Tag: Fantasy

Bite of Betrayal by R.L. Caulder

Fiction

Alina’s tale in Bite of Loyalty began late on a Saturday night, early Sunday morning really, when she was essentially rescued in the form of being taken to another realm by a goddess who sensed that she was in need. From there she got barely one night of rest before she immediately had to prepare for her new life as a vampire. Having very little control over her new urges for blood and knowing next to nothing about the rules and etiquette of vampire society, she is expected to attend classes the next day with students, all of whom have been vampires for quite a while and are well versed in all the things she is not. The entire book spans just four days. Bite of Betrayal, the second book in the Blood Oath series, begins where it left off, on a Wednesday morning. Things progress with the same intense, expedited speed in book two, with Alina just making it through her first week at the Academy. 

This book could be so much better if there was more detail, more plot, more depth. I think that if the author could have spread the timeline out it could have potentially been on the same level as some of the truly great fantasy series that are popular right now. Because honestly, the speed at which things occur really makes the story hard to believe, even though it is a fantasy series about vampires. But, I don’t find myself saying that about other books in the same genre, because the way that time moves and feelings and rapport between characters develop in other more complex stories make them truly believable. And even though I know that magic and superpowers and unusual creatures aren’t real, it feels like they are when the story is well written. The best I can say about this book is that the spicy level is equal to that of the first, and those few scenes were worth reading.

Bite of Loyalty by R.L. Caulder

Fiction

I am now almost constantly on the hunt for spicy novels. Pretty much any time I get a whiff of a book that has a mature audience rating I find myself almost immediately researching what it is about and pondering if it is worth me buying. I think I may have found a decent series in the Blood Oath books by R. L. Caulder. 

We are introduced to the young Alina Van Helsing, a family that is synonymous with vampire slaying, as she must endure the task of choosing a husband now that she has had her twenty-first birthday. A tragedy occurs while she is out celebrating with her friends, one which puts an immediate stop to the dreaded obligation of marrying young which she was very much looking to avoid. Her life changes incredibly drastically in less than a week, I am not quite sure how she manages to handle it. As you are reading, it is hard not to notice how fast paced everything is, with events progressing in a matter of hours and days rather than weeks. I would have enjoyed more detail and more of a drawn out plot, but at least the spicy scenes are well written and there are three more books in the series that I am looking forward to reading. I give this story a two out of five on my spice scale, and I hope that in the next book maybe that spice will go up to a three.

Dune by Frank Herbert

Fiction

I bought this book with the intention of finishing it in time to go see the film in theaters, but that didn’t happen. When I came to terms with the fact that I wouldn’t be able to get through it before it left theaters I spoke to my friend who had read the book. I asked her if they managed to fit the entire book into one film and she said no. So I had then planned to read up to the part she said the film ended at, but that didn’t happen either, because I will say, getting through the first few chapters was a bit rough. You just get thrown in the middle of it without any backstory or explanations, which can be challenging or frustrating when the text is full of unusual made up words and strange names. Trying to figure out what the words meant and how the characters were related to each other meant that I was reading relatively slowly at first. But as soon as I got into the story I found myself looking forward to my evening reading in bed. 

I’ve been trying to think about what reading this feels like, or what it can compare to, but I can’t think of anything. I always mentally compare it to Tatooine, because of the vast deserts, but it’s more than that and vastly different from Star Wars. It’s political, tribal, mystical, but also serious and dark, expressing very few moments of joy or humor. It is definitely a book I would read again.

Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Mass

Fiction

This book was almost one thousand pages and I still wish it had been longer. While a great deal happened and the important loose ends were tied up there was still so much more that I wanted. But overall, it was everything I could have wanted and I especially loved the very last sentence. 

My biggest frustration is over Eyllwe. After Aelin’s anger and regret over the death of her friend, princess Nehemia, and knowing of Aelin’s desire to protect the Ytger family and their land as a means of honoring her friend, we never really get to go to Eyllwe or meet any of the royal family. We only ever see its shores and hear about what is happening inland and I was a little disappointed in this. Nehemias sacrifice was made with the intention to push Aelin into action so that she could potentially end the war with Erawan, and I was really looking forward to Aelin meeting her parents to express her love and gratitude for what their daughter did. 

While the battles sequences were important to the storytelling, the back and forth between the southern army marching towards Orynth, in order to provide much needed aid, and the active massacre occuring, was so incredibly long and exhausting. It made me feel as though the end of the book was rushed because so much text was spent on describing the battles as well as the despair of both those fighting and those trying to reach them on time to save the city. It leaves you wondering what went on in the following weeks as all the main players began to rebuild the city, heal the wounded, and figure out how they were going to rule. I would have enjoyed reading about the aftermath, it would not have been as exciting as the battle sequences but it would have been interesting to me. 

Besides all of that, I did enjoy the way the series ended. I was left wanting more, in a good way, but I am happy that the book had a mostly positive ending for the people trying to do right by the world.

Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas

Fiction

I loved getting to go to the southern continent, of which we have heard about in all of the preceding books. Like Wendlyn, magic remained here when it was wiped from Erilea, but it is a different type of magic than what we saw in the eastern continent as there aren’t Fae here. While reading it gives you the impression that the author was inspired by Asian, South American, and Native American culture that I hope to see represented if this ever becomes made into films or a series. I had an amazing time reading the story through Nesryn, Chaol, and Yrenes’ eyes and I really look forward to hopefully getting to experience more narrative from  their perspectives in the seventh and final book. Learning more about the magic of the southern continent from Yrene, rooting for Chaol as he tries to get the use of his legs back, and experiencing adventure with Nesryn had me finishing Tower of Dawn in three days. This is impressive even for me considering that it is over six hundred pages. They were six hundred of the best pages I have ever read and I might even say that it could be my favorite book in the series after Empire of Storms, which I also loved. Come back next week to see what I have to say about the final book, Kingdom of Ash.