Location: Germany
Member Since: Oct. 03, 2010
frostschutz
Books
This member has not published any books.Smashwords book reviews by frostschutz
- The Sword and the Dragon (The Wardstone Trilogy One)
on Oct. 20, 2010
This book is solid fantasy with a rich set of distinctive characters and an interesting plot. I really like how the author jumps from character to character, giving the reader a peek at each characters thoughts, whenever necessary. The locations also change around a lot (because characters are in different places and things are happening simultaneously), without ever giving you the feeling to be losing track of things. All in all this seems to be a story that wasn't simply written from start till end, but a lot of thought seems to have gone into it. One of the best reads I've come across so far on this site. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys good medieval fantasy. My only qualms with this book is the sheer amount of spelling errors. There is one on every other page. Not something I'm used to in the $10 price range. It could also use a cover and description.
- Sword Dreamer
on Oct. 23, 2010
I didn't enjoy this book nearly as much as I hoped to; throughout the whole book, Léofric has maybe three or four of these battle dreams, and only once does the king's army actually successfully act on them; and even then it feels unnecessary, since any army with a proper night watch, sentries and scouts wouldn't have needed a Sword Dreamer in that situation. Before the grand final battle, Léofric does not even dream at all, so I'm left clueless as to what the point of his ability was.
- Demon Gates
on Oct. 24, 2010
This book is the first of a series. It starts out exciting, with demons sealed away a long time ago suddenly breaking free, and Valderion forced to start an adventure after his family and friends are killed; during his journey he learns how to use a sword and gets into a lot of fights with trolls, robbers, and so on. The story loses a bit of its pace in the second half, since Valderion gets involved in a tournament in the capital, which drags on for far too long; the only demonic activity being one demon participating in the tournament in disguise. At the end of the book, the demon invasion has not even really started yet; out of several sealed gates so far only one seal actually broke. With the other seals breaking as well, I should expect more mayhem of demonic origin in the next book... :)
- The Unsuspecting Mage: The Morcyth Saga Book One
on Oct. 26, 2010
The style takes some getting used to at first, since it's all in the present tense instead of the usual past tense for fantasy novels; so he goes, sees, says, asks, hollers, rides, camps, fights, etc. The story is mysterious and many questions aren't answered, so the main character doesn't know why he is taken to the fantasy world, or what exactly it is he's supposed to do there. So he travels in search of answers, but instead finds himself in trouble at pretty much every corner. Although the book is free, the ending is a total cliffhanger so if you enjoyed it at all, you're basically forced to buy the next book as well. I ended up buying the entire series after finishing the second book. The only thing I can criticize about this story is that it gets a bit too repetitive sometimes; ride, fight, camp, ride, fight, ...
- The Kinshield Legacy
on Oct. 31, 2010
From page one, you know who will be king, and the grande finale is skipped altogether. Usually this would make for a dull story that ends in complete failure, however The Kinshield Legacy easily deserves five stars. This story thrives on its characters; they act and misunderstand things in a way that makes them human and entirely believable, including the bad guy. This is one of the few stories where I'm willing to believe that things actually really happened this way.
- The Synthesis (Powerless #1)
on Nov. 02, 2010
For anime fans, the setting of this book is similar to Gakuen Alice. An apparently powerless main character, people with strange super powers (like not having to breathe or sweating oil), and academy where they're being taught, and a war in which they're somehow involved. There's more to this story though; in the first book, Mira learns of her own past, and hopefully this will be explained in more detail in the sequel, which I'm going to read now. If you're looking for a book that is not traditional fantasy with knights and swords, but instead involves strange super powers, this is well worth a try.
- The Shadowing (Powerless #2)
on Nov. 02, 2010
This book started out great; Mira & friends set out to improve their abilities, and during this journey we learn more about what happened to Mira and why she ended up being powerless; all the while she's put through a gruesome ordeal, something I didn't expect. What I didn't like was the ending; somehow it sucked the enjoyment right out of me. I was hoping for some more answers that already nagged me a little in the first book, but it was much more pronounced here. If there's supposedly a war going on for years, why do we still know nothing about it at the end of the 2nd book, and why do they keep fighting among themselves? In the last 20% or so of the book, I didn't understand what was going on anymore, the whole mountain climbing thing seemed utterly pointless to me. And then the book just ends then and there. I'll definitely check out the next book when it comes around, I want to know how this plays out.
- The Gauntlet Thrown
on Nov. 04, 2010
This book is so well written it's hard to understand why it's free. It has everything a good fantasy story needs - a knight on a quest, unlikely companions, and unforeseen trouble when they finally reach their goal. I'm looking forward to the sequel!
- Raven's Gift
on Nov. 05, 2010
(no rating)
If you're looking for earthy / gross fantasy (PG-R not in a good way), this may be a good place; I had to stop reading this book, it was too much for me. I usually don't mind rape etc. in a book but I don't need it described in quite that much detail. No stars since I didn't finish this book; it seemed a good story otherwise and I liked the nose/smell idea.
- Ashar'an Rising
on March 02, 2011
This sequel to Demon Gates continues the story in the very same fashion/quality as the first book, so if you liked the first one, you'll like this too. It does not focus only on Valdieron but rather tries to give every character a bit of limelight, so we also get to know how Kyle and Andrak fare on their own quests.