Tag: A VVivacious Review

A VVivacious Review: Immortal Watch (Godsbane Prince #2) by Olivia Helling

 
Rating: 4 Stars out of 5
 
immortal-watchIlyas and Jem arrive in Nuriya to secure a trade deal on behalf of Lumi. But what Ilyas thought would be surprisingly easy turns out to be a whole lot tougher. Especially after he receives the news that he has a child.
 
As Ilyas is distracted by his child, Jem falls into a whole new trouble with people who call themselves the Immortal Watch. But what they both don’t know is that they are just cogs in the scheme of a much more elaborate plan…
 
This book is all about its story. It is a story that has everything and would be near impossible to describe in a single word but if I had to that word would have to be ambitious. This story has gods, aliens, a supernatural war, interdimensional travel, bloody politics, a scramble for power, new hopes, crushing defeats, death and a search for a trade deal that started it all. And if I could get another word it would be interesting. This story is a high speed roller-coaster ride that just leaves you flipping the pages one after the other till the very end. I read this book in a single sitting, which definitely proves that I for one was hooked to this story.
 
My issues with this book are more morally inclined, I don’t like books with indiscriminate killing and there is a lot of that in this book, also the pig-headed MCs of this book didn’t help matters.
 
Olivia Helling has a gift she can make you hate and absolve a character in the span of one book. In the last book I faced this with Ilyas; this time around it’s Jem. What I came to realise is that while Jem’s behaviour and actions fit well against the background of the events taking place in Lumi, the same actions in Nuriya make him look unhinged.
 
The main focus of this story is on a war that took place between the gods and the members of the Immortal Watch ages ago and how that war has shaped the events that happen in this book. I won’t go into further detail as that would be a major spoiler but that aspect of this story is the best part of this book and is a thriller that twists and turns and leaves you all wringed out. But there is a subplot concerning Ilyas and Jem and their budding relationship and the strain that Ilyas’ discovery of being a father puts on it.
 
Personally Ilyas and Jem’s relationship seems woefully underdeveloped but as that underdevelopment was essential to the plot of the book, I let it go but it was still there in the back of my mind that there circumstances were unique in the extreme.
 
I liked Ilyas and I loved him throughout the book, especially as he finally gets Jem to see the fallacy of his actions. But their resolution seems a bit too hurried; I think they really need to work out certain things between them that were left unsaid at the end of this book. If there is going to be another book in this series I hope it focuses on their relationship.
 
Overall this is one hell of a book with an amazing plot that never lets up.
 
Cover Art by Lou Harper. I liked the cover but it doesn’t exactly match the image I had in my head, especially concerning the city of Nuriya which looks desert-like for a place with such fertile grounds. Also, the singular colour of the buildings didn’t fit with the colour loving Nuriyites.
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Book Details:
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Published September 23rd 2016 by Olivia Helling
ISBN139780993918094
Edition LanguageEnglish
Series: Godsbane Prince

A VVivacious Review: The Buckland in the Vale and Sandstone Tor Gay Book Club (Inaugural Meeting) by John Wiltshire

Rating: 3 Stars out of 5
the-buckland-in-the-vale-and-sandstone-tor-gay-book-clubRory McGrath and Adam Sandstone both figure that a book club for gays would be a great place to meet gay men, what they don’t know is that The Buckland-in-the-Vale and Sandstone Tor Gay Book Club is a gay-book club not a gay book club.
While Rory and Adam’s first meeting couldn’t have been worse, the other nine members of the club have different ideas about Rory and Adam’s future. Well the old dears have decided that Rory and Adam will be perfect for each other and they will do everything to make sure that the only thing in Rory and Adam’s future is each other.
I have really mixed opinions about this book and I guess, with this book it’s definitely me and not the book.
I have read quite a few books by John Wiltshire and I love his books, but this book was very different from anything of his I had read this far. This book is funny and light-hearted; it doesn’t have very intense characters or situations. Overall this book should have been a fun, light, enjoyable read but it didn’t quite turn out that way.
This book starts out really funny and that’s what kept me reading but then Rory and Adam go for an away trip and things get really sad. I mean I don’t know if anyone else felt that way but for me the story went from funny, happy, light-hearted to sad really fast, that it made what would probably have not been so sad even more depressing.
I think the reason this book was a miss for me was because I couldn’t get behind Rory and Adam which is weird because Rory and Adam are great characters. Rory is the guy who wants to find his true love and Adam is all intense and finds Rory kind of hilarious for his ideals, but Adam’s thoughts on gay relationships happen to be tragically influenced by his past.
My biggest problem with this book was that it fails to give a conclusive ending. The ending leaves you hanging and unfulfilled.
But what I loved about this book was the Old Dears – Gertrude, Ivy, Myrtle, Hetty, Mary, Jane, Thea, Hilary and Constance. While writing this review when I was trying to think about the good scenes in this book, all those scenes had these wonderful women in them. I loved these meddling women and how even despite their advanced age they were ready to take on new ideas and try new things. When these nine decide to do something they go all the way and well any tale with them in it is a guaranteed fun ride.
So in not so many words I am trying to say that this book has a lot of good points but none of them have anything to do with the Adam and Rory’s relationship. Their relationship is still kind of up in the air and while it is heading in the right direction, I would have liked to have seen their relationship a bit more consolidated by the end of the book, which is not the case with this one.
Cover Art by Molly Wright. I loved the cover for this book with the big loopy handwriting and the turquoise background it kind of fits with the image I have of the book club in this book.
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Book Details:
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Published August 2016 by MLR Press
Original TitleThe Buckland-in-the-Vale and Sandstone Tor Gay Book Club (Inaugural Meeting)
Edition LanguageEnglish

A VVivacious Review: Darkside (Mate of the Tyger Prince #2) by Shannon West

Rating: 4.5 Stars out of 5
 
Dark Side“The course of true love never did run smooth.”  – William Shakespeare
General Haggoz finds himself in the impossible situation of having to imprison his own nobyo. As he struggles to come to terms with the wrong doings of Kevin, he also realizes that he will never stop loving Kevin. Kevin finds himself imprisoned in a cell in Haggoz’s house where the only thing that breaks the pall of his existence is Haggoz and the few times he deems to visits him. But while Kevin may have reasons for his deeds, he has given up hope on ever having Haggoz forgive him.
 
On the other hand, Mikos and Ryan are trying to get through everyday life. They bicker like an old married couple but are just as much in love as they were before.
 
But when Mikos and Haggoz disappear it is up to Kevin and Ryan to find them and bring them home.
 
This book is a good companion to its predecessor.
 
The story of this book follows two couples – Mikos and Ryan; and Haggoz and Kevin. The best part about following two couples was that since both these couples where in different places in their respective relationships, it made for an interesting story as we kind of got all the phases that a relationship goes through in one go.
 
Mikos and Ryan love each other more than ever but they also argue more than ever. Their story is basically about how navigating married life has been for them so far.
 
This time around we get more of the royal family. We get lots of interactions with Blake, who I have come to adore. His will is second to none. Also we get to see a whole lot more of Vannos, Anarr, Larz and Nicarr but I guess the best thing was that we got to see Blake interact with his children which is so sweet. I mean I loved the parental vibes he gives off and how well he knows all his kids and how much he loves them. Also we see more of Davos. I can probably read an entire book about Blake and Davos. But there was also a very inconspicuous absence of Blake and Davos’ fourth child Darrek, I mean this time around when we got introduced to all his other siblings, I would have thought we would get to see him too, but no there is nothing about him in this book, absolutely no mention whatsoever. Also more Mikol!
 
This time around we get a bit more on the shifting aspects of Tygerians. Well we actually get to see Haggoz in his tiger form and personally I loved the scene. But I wish we could get more of tiger Mikos, now that I would love to see.
 
Kevin and Haggoz’s story line was something extremely beautiful. I mean here are two people who love each other a lot but find themselves on opposite sides of the law. Haggoz had a horrible childhood and Kevin is his one and only shot at happiness because Kevin is his happiness. But Haggoz also has a duty to his king to keep his nobyo, Kevin as a prisoner but try as he might to hate Kevin for his actions he realises that his love for Kevin is boundless. In fact during the entire story I was positive that any hurt Haggoz had ever inflicted on Kevin actually hurt him more and hurting Kevin was actually his way of hurting himself.
 
Kevin might have reasons for his wrong doings but he doesn’t think that Haggoz will understand. But loving Haggoz is something that has become synonymous with living life for Kevin.
 
These two tortured souls who want nothing but to be together must walk a difficult and treacherous path to be together. But since their hearts are already one it won’t take long for their minds to realize how foolish their forced separation is.
 
I loved the story and how it is written the POVs alternating between the two couples, on one side there was the playfulness of Ryan and Mikos and on the other was the heartache of Kevin and Haggoz and they balanced each other perfectly. The plot was the best because seeing the Ryan and Kevin work together to get back their mates was really well done. Also it was nice to see the humans work together to rescue their more powerful Tygerian mates.
 
My only irritation with the book was that the meeting scene between Haggoz and Kevin was repeated i.e. we got that same scene from Haggoz’s as well as Kevin’s perspective but reading it again was kind of a dredge. Also the party at the end of which Mikos gets shot in the previous book was rehashed this time from Ryan’s POV, these repetitions got kind of boring. Actually as such it wasn’t the repetition of the scene that was so boring it was the fact that I was anticipating that I would have to read the events that I already knew about again that was trying.
 
Otherwise this book was a great follow up to its predecessor and I loved the epilogue, finally Mikos learns how to deal with his husband. I hope we can get more Mikos and Ryan.
 
Cover Art by E Connors. The cover is a little weird what with that huge scarf but it is actually a depiction of Kevin from a scene in the book but it makes no sense whatsoever if you haven’t read the book.
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Book Details:
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Published April 5th 2016 by Dark Hollows Press LLC
Edition LanguageEnglish
Series Mate of the Tyger Prince