Category Archives: Book Reviews

Wolf’s Head (The Forest Lord #1) By Steven A. McKay – Review

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Title – Wolf’s Head (The Forest Lord #1)
Author – Steven A. McKay
Genre –  Historical Fiction
Length –  329 Pages (Kindle)
Publication – 4th July 2013
My Rating – 5/5 Stars

Synopsis

When a frightened young outlaw joins a gang of violent criminals their names – against a backdrop of death, dishonour, brotherhood, and love – will become legend.

ENGLAND 1321 AD

After viciously assaulting a corrupt but powerful clergyman Robin Hood flees the only home he has ever known in Wakefield, Yorkshire. Becoming a member of a notorious band of outlaws, Hood and his new companions – including John Little and Will Scaflock – hide out in the great forests of Barnsdale, fighting for their very existence as the law hunts them down like animals. When they are betrayed, and their harsh lives become even more unbearable, the band of friends seeks bloody vengeance. Meanwhile, the country is in turmoil, as many of the powerful lords strive to undermine King Edward II’s rule until, inevitably, rebellion becomes a reality and the increasingly deadly yeoman outlaw from Wakefield finds his fate bound up with that of a Hospitaller Knight…

“Wolf’s Head” brings the brutality, injustice and intensity of life in medieval England vividly to life, and marks the beginning of a thrilling new historical fiction series in the style of Bernard Cornwell and Simon Scarrow.

Review

So we’ve all heard of Robin Hood yes? Of course we have. As a boy Robin Hood was always one of my favourite characters. This was one of my reasons for buying this book. It also had great reviews and the cover just screamed at me this would be a great read.. and guess what.. it was!

Steven has decided to revamp the whole Robin Hood tale and has moved location to Yorkshire when England was under the reign of Edward II. This makes the book quite refreshing as it’s moved away from the well know tale set in Nottingham. From the authors notes at the end of the book you can see a lot of thought has went into this book and it shows.

The story tells of Hoods early life and the event that leads him to become an outlaw. We see him climb the ranks to eventually lead this band of outlaws.

Along the way we see him deal will conflict not only with the rich people of Yorkshire but also himself and the outlaws where personalities clearly clash

Wolf’s Head is fast paced from the start and very well written. Add to this a great story and you’ve got yourself a book that you just can’t put down!

Even though the setting has changed we still have the heroes we all know and love, Little John, Friar Tuck, Will Scarlet & Much

I’m not one for spoilers but the depth of Will’s character is brilliant and the story behind him plays out to perfection. He’s hot headed but damn you can’t help but like his style.

Chapter after chapter you see the tension grow as Steven takes you from one characters journey to another. I especially liked  Sir Richard-at-Lee so I’m excited to read Knight of the Cross which is a novella of Steven’s which I believe has a lot of focus on this character

As the tension grows and grows you can see something is about to happen and the ending of this book won’t disappoint.. If anything you are left screaming for more. The good new there is more 🙂 book 2 is already available and book 3 is on its way.

All in all I can’t fault this book in any way, brilliantly written it engages the reader from the first sentence.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I’m 100% sure you will to!

Find out more here – Goodreads – Amazon UK – Amazon.com

Praetorian: The Great Game by S.J.A. Turney – Review

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Title – Praetorian: The Great Game
Author – S.J.A. Turney
Genre –  Historical Ficton
Length –  468 Pages (Kindle)
Publication – 12th March 2015
My Rating – 5/5 Stars

Synopsis

Promoted to the elite Praetorian Guard in the thick of battle, a young legionary is thrust into a seedy world of imperial politics and corruption. Tasked with uncovering a plot against the newly-crowned emperor Commodus, his mission takes him from the cold Danubian border all the way to the heart of Rome, the villa of the emperor’s scheming sister, and the great Colosseum.

What seems a straightforward, if terrifying, assignment soon descends into Machiavellian treachery and peril as everything in which young Rufinus trusts and believes is called into question and he faces warring commanders, Sarmatian cannibals, vicious dogs, mercenary killers and even a clandestine Imperial agent. In a race against time to save the Emperor, Rufinus will be introduced, willing or not, to the great game.

Review

I was kindly gifted a copy of this book by the author and i can honestly say I was not disappointed. I’ve read a few books now in the same genre and many start slowly building up as they go along… not this one. Thrust straight into the action with our hero saving the life of a Praetorian prefect.

This starts the whole journey for Rufinus as he is promoted to the Praetorian guard after meeting the emperor. This sudden promotion gains him some new friends but also enemies!

We see Rufinus deal with these enemies the only way he knows how.. his fists! We then see a feud escalate. Not to give away anything I particularly liked the way Rufinus dealt with this situation.

Now Rufinus is chosen to save the emperor from a suspected plot against him. During this we see him struggle with being deceitful whilst also trying to gain favor in order to get closer to those who are suspected to be plotting against the emperor.

There are so many twists and turns along the way that the book kept me gripped and I honestly had no idea if Rufinus would succeed in his task or not.

The ending to the book did not disappoint either; I have no trouble recommending this book to anyone. It was a fantastic read.

The chapters flowed well, the characters relationships grew before your eyes. You could see alliances and friendships forming.  The author clearly put a lot of time and effort into this book and it shows

One thing I really loved about this book is that I took an instant dislike to one of the Praetorian prefects, the other I really liked. I found as I went along and Rufinus made discoveries along the way my opinion of the prefects changed. It was amazing to see how easily Simon managed to change my viewpoint as a reader so quickly.

Simon clearly knows his stuff, the book was brilliantly written from my stand point. I couldn’t pick anything I didn’t like or even anything I would have elaborated further on. It was simply a brilliant book and one of the best I’ve had the pleasure of reading.

If you do one thing today make sure it’s to click the picture above and view the book on Goodreads, read the other reviews, check Amazon.. then buy the book. It’s well worth the money

Last comment is directly for Simon.. My next pet will definitely be named Acheron!

The Warlords of Antares (First Contact) by Brian K. Larson – Review

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Title – The Warlords of Antares (First Contact)
Author – Brian K. Larson
Genre –  Fantasy/Science Fiction
Length –  298 Pages
Publication – 10th April 2015
My Rating – 4/5 Stars

Synopsis

Betelgeuse star went supernova 640 years ago. The explosion opened an unstable wormhole to Earth. It took all those years for the corridor to stabilized. The Warlord’s Emperor sent a scout to investigate the newly discovered life forms, and to bring back specimens for their arena games. Their Antarian blood lust must be quenched…and the Antarian Boreshog beast they must face, has never been defeated.

The benevolent Eridonians’ mission is to prepare the people of Earth for the coming onslaught. Join Navy Captain Jedediah Fitz and USMC Major Race Jennings on their quest to fight Earth’s newest enemy.

Prepare yourselves, the Warlords are coming.

Review

I must admit combining genres like Science Fiction and Fantasy work well for me.

The story is pretty straight forward, good guys & bad guys with added aliens, wormholes, nukes and blood. Pretty good mix if you ask me.

So to start with we learn about two races of aliens the warlord Antarians and the Eridonians. The Eridonians don’t like what the warlords do and want to stop Earth from being invaded.

A wormhole the Eridonians have been monitoring is now stable enough for the warlords to traverse and it leads straight to Earth!

Now the Eridonians have been watching us for some time and now they show themselves to us and enlist the help of the Earths forces to defend the planet from invasion

Things never go to plan and our heroes end up traveling through the wormhole to rescue some crew members who’ve been taken hostage.

We learn a lot more about the alien races at this point and learn about the bloodlust of the Antarians and the games they hold in their arena.

I don’t want to give the whole plot away but there’s an interesting tale being told with the bloodlust and the challenges our heroes face.

I’m a fan of Brian’s work anyway. His books suit adults and young adults as well. I think this is mainly due to his writing style as all his books flow well with a decent chapter length and you don’t get bogged down in too much detail.

The author manages to give the main characters some depth throughout the story and you may find out you like someone you initially thought you wouldn’t.

Now if you want me to be picky I felt the jump sequence used to travel space was a bit long. You hear it used throughout the book so i would have probably shortened it but that’s just me.

I guess my only complaint about the book which really isn’t a complaint is that it left me wondering what happened next.. I felt the ending of the book was good but i wanted more. Am i being greedy??

Overall i really enjoyed the book and i hope you do as well. Do i think the book is worth the money? yes definitely. Keep em coming Brian and i’ll keep buying!

Spartacus III: The Pharaoh’s Blade (The Spartacus Chronicles #3) by Robert Southworth – Review

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Title – Spartacus III: The Pharaoh’s Blade (The Spartacus Chronicles #3)
Author – Robert Southworth
Genre –  Historical Ficton
Length –  254 Pages (Kindle)
Publication – 4th April 2015
My Rating – 5/5 Stars

Synopsis

Empires clash as they hunt for a fabled blade. Spartacus and his friends fight for survival, amidst men who will stop at nothing to hold the legendary weapon. Danger threatens from the shadows, as old and new enemies emerge with violent intent. Spartacus and those he loves will stand together and even the Gods are undecided upon their fate.

Review

So this is Rob’s third and final Spartacus story and wow, what a great way to end it.

The story starts well with the back story into a legendary dagger, it is quickly shown to us that this dagger is not one you want falling into the hands of the wrong person. so much so Thutmose who currently holds the dagger send it away from his land as he knows the in wrong hands it could caused disaster.

Fast forward a bit and now we find ourselves back with our hero Spartacus along with his friends Cassian and Plinius,

Our friends are approached while returning from war and thrust it to one last war to secure the peaceful life they wish so much for. Crassus their enemy will do anything to get this dagger and its up to Spartacus to make sure this doesn’t happen

The book quickly moves from battle to battle, each side incurring loses and we see our hero’s deal with this loss

I really don’t want to give too much away as I think you should read the story for yourself and I hope like myself you won’t be disappointed with how the book ends. I knew Rob wouldn’t be able to keep this series going forever but I really do think he tied the series up nicely.

Rest assured if you’ve read the pervious two books you will love this.

Since reading the first two instalments I can see the editing has improved, I think I noted only a couple spelling/grammar errors but nothing that stopped my reading progress or spoilt the story

Overall I can’t think of anything that I didn’t like about this book, I felt the story progressed at a good pace so you didn’t get bogged down in fight scenes. The new characters fitted in well and the story line itself was intriguing. I found I read this book pretty quickly as Rob kept my interest throughout the story

Honestly if this is your type of genre then you should definitely read this series

Keep the books coming Rob!

Days of Throbbing Gristle by Kevin Cole – Review

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Title – Days of Throbbing Gristle
Author – Kevin Cole
Genre – Fiction
Length – 821 Pages (Kindle)
Publication – 16th April 2014
My Rating – 5/5 Stars

Synopsis

It’s 1987. Sam Henry Hay, a 17-year-old exchange student from Sheffield, hops into Texas, USA, with one burning ambition: Manipulate his gullible host parents into funding his university, and leave his dead-end life in Yorkshire behind.

But is Sam manipulating America or America manipulating Sam? The clever lad schmoozes his way into many a bed and purse, yet can’t get rid of anyone. He executes careful plans, only to watch them disastrously fall apart. Worst of all, this once proud nihilist watches in horror as he reveals a conscience, in a world growing ever darker around him.

Days of Throbbing Gristle is not your typical teenage tale. It’s a razor-slashing journey through a time and place that really was as bad as you’ve heard. For some, high school is the best time in their lives. For others, it’s a miracle they make it to the other side.

Review

Full disclosure I was given a copy of this book by the author in exchange for a honest review.

First of let me tell you this book a quite long. Over 800 pages which is the longest book I’ve read but It is well worth reading.

The book follows Sam as he moved to the US to begin a new life away from Sheffield and is a coming of age tale with quite a lot of subjects thrown in. This is one of the main reasons I loved the book. How can you get bored with so many topics being examined by the author. Kevin Cole tackles drugs, sex, religion to name but a few. Personally i feel this gave great depth to the book as it made it feel real

Along Sam’s adventure we meet a number of characters and you see how he outwardly deals with them while also knowing his inside thoughts and feelings. As the novel is quite long this gave Kevin a great chance to deliver with the character development and boy did he. You see relationships grow and change and if anything i was kept guessing at what next would happen.

I’ll admit from the synopsis i really didn’t know what to expect from this book and when i noticed it was over 800 pages i was a little daunted at the prospect of reading it but Kevin managed to hook me quickly and kept me reading. Most books i might put down after an hour or so but i found myself reading for longer without noticing the time passing.

For fear of spoilers i don’t want to give too much away but i wasn’t let down by how the book finished but nor did i expect the ending we were given. Such is Kevin’s style of writing that he left me with no clue what was going to happen from chapter to chapter and this made it the brilliant read it was

So i think I’ve given the book enough praise.. now to nit pick. Being such a long novel inevitably you are going to find some inconsistencies. There were a couple typos and places where i thought names might have been mixed up but really nothing that affected my reading

That’s it really.. what more can i say..Sam is a brilliant character, you’ll love and hate him at the same time. If you are a fan of reading longer novels then i would definitely recommend this. The same goes for anyone who is either stuck with deciding what to read next or like me wanted to try something outside of their usual genre.

By the Sword (Spoils of Olympus #1) by Christian Kachel – Review

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Title – By the Sword (Spoils of Olympus #1
Author – Christian Kachel
Genre – Historical Fiction
Length – 370 Pages (Kindle)
Publication – September 2014
My Rating 5 / 5 Stars

Synopsis

322 B.C.

The Macedonian Empire is on the verge of civil war following the sudden death of Alexander the Great.

As a boy Andrikos watched as Alexander’s army marched through his homeland of Greek Ionia after defeating the Persians at the Granicus River.

Soon he will be embroiled in their world – and forced forced to flee his old life.

Thrust into the army, Andrikos struggles to cope with the brutal training, as Alexander’s surviving generals seek to divide and conquer the spoils of Olympus.

But Andrikos is not destined to be a nameless soldier.

By chance he is chosen for a clandestine mission – and is immersed in a world of intrigue, violence and brotherhood.

The path that lies ahead of Andrikos requires him to shed his immaturity and take on the responsibilities and emotions of a man beyond his years.

Review

Where do i start! Wow! This book was great! I’m a fan of the genre anyway but i was surprised just how much i enjoyed it.

This book follows Andrikos as he turns from a boy into a man.

The story starts slow but quickly Andrikos is thrust into the army after he and his friends get into a bit of bother with some local lowlifes. We following him as he leaves his family behind and undergoes basic endurance training while marching to join the army where he makes and looses friends along the way.

You find out a lot about his position in the army and how the structure works and there is great detail in the clashes between the warring armies

The best bit about this book comes next, i won’t give too much away but he gets involved in some clandestine actions within the warring armies and it made the book enjoyable and easy to read as you weren’t bogged down in full on army vs army all out war scenes.

I feel you see Andrikos grow quickly, he even finds a potential love interest along the way which i think fitted perfect into the story.

All in all i would definitely recommend this book. If you’ve read anything by Gordon Doherty like i have i think this book will be right up your street.

I’m eagerly awaiting the next book in the series

The Letters by Ella Drayton – Review

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Title – The Letters
Author – Ella Drayton
Genre –  Mystery
Length –  258 Pages (Kindle)
Publication – January 2015
My Rating – 4/5 Stars

Synopsis

Brodie Barrett is a widowed mother of a 10 year old girl and a homicide detective for the Birmingham Police Department. Everything seems fine in her world until her ex-fiance, Keaton Maddox walks back into her life. She’s ready to start a new life with Keaton but he’s also got a pregnant girlfriend working at his restaurant. Things at work start heating up for Brodie when someone decides to send her love letters at work. These aren’t your ordinary love letters, though! These letters leave clues for Brodie to find bodies of her admirer’s victims. Who could be sending these letters and why do they want Brodie to find the bodies?

Review

Full disclosure I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ok so this book is the first book from author Ella Drayton about a detective called Brodie. Bodies soon turn up and killer wants her to find them.. the book is all about her trying to figure out who the killer is whilst also trying to sort out her personal life.

The synopsis grabbed me straight away, the idea the killer was linked to her somehow intrigued me.

I enjoyed the story line, the book was written well and very easy to read. The mix of private life and work life seemed to work well for the story.

There was strong development of the character Brodie. Since the murders are linked to her it gave Ella a great opportunity to give you more information on her and the relationships she has with other people in the book. These relationships and the information you gain made me certain who the killer was but Ella keeps the motive/background unknown until late in the book to keep you interested..

It’s very hard to pick faults with this book, if i’m honest i guess i just didn’t really like Brodie. I would have liked to see more bodies turn up, maybe a few more twists to throw you off the killers trail and to see the struggle Brodie would have gone through, accusing those close to her, doubting everyone.

The only other comment i would have is that i noticed a couple grammar or spelling errors but nothing major and it definitely didn’t spoil the book

In conclusion I enjoyed reading the book, it has a lot going for it and would definitely be interested in seeing what Ella comes up with next.

Meteor Storm by David Capps – Review

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Title – Meteor Storm
Author – David Capps
Genre – Science Fiction
Length – 305 Pages (Kindle)
Publication – January 2015
My Rating – 3/5 Stars

Synopsis

63,000 years ago, an ancient civilization existed far advanced over our own, but it was destroyed by a natural cataclysm. Now that same cataclysm is about to strike our modern world…

When Carl stumbles upon an unknown robot’s head, he manages with some effort to get it working. From the robot, Carl learns that it was created by an ancient civilization 63,000 years ago in northern India. The robot reports though, that the culture was destroyed by a meteor storm that killed all, but a thousand people planet wide.

When Carl learns that Earth is entering the same place in the galaxy where the meteor field exists, he warns people on TV, but finds himself ridiculed and ignored. To protect the world, Carl works to find out more about the ancient civilization and how to prevent a repeat of history.

To do this, Carl travels to a secret cave where the ancient technology is stored and here Carl meets a fully functioning robot from the ancient civilization. Now Carl must do everything in his power to preserve as many lives and as much of the current civilization as possible to avoid full scale destruction…


Review

Full disclosure I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Please note this review does involve spoilers, head over to Goodreads to view this review spoiler free!

This book revolves around Karl/Carl who discovers there is going to be a meteor storm that will kill everyone if he doesn’t do something. He gets this knowledge from  a robots head which has been kept locked away by the government

I must say the story line was very intriguing and I was excited to read the book. The whole idea of such an event happing is fascinating.

The story is quite fast paced and I especially liked seeing them plan for the future and then them dealing with the aftermath of the meteor storm. The ideas the author used clearly show they put a lot of thought into it. It really made me think what would actually happen if such an event happened to the world now. As a reader this was a very good subject to keep me interested.

My only issue with this book is that on a few occasions it left me thinking I had missed something. The character development is definitely there just to me it didn’t flow right at times.

For example you learn straight away that Carl has had argument with his boss over something they were keeping secret which Carl didn’t agree with… but you don’t find out until later what exactly this was.

You learn Carl went to prison but again you didn’t find out why until much later on in the book.

I can see why the author wrote the book the way they did but as a reader it confused me slightly as I felt maybe I had missed something and backtracked only to find out the information comes to light much later on.

Lastly the love interest.. Now this was the big thing I didn’t understand. At first Tia is scared of him after his surgery, next they share a moment when she’s helping set up his new identity… then suddenly you are told they have grown close while working on the robots head. I would have much preferred to have more scenes which showed them growing close rather than just being told.

As you go on with the book you do see a relationship growing between the pair I just felt the comment about them growing close should have been left to much later in the book where it would have fitted in better.

Overall I did enjoy the book, the character development just confused me a little at times. I’ll be honest though it didn’t make me enjoy the book any less and if you are a fan of the genre I would say it’s worth a read but be warned it’s not as dark as some of the apocalyptic science fiction books out there. If you’ve not read an apocalyptic book before this might be a nice book to start with.

I’ll be watching to see what David comes up with next

Gone Fishing by J.W. Metcalf – Review

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Title – Gone Fishing
Author – J. W. Metcalf
Genre – Mystery
Length – 409 Pages (Kindle)
Publication – December 2014
My Rating – 4/5 Stars

Synopsis

After being Injured during his last case. Tony Gavel decides to head up to his hunting cabin in Red Valley Falls to recuperate.
While there, Tony learns that a serial killer escaped transfer to a Federal Penitentiary and has killed a few people in the surrounding woods around town.
When Sheriff Myers, one of Tony’s good friends, winds up murdered Tony takes up the manhunt to find Doogan ‘The Ear’ Ashe.
Evidence suggests that his friend Sheriff Myers was not killed by Doogan but by someone trying to make it look like he did. Now it’s a race against time to find out who really killed Sheriff Myers and also to capture Doogan Ashe before he kills again.

Review

Full disclosure, I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second book in the Tony Gavel series. Tony is a PI, trouble seems to be attracted to him and even when he needs to be resting he gets drawn into a case.

I found the story line very intriguing, the whole Doogan Ashe mystery kept me thinking and every turn of the page I was waiting for him to show his face.It’s fast paced and full of twists. By the end of the book I was sure i knew who the killer was only to find out i was wrong all along.

Talk about character development! This book is full of it! You are given a great deal of info on a lot of people. If anything this is where the 4 star rating comes from. I think a great deal of time went into each character but I found myself wanting more information on one particular person – Marshal Greta Ostmen. I just felt maybe that being a Marshal she could have brought more to the man hunt and we could have had more scenes with Greta and Tony searching for Doogan. I would go as far as to suggest Greta Ostmen could be a character to use in a spin off series

This book is a great read, flows well and easy to follow. I would have no problem in suggesting you read this if you like a bit of a mystery and detective work.

I’d never read the previous Tony Gavel novel but now I’ve read this book i will definitely be purchasing it and will be eagerly awaiting book 3

Driven to Kill (The Killing Game Book 1) by Eugenio Salvato – Review

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Title: Driven To Kill (The Killing Game #1)
Author: Eugenio Salvato
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Length: 495 Pages (Kindle)
Publication: March 2014
My Rating: 3/5 Stars

Synopsis

Jake Knight is a detective with an uneventful career. Baxter Black is a vigilante with a mission who cannot be stopped. Until Jake locks him up for life.
Lillian is heartbroken when her daughter Clara is diagnosed with cancer that cannot be cured. Her only hope lies in a new wonder drug that’s being used as a treatment for cancer. But the trial was set up long ago and the drug won’t be released for another two years; too late to save Clara’s life. Grace, Lillian’s older daughter, has access to the drug and comes up with a plan to steal some for her sister. She has no idea how far reaching the consequences will be.
Jake Knight is assigned a new partner, a rookie named Dayna Colton. Dayna may be their only shot at getting inside Baxter’s head to stop a new killing spree that must be connected. But is everything really as it seems?

Review

I had read Gino’s previous novel so i was looking forward to his next piece of work even though they are on different subjects.

This book is quick flowing, lots of conversations and action shifting from one scene to another. I was drawn into so much that I couldn’t put the book down and managed to finish it within a day. As the book went on i found myself wanting to keep reading so i could find out what would happen next

The only comment i would make is that the dialog was a little hard to follow at times and I did need to back track in order to work out who was talking but I still enjoyed reading the book

With regards to the story line itself… i think it’s a great concept. Maybe this could have been developed a bit further, i would have loved to know more about Baxter Black

I’m looking forward to seeing what Gino comes up with next and to see his work progress