;)

Great, if 300 pages too long

Reviewed: 03-19-22

great worldbuilding, fun characters, interesting secrets to uncover, but bloated. The pacing screams to a halt at times, particularly right before the middle

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Not for me. Maybe for you.

Reviewed: 11-19-18

Was recommended this read through goodreads friends. Unfortunately, this was a miss for me. Six hours in I called it quits.

Things to like:
- MC is refreshing. He's an older veteran with a bad case of PTSD, not something I see all that often.
- The PTSD is done well. Likely because the author has a background in psychology.
- Thick A$$ world-building (This was a double edged sword for me).
- If you like LitRPGs, I imagine this will cross over well for you. There's dungeons, loot, living dead, cursed objects, etc.
- The main plot reminds me of classic DnD adventures.

Things that didn't work for me:
- Mike's prose is verbose. I found myself wishing I could get in there with a pair hedge clippers and starting cutting every adverb and unnecessary adjective.
- Thick a$$ world-building. While I wouldn't classify them as blatant info-dumps, some were close enough. Mike throws a lot of deities, organizations, magic, and etc at you quickly, none of which I could be bothered to care about right away.
- Characters. Same as above. He throws a lot of them at you in the beginning, all loaded with over-description that had me yawning. None of them stuck with me, and six hours later I still couldn't remember who was who.
- Plot - I'm not that interested in reading a classic DnD adventure and wasn't convinced to do so otherwise.

TL;DR: This was not for me, but it may be for you.

Simon Vance is a great narrator.

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9 people found this helpful

The narrator literally clears his throat.

Reviewed: 06-08-18

This is better read in general, as it is more easily referenced on the go.

The narrator is trash. Literally within the first three minutes, he makes a pleasant throat clearing sound.

I can't believe I paid for this.

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Good story riddled with continuity issues

Reviewed: 05-30-18

Let me say this first and foremost. Nick Podehl carries this book, and is the reason I finished.

While this is overall an easy book to read, and full of interesting world building, characters, and magic, it suffers hardcore from plot holes and continuity issues.

The first one had been mentioned in a previous review. Corin comes from a family with a lineage of magic dueling. His parents are famous for it. His father didn't let him go to school, but he still trained him everyday, and owns library FULL of magic books that Corin has access too. Corin goes to school... he should know at least a bit about magic? Right? NOPE. Nothing. I had to literally shut this out of my brain to continue reading because it's such a glaring break of suspension of disbelief.

Corin also has this annoying coward/bravery complex that makes no sense. He's too cowardly to use a specific mana pool essential to his ability. I assume the author came up with this to provide more stakes for the character, but it is SO dumb, and ties in little with everything else. He is also supposedly, INCREDIBLY motivated to find out what happened to his brother, but "Oh no! I don't want to use my mind mana which is perfectly safe to use. It would also be easy to know if I'm in danger of overusing it but I still am too scared!" Give me a break.

Then there is a scene, OH MY GOD, this scene. Corin watches two contestants in a stadium, in which we can hear with perfect clarity, the contestants speak, even when they whisper. Then Corin YELLS at one of them, and they CAN'T hear him. Are you kidding me? Such a small thing that could of been avoided with some proper editing.

In all these examples, the author is trying to provide something to benefit the story, but goes about it in the WORST way.

SO, even with this all said and done, the story still succeeded in gripping me, and I kept giving it second chances because it had constantly been recommended to me. There is a really good book in here, if you can get past these issues I've listed.

I hope On The Shoulders of Giants gets better attention in the editing department.

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1 person found this helpful

What bad things could I possibly say?

Reviewed: 05-21-18

This is Neil Gaiman in the area he shines, and you can hear his love for these tales as he tells them.

I love Norse mythology, and I love Neil Gaiman. If your a fan of Neil's works and have not yet bought this audio book, you are doing yourself a grave disservice.

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Watch me eat my words about the first two books

Reviewed: 05-17-18

Promise of Blood - It was good, but I had some qualms with the magic and female characters. The Crimson Campaign - Okay, better... But where is this blood-fest going? The Autumn Republic - WOW, okay.

McClellan kills it with this last addition to the trilogy, tying everything up beautifully. He also managed to do what I thought was impossible; he made me like Nila as a character. Pits, she was awesome in this book, a full 180 from a Promise of Blood.

I felt for every character in this one, and by the end, I was truly sad.

Christian Rodska is superb as always. He gives the character such grit, he makes gravel sound whiny.

5/5. McClellan made me eat my words.

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Okay, I need to get these things off my chest

Reviewed: 05-09-18

First of all, I enjoyed this book. I thought I would never read it after the first one, but I did, and I glad for it. What I like about McClellan's prose, is it's clean & to the point. It doesn't try to be anything fancy. It's a story delivery device, much akin to his mentor, Brandon Sanderson.

Now I have some complaints, one of which continues not to resolve. If it does in the third book, great, but it's been two whole books of this nonsense.

Nila is still a worthless character. If you're wondering if she got any better this book, she didn't. And then the twist with her towards the end? Where was the bloody build up for that? Sure, lets just drop that one in, cool. I'll not say more because of spoilers, but she is still a one dimensional character with shallow goals, only to be used as a viewpoint so we can see what an antagonist is doing. If there are pay offs for this in the finale, you won't find me caring.

WHAT THE PIT was that mystery imputed for the climax with Tamas, Vlora, and the powder mages? "I wonder why they have so much of that in the city." "What could it possibly be for?" For Kresimir's sake, it was so obvious! Then when it came to fruition in the climax, Tamas acted surprised. These characters are not that stupid. Inputting naivety to make a plot device work is just lazy Mr. McClellan, to be frank.

Now I may sound like I hated this book, but honestly, as a whole it was great. It was fast paced & hard to put down, there are just a few bad apples in the bunch, if you will.

Christian Rodska rules.

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1 person found this helpful

A Labor of Love

Reviewed: 04-30-18

If you are looking for a twelve hour bottle rocket of a book with precision placed plot markers, set in stone character arcs, and an over the top climax - look elsewhere.

Here lies master craft writing, beautiful world building, and characters who feel real to the touch.

While I have nothing against fast paced writing - often I prefer it - there is something to be said about the sacrifices made to do so. Redick throws all those restraints in the garbage, leaving none of his tools spared. This book has been well nurtured to create a beautiful garden you can't help but take a stroll through. You may find yourself in a lull at points, but push through, this story is more than worth it.

The characters in this book are the most engrossing I've encountered in a long time, their decision making complicated, raw, real. My suspension of disbelief was held iron-clad. The world is vast, it's environments and cultures rich, loaded with untold secrets barely scratched in this novel.

Eric Michael Summerer is a great narrator with a good wheelhouse of voices.

There is a reason two of my favorite authors (Patrick Rothfuss & Mark Lawrence) gave glowing recommendations for this novel, because it rocks.

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8 people found this helpful

A Character Driven Addition to this Trilogy

Reviewed: 04-26-18

Lawrence's discovery writing comes off thick in this one. As much as the fast pace, and love for the characters kept me ingrained in the story, there were several moments where I struggled to find footing on the overarching plot, my attention drifting. It wasn't until 75% of through the book did I understand where this was all heading (because it was laid out plainly by a main villain)

I dislike when I can see exactly where a story is going, but I also don't like when I have no idea where things are headed either. This book was a string of sub-plot to sub-plot until it all made sense, and I can't say that it was bad, because it was good writing and character driven development. I don't know... maybe I just don't enjoy feeling left in the dark. One thing I know for sure is, I am excited to see how it all goes down in book three - Holy Sister.

Heather O'Neil was superb once again, quickly becoming one of my favorite female narrators.

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I can't believe I'm just now discovering Lawrence

Reviewed: 04-20-18

I was caught off guard by this book, expecting some generic heroes journey type of tale. I was wrong.

This is my first take at Mark Lawrences books, and damned if it's my last.

Mark writes actions scenes so descriptive and fluid. I felt like I knew how it all went down to the last minor detail. He writes slow motion better than most action movies film it. Honestly, I don't think I've ever enjoyed fight scenes more in a fantasy book.

And thank god, a male fantasy author who writes females like normal multi-dimensional people, an ability all too lacking from male authors in the genre today.

The narration is superb. Heather O'neil is a great narrator with a good wealth of voices. I don't really understand what most other reviewers qualms with her are.

My only complaint is that at times the book suffer from pacing issues, but it didn't bother me much.

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