THE GETAWAY GOD

The Getaway God by Richard Kadrey
Book 6 of the Sandman Slim series
Read by MacLeod Andrews
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook

About The Getaway God:

Sandman Slim must save himself — and the entire world — from the wrath of some enraged and vengeful ancient gods in this sixth high-octane adventure in the New York Times bestselling series.

Being a half-human, half-angel nephilim with a bad rep and a worse attitude — not to mention temporarily playing Lucifer — James Stark aka Sandman Slim has made a few enemies. None, though, are as fearsome as the vindictive Angra Om Ya — the old gods. But their imminent invasion is only one of Stark's problems right now. LA is descending into chaos, and a new evil — the Wildfire Ripper — is stalking the city.

No ordinary killer, The Ripper takes Stark deep into a conspiracy that stretches from Earth to Heaven and Hell. He's also the only person alive who may know how to keep the world from going extinct. The trouble is, he's also Stark's worst enemy . . . the only man in existence Stark would enjoy killing twice.

Source: Info in the About The Getaway God was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18456381-the-getaway-god on 11/01/2015.

My Thoughts:

In this book Richard Kadrey brought us back to Stark's origins which I wasn't expecting and was a nice surprise. The past came to haunt him and almost got him too. But of course our bad-ass hero survived. Not necessarily win... but survived. However I didn't like the way Stark lost the ability to shadow-walk... That one is a bummer... and that was one of his major advantage against his enemies. Now I wonder how the author is going to spin the story next and let Stark still survive enough for several more books down the line for this series... Probably beat the sh**t out of our hero... Anyway, this book still has the same good story telling quality which has always been true for this series. However, having said that, it still took me a very long time to finish this book. I'm not sure if its me, or the book is just slow. And compared to the other books I've read in this series thus far, this is my least favourite. I guess it gotta happen sometime... But that doesn't mean that I am no longer a fan of this series, because I still very much am... Fingers crossed that Kadrey gets his mojo back with the next book.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 3.5
Character development = 4
Story itself = 3
Ending = 4
World building = 5
Cover art = 2
Pace = 1.5
Plot = 3.5
Narration = 5

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Sandman Slim Series:

 

FTC Disclosure:
This book, in all its formats, were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.

WILD COUNTRY

Wild Country by Anne Bishop
Book 7 of The Others series
Narrated by Alexandra Harris
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook, & audiobook

About Wild Country:

There are ghost towns in the world — places where the humans were annihilated in retaliation for the slaughter of the shape-shifting Others.

One of those places is Bennett, a town at the northern end of the Elder Hills — a town surrounded by the wild country. Now efforts are being made to resettle Bennett as a community where humans and Others live and work together. A young female police officer has been hired as the deputy to a Wolfgard sheriff. A deadly type of Other wants to run a human-style saloon. And a couple with four foster children — one of whom is a blood prophet — hope to find acceptance.

But as they reopen the stores and the professional offices and start to make lives for themselves, the town of Bennett attracts the attention of other humans looking for profit. And the arrival of the Blackstone Clan, outlaws and gamblers all, will uncover secrets…or bury them.

Source: Info in the About Wild Country was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40508188-wild-country on 28/12/2018.

My Thoughts:

I am just not convinced of Virgil's background and he can still become a Sheriff of a town like Bennett. It just doesn't compute. The authenticity factor is shot to hell and back. Another issue I have trouble suspending disbelief with is that there were a lot of humans able to accumulate around Bennett in the wild country territory with the Elders around when the Elders were suppose to eat humans in the wild country. The story line there just doesn't add up. And others things like that, peppered through out the book that brought the ratings of this book down.

As usual Alexandra Harris' voice is lovely, her reading is not.

At the end of it, I still enjoyed this book, but not as much as I did the previous books.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4
Character development = 3
Story itself = 3.5
Writing Style = 3.5
Ending = 3.5
World building = 4.5
Cover art = 3
Pace = (17 hrs & 57 mins listening time)
Plot = 2
Narration = 1.5

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Others Series:

           

The Author
	Anne Bishop lives in upstate New York where she enjoys gardening, music, and writing dark, romantic stories. She is the author of fourteen novels, including the award-winning Black Jewels Trilogy. Her most recent novel, Twilight’s Dawn, made the New York Times bestseller list. She is currently working on a new series, which is an urban dark fantasy with a bit of a twist. Crawford Award (2000)
www.annebishop.com | goodreads | amazon

FTC Disclosure:
This book, in all its formats, were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.

THIS BROKEN WORLD

This Broken World by Eric R. Asher
Book 4 of the Vesik series
Read by William Dufris
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audio

About This Broken World:

An ocean of darkness lives in the journal of Philip Pinkerton. Ancient things with no place in our world are rising from the Abyss. Ezekiel, the arrogant, mad god has called us into battle. Does he think we can't touch him, or does he know we can't? I wish I knew. The world’s only hope lies in a forgotten weapon, the strength of our allies, and one necromancer of questionable ancestry. Yeah, this is going to end well.

Source: Info in the About This Broken World was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23296435-this-broken-world on 16/01/2018.

Buy Link(s):
 

My Thoughts:

In the last instalment in this series, the entire book is about our group of protagonists running around from one fight to another. This book is more of the same. Having said that, this series is starting to feel like "same old, same old". Being book 4, I hope that the author has more tricks up his sleeve to keep this series alive.

In this book, the story arc embarks on to a, "coming of age" theme. The entire world is no longer the same. So from urban fantasy, this book is taking on a post-apocalyptic genre cross-over. Thus the title "This Broken World". The world is permanently changed and expecting chaos. It would be fun to see how Eric Asher spins this story arc into. For now, we see the birth of a new world. And its broken. Meaning we will see more fighting like we have been seeing for the last few books. But I still like the idea of Vesik so I will continue following this series until I've had enough...

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4
Character development = 4
Story itself = 3
Writing Style = 3.5
Ending = 3.5
World building = 4.5
Cover art = 4.5
Pace = 1.5
Plot = 3
Narration = 5

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Vesik Series:

               

About Eric R. Asher
	Eric is a former bookseller, guitarist, and comic seller currently living in Saint Louis, Missouri. A lifelong enthusiast of books, music, toys, and games, he discovered a love for the written word after being dragged to the library by his parents at a young age. When he is not writing, you can usually find him reading, gaming, or buried beneath a small avalanche of Transformers.
www.daysgonebad.com | facebook | facebook author page | twitter | goodreads | pinterest | google+

FTC Disclosure:
This book was purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.