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Search tags: 2018-reading-challenge
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review 2019-08-09 01:22
If you read 'The Last Grand Master' then...
The Eye and The Arm - Andrew Q. Gordon,Seb Yarrick

you're going to want to read this one.

 

In 'The Last Grand Master' the author introduced us to Farrell, who is not just one of...if not the most powerful wizards of his time...but he is also 'the Champion of the Gods' ...albeit some what unwilling at times but as with any true hero...it's not about how willing you are to do the right thing but doing it whether or not you want to but doing it because it needs to be done. 

 

In 'The Last Grand Master' Farrell defeated the evil wizard Meglar with a little help from his friends, allies and Miceral, an immortal muchari warrior and the man who will become Farrell's partner...and this is only scratching the surface of events that happened in the first book and I highly recommend reading or listening to this series from the beginning.

 

In 'The Eye and the Arm' Farrell and MIceral find themselves with a new mission from the gods...specifically from Khron the god of war.  A mission that requires them to free the survivors of an ancient dwarf civilization, fight pirates and ultimately leaves Farrell trapped within his own mind and his only hope lies with Farrell's mate and the Peregrine King Rothdin and it's more than Farrell's life that's in the balance should they fail.

 

'Champion of the Gods' is an epic fantasy and one that takes the reader on a grand adventure with each story and while each book so far has held a self contained adventure/mission/quest/thing...it's all part of a bigger...more epic story.

 

So far only the first 2 stories for this series are available on audio but so far everything that I've heard has drawn me further and further into a world that's filled with epic adventure, amazing creatures...unicorns! peregrins! no dragons but hey, you just can have everything! There are wizards, immortal warriors and an ancient race of dwarves, the 7 gods of Nendor...but one of those gods wants to rule them all...oh and pirates!!! but these aren't the 'Jack Sparrow' kind of pirates,..nope, these are the pirates that you never want to meet on the high seas. 

 

Just like the first book the world building and character development in this book are solid and the author has done a superb job of weaving things into the story. 

 

Ironically my biggest disappointment with this story was the change in narrators. 'The Last Grand Master' was narrated by Joel Leslie and it's with the utmost respect that I say this but Mr. Leslie as a rule is not my first choice of narrators for audiobooks except...very ironically for this series. I very much enjoyed his narration of 'The Last Grand Master' and I was honestly looking forward to a repeat performance from him with this story, however, that was not to be as this book was narrated by Seb Yarrick and for me this was a bit of a disappointment that for me resulted a slightly lower rating of the story...3.5 stars rather than the 4 or possibly higher that I would have given it. 

 

While the narration wasn't quite what I had hoped for with this story...the story itself was every bit as good the first book and while I'm hoping that the next audio book sees a return to the original narrator...I know I'm looking forward to enjoying 'The Kings of Lore and Legend' on audio sometime in the near future...hopefully!

 

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An audio book of 'The Eye and the Arm' was graciously provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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review 2019-02-14 20:35
Grimms' Fairy Tales
Grimms' Fairy Tales - Jacob Grimm,Wilhelm Grimm

The audio book that I downloaded from Libox is a free download. It got a 62 Chapters or you can call them stories by the Grimm Brothers. It fairy tales and what the originals stories ending really are. 

Did you always think that the Disney version was the real one and did not know that they did not really end up Happy ever after. Well I did until I read a book that was called Grimm Woods by D. Melhoff. 

It made go looking for the original stories of my favorite fairy tales. Grimm Woods did not tell all the fairy tales ending it was story of itself but it did act out some of the fairy tales. It also is an adult or new adult book. Please be caution to that fact. 

This one is not as graphic in the audio book. This is not to bad. It help understand some of the fairy tales. The ending are different then though of Disney's. I know why that is, it is because they remade them to fit better for young children. 

You will get some of your classic fairy tales in this audio book. It enjoyed it. Though I say it will take some time to listen to. It a 10 hours and 32 mins long audio book. I would suggest listening this is pieces or couple of hours a day.

 

Download this version here

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review 2019-01-15 18:44
Review: A House for a Mouse
A House for a Mouse - Rebecca Westberg

The story of the two mice is a sweet one. Though it really does not really have much of a story to it. The story is how to get a house for a mouse. I like it but it not much of a story. The author does a wonderful job with the pictures in telling the story to a point.

The pictures could be down a bit more. There is not much of adventure to this story. The development of the characters is not there much. This need some work. This is best for children under the age of 7. Children that can read will be able to read it. It good for young children a bit for the picures for children under 5.

The author would have told the story as how the owner of the home came about and then found the mice or mouse and had a bit more of an adventure to how it ends. I say this book would have gotten a better rating. It an okay book to me. Maybe to you it will be better for you. You decide if you want it for your children or not. Like I said it an okay book. Great for children.

Source: nrcbooks.blogspot.com/2019/01/book-review-house-for-mouse.html
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review 2019-01-13 20:01
The Great Zoo of China
The Great Zoo of China - Matthew Reilly

*Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

CJ Cameron and her brother Hamish are included in a group of VIPs to see a new Chinese zoo. This is no ordinary zoo, several decades in the making, it showcases a creature no one thought existed, dragons. Things do not go to plan during the initial tour and of course the dragons wreck havoc on the group, looking to break out of the zoo environment. The group looks to evade danger which is not limited to the dragons as the Chinese will stop at nothing to contain the threat to their investment.

This was a hugely enjoyable thriller that was fast paced, fun and had great characters. Whilst you require some (or a lot of) suspension of disbelief, there's enough science and tech info to make it engaging and I really enjoyed Reillys take on dragon mythology.

CJ was a well drawn character, lots of great backstory on how she was disfigured and her work in her field of reptiles. Her brother Hamish is an entertaining secondary character and interjects some humour into proceedings but it's the dragons themselves, especially Lucky that steal the show and hook you into the story.

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review 2019-01-10 02:02
This one poses an interesting moral dilemma…
A Dance for Two - Colette Davison,S. Neil MacFarlane

What makes someone your brother?

 

Adam and Luc grew up together. When Luc’s mom marries Adam’s dad the two also decide to adopt each other’s child making them all legally family. This was all well and good until the boys are older and Luc realizes that his feelings for Adam are much more than brotherly or even best friends. Luc’s solution is to put distance between them first by how he treats Adam…no longer are they friends, Luc begins to treat Adam horribly pushing him away until the day that Luc goes off to college never returning to his family home…even for a visit.

 

When Luc’s mother calls him years later to help save their failing dance studio. Luc convinces himself that his feelings for Adam are under control but regardless of whether they are or not, his mom needs his help and even he’s not a big enough jerk to ignore a plea for help from the mother he loves.

 

As soon as Luc is faced with Adam he knows the truth of things…he’s not over Luc…he’ll probably never be over Luc.

 

I’ve often said that I enjoy a story that makes me examine my own ideals and values and this one certainly did that. While the premise of the story was more than a little intriguing to me. I found the execution of the premise was ok but there were a couple of things that kept it from being more enjoyable…

 

At times for me Luc was just too aggressive in his pursuit of Adam…aggressive to the point that I felt uncomfortable for Luc.

 

I would have liked for both men to have come to terms with their feelings for each other before becoming involved in a romantic relationship with each other. I’m not a fan of incest stories and at times that’s what this one felt like because both Adam and Luc kept thinking of each other as ‘brothers’ rather than ‘lovers’. (I’ll ramble about this more shortly)

 

My last issue regarding this story and it was probably the smallest of them all was the emphasis on the sexual aspect of their relationship…especially from Luc’s perspective. Don’t misunderstand I think a strong and passionate relationship is important to any relationship and from that perspective this worked, but for me it felt like there was just a bit too much emphasis being put on the physical relationship and I needed the emotional connection to feel like it was as strong as part of their connection as the sex, but for me it just didn’t quite get there.

 

I’m going to go back to my point about ‘brothers’ vs ‘lovers’. For me this was more of a moral or idealistic question and something that we all need to decide for ourselves. I know what my decision was at the end of it all, but in the end it’s a decision that each reader needs to make for themselves.

 

Neil Macfarlane was the narrator for this audio book and it appears to be his first audio book which was part of the reason I wanted to listen to this story…it’s always good to have another narrator you enjoy and while the audio sample went well enough to interest me.  I have to admit I’m still undecided about the book in its entirety. Mr. Macfarlane’s narration was good in that this story is set in England and he has the accent which really helps to maintain the story’s setting. Where things fell a bit short for me was how expressive he was or at times more accurately wasn’t. So here we are back to the sex…so, I’m going to be direct here…if I’m reading a story where two people are as hot for each other as these two supposedly are than when a sex scene happens I need the narrator to convince me that they’re genuinely passionate for each other…I realize this is a fine line that needs to be walked here because…to much expressiveness and it becomes eyeroll inducing at the least and simply laughable at the worst but here it was closer to ‘well…I guess we should have sex now’…sorry but it just didn’t convince me that this was a love affair for the ages. Still aside from this little quirk I did feel that this is a narrator with strong potential and I’m definitely going to be keeping an eye out for future audio releases…one story does not determine things for me with either an author or a narrator.

 

‘A Dance for Two’ was my first waltz with this author and the narrator and while it didn’t work out quite as well as I would have liked. It was still strong enough to get my attention and make me interested in seeing what the future brings from Colette Davison as an author and from Neil Macfarlane as a narrator.

 

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An audio book of ‘A Dance for Two’ was graciously provided by the author through ‘Gay Book Promotions’ in exchange for an honest review.

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