Book – Infected Volume 1
Author – Andrea Speed
Star rating - ★★☆☆☆
No. of Pages – 1228
POV – 3rd person, multi POV
Would I read it again – No
Genre – Paranormal, LGBT, Supernatural


** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Reviewed for Divine Magazine



So, I've been waiting to read this book for a long time. The blurbs intrigued me, everyone kept raving about it and I'm a series lover, so I was interested right from the start. Sadly, it didn't work for me.

This bundle contains 6 novels. I got to the end of one. Although, really, I feel like I should say 0.5, because the cover of this bundle says that Prey is book 1, but Infected is actually book 1, according to the writing inside the book, and that's the only one I finished. I didn't even get around to Prey or Paris, which some people said would change my mind about the book. Unfortunately, I just don't have the will to keep going, not when I know that forcing myself to keep reading a book I'm not enjoying is only going to be detrimental to me and to the author. I don't want to write a review after I feel frustrated and angry because I forced myself to read something I don't like; that's no good for either of us, so I'm ending it on a note of indifference.

~

Book One: Infected
0-11%


Warning: This story deals with suicide, child pornography, alcoholism, kidnapping, rape and drug use.



The story is told in 3rd person, but I really didn't feel comfortable with it, for whatever reason. It felt, at times, like it was a 1st person narrative in a 3rd person disguise. That we were being the kind of information and thoughts that were generally kept to a 1st person POV, and it didn't sit well with me. It felt uncomfortable and awkward right from page one. The fact that it took 11 chapters (6%) to switch to Paris' POV didn't help, either.

The POV's were jumbled, started with Hank (who got killed on that same page) then shifting to Roan for the next 10 chapters. In Chapters 11 and 14, then the Epilogue, Paris took his POV for a little while, with one cat POV (Paris) for maybe three paragraphs at the end, somewhere. And then there was Mitch's POV (who also got killed on that page). Really, 90% of the story was Roan's to tell and Paris' POV really wouldn't have been necessary except in one case, because he did something useful that Roan wasn't there to see. But the second POV was pointless; he took on a case that they didn't even investigate, because Roan took one look at a picture and solved it.

To make it worse, page 1 started the beginning of Chapter 1 and yet, it began with a character who died before the end of the page. Now, I feel this should have either been a Prologue, to set the stage for what was to come, or it shouldn't have been included. Personally, it gave too much of the story away, for my liking. There was really no need for Hank, our first victim, to give his own POV. It didn't offer anything that we didn't learn from Roan's investigation and it didn't feel at all important for pushing the story forward. In fact, it ruined the suspense of what could have been a great intro, where Roan goes home to find Paris was loose as a cat all night. That wouldn't have felt important right away, until Roan's got the phone call about Hank. Then it would have been a great moment of suspense; did Paris get out? Had he done something awful? Did he have anything to do with this? Instead, we knew the moment Roan found Paris loose that there had already been a cat killing and it killed the suspense for me. It came across as a really obvious plot ploy to get us to immediately believe that Paris had done this, when it was clearly too obvious and clean cut to have been him. If it had, there would have been no book, unless he and Roan went on the run. Which the blurb told us never happened.

When it comes to the world building, I had trouble with it. Again, it felt a little too much like parts of this “world” were held back from us until it made the biggest impact in the story. But, in doing so, it meant that I was blindly stumbling my way through an unfamiliar world. There were only hints of what “the strain” and being a “virus child” meant, by the end of Chapter 1, and it took right until the last pages to discover some important facts about the creatures these Infected had become. It took 12 chapters to find out who Connor was, yet it often gave us extraneous information that we didn't need in the place of things we actually wanted to know.

I didn't mind the writing style, as I've read another novel by this author that I loved. But it felt much more disjointed than that other novel; less cohesive, more drifting and with less attention to detail. The characters, Roan especially, had a tendency to waffle on about unimportant things at the most obscure times. Often about things that were totally pointless, like detailing the exact specs of a gun, detailing how the appliances of their homes have name tags (?? Why ??) There are times where it feels like an idiot's guide to useless information, like describing cop's gallow's humour in detail, as if no one had ever seen a crime/detective show before. For the amount of information and detail that went into these things, it would have been better spend on world building and letting us feel more comfortable in a world we knew nothing about when we turned the first page. And don't even get me started on the constant parenthesis! I mean, they were everywhere and they added absolutely nothing to the characterisation or the plot. I could easily have deleted them or not read any of them and it would have made no different whatsoever, which makes me wonder why they were there in the first place.

I also wasn't a fan of slagging off everything in sight. I'm not sure if it was the author's taste's bleeding into the writing or if Roan was just meant to be so judgy and unlikeable, but I'm kind of shocked that any sane publisher or editor would allow anyone to slag off the likes of Paris Hilton, Coldplay and American Idol in one of their novels. In this world, people can get sued for pulling stunts like that and it really puts a barrier between the reader and author/book, if that person is a fan of those things, only to have to read them being slagged off. I mean, the stuff about Courtney Love might have been tabloid common knowledge but it's also not a great idea professionally.

Now, I'm no fan of any of these things, but I had to look at it like a professional and it just didn't work for me. It was rude, obnoxious and it made me feel like Roan was a person that I really just didn't want to be anywhere near. I don't mind a little sarcasm or pessimism in my characters, but when they dive right into showing contempt and disdain for everything in their path, then it's a turn off, not a personality quirk. I also don't know why I'd be expected to love a character like Paris who is labelled, multiple times, as the perfect liar, chameleon and manipulator. Those are not positive traits and they really made me question whether this series was for me or not, the moment that was mentioned the first time. And all that talk of Slutty McWhore? Seriously? That's supposed to be endearing? Slut shaming a character and then having them slut shame themselves? Nope. Not for me. At the same time, I have to wonder why they're even together, because I felt very little chemistry and Roan spent the majority of the book worrying that everyone Paris tried to “charm” would steal him away or make Paris cheat on him. He had a serious complex about their 5 year age difference and Paris' past as a self-proclaimed whore. A term I hate with a passion.

I, quite honestly, nearly DNF'd this book three times, mostly before the halfway mark. I just didn't care what happened, I didn't like Roan or Paris, I didn't care who the killer was or why they did it. The book just wasn't engaging enough to make me keep reading, even at that point. But, I pushed through, because it's a review book. But, when nothing changed, I knew I wasn't going to be going any further with the series. I finished book 1 and that was all I needed to read, to know that this world, this series and I were never going to see eye to eye. No mater how intriguing the concept or the blurbs of the future books, I can't follow a series where I hate the two MC's.

The ex-cop turned private detective, who hates being a cop but weasels into cases, was very stereotypical, as were all the comparisons to other famous P.I.'s. It made Roan feel somewhat of a joke as a private detective, because he couldn't even take his own job seriously. He just wanted to be a cop without actually being a cop.

The established couple concept was good. I liked that it didn't get hot and heavy all the time, with only off-page sex and nothing explicit at all in those terms on page. I liked the idea of the five separate strains of 'infection', but the seriously judgy, bitchy, condescending MC's who were cynical, bitter and had a chip on their shoulder, while manipulating everyone in sight and using so-called “charisma and charm” to get what they wanted ruined it for me. While the story had bags of potential and could have been an incredibly unique venture into the world of shifters, it left me feeling indifferent about the plot and downright hating the MC's.

Overall, the story (and series) had great potential, but it was just so laborious to wade through the excess detail/description/plot tricks that it just wore me down.

Infected Series Volume One Bundle - Andr... DNF'd at 11%

~

Book – Infected Volume 1
Author – Andrea Speed
Star rating - ★★☆☆☆
No. of Pages – 1228
POV – 3rd person, multi POV
Would I read it again – No
Genre – Paranormal, LGBT, Supernatural


** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Reviewed for Divine Magazine



So, I've been waiting to read this book for a long time. The blurbs intrigued me, everyone kept raving about it and I'm a series lover, so I was interested right from the start. Sadly, it didn't work for me.

This bundle contains 6 novels. I got to the end of one. Although, really, I feel like I should say 0.5, because the cover of this bundle says that Prey is book 1, but Infected is actually book 1, according to the writing inside the book, and that's the only one I finished. I didn't even get around to Prey or Paris, which some people said would change my mind about the book. Unfortunately, I just don't have the will to keep going, not when I know that forcing myself to keep reading a book I'm not enjoying is only going to be detrimental to me and to the author. I don't want to write a review after I feel frustrated and angry because I forced myself to read something I don't like; that's no good for either of us, so I'm ending it on a note of indifference.

~

Book One: Infected
0-11%


Warning: This story deals with suicide, child pornography, alcoholism, kidnapping, rape and drug use.



The story is told in 3rd person, but I really didn't feel comfortable with it, for whatever reason. It felt, at times, like it was a 1st person narrative in a 3rd person disguise. That we were being the kind of information and thoughts that were generally kept to a 1st person POV, and it didn't sit well with me. It felt uncomfortable and awkward right from page one. The fact that it took 11 chapters (6%) to switch to Paris' POV didn't help, either.

The POV's were jumbled, started with Hank (who got killed on that same page) then shifting to Roan for the next 10 chapters. In Chapters 11 and 14, then the Epilogue, Paris took his POV for a little while, with one cat POV (Paris) for maybe three paragraphs at the end, somewhere. And then there was Mitch's POV (who also got killed on that page). Really, 90% of the story was Roan's to tell and Paris' POV really wouldn't have been necessary except in one case, because he did something useful that Roan wasn't there to see. But the second POV was pointless; he took on a case that they didn't even investigate, because Roan took one look at a picture and solved it.

To make it worse, page 1 started the beginning of Chapter 1 and yet, it began with a character who died before the end of the page. Now, I feel this should have either been a Prologue, to set the stage for what was to come, or it shouldn't have been included. Personally, it gave too much of the story away, for my liking. There was really no need for Hank, our first victim, to give his own POV. It didn't offer anything that we didn't learn from Roan's investigation and it didn't feel at all important for pushing the story forward. In fact, it ruined the suspense of what could have been a great intro, where Roan goes home to find Paris was loose as a cat all night. That wouldn't have felt important right away, until Roan's got the phone call about Hank. Then it would have been a great moment of suspense; did Paris get out? Had he done something awful? Did he have anything to do with this? Instead, we knew the moment Roan found Paris loose that there had already been a cat killing and it killed the suspense for me. It came across as a really obvious plot ploy to get us to immediately believe that Paris had done this, when it was clearly too obvious and clean cut to have been him. If it had, there would have been no book, unless he and Roan went on the run. Which the blurb told us never happened.

When it comes to the world building, I had trouble with it. Again, it felt a little too much like parts of this “world” were held back from us until it made the biggest impact in the story. But, in doing so, it meant that I was blindly stumbling my way through an unfamiliar world. There were only hints of what “the strain” and being a “virus child” meant, by the end of Chapter 1, and it took right until the last pages to discover some important facts about the creatures these Infected had become. It took 12 chapters to find out who Connor was, yet it often gave us extraneous information that we didn't need in the place of things we actually wanted to know.

I didn't mind the writing style, as I've read another novel by this author that I loved. But it felt much more disjointed than that other novel; less cohesive, more drifting and with less attention to detail. The characters, Roan especially, had a tendency to waffle on about unimportant things at the most obscure times. Often about things that were totally pointless, like detailing the exact specs of a gun, detailing how the appliances of their homes have name tags (?? Why ??) There are times where it feels like an idiot's guide to useless information, like describing cop's gallow's humour in detail, as if no one had ever seen a crime/detective show before. For the amount of information and detail that went into these things, it would have been better spend on world building and letting us feel more comfortable in a world we knew nothing about when we turned the first page. And don't even get me started on the constant parenthesis! I mean, they were everywhere and they added absolutely nothing to the characterisation or the plot. I could easily have deleted them or not read any of them and it would have made no different whatsoever, which makes me wonder why they were there in the first place.

I also wasn't a fan of slagging off everything in sight. I'm not sure if it was the author's taste's bleeding into the writing or if Roan was just meant to be so judgy and unlikeable, but I'm kind of shocked that any sane publisher or editor would allow anyone to slag off the likes of Paris Hilton, Coldplay and American Idol in one of their novels. In this world, people can get sued for pulling stunts like that and it really puts a barrier between the reader and author/book, if that person is a fan of those things, only to have to read them being slagged off. I mean, the stuff about Courtney Love might have been tabloid common knowledge but it's also not a great idea professionally.

Now, I'm no fan of any of these things, but I had to look at it like a professional and it just didn't work for me. It was rude, obnoxious and it made me feel like Roan was a person that I really just didn't want to be anywhere near. I don't mind a little sarcasm or pessimism in my characters, but when they dive right into showing contempt and disdain for everything in their path, then it's a turn off, not a personality quirk. I also don't know why I'd be expected to love a character like Paris who is labelled, multiple times, as the perfect liar, chameleon and manipulator. Those are not positive traits and they really made me question whether this series was for me or not, the moment that was mentioned the first time. And all that talk of Slutty McWhore? Seriously? That's supposed to be endearing? Slut shaming a character and then having them slut shame themselves? Nope. Not for me. At the same time, I have to wonder why they're even together, because I felt very little chemistry and Roan spent the majority of the book worrying that everyone Paris tried to “charm” would steal him away or make Paris cheat on him. He had a serious complex about their 5 year age difference and Paris' past as a self-proclaimed whore. A term I hate with a passion.

I, quite honestly, nearly DNF'd this book three times, mostly before the halfway mark. I just didn't care what happened, I didn't like Roan or Paris, I didn't care who the killer was or why they did it. The book just wasn't engaging enough to make me keep reading, even at that point. But, I pushed through, because it's a review book. But, when nothing changed, I knew I wasn't going to be going any further with the series. I finished book 1 and that was all I needed to read, to know that this world, this series and I were never going to see eye to eye. No mater how intriguing the concept or the blurbs of the future books, I can't follow a series where I hate the two MC's.

The ex-cop turned private detective, who hates being a cop but weasels into cases, was very stereotypical, as were all the comparisons to other famous P.I.'s. It made Roan feel somewhat of a joke as a private detective, because he couldn't even take his own job seriously. He just wanted to be a cop without actually being a cop.

The established couple concept was good. I liked that it didn't get hot and heavy all the time, with only off-page sex and nothing explicit at all in those terms on page. I liked the idea of the five separate strains of 'infection', but the seriously judgy, bitchy, condescending MC's who were cynical, bitter and had a chip on their shoulder, while manipulating everyone in sight and using so-called “charisma and charm” to get what they wanted ruined it for me. While the story had bags of potential and could have been an incredibly unique venture into the world of shifters, it left me feeling indifferent about the plot and downright hating the MC's.

Overall, the story (and series) had great potential, but it was just so laborious to wade through the excess detail/description/plot tricks that it just wore me down.

Order of the Black Knights Violence has been Lochlann O’Connor’s companion since he was born into a family of old-school Irish terrorists. From there he is recruited into Alpha, a secret government agency dedicated to fighting terrorism—with extreme prejudice. Lochlann’s bravery, efficiency, ruthlessness, and the natural deadeye aim that lets him hit anything that moves, quickly make him one of the shadowy organization’s most valued operatives. Cas Vega joins Alpha because it’s marginally better than a prison sentence. He’s a former drug cartel assassin—or at least that’s his story. But Lochlann is suspicious. Despite an irrational and overwhelming attraction to Cas, Lochlann has questions, and they soon lead to a deeper and deadlier mystery. What is Alpha’s true purpose, and why does it seem they want to eliminate Lochlann? Lochlann and Cas must work together to get to the bottom of Alpha’s scheme and escape it—and all while Cas keeps secrets that could cost him his life if they’re revealed. But it’s not an alliance that can last. Duty turns the men into enemies, even while fate compels them into each other’s arms. Before they can contemplate which will prevail, they must figure out how to survive.

Review:

WARNING FOR GRAPHIC PHYSICAL VIOLENCE, A WHOLE LOT OF IT.

Dear Andrea Speed,

I really wanted to like another book of yours as much as I liked your “Infected” series, so when I saw this one, I one clicked as soon as I checked whether this story could be read as a stand-alone.

Now when I finished the book, I can confirm that it was indeed a stand –alone. I am guessing that all the love stories in other books follow the same framework, but that’s the only thing that connects them ( or maybe that’s not the only thing, all I know that this book did not require any prior knowledge of any events or to be familiar with the other characters).

So, this is the very beginning of the book , for this reason I do not think it counts as a spoiler.

"EVERY CENTURY has seen its knights. But there are those who are never seen. They do what must be done, what has to be done—when nobody wants to get their hands dirty. They are called the Black Knights. First created in the 1100s by the wizard Moriel, these men seem cold and hard, and it is said that some have no soul. But for each knight, there is one who can bring out the man who waits inside. The question is whether or not he will kill the individual before he figures it out. Through the ages, they’ve conquered and ruled and taken what they wanted. And they have adapted to modern times. Instead of being bullies for hire, they have taken their skills further—the Internet, the CIA, government infiltration, hacking, special ops, assassination. But each one of them has a need they don’t understand—to squash, kill, or destroy. If the Knight pardons an enemy, he will no longer be cursed. If not, he will continue to live the same life again and again, and each life will make him harder and more unyielding. And each life will make it is less likely that he can be saved. "

 

Readers I adore the redemption stories, I adore when m/m romance storyline is mixed up with the action/adventure. I was *really* excited to start this one, however as much as I was excited by the prospect of reading enemies to lovers storyline and forgiving your enemy, something bothered me already. And when I read the prologue which featured Lochlann; I was bothered even more, because set up didn’t make much sense to me.

 

Was Moriel supposed to be the devil of these books with whom all those mysterious knights made pacts and then trying to get rid of the pact? Because we all know how well it usually went for many fictional characters – trying to break up the pact with the devil. I didn’t know but was excited to find out. Here is what I found out from prologue which featured two of Lochlann’s past lives – his family was killed and he wanted a revenge on the man who killed his family and Moriel offered Lochlann to enter into his service and revenge would be his reward. Of course Lochlann agreed, only the service apparently spun centuries and after his first life we get the glimpse of the year 1963 when Lochlann once again kills a man who has the potential to save him by becoming his lover, only Lochlann remembers all of this in his dying moments and Moriel is here to gloat or to express regret that Lochlann still didn’t learn.

 

I wished I would have gotten an explanation as to why Moriel was interested in this pact in the first place. Lochlann was not a bad guy in his first life – he wanted to avenge his family and for that he deserved to be cursed forever till he finds in himself to forgive the reincarnation of the guy who killed his loved ones? But why? What’s the point? It is not as if Moriel wanted his soul, because instead of taking the soul when Lochlan dies, he keeps giving him more and more chances to get it right.

 

And after that we are in present time and meet Lochlann who is one of the best members of Alpha, fictional agency of undercover operatives and assassins which allegedly does dirty jobs for the government, only it looks like something in Alpha’s core is very rotten and as you can see from the blurb Lochlann gets a very strong vibe that his employer wants him dead and tries very hard to achieve that purpose.

 

Alpha constantly recruits new guys – and they target very specific type of recruits and one day Cas shows up and Lochlann is assigned as his trainer and soon enough Lochlann takes Cas as part of his team.

 

There is plenty of action in this book. In fact the author can write action scenes very well , please also beware that the action is mostly very violent, because when I said that Alpha takes dirty jobs I was not kidding.

 

Cas and Lochlan’s love story is very important, but also secondary storyline and I would not have minded it at all, if I saw a *love story*. All I saw was they are attracted, they have sex, then boom – they are in love. Why they were in love I have had no idea whatsoever, the author didn’t show me that. I mean I understand that the reincarnation storyline was supposed to be a shortcut for why they fell in love ( although it is not like we were treated to the past life showing them falling for each other), but it just didn’t work for me at all.

 

Grade: B for action scenes, C- for romance

 

Fairytales Slashed Volume 7 - Samantha M... Interesting takes on favorite classics.

This is the 7th anthology in the FairyTale Slashed anthology series and is the least favorite of the set. This volume contains 8 stories; many great and a few which weren’t my kind of reading and one so far from what I have come to expect from this anthology that I honestly don’t get and just cannot relate!

Story 1: After Ever After – Nicole Fields
Absolutely not my cup of tea. This novella rates as seriously Weak Sauce and serious disservice to what I expect from a fairytale slashed novella. Cinderella Lotte was not likable in this novella. Her principles, how she suddenly just fell in love with her maid because they shared similar background and oh is her confidante, how she suddenly fell out of love with the prince because he’s not around because he’s with his father the King running the country and oh how having a mother in law that didn’t immediately fawn over her was enough to end her happily ever after. How can you say now someone who quit being in love with one person to quickly fall in love with the first/next person to eye them with some attraction and provide some emotional support – with NO trials – be trusted when they claim that yep, yep, this time it’s true love. All I can say is I am completely sickened by CinderLotte’s superficiality and this entire story line usage of the Cinderella plot. It’s gone off the deep end of no honor, no goodness, Grimm end of fairytales with this twist on Cinderella.
She chose the prince, and decided that true love isn’t true love and hey someone else is here physically with me so I’ll fall in love with them since hey they were looking at me with passion so let’s commit adultery and while we’re at it, run away to be together. But let me throw this at the end of the story to redeem her, I’ll introduce you to my friend, but HEY, we never annulled or divorced! Can the Prince even re-marry in this case and if so, this historic twisted country’s law should be aforementioned somewhere in the novella.

Story 2: Bearskin – Andrea Speed
Great story by a great writer. Generosity of soul, honor, and all that wonderful stuff you expect when reading from a fairytale [slashed]. How love isn’t just with the eyes or with being in each other handsome presence day in and day out, but feelings and perseverance and in this case, the test of time and uncertainty of the name and face of your beloved – just time spent talking and actions.

Story 3: No Witch’s Brew – Helena Maeve
Great detective story and until the very end I wasn’t able to figure out what fairytale this novella was based off of. The story reunion between the detective and his former lover was well developed and captivating. The mystery of the white phosphorus apples and now seven dead maidens were a great twist on Snow White. Most fairytale slashed stories twist the plot so the main characters are still in line, but this one twisted the Snow White storyline as a mystery around our two main characters – kudos!

Story 4 – Lovers at the Lake – Asta Idonea
I loved this story and how well written it was! It was a nice twist on the Little Mermaid on the lake. Dusan and Vladimir were your honorable handsome princely characters and the “evil” witch was magical and magic is in the hands of the user – neither good nor evil. A wonderful plot, twist, and near save for a very happy ever after for our prices.

Story 5 – The Mercenary’s Wedding – Keelan Ellis
Can’t quite tell what fairytale this was a twist off of, but it was interesting as it was a gender bender / gender identity novella. The queen wanted a daughter and on her 7th pregnancy she realized she was expecting a boy and was determined that this 7th one must be a girl and so had it changed to a girl… Princess Adeline grew up wanting to be a tomboy and be like her brothers and father in all ways despite her mother constantly trying to force her to act the female. This princess was magically afflicted in that every time she cut her hair, it grew back the very next day. On the day she turned thirteen, and every year thereafter, her elder brothers one by one fell ill – mentally or physically. The queen finally learned the only want to turn the situation around is for someone to be her daughter’s true love. And the plotline develops interestingly into Adeline magically reverted to the form of a beautiful young man and eventually all 5 afflicted brothers being healed on her 18th birthday which was also her wedding day. Very Happily Ever After Thank You Very Much.

Story 6 – The Thief’s Daughter – Tess Amram
To recap, I am not a fan of f/f stories; however, I did read this and felt this would have been a better choice for an opening story if an f/f had to be the 1st story like it was in a previous FairyTale Slashed volume. I thought this was a nice twist on Beauty and the Beast. The way the author started with the village vilification of B draws the reader in the story in a “what the heck, how dare they!” and then the author’s characters’ bold dialogue draws you into the rest of the story and keeps the reader captive in the story – even when it’s not the reader’s subgenre of choice. Fantastic!!

Story 7 – Dance Away – KM Penemue
These f/f stories are not my cup of tea; but I did read this and found it somewhat tedious and felt it was drawn out. This is essentially a play on the dancing slipper/dancing princesses’ fairytale. The evil magician is stronger than the heroine, Saffron and is fixated on obtaining the throne through Saffron’s love interest Princess Aderes. Ultimately Saffron was able to think of a way with her rhyming magic and resourcefulness to save Princess Aderes, Aderes’ sleep-spelled sister Kimberline and win the King’s approval of her and Aderes’ engagement. Phew finally….

Story 8 – In the Land of the Damned – Camillia Quinn
This has to be one of the best fairytale slashed novellas I have never had the pleasure of reading. Aldo’s journey to Hell to prove his worth to win the hand of the king’s daughter as was prophesized upon his birth shows life isn’t predestined but destiny is a matter of one’s life choices. Aldo fulfills the prophecy foretold for those of his birthing circumstances; however, he has never been able to get the Devil out of his head after his journey to Hell and wonders about prophecies and how they influence actual people. The King didn’t believe him and left to journey to Hell himself only to have been missing the past 5 years. Aldo, never having really wanted the life he found himself in after passively fulfilling the foretold prophecy, decides to take action for himself. He journeys back to Hell, had his fortunes told – which are different from the prophecy already fulfilled from his birth – meets the King, meets the Devil again, and leaves to become the ferryman over the River of the Dead. The Devil finds him and grim happily ever after for the Devil and his ferryman.

A free copy was provided to me through Reading Alley in exchange for an honest review.