Tag: Books

The Hunger of the Gods by John Gwynne

~ Veselin ~ 5 Comments

A wise person once said that in trilogies, the first book is good, because it builds the world. The last book is good, because it resolves the story. The middle book is just a filler, because these books come in threes.

The Hunger of the Gods is a second book in a trilogy. It comes with many traits typical of such books. There is no world building, apart from the description of some larger cities. Few of the story lines conclude. There’s a bit of a character development but it is only in the villains.

The world John Gwynne built is like an Orconomics spin-off with vikings. Lots of creatures, created by the dead gods and living around. Lots of fighting with swords and spears. Rage and berserk-style battles where the Hulks never die. The mains wolf-out at the right moment to save the day. A reader in a mood for super-heroic stories may appreciate all of that. I see that I gave John Gwynne’s first book 5/5, and even have another on my shelves at home.

Pros:

  • The world is intriguing, despite not developing much since book 1
  • Given that power comes from the blood, the physical strength doesn’t mean much. Men and women are equal, with the most fearsome warriors being women
  • Orka Skullsplitter and Elvar Firebrand have some nice POV chapters.
  • The dead gods are wiser than expected

Cons:

  • The whole story relies on almighty slave collars. They are used to bind even gods and sorcerers, allowing people with no special gifts to dominate beings of incredible power. This isn’t great and reminds me of the worst parts of the Wheel of Time.
  • Reckless behavior is rewarded with Breca and Varg No-sense making very little sense.
  • It’s too long.

Overall, I think it’s readable but I’m discouraged to get the continuation.

3.5*/5

The publisher featured the dead god Ulfrir on the cover. In the book, it is described as wolf-sized but can expand at will.

USA’94

~ Veselin ~ 1 Comment

After featuring graffiti with USA’94, here’s a book about USA’94, published about a week ago. It’s size A4 and lets you replay the football world cup from 1994. It looks very complicated to read. I’m not sure if I can make it despite watching the championship and knowing roughly what happened. It has 500 episodes and about half-a-book of rules about what to do with these 500 episodes.

I find it cool that people can come up with such ideas, publish them, and potentially even find someone to read them.

Christmas Book Fair

~ Veselin ~ 6 Comments

I like visiting the book fairs in Sofia. We usually have two per year, one in December, and one in May. I would often go 3-4 times, slowly navigating through the landscape, buying 1-2 books at a time.

I went there with the goal to buy the new book by Nicci French and maybe return for another round over the next 3-4 days. Came back to the office with 8. That’s a bit too many. This means I’m not returning to the fair as I exceeded the reasonable maximum of new books for the month 🙂 Anything else will have to wait.

Highlights:

  • The Dungeon Crawler Carl – I have to admit I made a purchase decision based on the fact that this book has a hole in the cover. It also has a very high score on Goodreads but that wouldn’t have been enough to buy it.
  • The Devils by Joe Abercrombie – you can say by the beautiful print that Joe Abercrombie has a new publisher for Bulgaria. The last one only did paperbacks.
  • The Last Days of Kira Mullan – Maud O’Conner’s part 1 was quite interesting I hope this book lives up to the expectations. That would likely be the next book I’ll start (currently reading two other). I like Nicci French.

Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine

~ Veselin ~ 5 Comments

Just completed this thing, it was intense. 9/10 on the Matthew Reilly’s Contest scale. It was so intense that I’m not sure if I will dare to read the continuation. It also makes sense. Books like that tend to ignore the laws of physics, this is connected with reality.

Clear 5*/5 and a strong contestant for best thriller on my blog this year. Very impressive.

The OC by D.P. Lyle, Book Review

~ Veselin ~ Leave a comment

A solid story about a stalker who is unusually creepy and perhaps more dangerous than the million others like him. A beautiful journalist receives threats and unwanted advances, like flowers and chocolates, combined with threats. The detective trio Jake, Nicole, and Pancake are trying to help because they see the danger past the weird acts of attention. However, they have trouble figuring out who he is. This type of people normally physically chase their victims, while in our case, the perpetrator hides in the shadows.

I guessed who the villain was maybe five pages before the official reveal, so I’m not sure whether to feel proud of myself or not.

The book has a certain neon glow and the intentional smell of cheap things, like an exploitation movies from the past. It doesn’t feel too heavy, despite the constant threat of the stalker. I’d say it’s fine and an acceptable read. Not award-winning rocket science but not annoying either. Jake, Nicole, and Pancake are simple and well-intended characters.

I’m not sure why only parts 1, 2, and 5 of the series have been translated into Bulgarian while 3 and 4 were skipped. A strange choice by the publisher. It’s even stranger to translate a book that had the modest 199 ratings and 37 reviews on Goodreads, mine included. Won’t be the least popular book I read this year but it will be very close to the bottom.

4/5, straight to the overflow shelf.