Behind Blue Eyes

Death's Beating Heart by Rob J. Hayes My rating: 5 of 5 stars Review now live at Grimdark Magazine Picking up just moments after the ending of Sins of the Mother , Death’s Beating Heart brings us at last to the conclusion to The Eternal War .. Eskara Helsene has come out of retirement to help fix the mess that her daughter has caused. Sirileth has brought down one of the moons in order to prevent The Maker from entering their world. While this event saved Ovaeris from that terrible fate, slamming a moon down onto the planet tends to bring catastrophic results to most of it. Saving everyone from one disaster has only opened it all up for another. Sirileth’s actions have opened a portal to the parallel world of Sevorai, where Eskara’s ancient horror originates. That’s the good news. What’s very horribly bad is that that world is being consumed by Norvet Meruun, also known as Death’s Beating Heart. Now that the portal is open, Eska’s world is n...

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree My rating: 5 of 5 stars I received an eARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley. This was just what I needed at the perfect time. In a year full of reading slumps on and off again without end, this made reading enjoyable for a few days. I've heard a lot about this book through the year and finally got to reading it. I can definitely see what all the hype was about and how this was fast tracked from self pub to traditional published novel. I'm definitely looking forward to more from this author. View all my reviews

Sins of the Mother by Rob J. Hayes My rating: 4 of 5 stars Review now live at Grimdark Magazine Two years ago, when I’d finished reading From Cold Ashes Risen , I thought I had finished a brilliant trilogy that would rank among the greats in the Grimdark pantheon. I still hold to that belief, but I was pleasantly surprised early this year when Rob J. Hayes released a continuation of Eska’s story in Sins of the Mother. It seems she wasn’t finished with the world just yet. Ten years retired from ruling her kingdom, Eskara Helsene is enjoying her life away from it all. She lives in a village called Wrysom where everyone believes her to be an eccentric old wise woman. Only one little girl calls her “The Corpse Queen” these days, and she’s doing so in jest. The poor thing doesn’t realize how close to the mark she hit with her casual insult. ”Still, I was old now, and all my life I was reliably informed that age brings wisdom and patience and a bunch of...

A Blade Through Time: A Grimdark Progression Fantasy by Louis Kalman My rating: 3 of 5 stars I received an audio copy of this from the publisher through NetGalley. DNF @ 34% An intriguing beginning that soon got mired in a slog without seeming end. Not bad, just not interested enough to continue. View all my reviews

The Hand That Casts the Bone by H.L.Tinsley My rating: 4 of 5 stars In this superb follow up to We Men of Ash and Shadow , the focus pans out from the city of D'Orsee, showing us how the events of that first book have sent a ripple to other cities. Argent Cooke has escaped the chaos of D'Orsee and is spreading the word, hoping to gather a following to resist Captain Sanquain as the other man makes a bid for martial control of the entire region. John Vanguard narrowly survived the events of the last book, and as he hides and heals he observes how the Black Zone of the city is mired in uncertainty. The crime lords of the city are restless and making power moves against one another. "Sometimes people didn't need to do anything particular to make you want to kill them, they just had that sort of face." This book brought all of the great imagery that was present in book one, adding layers of scope as we see things from different ...

Every Cloak Rolled in Blood by James Lee Burke My rating: 3 of 5 stars I received an eARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley. As with the previous novel, Another Kind of Eden , I was pulled in by the description. Honestly, had I managed to read the other book before this one became available, I probably wouldn't have requested this ARC. Well written once more as Burke's prose is brilliant, this story didn't connect with me even more than the previous book. It was still a decent reading experience and memorable. View all my reviews

Another Kind of Eden by James Lee Burke My rating: 3 of 5 stars I received an eARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley. I kept seeing books by James Lee Burke and the description of this one really pulled me in. This was brilliantly written, as Burke's prose is breathtaking at times and always engaging. The story itself didn't really grab me though, and I felt it was more literary than I needed at the time. Still, the author's way with words makes the characters stick with you after finishing.. View all my reviews

City on Fire by Don Winslow My rating: 5 of 5 stars I received an eARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley. That was brilliant, which I've come to expect from Don Winslow. I've read several of his novels and I've never been disappointed. City on Fire is apparently the first book of a planned trilogy dealing with Danny Ryan, a member of the Irish mob scene in the "Dogtown" section of Providence, Rhode Island. Things are going great for Danny and his young family until a mysterious beautiful woman appears on the scene and sparks a war between the Irish and Italian factions of the area. As always, Winslow's use of pacing and narrative as we follow his characters has a way of grabbing hold and never letting go. Tensions are high and the gut punches are delivered in just the right places to make his novels difficult to put down for even a moment. City on Fire is an excellent place for a new reader of Winslow to bec...

Master Assassins by Robert V.S. Redick My rating: 3 of 5 stars Received a copy from NetGalley. DNF at 18%. Just couldn't bring myself to continue. Not bad, just not what I'm wanting to read.. View all my reviews

Skallagrim – In The Vales Of Pagarna by Stephen R. Babb My rating: 4 of 5 stars Review now live at Grimdark Magazine Two years ago I was given the chance to hear a new album by the band Glass Hammer entitled Dreaming City . I was intrigued and within moments was able to become totally absorbed in the music. I reviewed this album for Grimdark Magazine, and in that review , I stated a hope that there would someday be an actual book detailing the adventures of Skallagrim. Imagine my pleasant surprise at being presented with a copy of this paperback in my mailbox courtesy of the author, Stephen R. Babb. Skallagrim – In the Vales of Pagarna begins much as the first song on the album (The Dreaming City) with Skallagrim himself coming to, after a blow to the head and with some severe memory loss, forced to do battle with a gang of ruffians as an evil wizard steals off with the woman of his…dreams. “Two things happened nearly at once, both of them bad. Fir...

Scorch by Jesse Teller My rating: 4 of 5 stars Review now live at Grimdark Magazine A fresh new series by Jesse Teller, Scorch tells a story from two distinct perspectives. While we see shadows of his great epic The Madness Wars , this story is much smaller in scale and scope, but no less entertaining. Our story takes place after The Madness Wars , but one doesn’t need to have read that series to fully enjoy this tale. It occurs in a separate part of the continent, and the references back to the larger series are subtle enough to serve as Easter eggs for the returning reader. Tack is a young man that hasn’t found his place in the world, though he seems to be moving constantly in its pursuit. He’s an expert with the bow, or so he thinks until he starts training with the Ramblers, a small group of mercenaries that have taken on the duty of protecting the Queen of Syphere from all dangers, including the King. The training program he’s put through by th...

Spirits of Vengeance by Rob J. Hayes My rating: 4 of 5 stars Review now live at Grimdark Magazine Spirits of Vengeance is the third standalone novel in the Mortal Techniques series by Rob Hayes, following the excellent Never Die and Pawn’s Gambit . Though independent of the first two, this one does build on the intriguing Japanese based mythology and worldbuilding that Hayes set up in those. ”’Sorry then, about stabbing you. But why can’t you die?’ She thought everyone could die given enough prodding with sharp things.” Haruto is on a quest, a lifelong quest. No, make that a many-lifetime quest. He is an onmyoji, trained in the spiritual arts of tracking down yokai, which are spirits trapped in the world. He confronts them, and upon defeating them, sends them on to the other side, freeing their souls. He’s actually a character of legend, though he tries to keep a fairly low profile. He’s assisted by Guang, a poet of (his own) renown who also has a...

A City Dreaming by Daniel Polansky My rating: 3 of 5 stars This was an odd duck. That is, it read more like a series of short stories, or episodes, than a novel. For that it worked as it lost me sometimes and when it did it would only be for the rest of the chapter rather than the whole work. Enjoyable enough and the writing was fantastic. The characters had potential. It just didn't grab me as much as I'd hoped it would. I can take a degree of weird, and the humor thrown in was a nice flavoring. View all my reviews

The Night and the Music by Lawrence Block My rating: 3 of 5 stars I received an ecopy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. This was a satisfying read, as a collection of Matthew Scudder stories set at various stages of his career/life. While I feel this collection was best suited for longtime readers of Scudder's cases, this was a fine introduction for new readers, giving us a glimpse of this investigator/ex-cop and the style that Block uses with him. I was captivated enough in the overall character and writing style to be drawn into the novel series that these stories are based on, so with that it did its job. View all my reviews

The Starless Crown by James Rollins My rating: 3 of 5 stars DNF at 84% I'm just throwing in the towel. It's a decent story with good characters and worldbuilding, I just don't care. It's been going and going and going and my attention is drifting further and further away. Not a bad book, or a bad audio, I just need to move to something else before it triggers another reading slump. View all my reviews

Dark Night of the Soul by Kristi Belcamino My rating: 4 of 5 stars I was given a copy of this audiobook by the author.. This was great, fast paced and engaging. The Gia Santella series is one that builds on itself as it goes, becoming more interesting as it moves along and Gia herself settles into who she is... View all my reviews