#SPFBO Healer’s Ruin by Chris O’Mara : Review
Healer’s Ruin by Chris O’Mara was one of two books that I chose from my second batch of SPFBO books to continue reading. This was a very quick read, at just under 200 pages I had no problem with making fairly short work of this and it was entertaining and quite different in some respects.
Basically, this is a story of war. The North vs The South, and the bulk of the story takes place on or around the battlefield. This is a bit like taking one of the major campaigns from any epic fantasy story but then focusing on just a small element. I liked this as it allows a much more intense story to play out in terms of characters and even though there’s plenty of bloodshed and people dying left, right and centre, because you’re not really reading about the bigger picture it doesn’t become quite as bleak as it could do.
The main character of the story is Chalos. Far from being the hero of the piece Chalos is a magic wielder, a slinger, but his talent lies in the arts of healing rather than dealing out death. He usually follows the army wielding magic after the battle concludes and healing those who survived but sustained injuries in the process. Chalos is healer to the Black Talons, fearsome Krune warriors who fight for the Ten Plains King.
A bit of background. The Ten Plains King rules the South. As the story begins we discover that the King has sailed North and waged war. For three months the King’s powerful mages, accompanied by the might of his armies, have carved a path through the Rilm army. It seemed like the North had no resistance to offer (other than numbers) and yet the South were still not victorious. Then, unexpectedly, a hero from the North stepped up and wielding magic, the likes of which had never been seen before, wiped out a huge swathe of the southern vanguard. The surviving Gilt Plates were forced to take cover in the Dallian Woodland and the Black Plates, accompanied by Chalos and one of the other mages, Samine – the Dread Spear, are being sent into the forest to recover and assist the Gilt Plates before heading for the Ruin. The Ruin is the halfway point between the coast and the capital, it has been deserted for many years, cursed and slowly turning to dust and rubble. This is where the King intends to establish an operational camp before staging his final push – that doesn’t sound at all ominous does it.
This is new territory for Chalos, for once, he will be heading into the thick of things instead of bringing up the rear in relative safety. He doesn’t even own a weapon and has no desire to do so. On top of this, everyone is now aware of this new magical threat and although the Krune are making light of things there is a little more caution in the air and as if a spooky forest and a cursed ruin weren’t bad enough bigger things are afoot.
I enjoyed this. The writing was confident, the world building was delivered with a light touch, there were elements of the story that I didn’t foresee coming at all and it was entertaining. Chalos becomes involved with Samine as the story progresses and this new found ‘love’ serves to give him something else to dwell on and push him to greater deeds.
The build up to the battles was good and the author managed to increase the tension with an unexpected twist.
In terms of the characters, I liked Chalos – although in fairness I probably liked his Accomplice more! Mages are all given a magical Accomplice. Chalos has a crow called Mysa and she’s a great addition to the story. The two of them can communicate although nobody else understands her clicks and squawks and in fact that’s the same for all mages and their accomplices. Samine is the war mage, she strides boldly forth into battle giving the army their magical advantage. The two become romantically involved but whilst this does serve as a means of giving Chalos a new focus it doesn’t dominate the story. The other character that I liked here was Lieutenant Jolm who leads the Black Plates.
In terms of criticisms. I think this could have been a little longer. Even though the focus is more concentrated I didn’t feel like I had as good a grip on Chalos as I would have liked. I also felt there was a bit of a missed opportunity in terms of the forest and the ruin – I would have liked to feel a little bit more menace from both. And, the ending was a bit rushed. I did wonder how the author would wrap things up and to be honest I think the ending is quite good in some respects, it just felt over very quickly and considering some of the events I would have liked a little more emotion.
Small issues aside I had a good time reading this. Quick and entertaining.
My thanks to the author for a review copy. The above is my own opinion.
TTT – Cover Love
27 August 2019
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Cover Love, Self Published Authors, Self Published Fantasy Blog Off, That Artsy Reader Girl, Top Ten Tuesday
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme where every Tuesday we look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) bookish examples to demonstrate that particular topic. Top Ten Tuesday (created and hosted by The Broke and Bookish) is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and future week’s topics can be found here. This week’s topic is:
Books I’ve Read (some at least) That I’d Like on my Shelves
I’ve cheated on this week theme – I’ve not read all of these books (yet) but I wanted to highlight them here today. This week I’ve gone with covers that are all from self published authors just to highlight some of the real beauties that are out there. Feast your eyes on these lovelies:
Storm Cursed (Mercy Thompson #11) by Patricia Briggs
26 August 2019
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Mercy Thompson #11, Patricia Briggs, Storm Cursed
Ahh Mercy, I wonder how much you’re wishing you could turn back time and maybe not announce that everyone in your territory falls under the protection of the pack! Hindsight. Yes, things are spiralling for Mercy and her pack. Instead of the region feeling safe Mercy’s declaration seems to have brought nothing but bad attention and this instalment is another fine example of just how much the stakes are being raised. Although miniature goat zombies – they were kind of cute. Sorry, but they were.
I’d had a bit of a break in the Mercy series and fell behind but have had a recent burst of reading and have now caught up with the latest release. I’ve really enjoyed the return to the world and to the people and this instalment is no exception, although I confess I loved No.10 which saw Mercy completely out of her comfort zone and also gave Adam some page time.
If you haven’t read the rest of the series and intend to start then take this as fair warning that spoilers may be contained in this review.
This series definitely feels like it’s going to take a turn on the dark side. This instalment involves lots of bloodshed when powerful witches try to gain the attention of the pack. There are surprises in store for Adam and the key to everything seems to revolve around the proposed meeting between those humans in authority who want to meet with the powerful fae grey lords.
I have to say, in fact, that things get pretty serious in this one. There are zombies running amok and some of them are not cute goats. These witches mean business and they’re not at all related to Glenda the Good. These witches are bad. Black magic practitioners, they’ve turned to the dark side in search of power and they’ve crossed the line so many times that the line is now a dot in the distance which they can never return to. There is a serious takeover challenge on Elizaveta’s turf – I’m talking about really serious. These witches are not taking prisoners and in fact have a bigger goal in mind. I won’t say more.
I really enjoyed this instalment, maybe not as much as Silence Fallen, but still fast paced and fraught with danger and I really enjoyed returning to this, I think my short holiday from the storyline gave me a new love for the characters. And to be honest, the characters are what really make this series. I’m attached to them and I care what happens and in this story I was genuinely worried.
That’s not to say I didn’t have a couple of issues. Nothing major but, for example, this does feel a little like a bridging book. Mercy has unwittingly brought down trouble – although to an extent you can’t help feeling that it was inevitably going to come out anyway with or without Mercy’s intervention, but, at the moment, there is a real sense of things building, and even with all the drama and excitement you can feel that it’s all leading to something else – a big showdown that will make everything that came before look like child’s play perhaps. Also, I think there were too many diversions in this one – it felt a little like I was being pulled in too many directions. That being said, I loved the involvement of some of my firm favourites.
Overall, I’m loving this series, of course not every book is going to be equal, this is book No.11 after all so some are going to stand out more than others. But, taking this series as a whole, looking at the sum of its parts, the growth in terms of character arcs and world development – then this is not just an entertaining and fast paced series that keeps pulling out the stops but it’s also impressive in its vision. I’m filled with equal measures of anticipation and dread to see what PB puts these characters through next.
I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
4 out of 5 stars
Weekly Wrap Up : 25th August 2019
I hope everyone has had a good week. August is almost gone – how? It’s a mystery. Anyway, this is going to be short and sweet this week as I’m in a bit of a rush. I’ve managed three books this week. Plus I’ve completed reading through the first 30% of my second batch of SPFBO books and decided which two books to carry forward for further reading. My feedback post is here. I’ve also reviewed the book I carried forward from the first batch of books – Cry Havoc – review here. The Witch Who Courted Death is one of the books I chose for the 2019 Rewind Challenge. Details here. Hopefully I can see my way clear to reading another off the list next month.
My books:
- The House of Sacrifice by Anna Smith Spark
- Brightfall Jaime Lee Moyer
- The Witch Who Courted Death by Maria Lewis
Next scheduled reads:
- The Dragon Republic by RF Kuang
- Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron
- Healer’s Ruin by Chris O’Mara
- The Lore of Prometheus by Graham Austin-King
Upcoming reviews
- King of the Road by RS Belcher
- Queenslayer by Sebastien DeCastell
- A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie
- Storm Cursed by Patricia Briggs
- Missing Person by Sarah Lotz
- Brightfall Jaime Lee Moyer
- The Witch Who Courted Death by Maria Lewis
I’d love to know what you’re reading this week.
#SPFBO Feedback on my second batch of books
24 August 2019
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: #SPFBO5, Feedback on my second batch of books
We’re almost at the end of the second month of the SPFBO competition. At the start of the month I randomly chose my second batch of six books. Throughout the month I have been making progress reading at least the first 30% of each of those books and today I’m going to give feedback on my books so far. I will be eliminating a number of these books – with apologies to the authors, it’s not a part of the competition that I enjoy, but as has been said many many times before, there can be only one. At this point I’ve chosen two books to continue reading – I haven’t yet decided if these will be semi-finalists but at the moment I’m carrying both forward for future reading. To be honest, these decisions were so difficult – even now I’m going backwards and forwards and this post may change before it goes live. I am full of indecision.
So, without further ado here is my feedback on the first six books (my third batch will be posted at the start of September).
Healer’s Ruin by Chris O’Mara
I’ve read the first 30% of Healer’s Ruin and I’m really quite hooked. I’d like to read more of this one as I’m really curious about the world and the characters. To an extent it almost feels like this book is part of something bigger, as though I’ve been thrown into the middle of a fully developed world but it’s easy to read and entertaining. I’m going to read on and see how this one develops so my review here will only be short for the time being. At the moment I’m rolling this book forward.
The Owl & the Dragon by Randy Nargi
The Owl and the Dragon is clearly a murder mystery in a fantasy world. As the story sets out we make the acquaintance of the main POV character Bander. Bander is travelling and along the way he meets a group of characters who ask him to join their party – they then drug, rob and leave him for dead. Not the best start for our character but everyone can make mistakes. Bander then finds himself meeting up with another character who takes pity on him and helps him to reach the next village so that he can seek out a healer. The story fairly quickly progresses once Bander arrives in the village of Hytwen. A young girl has gone missing, possibly abducted, and the neighbouring village of Ortwen is suspected. There is much rivalry between the two villages and on the face of it it would appear that Hytwen may play a role in the disappearance.
This is quite an engaging story to the point that I broke off. It was quick and easy to read and I didn’t have any problems in making quick progress. That being said, considering that I’ve read just slightly over 30% the plot feels a little light up to this point. There is quite a bit of description with every new scene being given a fair amount of page time. I don’t mind detail to be honest, but I do feel like it’s slowing the story down a little bit here. It could be that the author is doing a Sherlock Holmes style number where things are outlined and clues are hidden within the descriptions, clues that only the detective will pick up on. Yes, that could be what the author is going for but in some respects it feels a little laboured and had me tapping my foot a little with impatience.
The main character Bander is an interesting chap. He’s actually a retired investigator. To some extents Bander reads well, but, the fact that he very nearly falls foul of two attempts on his life doesn’t give me a lot of confidence in his overall abilities. There’s also a slight feeling of things falling too easily into place for him along the way and I couldn’t help feeling that he lacked emotions in some respects. I felt that I was being ‘told’ rather than ‘shown’ that Bander was an impressive character. On top of this, to the point I broke off, this is very light in terms of fantasy – other than the world itself being fictitious.
But, criticisms aside, I can’t deny this was an intriguing storyline and I am interested to see how the plot is resolved. At this stage however and for the purposes of the competition I’m setting this one aside.
The Lore of Prometheus by Graham Austin-King
The Lore of Prometheus is the second book out of the batch that I would like to continue reading. As mentioned, these are not semi-finalists at this stage, I just don’t want to stop reading at the moment. In which case, I won’t provide further details about the read at this point other than to say this is proving to be an impressive story so far, it feels polished and given that I don’t usually enjoy military style books it’s caught my attention much more than I expected. I’m rolling this book forward.
Realm of Beasts by Angela J Ford
Realm of Beasts involves two main characters, both running away from something (or so it seemed to me).
We first meet Tor Lir, he’s just left his homeland and believes he has a mission to bring order and balance to the world. I’m not going to lie, I found Tor a little bit difficult to like in the early chapters of this book – now perhaps that’s just down to getting off on a bad footing or perhaps I wasn’t quite in the right place when I started but I found him a little bit arrogant and annoying and I can’t deny that I struggled to get over this initial impression.
We then switch characters to Citrine, a young female with a guarded past. She’s found Paradise and is happy here living in the forest under the protection of a guardian. Unfortunately Citrine hasn’t completely escaped from whatever it was she was running from and it seems that the ‘paradise’ she’s found solace in is about to be shattered. Again, Citrine didn’t quite win me over – but it’s early stages after all. It seems that her actions are going to have a negative impact on many of the people and creatures that live under the protections of this forest but at the moment I’m not feeling any regret or indecision on her part. Her hand is being forced, don’t get me wrong, but she just doesn’t seem particularly cut up about it, I wanted more emotion I suppose and the lack of it left me thinking she was a little detached and a bit thoughtless which in turn made it difficult for me to become attached to her.
On the face of it and up to the point I’ve read the writing was easy, the descriptions were good, but I almost had a feeling that I’d been thrown into the middle of something, as though I should already have a knowledge of this world. I realise that this is probably something that will be built on as the book progresses but at this point and given that neither of the two main characters really stole my heart I’m going to admit this one isn’t for me and so I’m setting it aside.
The Prince of Cats by Daniel Olesen
I must say from the outset that The Prince of Cats was a good read and I easily read over the 30% allocation I allow for all these books. This is definitely, so far a fun read with a good pace and amusing dialogue.
Jawad is a thief. When we meet him at the start of the story he’s been arrested and about to face punishment – unless he can help to find ‘The Prince of Cats’. Given a brief stay of execution Jawad is escorted to the home of a wealthy merchants who fears that the PoCs has targeted his business.
I liked Jawad in many ways. He’s not a perfect character, he’s pitching people against each other and playing other people like a master puppeteer but he’s fairly easy to get along with from the reader’s perspective.
Like I mentioned, this is a good read and that makes me feel bad for cutting it out of the selection process at this stage, but this is a ruthless competition. I think my main issue with this is that some of Jawad’s remarks fall strongly into the category of foreshadowing – now I think this is a pity in some respects because it gives me the feeling that I know what direction the story is going to go in – although I could, of course, be completely wrong.
All things being equal, this book is a good read, it has humour, intrigue and a likable main pov. I’m still kind of torn and would like to roll this book forward but realistically I have to cut some books. At the moment, regrettably, I’m not rolling this one forward but I may return to it later to complete and review.
Immortals’ Requiem by Vincent Bobbe
I have mixed feelings for Immortals’ Requiem. I started this book and admit that it began in a rather complicated fashion. There are plenty of characters and goings on. But, okay, I’m not new to complicated fantasy and by about 10% in things just ‘clicked’ for me, particularly with one of the characters who just made me laugh with his sarcasm.
I enjoyed the setting, I’m from this neck of the woods and so it was absolutely fascinating to be reading about streets that I’m familiar with – albeit that I wouldn’t particularly like to run into any of the characters from this book!
This is a story of Immortals – one in particular who seems to have travelled forward through the ages followed by his nemesis. There are aspects of this that just gave me “Terminator’ vibes in a really good way and also other elements that put me in mind of similar urban fantasy worlds.
To be honest, I’m conflicted. There are aspects of the story that I’m really enjoying, the pace is good as is the writing and I would like to know more about what’s going on. On the other hand, I feel that this one might just be too violent for my own tastes. So, I’m enjoying certain elements but not others. I realise that’s very much a personal preference and even now I’m considering reading more to see how I get on but, for the purposes of the competition I won’t be rolling this one forward – even if I do decide to pick it back up. Like I said, I think this one could possibly work really well for others so if you like your grimdark to be on the darker side of the scale then give it a shot. I might continue with this one if time allows, I confess that I’m curious, but for the purpose of the competition I’m not rolling it forward at this stage.
*Final note: if I have any of your details wrong then please let me know.
My thanks to all the authors for providing review copies and regrets to those that have been cut out of the competition so far.
**Other SPFBO posts:
My Process My 3 covers for the cover competition Author Interview - Elise Kova My First Batch of Books Feedback on My First Batch of Books My Second Batch of Books Review: Cry Havoc by Mike Morris
Books and travelling with Lynn 