FALLEN EMPIRE

Fallen Empire by K.N. Lee
Book 1 of the Empire of Dragons Chronicles
Genre: epic fantasy
Format: ebook

About Fallen Empire:

They say the Age of Dragons ended after the War on Magic, but hiding in the forgotten lands remains one clan.

While Kylan hunts firedrakes by day, he prepares for a journey across the Sea of Dreams where mermaids thrive and the key to his people's survival is prophecized to be hidden.

Amalia, a Mage, escaped The Brotherhood, a sect of monks who seek the descendants of the gods once. Now, unable to return to neutral territory where magic-users are safe, she finds herself fighting for survival amongst men who can turn into wolves, firedrakes, and a relentless monk who believes she can restore balance to the entire world.

For Amalia, the gods are not just a memory. They are her ancestors, and before she can learn to control her newfound gift, she will face the keeper of a forgotten empire.

A dragon.

In this sprawling epic fantasy novel with shifting wolf hybrids, dragons, and mermaids, Amalia's first battle is for more than her life. It's for the souls of every being born with magic. Join New York Times bestselling author, K.N. Lee on an adventure perfect for fans of Vikings and Game of Thrones.

Source: Info in the About Fallen Empire was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36560333-fallen-empire on 19/06/2018.

My Thoughts:

What drew me to this book is the fantastic book cover! Now that, I bought without even reading the book synopsis. I know, I'm superficial that way. Book covers matter to me. I have to say, that when it comes to sales pitch, the cover art department or whoever did the cover design, aced it! It sold the book to me! The other thing that got this book read is the fact that it got dragons in it! All hail the dragons!!! And then the world building is just fantastic!! The dragons are good, the elves are distant, the forest is dense, the rivers are cool, there is rugged terrain, violent seas, etc., etc., wonderful!! Additionally, I really like the voice of this author! It has a compelling quality. The character development though is a tinee, tiny effy... as in, the heroine has a tendency to be "too stupid to live" (TSTL). I'm kinda hoping that this will not bloom into a full TSTL in the subsequent books in the series. Now that, would be a real shame... However, it ends in a whooping, huge cliffhanger!! And here's the real kicker, I have a feeling that this author is a cliffie kind of author. So am not sure I'm buying anymore of her books... such a shame though, with that wonderful voice...

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4
Story itself = 4
Writing Style = 4
Ending = 0.5
World building = 4.5
Cover art = 5
Pace = 4
Plot = 3.5

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Empire of Dragons Chronicles:

Amazon

Amazon

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Meet The Author

About KN Lee:

K.N. Lee is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who resides in Charlotte, North Carolina. When she is not writing twisted tales, fantasy novels, and dark poetry, she does a great deal of traveling and promotes other authors. Wannabe rockstar, foreign language enthusiast, and anime geek, K.N. Lee also enjoys helping others reach their writing and publishing goals. She is a winner of the Elevate Lifestyle Top 30 Under 30 "Future Leaders of Charlotte" award for her success as a writer, business owner, and for community service.

She is signed with Captive Quill Press and Patchwork Press.

K.N. Lee loves hearing from fans and readers. Connect with her!

www.knlee.com | www.writelikeawizard.com | twitter | facebook | google+ | youtube | pinterest | instagram | wattpad | goodreads

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

BEHEMOTH

Behemoth by Trevor H. Cooley
Book 11 of The Bowl Of Souls series
Read by James Foster
Genre: epic fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook

About Behemoth:

THE FINALE OF THE JHARRO GROVE SAGA

The Behemoth was created a thousand years ago, its body stretching for miles under Malaroo’s swamplands turning them into a dangerous and uninhabitable place. Now it has learned to swallow the peoples of Malaroo and transform them into its own army; a twisted mix of troll and man known as the Trollkin. It hungers to consume the power of the Jharro Grove and if it succeeds the world will be plunged into darkness.

Justan and Jhonate, forced to hold off their wedding until the threat is over, find themselves stuck between the two rival factions that are the only hope of defeating the Behemoth and its everlasting hunger.

A Bowl of Souls novel.

Source: Info in the About Behemoth was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34623320-behemoth on 05/08/2017.

My Thoughts:

Reading this book after waiting for so long after the last book was like meeting old friends again! And I am particularly happy to see Fist again, being his lovable ogre self! By now I am an old die hard fan of this series. And this book was a wonderful 5 star read! The down side is, that you have to trudge through previous books first to get here! And that is not an arduous task as it may sound. It has its down sides and upsides. You just have to roll with the bad as with the good. And the series has lots and lots of good reading times!

Sure, some would say that the plot is kind of formulaic, so what? It is the pleasure of reading it that matters! And it is a pleasurable read! At first I was kinda reluctant to read through the book so I only listened to it halfway through. I was reluctant because I knew this book is going to be a cliffhanger simply because every single book in this series is a cliffie. And it is kind of one, but only if you read the epilogue. Even then, it is still kind of not... This book closes 12 books worth of story and it is satisfying! Of course I want more! So the epilogue tells me what to expect next and I very much like that, so those of you who is thinking of following this series, read the epilogue! :) Needless to say that this is the best book in the series!

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

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Bowl Of Souls Series:

                     

 

The Author
	Since putting out his first book: Eye of the Moonrat in May of 2012, Trevor H. Cooley has sold over 200,000 copies of his books in ebook and audio formats. He was born in South Carolina and has lived all around the United states, including Utah, New Mexico, Michigan and Tennessee. His love of reading started in the second grade with Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain series. He couldn’t get enough and continued with David Eddings, Tolkein, Robert Jordan, Stephen King, and many others. Since then, all he wanted was to become a published writer. The characters and concepts that eventually became the Bowl of Souls series started in his teens. He wrote short stories, kept notebooks full of ideas, and generally dreamed about the world constantly. There were several attempts at starting a novel over the years. Not long after he was married, his wife told him to stop talking about the story and write it down. Many years and rewrites and submissions and rejection letters later, he finally put the books on Amazon. In August of 2013 he quit his day job and started writing full time.
trevorhcooley.com | facebook | twitter | pinterest | google+ | goodreads | amazon

The Narrator
	James Foster was born in Björk’s house in Iceland and grew up on Easter Island, where his parents were giant stone heads. He has the ability to fire beams of tacos out of his hands and he can turn his legs into tigers. On Sundays, James enjoys reading Family Circus and traveling through time. His favorite color is greenish-transparent and his favorite movie is the one you just watched. James is in charge of uploading the staff bios to the website, and no one has checked over his work.
jamesnarrates.com | twitter | facebook | google+ | instagram | goodreads | linkedin | audible

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

THE WOMAN IN THE WOODS

The Woman In the Woods by John Connolly
Read by Jeff Harding
Charlie Parker series Book 16
Genre: paranormal crime fiction
Format: ebook & audiobook

About The Woman In the Woods:

The new thrilling installment of John Connolly's popular Charlie Parker series.

Charlie Parker aids the police when a buried, semi-mummified body of a woman is discovered. She apparently died of childbirth. Parker has to find out who she was and what happened to the child.

Source: Info in the About The Woman In the Woods was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35628855-the-woman-in-the-woods on 09/04/2018.

Buy Link(s):
 

My Thoughts:

This series has always had a paranormal bent, however, I believe that this book might be the turning point from a "tendency to have paranormal bend", to really paranormal crime fiction. I'm not complaining though, I like where its going... however, some of the die-hard crime fiction geeks might not appreciate it...

Another thing that I am happy about this book, is that I get to see more of Angel and Louise! I just wished that there was a little bit more of Sam as well.

Incidentally, or perhaps not so incidentally, the book touched on a subject which is in-line with current events and perhaps, an issue which resonates in a lot of us. Parker opining that "bigotry and hatred appeared newly empowered"... Watching the news, that seems awfully true now a days... it gives a reader an eerie sense of surreality.

This book is another good instalment in the Charlie Parker series. John Connolly is his usual fabulous self. Wonderful story telling quality! Good story... An enjoyable read. Being a long time fan, it is worth the wait. However, it just doesn't seem to feel like as good as the first few books in this series for some reason. It might just be me becoming jaded... or it is just one of those fluctuations like any other series have... either way it did not warrant a 5, but it does not feel like a 4 or under either. If you add up all the parts, it'll get a five, but when it comes to a book, the whole is not always the sum of its parts. Thus this book gets a 4.5.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 5
Writing Style = 5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 4
Pace = (14 hrs & 33 mins)
Plot = 4.5
Narration = 5

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Charlie Parker Series:
                           

About John Connolly
	John Connolly was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1968 and has, at various points in his life, worked as a journalist, a barman, a local government official, a waiter and a dogsbody at Harrods department store in London. He studied English in Trinity College, Dublin and journalism at Dublin City University, subsequently spending five years working as a freelance journalist for The Irish Times newspaper, to which he continues to contribute. He is based in Dublin but divides his time between his native city and the United States. This page is administered by John's assistant, Clair, on John's behalf. If you'd like to communicate with John directly, you can do so by writing to contact-at-johnconnollybooks.com, or by following him on Twitter at @JConnollyBooks.
www.johnconnollybooks.com | twitter | facebook | google+ | goodreads | amazon

About Jeff Harding
	Jeff Harding is one of the most active American actors based in Britain. He is regularly seen in film and TV but he maintains interest in fringe theatre. He is particularly active in voice-over and radio. Having competed in rowing for many years, he still lives by the Thames and rows regularly – an appropriate sport for the reader of Ben Hur.
naxos | audible | facebook | goodreads

FTC Disclosure:
This book was purchased with private funds.