HOMECOMING

Homecoming by Orlando A. Sanchez
Narrated by Kevin T. Collins
Book 5 of the Montague & Strong Case Files series
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: paperback, ebook, & audiobook

About Homecoming:

There’s no place like home… but they’re not headed to Kansas.

The Sanctuary is the hidden home of the Golden Circle — a sect of powerful mages. It’s a sacred place of learning, magic, and deep secrets. When Tristan discovers his father, Connor Montague is being held prisoner, he vows to return to the Sanctuary and release him. There’s only one problem. The Sanctuary has been taken over by Mage Oliver. An Elder who has unleashed the magistrates and promises to destroy Tristan the moment he steps foot on the mountain.

Now together with the help of Simon, they must face a mountain of mages, free his father, and escape the Sanctuary before an Arch Mage erases them from existence.

Source: Info in the About Homecoming was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39790804-homecoming on 10/08/2019.

Buy Link(s):

 

Peaches

My Thoughts:

I hit a snag with this book.... I'd gotten so used to the convenience of the audiobook and got royally annoyed when I found out that there was no audiobook version for this book! That I actually had to read this one... But I really, really wanted to read book 6, A Proper Hellhound, so I had to read through all the books before that, before I could read A Proper Hellhound because I am anal that way. So this book got read. It only took me two years to read this book, until the audio version came out and I finally finished reading this book.

This is also the book that I noticed that the characters are starting to take on a "too stupid to live" (TSTL) tendencies. Not just Simon, because we already know that is what he is supposed to be. But everybody else??! Geez!! I could actually forgive Monty not seeing the magical consequences given that he was not in prime condition, but Dex, and TK, and LD?? Come on!! Someone should have seen it coming!

Peaches is still my favourite hellhound!

Empirical Evaluation:

Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 4.5
Writing Style = 4
Ending = 4
World building = 4.5
Cover art = 4
Pace = (6 hrs and 40 mins listening time)
Plot = 2
Narration = 4.5

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries

Books in the Montague & Strong Case Files series:

                                                                   

Meet The Author

About Orlando A. Sanchez:

Orlando Sanchez has been writing ever since his teens when he was immersed in creating scenarios for playing Dungeon and Dragons with his friends every weekend. An avid reader, his influences are too numerous to list here. Some of the most prominent are: J.R.R. Tolkien, Jim Butcher, Kat Richardson, Terry Brooks, Piers Anthony, Lee Child, George Lucas, Andrew Vachss, and Barry Eisler to name a few in no particular order. The worlds of his books are urban settings with a twist of the paranormal lurking just behind the scenes and generous doses of magic, martial arts, and mayhem. He currently resides in Queens, NY with his family and can often be found in the local coffee shop where most of his writing is done.

www.orlandoasanchez.com | twitter | facebook | amazon | goodreads

The Narrator

About Kevin T. Collins:

Kevin T. Collins is an actor, singer, and recording artist with a BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. He has performed in numerous theater performances, including Angels, City of Angels, Paradise Lost, and on television in Law & Order: Criminal Intent, As the World Turns, and The Guiding Light.

www.kevintcollins.com | twitter | instagram | goodreads

FTC Disclosure:
The ebook, audiobook, and paperback copies of the book were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.

MAGIC TIDES

Magic Tides by Ilona Andrews
Book 12.5 of the World of Kate Daniels series
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: paperback & ebook

About Magic Tides:

Kate, Curran and their son, Conlan have left Atlanta, vowing to keep a low profile, and are settling into a new city and new house… but some things never change! Magical mayhem is about to erupt when Kate undertakes the rescue of a kidnapped youth, while Curran guards the homefront.

It should be a simple retrieval, but with monsters on land and sea, Kate’s got her work cut out for her. Still, she's never let her blade dull or her purpose falter. And that low profile? It’s about to wash away with the raging tides!

Source: Info in the "About Magic Tides" was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65969788-magic-tides on 03/01/2023.

Buy Link(s):

My Thoughts:

Short and sweet!

As usual, Ilona Andrews delivers another wonderful reading time for the BDH (Book Devouring Horde)! Even though it is way too short, at least we have another Kate Daniels read! As a die-hard fan, I will take all the crumbs I can get!! This does not negate the fact that the book has the compelling story telling quality that is a trademark of this author! The world building and character development has been established about ten years ago or so. However, just saying that this book has that same masterful world building and loveable characters that we all love and miss! And of course, I want more!!

Then, as if there isn't enough to love about this book, another thing I like about it is that we can see Kate, Curran and Conlan's point of views, which is fantastic!

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 = 5
Plot = 4

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries

Meet The Author

About Ilona Andrews:

Ilona Andrews is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing team. Ilona is a native-born Russian and Gordon is a former communications sergeant in the U.S. Army. Contrary to popular belief, Gordon was never an intelligence officer with a license to kill, and Ilona was never the mysterious Russian spy who seduced him. They met in college, in English Composition 101, where Ilona got a better grade. (Gordon is still sore about that.)

Gordon and Ilona currently reside in Oregon with their two children, three dogs and a cat. They have co-authored two series, the bestselling urban fantasy of Kate Daniels and romantic urban fantasy of The Edge.

www.ilona-andrews.com | twitter | facebook | amazon | goodreads

FTC Disclosure:
The ebook and audiobook copies of the book were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.

WOLF WARRIOR

Wolf Warrior by Craig Zerf
Book 4 in the Project Bloodborn series
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook

Synopses:

The synopsis of the first book, Wolf Man:

Brenner is not a werewolf...

He is the result of a secret US Army experiment. The creation of a government controlled Super Soldier.

And no one asked if he wanted to take part.

So, he escaped. And for the last fifty years has been living in the backroads and the small unknown towns of America. Never aging. Searching for a cure. At the same time avoiding the dark ops experts who are looking for him.

But just because he can become a seven foot, four hundred pound killing machine, it doesn't mean that Brenner is bad. In fact, he sticks to a strict code.

And like the High Plains drifters of old, anyone who crosses the Wolfman's code is sure to suffer.

They took his humanity ... and now it's time for payback.

Synopsis of Wolf Warrior:

The story of Brenner and Griff continues in this book. A couple of old army buddies. Vietnam veterans. One old and one young. One human, one wolf. Together they fight evil. The bad guys this time is a group of crazy augmented nazi fanatics. A screw up by that same vietnam military group who experimented on Ded because they never stopped experimenting and now their creations are on the loose!

The synopsis of the first book was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36178703-wolf-man on 14/06/2021. The synopsis of the current book, Wolf Warrior, is provided by me.

Buy Link(s):

Hemah

My Thoughts:

I am still mourning Lenny's death and we are starting to see that the supposedly good guys are not really the good guys but self-serving egomaniacs who hijacked the military for their own purposes.

This time around Griff and Ded are no longer travelling together. Ded is once again a lone wolf and he got more baddies to contend with. Powerful baddies like him. And we are getting to see more of Solomon here.

This is the first book in this series that does not have an audiobook format. So I have to read it the old fashioned way. Annoying!!

I like the twist in the ending. I say twist even though I kinda saw it coming a mile away. The author nay sign-posted the reader to it! And with this book the angels and demons angle has firmly been introduced into this series...

If Wolf Killer is the shortest book in this series, this could possibly be the second shortest at 234 pages as opposed to the "full books" that were the first two books at approximately 400 pages long. But I'm not really complaining because I did get the full enjoyable reading experience that the "full books" had. But it did brought the pacing down a little because the reason that this book got read quickly is not only because it was fast paced, although the pace was relatively fast, but also because this book was short.

Still a violent read, not recommended for young readers.

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

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries

Books In Project Bloodborn Series:

Meet The Author

About Craig Zerf:

Craig Zerf is a full-time writer who has been awarded the Golganooza Gold medal for Fantasy as well as being voted 'Best Read' by radio BBC United Kingdom.

His novels have been translated into French, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish and German.

Craig has lived in America, Africa and Europe and now resides in England with his wife and two imaginary cats.

His books have reached the number one Best Seller spot in both the United Kingdom and Germany and he reckons that writing is about the most fun that you can have without actually blowing things up!

czerf.wordpress.com | twitter | facebook | instagram | pinterest | amazon | goodreads

FTC Disclosure:
The ebook and audiobook were bought with private funds.
No money received for this review.