Sword of Deaths

The Scythe Wielder's Secret, Book 2

By: Christopher Mannino

Narrated by: Joel Froomkin

Susan Sarnio made a choice, and will spend the rest of her life as the only female Death. Last year she was bullied and ostracized. Now, to her complete bewilderment, four Deaths vie for her affection. Yet, something is terribly wrong at the College of Deaths. When a ship carrying scythe metal is attacked, many blame the newly-freed Elementals, but Susan knows the Elementals are innocent.

Shadows from the distant past come to light. Dragons circle the horizon, blood spills, and nothing is what it seems. Susan and her friends struggle to stop a war. They search for the fabled First Scythe, hoping to sway the balance, but who is the true enemy?

©2015 Christopher Thomas Mannino (P)2016 Christopher T. Mannino

Good second book.

Following on from what happened in book 1, Suzie is finally settling in at the school and feeling like not everyone hates her. There are still some who hate her and there are still some who give her grief, but for the most part, they have finally realised that she is the only girl in their world!! She's getting into her stride and even seems to be mastering the use of the Scythe, well sort of. Anyway, this edition sees boats that are carrying the precious metal that makes their scythes being attacked and burned. Most think it's the elementals but Suzie and her friends have a feeling that it is the Dragons. What follows is a journey to discover the truth, to discover what the dreams she's having are for and to find out what is the first scythe?

I loved book one and eagerly dived into this, in all honesty, I'm still not sure what I think. On the one hand, we have the same amazing world as the first, we have the gang back and ready for anything and we have a well paced and entertaining read, but on the other, we have a book that seems to have a bazillion love interests for Suzie! I still don't know for sure sure who she is with!! I know she is the only girl death but still, I lost count of who wanted to be with her and I felt like Suzie was leading a lot of the boys on.

We see quite a few different POVs in this one and that's both a good and bad thing. Good because we see into the minds of other characters and bad because it was hard to follow who was talking at any given time and that was due to the narrator, which I'll get to in a minute. The world is still as richly detailed and interesting as the first and I still found myself captivated by the authors style. The characters are well written and developed and you find yourself becoming invested in their journey.

In all, this is a really good second book. It sets the scene for an epic final battle and you just know it's going to be explosive. Thoroughly enjoyable and imaginative book and one I recommend!

Now onto the narrator. While he had a wide variety of tones and voices, I just felt like he was monotone for a lot of the book. I wanted more tenseness and for him to create a better sense of the book. I still enjoyed the book and look forward to the final one.

*I received a copy of this for review. This in no way affected my thoughts.*

Getting darker

Any additional comments?

I have receive this book in audio format in exchange for an honest review.

This book starts just where the first left, after Suzie fails her final exam, when she realizes that she will never go back home. We are presented with a brief summary about the previous book, which I found quite useful since I have listened to it some months ago.

In this book Suzie, Frank and Billy will be facing new dangers. They witness a ship carrying scythe metal being violently attacked. Elementals' relationship with deaths has improved since the previous year, but that does not prevent them from being accused of this attack and the the relations becoming tense. Suzie and her friends know that the Elementals are not involved in these attacks, but demonstrating this will not be easy, especially because the real attackers will also go after them.

Some things have changed from the previous book, and one of them is the boys' attitude towards Suzie, being she the only girl in the world of Deaths. Some of them feel attracted to her and we will face many 'blushing' moments that will get old soon. This is a YA novel, and I guess this is normal in this kind of books, but I could have done without it.

I have lost some interest about baskery, Deaths' official sport, and I listened to those parts without a lot of attention. It did not add anything to the narration but I accept it as part of the set up.

I found this book darker than the previous one, and some things will be changed in a dramatic way. Mannino has managed to get an interesting story going. I give it just three starts and a half because the story ends on a cliffhanger without any conclusion and because I felt the pace was a bit too slow sometimes spent with boys blushing all the time.

I enjoyed Joel Froomkin's narration. It was compelling and voices were distinguishable. There was just one detail that distracted me a little bit, and it was his pronunciation of the 'wh' in words like white or whirl. It was done in the old fashioned way which has the same sound of 'wh' in who. This happened almost every time. I just found it a bit distracting.

All in all I enjoyed the book, and I would like what Mannino has in store for us in the next book.

Powerful Heroine and Strong Friendships!!

What made the experience of listening to Sword of Deaths the most enjoyable?

This was the second book in this trilogy. Suzie is now a second year student and knows her way around. She is stronger and more confident. She has great tests of her courage coming soon, but her friends support her and prepare her for what she will have to face.

Who was your favorite character and why?

It's difficult to pick just one favorite; but that would have to be Suzie herself. She is strong and brave, filled with compassion and caring for others. I see her growing in each book, and she is someone I would be proud to call a friend. You can trust her. She has your back whenever you need her!

Which character – as performed by Joel Froomkin – was your favorite?

I loved the accent the narrator used for Frank. He was good with all, but that one particularly drew me in.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The moving portions of the story for me were her relationships with her friends and certain teachers. Strong bonds develop among all of them. Friendship is so important throughout the storyline.

Any additional comments?

Christopher Mannino is a wonderful storyteller. I hope he continues writing these tales for us all to enjoy! This has been and continues to be a delightful experience!

Loving this series

I'm really loving the series. This book was just as good as the first. This one was definitely much darker, which I enjoyed. Still in love with how this whole series kinda feels like an anime. Major cliffhanger. This series definitely has me hooked.

The narrator gave a good performance. He's not my favorite, but he did a good job.

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review.

Part II of a great series

What made the experience of listening to Sword of Deaths the most enjoyable?

Unique perspective with well developed characters, great plot line keeps you entertained from start to finish

Captivating Read!

This was a great book, a really captivating read throughout! As with the first book, the world was captivating and we were able to learn more about the history of Deaths, dragons, and elementals, which I found interesting. The characters have really grown up and I was glad that we got to follow Frank and Billy (Will...) as point of view characters as well as Suzie (Susan...). The names in brackets are what they "change" their names too, which took a while for me to get used to for Suzie, actually, it took until the last chapter of the book, but Will was an easy change for me. I especially liked how we got to see the world of the elementals via Frank's point of view, and also about Frank's inner struggle with his growing power. I thought it was really well done how the power was personified as a wolf that would talk to him and try to sway him to use it. Similar to this was Susan's power with the bracelet/Grim/Caladbald (not sure about spelling since I listened to the audio) that spoke to her in her mind. Probably the bracelet and its powers were the highlight of the book for me, and learning more about them in Susan's visions and dreams. The reapings that they went on were also fun to go through, especially as some of them became dangerous.
The only things I didn't enjoy were the large number of dreams (though as I said above, I did like them, but just found them too much) as well as the focus on Susan's relationship with Will and other boys. I would have liked more focus to be on the adventure, and I found this often dragged it down. And as for relationships: I was really hoping for Susan and Frank to be together - not that I don't like Will, but I like Frank so much more and I think he and Susan would be better for each other. But in any case, there's always book 3 :)
Also, the end of the book was great (though I won't give away any spoilers) and definitely sets things up for an interesting book 3!