Tag: Bad Guys

Andrzej Sapkowski – Blood of Elves | Review

April 23, 2020
Authors P-T (By Surname)Fiction

Title: Blood of Elves

Author: Andrzej Sapkowski

Type: Fiction

Page Count: 316

Rating: 3.5/5

The issue that I had with this book is exactly the issue that I was worried about. I think I just prefer Sapkowski as a short story writer than as a novelist, although I will admit that he’s pretty good either way and so it’s not as though I didn’t enjoy this book. It was still all right, it just wasn’t as good as the short story collections.

Other than that, though, there’s a lot here to enjoy. As always, Sapkowski does a great job of asking the reader complicated moral questions, and I like that there’s a bit of a grey area between some of the good guys and some of the bad guys that keeps you guessing about people’s intentions. It’s got a lot of great political intrigue in a similar vein to A Song of Ice and Fire, although it’s by no means a knock-off.

There was even some interesting stuff on gender, because the Witcher has an apprentice who he’s teaching, and she happens to be a girl. There’s a lot of stuff on ethics too, because Geralt faces some difficult decisions along the way. Oh, and a war with the Nilfgardians is beckoning, too.

So overall, I thought this book was just okay, and while I would recommend it, I think I’d suggest going with the short story collections first as a way to ease yourself into the world and its politics. I should also offset this review by pointing out that I felt kind of similar to this when I read the first book, and then it sat with me for a while and I realised, looking back on it, that it was fricken awesome. I wouldn’t be surprised if the same thing ends up happening here. So yeah, there’s that.

Learn more about Blood of Elves.

Peter James – Dead Man’s Time | Review

May 14, 2019
Authors F-J (By Surname)Fiction

TitleDead Man’s Time

Author: Peter James

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 504

Rating 3.75/5

 

 

Dead Man’s Time is another installment in James’ Roy Grace series in which we follow the Brighton-based detective as he investigates a crime spanning 90 years. It all goes back to a murder that took place in New York City in 1922, and I quite liked the way that the two different time periods came back together, especially towards the end. It was kind of anticlimactic in a way, but it was also the only real ending that could have happened.

It’s also interesting how the bad guys in this book aren’t actually all that bad, although they do their fair share of bad things. If anything, the main bad guy in this is the one who had it in for Roy Grace and who was out to get him and his family, a story line that took place in tandem with the main story but which wasn’t necessarily a part of it.

The main story, though, basically follows what appears to be a burglary gone wrong in which an old woman is tortured until she’s on the brink of death. They also take all of her art, her antiques and her valuables, leaving Roy Grace stuck trying to track it down in a race across time across Brighton and, later on, elsewhere in the world.

 

 

I don’t think that this is Peter James’ best book, but then I’ve read quite a few of them by now and you’re always going to find some books that are better than others in any series. It’s still worth reading though, and while you don’t need to read them all in order if you don’t want to, you will get a little bit more from the story if you do. Not from the crime at the centre of it perhaps, but certainly from the back story. When I read it, there were characters there that I knew would be dead or in jail a few books down the line.

What I will say is that even though I’ve read over a dozen of James’ books (including two 500+ page books in the last couple of weeks), I’m still enjoying them, and I’m probably going to pick up another 600-pager next weekend as I’ll be spending a lot of time travelling. James’ writing is sleek and easy to absorb, and at the same time it’s not intimidating. I don’t read his books and wonder how anyone could have ever written them. I just read them and enjoy them and then look forward to the next one.

So would I recommend this? Of course I would, but I would suggest reading through them in order if you can just so that you don’t spoil yourself for some of the storylines that come in alongside the mysteries. And it was cool that James included references to charities and other organisations that support some of the issues raised.

 

 

Click here to buy Dead Man’s Time.