Denise

Loved Six Crimson Cranes, this is a fail.

Revisado: 07-17-24

I don't know if it's because I listened to this right after the Six Crimson Cranes books or what but this one left me really underwhelmed. I loved Six Crimson Cranes and wanted to love this too but Maia is just uninteresting. She starts off well but once she leaves the castle it just goes downhill. I will warn people right now that there will be SPOILERS in the review. Edan joins Maia in the quest but it really seems like he is doing the work and she is tagging along unlike like in Six Crimson Cranes where Shiori puts her life at risk all the way through. It's also plainly obvious that the enchanter is Gen from those books but there isn't any sort of tie in. Maybe there wasn't meant to be a tie in but it's all so obvious that there feels like there should be something mentioned to his past other than the name. It would help with character development which it felt like there was almost none. The first part of the book is them falling in love - why? Who knows? Maybe because they are the only male and female leads? It's certainly not because of any in depth story or connection that either of them had, though Maia's intro was better than Edan's. He is a 500 year old enchanter who falls in love with her because ? I'm not sure. Maybe it's because they are the only male and female leads again. It's certainly not because she's the only female he's come across in 500 years. And all the trials are supposed to help stop the world from starting a second war, which hardly comes through in the writing. I get the whole "hide away from the world for romance" thing but there needs to be a little more impetus than just self interest. And there seems to be a whopping dose of that.

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Low on the scale for a Sanderson book

Revisado: 06-24-24

There were a lot of things that bugged me about this book. I found the narration from the handbook every other chapter or so very annoying and found myself skipping past because they were detracting from the story. It seems like it took something from the potential the story was building up to. I'm describing this very badly but it felt like the characters could have been developed a lot better if the handbook was worked into the story better or just left out altogether. It was a bit like with the other books where they they take the time to describe the pictures. It's an audiobook! Chances are I'll never see the photos and that's okay.

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Not cool

Revisado: 12-15-23

I got this because I normally love all books by Dan Willis and expected to love this one too, Unfortnuately it just started off fairly bad since I"m not a huge fan of manipulation for the greater good as a plot device. The good guys should do good - or at least be talked into doing good, not do good because they were unknowingly manipulated by people that are supposed to be amazing people everyone looks up to. I'm trying really hard not to give away spoilers here. The rest of the story was the awesome level of Dan Willis's usual books though so I kept going. And the book was good. I was hoping for an unlikely commupance for the good guys that weren't that good and success in the mission. Sadly it was not to be because the story stopped right in the middle. I don't mean that it stopped at a natural stopping point or anything. It just stopped. The leader of the opposite side handed a letter off to his secretary and that was the end. Like mid-action. It was essentially the enemy leader thinking that he will get the good guy to work for him, that he will send a letter to someone in the field, he gives the letter to the secretary, and that's it.

I can't believe I paid a credit for what is essentially an unfinished book, or that I should be paying another credit for the ending. I will be returning this one.

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Plot??

Revisado: 09-21-23

When I start a new audiobook it can sometimes take a bit to pick up into the story, but it's usually okay because even a slow build is getting you somewhere. I'm 4 hours into this one and there are only a few things that I can tell you are happening in this story

1.) A smaller country was taken over by a larger stronger country that killed their Gods and subjugated the people.
2.) Being gay or trans was okay in the smaller country but isn't in the new regime.
3.) Despite the stranglehold the new country has on the people it's okay to beat up or kill homophobes and transphobes without suffering any consequences (Daglish usually writes so well but any attempts to make the new regime feel like a serious threat have failed mostly due to this)
4.) They are training the prince to be some sort of warrior which is still fairly vague and nebulous and because the POV keeps changing it's even harder to keep to a plot.

The narrator is also not very good. The female voice is really off but I'm sure if the story pulled me in more I could have overlooked it. Overall it just seems really preachy. I have no issue with giving bigots what they deserve but there don't seem to be any consequences except to belabor the point that homophobia is bad. There hasn't been a lot of actual content except for one battle which fell flat because (IMO) the build up was all done by the pov of one character and then the climax switched to another that wasn't directly involved which made it feel more like he was a newscaster than anything immersive.

I'll be returning this one and maybe going back to read one of Daglish's older stories

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This book is fantastic!

Revisado: 09-21-23

This book was awesome. Warm, funny and full of stories of pets and their owners. In all my years of having an Audible susbscription this is the only book I've ever pre-ordered because I always second guess everything but this choice was spot on. I hope that Dr. Mader does a part 2 because one is definitely not enough. I loved that it wasn't just cats and dogs since there are tons of cat and dog non fiction books out there already and not nearly enough small animal ones.

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I hate Kate

Revisado: 05-03-23

This story was as much fun as the others except for the parts that had Kate in it. There were so many different roads that the story could have taken but instead Kate is just a wimpy indecisive wuss with no backbone. I can't even list how many times I just wanted to slap her. When she realizes that someone has been in her apartment she could have done multiples of things. Police, alarms, I dunno, change the locks? Instead she just keeps living in fear, and for what?

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Why isn't there a sequel for this yet?

Revisado: 04-06-23

I wasn't sure what to think of this book after the first chapter since it isn't anything like I ever listen to, I was expecting something in the Jim Butcher style but this isn't that! Full of weird monsters, robots and an alcoholic detective it's a funny romp through the galaxy that I really enjoyed. I can't wait to read the next one. There better be a next one!

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Love love love

Revisado: 10-03-22

The last Black Magic Outlaw book fell a little flat for me so it's great to see this one is back on track. Excellent! I recommend this one as well as anything by this author, now here's to waiting for the next one.

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Needs more depth

Revisado: 10-03-22

This book isn't bad. It is pretty much exactly as the description says. It's about a man who comes home with his wartime companions. He's a crime boss (sorry if that's a spoiler but I think it was fairly well implied in the description) and he needs to get his empire back. That's it. That's the whole book. There is some action and some intrigue with just a tiny bit of magic sprinkled in, but otherwise not much more than exactly what's covered in the description. It's engaging enough and worth listening to but not good enough for me to listen to the next one.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Pretty darn good I recommend it despite its flaws

Revisado: 02-06-22

I got this series (Book 1 and 2 so far) because I loved Brian's work with the Trystmoon saga so much that I ended up listening to that one multiple times. This one just isn't on the same level. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad series it just feels just a touch too preachy. Even though you can tell that the author isn't writing with that in mind there's no really good way to write a book about angels and devils without going there. I guess knights and monsters are more my thing. ****spoiler alert**** This is your warning that there is a spoiler ahead. Helo's relationship with Tarissa just blows my mind and is the one thing that ruins the second book for me. He spends the whole first book agonizing over his ex wife because she cheated on him and he feels inadequate and it's his worst torch memory but now that's she's an ash angel it's all good? He learned to live with himself at the end of the last book and now it's all rainbows and puppies wherever she is concerned. *gag* Realism score 0. No one is that saintly. This is the one thing in the book that I couldn't stand.

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