Hanzel

As with all books that comes from the Black Library, you get a vague description of an Adeptus Astartes chapter, then the story runs.....

In this case the White Scars chapter led by Ko'sarro Master of the hunt, and the opponent Voldorious, it isn't a fast pace story, but a good story nonetheless, the reason for hunting Voldorious, where the protagonist went, and the final curtain at Quintus....ummmmm can't forget about the other chapter in this story the Raven Guard...

I guess I'll recommend this to the other Warhammer readers.........

Book Two of the series, what can I say well story progression, after talking to the Dalriss and communicating with their first Xenophobe, It's now Katya's turn to speak to one......story wise everything is becoming more interesting....and we now have a rebellion.......can't wait to see if they are able to unite the xenophobe's tech with human ingenuity........

War......there are no winners, just losers and a lot of dead bodies, For almost two decades or more, I have finally read book 3 of Mr. Rowley's wonderful series, first time I read this, it really set itself apart, for who doesn't love Dragons, I mean THEY are the last line of defense against any hero team be it D&D, Greyhawk, Dragonlance(where the aforementioned creatures are strongest).

In his world, there are two dragon types wyvern or flightless ones and the natural ones or wild dragons, aside from these, this world is almost under the thumb of the Masters of Padmasa and those against them are the legions of the Argonath and their Great Witches......without giving much away, the whole series revolves around Relkin and his battledragon Bazil Broketail......

As i've said this is the 3rd book and there's 4 more.....hopefully it doesn't take me 2 decades or more to finish the whole series

Roman adventure with a different brand of mysticism, as of now what drew me to this novel is....... when in Rome, just read, be decadent and lots of gratuitous S E X, even with the third reason omitted, who doesn't love the Romans one of the most respected culture, the best in warfare(legionnaires), hope I'm spelling it correctly, brilliant minds/horrendous killers.......what else??? Oh the story.....amidst my ramblings is the story.
Honestly I am having second thoughts to this series, it lacks something......uuuummm maybe I need more of that roast pork with sausages disguised as it's innards!!!!!! If you like your Roman history albeit with a twist, pick up this book........have to remember, it is just starting!!!!

Another wonderful story, I really really love this series, everything seems to have it's own pace, reading it, sometimes I would be antsy, looking for action, after a couple pages, here comes what I've been looking for, not enough, just not enough pages.....and you'll be surprised, you are done.......sighhhhh........

Ok..., now comes the story, after what happened to the imperial fleet on book three, the story starts with Dev ship jacking, not getting into a ship, but actually shipjacking the whole ship, with the disparity in everything between the Imperials and the newly recognized Confederation, the answer is to have as many ships as the Imperials, whether by building or stealing.

As for what happened between Dev and the planetary naga, I was really hoping for something, since the nagas can do virtually anything, I was thinking along the lines....since the title of this particular book is symbionts.....maybe just maybe a hybrid man/naga pilot, or a spaceship ran by a naga component, but wishes are that wishes.........

Suffice to say another satisfying read.......oh yeah, something happened in the end......and see yah on book five!!!!!

Hate and Love, such simple concepts but it drives anyone or anything to do the near impossible, but on a fantasy setting, it can create Gods or in this case a God!!
Nagash once a simple hierophant, smitten or in this case lusting for his sister in law, found a way to become something else: a lich , gaining more power from becoming an undead, he was able to even challenge his gods and prevail but alas as in every realm/world/universe, his undoing was a mere mortal, a human with the same greed as his but without love or hate!!!!
Second book, again Nagash sought another way to obtain power to destroy those whom he felt betrayed him and found it in a mystical green stone that fell to their world from the heavens, again he almost succeeded but this time he was held back by an entire army of rats or skaven in this world, negotiating with the rats he was preparing for........
Third book, here we meet another of the characters that makes this world interesting, a queen, Neferata of Lahmia, who at first wanted nothing more but to make her nation the strongest, sensing that it was not
to be also gave in to her love of her nation and hatred against those that would pull her down, and bbecame its first female vampire(just a guess), ruling it and furthering her reach, and then came the last oof the characters who I felt had this 2 basic emotion and made this novel a truly good read Alcadizzar, wwhile still in his mother's womb, receive Neferata's blood and became something else, a
human that brought Neferata's rule down and also succeeded in repulsing Nagash's attack.
In the end Alcadizzar was also brought low by this two basic emotion, love for his family enabled Nagash to completely eradicate everything except him, Alcadizzar's hatred of Nagash was able to do what no one was able to: Stop Nagash completely!!! THE END!??????

Chthulu, Chthulan Mythos, The Ancient Ones...........whenever I try to read regarding this genre, my eyes closes itself of it's on volition, the gods be they the earlier ones (Greek, Roman, Incan and etc..) or the more popular ones in this era (Christian/Roman Catholic, Hindu, Islam and etc.) are a joy to read......such human-like passion, actions and decisions......as if mirroring the humans who worships them.........but the chthonic powers these so called Ancient Ones, evil/good, love/hate.......these human concepts....they do not exhibit such, perhaps that is the simple reason why my attempt to understand such beings fail miserably, for is that not what reading is for........??????

The Lovecraft Code has the beginnings of a great story, espionage together with conspiracy who does not love such things and yet by page 10, my bed looks a lot better than finishing the book, as a book lover, never have I in my reading habits “did not finish a book”, always I would finish whatever I have started that is my principle, there have been two books that have tested my so called principle, first was Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams, it took me two years to finish 2/3 of the book and second was this!!!!

2016 was the best for me in terms of reading, I had too many books to choose from, the popular ones Brian Staveley, Mark Lawrence, Brian Anderson, Steven Erikson to the unfamiliar ones Patrick Sheane Duncan, Ferret Steinmetz, Jacey Bedford, yet I chose to end 2016 with Peter Levenda's, unfortunately that was not the icing in my cake........

Story, story, story.........sighhhhhh......I will let my fellow book lovers, write their thoughts on this.......for me all I can think about is CHTHULU..........AND MY EYES HAVE CLOSEDDDDDDD.......

Hrrrnnnnn.......grrrrrrhhhh...........raaaaahhhhhhhhhh.............boooooommmmm.....

Seriously, zombies, in books, if not overkill, the human race is doomed, the easiest of the undead to kill, my first attempt to read one and it's like skimming the whole book, until the last few chapters. Otherwise a fun read(I guess)

Sitting up, finally I've finished it............5 minutes later, I am scratching my head, thinking, thinking, thinking..........where are the emotions, the excitement, the feeling of words bursting right out of my mouth..........

Very strange for me to just, well think of nothing to write, THIS IS IT, villains, monsters, demigods of evil..........and yet all I can think of is BLAH!!!!!

A book that I have always wished for: Evil at its best.......and it doesn't even compare to Nagash's origins omnibus............Copsys Bule PlaqueLord, Ushkar Mir Khornebestowed and Zivius(goes to show how really disappointed I am with this book........sigh!!!!!! Can not even remember the last prime antagonist).....a lot of plots and stories and they took it and ran it to the ground!!!!

4 star for a fantasy novel............let's see we have Dwarf(whether singular or plural, still my favorite race....Bruenor anyone??? Or Flint), elf (“looks at you and sniffs!!”) and of course humans (insert your favorite name here>>) and a quest that is supposed to test their mettle........WOW!!! Time to sit down and start this.........

Ok, opening chapter, we got undead attacking a human village(umm......yes good start, undead always a measure of the difficulty of opponents), human cleric/paladin introduced, elf ranger(??) comes in and both were able escape certain death, next comes a witch hunter and yey(!!) Dwarf knight(I only guess, Thorrik came out wearing a full suit of armor.....so I guess), a human knight and after some more time the whole group goes out as a team/fellowship/party.......

Ok......, so you noticed only Thorrik was named, ok...ok....we have Annaliesse(human cleric/paladin), Eldonair (elf ranger), Udo(witch hunter), Karl(human knight)......I think I got them all, the problem with reading warhammer fantasy is the names, most of them reads and feel like german.......

So, continuing our party races to their destination, each preoccupied with personal problems, and upon reaching their destination, they see the forces arrayed against them, of course after a tremendous battle against impossible odds, I was wondering where and how the writer was going to save the party.......and here comes the cavalry..........I think in reading this one, you will understand why I was particularly unhappy with the climax....hence the negative one star......

This is a good entry level for a beginner of fantasy, not a lot of subplots, straight to the point story, and a what we call saving grace ending........sighhhhhhhhh...........Sigmar could have..........next book please!!!

More of a 3.5, than an actual 4............on second thought, that fight at the end might have clinched it for me..........

So in this second book for Warhammer Online, everything is different from the first book, a new group of heroes and villains, here we are introduced to the Druchii, the mirrorimage of the elf in this universe albeit of a darker path, unfortunately, for me that is they were used sparingly(I would have prefered a bigger role for our dark elf(S)), as usual the Elves(they do not call them that I think, Elf singular = Elves plural) got the best part of the whole straightforward story, even a glimpse of Karl Franz ,the Emperor of the Empire of Man, was a bit of a letdown...........

Fortunately, that slow pace to the final battle was every bit as exciting as they come, even if you already know where the story is headed to........witch hunters, knights, traitors galore and yes!!! Do read the book!!! No spoilers nor an inkling of what to expect, just the end of the Empire of Man in a slow moving manner!!!

On to book three!!!!

After a disappointment, my usual method of holding of this emotion is try to read anything that has devils, demons, any pantheon of gods/goddeses or dragons, again I find myself opening another Christopher Rowley or Bazil Broketail and Relquin(I find putting in the dragonboy is a much better description, since most of time we are treated to Relquin's point of view, hardly any of Baz's), and suffice to say, it paid off, not only was I able to battle and win against that particular emotion but the reading of this book, made me EXCITED again to battle it out!!!

Dragon's of War for me was a bit of a turn off, going against the might of the great enemy the whole affair pales in comparison to Battledragon, from the beginning we are already shown what will happen to this particular book, a pity I thought “HE WHO MUST”, was going to be a fine villain, and yet the real villain turned out to be much better in comparison, this is one of the strength of Mr. Rowley, from the beginning you already know who the opponent is and yet the topsy turvy way of reaching the end of the story comes as a surprise always.....Again a good read this one, nothing to say but book five here I come!!!

Whenever you like a book, you exclude everything, just so you can finish it, well four days is already a long long time for me.

I have read a lot before coming back to this wonderful series, especially after the third book's end, with that in mind, I was hoping for something major to happen, new technology, new aliens, so many
assumptions.........with that I sat down to read.............

Four days later, as I was putting down the book, every expectations, assumptions was not only unanswered, the end was a little different from what I wanted, again a saving grace from an unexpected and unwanted source, siggghhhh..........so much potential and in the end..............

Still, the end of this series is at hand, with that book six beckons!!!!!!

Hmmmmmm.....this must be a trend, this year I am reading books that are 300+ pages or less, but I am quite surprised, some of them are quite good, like this gem by Mr. Olivo!!

Ok, I am truly fond of deities, demons and dragons, unfortunately this one is missing the dragon part(or the author has not yet started), Demigods, some are powerful, some are not, in this case Corinthos is less powerful in our reality than in the reality that he is worshiped as a god, I like the way Mr. Olivo portrayed our protagonists and antagonists, knowing your opponent is a deity or son of a deity, does not necessarily mean the day is won, our characters in this story, not only were they the underdogs, they have been manipulated and were one step behind throughout, the saving grace for this company is the rather fast thinking of some of their members.

I sincerely think this series, deserves a lot of praise and more commercialism to make it known to other book readers!!! So PLEASE READ THIS IMPERIUM BY Nicholas Olivo!!!! There is something different to it!!!! Enjoy!!!!!

I think 4.5 would have been better, this second book answered everything foreshadowed in Book One!!!!
Well, well, well........after a couple years, Mirikami and his group have finally cracked the genes that would have given them a fighting chance against the Kralls, at the same time, again as I have said human ingenuity when faced with an obstacle that threatens him and everything he loves.............prepare to find another obstacle!!!!
One of the few books that makes the series better and better (Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time comes to mind)..............
Again as is my motto in life and reading, READ BOOK TWO it is really fascinating and engrossing!!! The only problem for me for this series, when you are standing a pedestal, you tend to stagnate...........what do I mean.............Open the book and read!!!!!

Another satisfying 4.5, why not a five well...........I find the Krall becoming less intimidating...........

A very, very, stunning and full of surprises third book, just when you think, Us humans can not top having ripper telepathy, infrared sight, and all the recent gene mods, now comes age regression, now who would not want that??? Again goes to show, in adversity, human ingenuity conquers all.......without spilling anything, well let us just say, FINALLY we can fight back, and this time win convincingly...........

Again Krall's supposedly invincibility, and their EGO, this will be their downfall, they are so used to winning that, any effort to grow has disappeared and instead they stagnate, well this third book just made them vulnerable and basically indolent..........

Exciting, truly exciting times ahead, I can not wait for any new developments, gene modifications, tech upgrades........this series just keep on flying higher!!!!!!!

Another satisfying read, this series is getting better (although this is my own opinion), this time, the Krall have step up, finally we are introduced to the Olt'kitapi dismantler ships, the Krall's great neutralizer, used only when they (the Krall) feel threatened (so they do lose, but the percentage is really low).............

The war against the worthy Enemy has been going on for two decades, the humans as aggressive as they are have shown the Krall what they (humans) when pushed into a corner can really do, we have new devices, new technology in such short period of time, and yet we are losing, if not for the Kobani, we would have followed the other alien species wiped out by the Krall, As few in numbers as they are the Kobani were able to bring the fight to them.....thus resulting in bringing out these massive machines that were not really meant to be weapons.........

I never liked “wordy” novels, since I fall asleep easily, but Mr. Bennett's pacing is such, even though there are a lot of discussions, it always leads to something wonderful or heart breaking........

Book Five here I come!!!!!

Hmmmmmmmmm............if you had the opportunity to watch the earlier Hong Kong fantasy movie genre, then this might be your cup of tea, coffee or whatever.............

As with any Asian fantasy novels, we have the righteous and undying hero, his numerous companions who inevitably dies for the party or left behind, but in the end comes back in the nick of time to fight the overwhelming Boss!!!!!

This one had potential, asian mythology is flashy, lots of convoluted plots within plots, so this series is a bit of a let down, the only thing that kept me reading is Kai and his supposedly mysterious ability, so yes Mr. Lee I do hope we have something flashier, dastardlier(?) and more mystical!!!

This one felt a bit rushed.........even the fight on the Dismantler's launching yard was not written in Mr. Bennett's usually technical but informative approach, maybe after five books of tackling the Krall, the author felt he had to hurry and settle the war between the two(krall vs humans)..............

From the first book to this one, I felt FINALLY!!! FINALLY!!!! We won a deciding match against this barbaric and savage aliens, after numerous gene mods and some further enhancement of the existing technology of the Krall's, the human race emerges as the supreme species in our branch of the universe, hardly even relishing this wondrous victory, we are introduced to another sinister alien species namely the Thandol, same technology as the Olt'kitapi, same attitude as them...........I sincerely hope, seeing the Krall and their savagery.........this one for me as they were introduced, were on a bit on the tame side............

Looking back, on how we were able to win against such a strong and technologically advanced race, I hope these new opponents are treated differently..........also new tech please(as I am reading this I feel really silly since this series was already finished!! Oh well hope there is something to look forward to......)

Monster Squad, so far the only opponent they have been fighting are vampires and yet this just make it more interesting, maybe just maybe there are things out there much much more powerful, how about werewolves...... and now we are introduced to the Father of all vampires known as The Sicarii, a being that existed during the establishment of the Roman Catholic Religion, as if that is not exciting enough, the next part of the plan is to look for the Progenitor of the Werewolf race.........fun times ahead Monster Squads!!! Time to load up and start shooting!!!!!

It really gets better!!!! Imagine every ring, watch, armor and etc., with the mechanics of this particular universe they have the ability to evolve same as you, even your transportation!!!!

And the story gets better and better, we see a lot of character growth, the mystery of both Aran and Nara, Voria and Crewes(my favorite hahahahah that scene with the Goddess Nieth)!!!!!

So here we go with Book THREE!!!!

I finished this one in what??? six hours??? That was how exciting and interesting this one is.........

And wow always, the human race when faced with adversity, they truly shine and embody the meaning of the most intelligent of all species(at least in sci-fi), facing against unbeatable odds, a plan is hatched to bring the fight to the Trivar's homeworld, even with all the technological break through of the human race, there will always be someone stronger, much more intelligent and technologically superior than you............

Avoiding spoilers, Far Strike introduces another race, the Scions and as the story rolls along...........SURPRISE!!!! Just how surprising, all of these races are connected The Trivar, Antaron and the Scions!!!!

And here I was thinking that Becky Keller and Joe Nation are so powerful due to their augmentation, but that is not the case, again a rousing applause to the writer, not only were our protagonist almost killed but their augmentation was put through everything and just barely save the day!!!!