted from my reading experience. I know this won’t bother some people, but for me, it was hard to overcome. I also have to admit that I got lost a couple of times while reading this book. One minute I’m chugging along knowing what’s happening and then POW… I had no idea what was going on! The story seemed to jump for me, whether I just didn’t get it or if some connecting sentence had vanished, I don’t rightly know, but I got a little confused in places.

Overall I enjoyed the story, but it was not an smooth read for me. I didn’t get drawn in and carried away on the undercurrent of words, rather I was tossed around a little when a wave of confusion struck me and dragged me along the surface.

I’m giving this book a mind bending 3 out of 5 golden bookmarks.

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 Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1)The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is one of those stories that is loved by many. It is the story of Kvothe, a legend in his own right, hiding out in a small village. But trouble has a way of finding heros.

The Cover: There are a few covers floating around for this title. The one I have is not the one depicted on this post. The cover I have is of a cloaked figure, silhouetted against the light at the end of a tunnel of foliage. I really like the cover art on this book. It has good fantasy fonts and an image that aligns with the genre.

The Good Stuff: This really is a great fantasy story with an array of interesting characters, good and bad alike. A travelling troupe, music, magic, creepy creatures and intrigue are all wrapped up in this novel.

The Bad Stuff: For me, it was the way this book was written that detracted from my enjoyment of what could have been an amazing read. A large chunk of the tale unravels as the main character, Kvothe, narrates his lifestory to a scribe. This didn’t work for me at all.

I had high expectations for this novel. I had heard great things from the many fans out there that love this novel, but while I liked the story itself, I struggled with the style it was written in. I’m only giving this one 3 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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Having Déjà Vu? Don’t Worry, You’re Not Going Crazy.

pexels-photo-1130980
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 – 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 Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie.

The Blade Itself (The First Law, #1)

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Blade Itself is a fantasy novel about … well, a host of characters and the parts they play in this tale of feuds, conspiracies, and wars. Set in a vicious world with well-established cultures and classes, magic and science, superstitions and beliefs.

The Cover: I do get the feeling that this is a fantasy novel. The blood splatter suggests there will be some violence. It’s quite plain and doesn’t really grab me.

The good stuff: This book has a full cast of characters from Logen Ninefingers, Bayaz and Jezal Dan Luthar, to Major Collem West, Sand dan Glokta, and Ferro. Their paths woven seamlessly into the story in a world where life is neither fun nor fair. The characters own their individual personalities, their individual traits and their individual problems, while war broods all around. Abercrombie weaves a tale of respected men who lie and scheme, barbarians who have honour and respect and strong women who kick some serious arse.

The Bad Stuff: The only bad thing about this book is it comes to an end and leaves you wanting more.

In my opinion, this is a superbly written fantasy novel with a mix of aristocratic society and down-in-the-gutter, bang-to-rights hard men. This action packed novel packs a punch and deserves a place on the shelf of any true fantasy fan. I’m giving it 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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Have You Tried to Loan a Book this week?

Picture of the local library
My Local Library – West End.

Hello Readers,

I thought I would write a quick post to remind you all that my stories (both print versions and e-books) are available in libraries. I know that here in Australia they are available in The National Library, The State Library of Queensland, Brisbane City Libraries and Logan City Libraries. It is very possible they are also available in others. You can even check online to see if they have a copy and if not you can request that they order one in, all from the comfort of your own home.

Our libraries only remain open if we use them, so why not help your local library and loan a book today. You never know… you may just enjoy it!

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 some libraries.

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