My favorite part about this series is the gray knight himself. He is supposedly a coward, a deserter, and branded as such. Yet he proves time and time again that he is not what he has been labeled. The fact that he failed one time in his life is held against him by many of those who don't know him. Those who get to know him realize he is the epitome of true knighthood.
Also, this is the first high fantasy book that I've read where dwarves, orcs, and such have been baptized into the church. Sometimes it feels a little off, but I still enjoy the originality of it. There are other things that could use some slight improvement, but because of how well everything else is done, I have stuck with the series and am working on the second book now. It was the best book I read last year.
From the author of DEMONSOULED and THE GHOSTS, here is a new epic fantasy of high adventure, heroism, and daring deeds.A thousand years ago, the last grandson of Arthur Pendragon led the survivors of Britain through a magical gate to a new world, a world of magic and high elves, of orcs and kobolds and stranger, darker creatures. Now the descendants of the exiles rule a mighty kingdom, peaceful and prosperous under the rule of the High King. But a shadow threatens to devour the kingdom. RIDMARK ARBAN was once a Swordbearer, a knight of renown. Now he is a…
My wife and I enjoyed watching the TV series, so I thought it would be fun to read the books as a comparison. Enough things happen differently so that it did not feel like I was watching a rerun. The more I read, the more I realize how much I am drawn to the characters of a book. Other things are important in the story, like plot, action, emotions, etc., but it feels like the characters are the crux of the matter for me. With Jack Reacher having so many checkboxes ticked in the strengths list, it helps to see some weaknesses checked as well. His major quirk is being basically a homeless traveler who buys his next pair of clothes. If I hadn't seen the TV show, I wonder if I would have seen Reacher as clean shaven or not. I enjoyed the ending. It felt new, and there were definitely some good emotional swings in the book for a good payoff in the end. If it were in my normal reading genre, it might have made the top of this year's list.
Ex-military policeman Jack Reacher is a drifter. He's just passing through Margrave, Georgia, and in less than an hour, he's arrested for murder. Not much of a welcome. All Reacher knows is that he didn't kill anybody. At least not here. Not lately. But he doesn't stand a chance of convincing anyone. Not in Margrave, Georgia. Not a chance in hell.
I had read Last of the Breed by Louis L'Amour in high school and was pleasantly surprised at the time. When I picked up this book, admittedly a little on the cheap side, I wasn't expecting that much. I was pleasantly surprised.
For a book about a writer, I gleaned some good writerly advice. For that, I am very thankful. Louis L'Amour seemed to be a prolific writer to me. Whenever I've gone to a garage sale or noticed his books at a library, there just seemed to be so many of his books. To find out that he wrote about a page a day (according to this book) was refreshing for me. So many times, with today's standards, it feels like authors are supposed to put out about a book a month (or faster).
One other thing that fascinated me was that he truly researched the history of the old west to the point where he considered his writing historical fiction. Instead, he was criticized simply because of the time period he enjoyed writing about. He still wrote what he enjoyed and ignored the critics making a living out of something he loved.
It was also nice to read other fun things about L'Amour. It sounds like he was a teller of tall tales in life, not just in his books, so we may not be able to believe everything written in this unauthorized biography, but I'm okay with that. Sometimes people want their real life heroes to be something more than human, but when they aren't, that means that maybe we can attain what they did.
It was a very inspiring book for me and therefore made it into the top books read for 2024.
Some very light spine creasing and light edge wear. Roller stamp on top edge. Age discoloring, but tight and no other marks. Shps very quickly and packaged carefully!
Commander Kami Trenn and her misfit squad of mixed-race space marines fight an unknown and so far unseen enemy.
The fate of the universe hangs in the balance, but will they be able to make enough of a difference, and can they hope to uncover the enemy’s plans for galactic domination before the Alliance falls? Maybe they can, if they can stop fighting each other.
