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Sunday 30 April 2017

A GAME OF GHOSTS


A Game Of Ghosts by John Connolly
Read by Jeff Harding
Charlie Parker series Book 15
Genre: crime fiction
Format: ebook & audiobook


About A Game Of Ghosts:
It is deep winter. The darkness is unending.

The private detective named Jaycob Eklund has vanished, and Charlie Parker is dispatched to track him down. Parker's employer, Edgar Ross, an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has his own reasons for wanting Eklund found.

Eklund is no ordinary investigator. He is obsessively tracking a series of homicides and disappearances, each linked to reports of hauntings. Now Parker will be drawn into Eklund's world, a realm in which the monstrous Mother rules a crumbling criminal empire, in which men strike bargains with angels, and in which the innocent and guilty alike are pawns in a game of ghosts . . .
Source: Info in the About A Game Of Ghosts was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31351922-a-game-of-ghosts on 07/04/2017.

Buy Link(s):
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My Thoughts:
I was eagerly awaiting this book because I wanted to know how the media, i.e., news & entertainment, are following up on Jerome Burnel's media furor... unfortunately, there is nothing about Jerome Burnel in this book. The only part of the Jerome Burnel book that remained is Moxie Castin. It seems he is going to have a long-term role in the series to replace Aimee Price as Charlie's lawyer. Not bad for him and for the series. Another plus with this instalment in the Charlie Parker series is that we see more of cute Sam! And Angel & Louise! *yey*!! As if that is not enough goodness, Jeff Harding effected a very realistic Welsh accent for one of the characters! That made me smile! However, I don't know why John Connolly killed one of the anti-hero, though... I hope that there would be some sort of explanation in the subsequent books. It was just too sad to just let it go like that.

The end was kind of an anti-climactic. But it was still a good read.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 5
Writing Style = 5
Ending = 4
World building = 5
Cover art = 4
Pace = (13 hrs & 9 mins)
Plot = 5
Narration = 5

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Charlie Parker Series:
                           

About John Connolly
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
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.

Saturday 15 April 2017

THE TROLL KING


The Troll King by Trevor H. Cooley
Book 9 of The Bowl Of Souls series
Read by James Foster
Genre: epic fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobookAudiobook


About The Troll King:
The Jharro Grove Saga: Book Four

He was born a king. Half troll and half man, he crawled from the womb of a god and found himself leader of a deformed but powerful race. As he struggles to lead his people Mellinda slithers into their midst. She wields the Rings of Stardeon and she has her own plans for his people.

A prophet has been taken. A demon army joins the enemies of the grove. Will Justan’s might and Tarah Woodblade’s powers be enough to help Jhonate’s people protect the Jharro Grove? It may all depend on the choices made by The Troll King.
Source: Info in the About The Troll King was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26577313-the-troll-king on 13/03/2017.

My Thoughts:
This series has taken on the multiple thread kind of writing style. The book tells the stories of the different protagonists in their own different journeys each in their own thread. The book jumps from thread to thread every couple of chapters or so. Say I have been reading about Fist in the Trafalgar mountains for the last couple of chapters. Then the next chapter talks about Justan in Malaroo. While immersed in my favourite ogre, Fist's, story, I have forgotten what had happened to Justan and had to go back and read about Justan's thread before I could continue reading the next chapter. This slowed the pace of this book right down to a crawl. Not only that, it disrupts the continuity of the story flow which is really annoying. The previous books in this series had used this kind of writing style before but not as prevalent as in this book. This brought the rating of this book right down despite me being an old fan of this series already. And then of course there is the cliffhanger ending.... Safe to say that I wasn't very happy with this book... but it gotta be read if I want to continue reading this series.... **pout**

I really didn't like the way Qenzic treated Lyramoor at the jail cave in the Thunder People territory. Let Qenzic go through what Lyramoor had gone through in his slavery days and see if Qenzic would still be sane! The fact that Lyramoor is still a highly functional individual and loyal to a fault to Qenzic who flipping doesn't deserve any of that loyalty at all, is a blinking miracle!... So there are issues in this book that I am quite passionate about... or really, really do not like... or riles me up....

I don't know whether it is the author's magic that is waning or it is me getting disenchanted... either way, this book is not the best in this series.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 3
Writing Style = 2
Ending = 2
World building = 4
Cover art = 3.5
Pace = 1
Plot = 3
Narration = 5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Bowl Of Souls Series:
Book 1: EYE OF THE MOONRAT   Book: 1.5: HILT'S PRIDE   Book 2: MESSENGER OF THE DARK PROPHET   Book 3: HUNT OF THE BANDHAM   Book 4: THE WAR OF STARDEON   Book 5: MOTHER OF THE MOONRAT   Book 6: TARAH WOODBLADE   Book 7: PROTECTOR OF THE GROVE   Book 8: THE OGRE APPRENTICE   Book 9: THE TROLL KING   Book 10: PRIESTESS OF WAR   Book 11: BEHEMOTH


 
The Author
Trevor H. Cooley
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.


The Narrator

James Foster
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.



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

 
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