TALLOW JONES

Tallow Jones by Trevor H. Cooley
Book 1 of the Tallow Mysteries series
Read by Andrew Tell
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: paperback, kindle ebook, & audiobook

About Tallow Jones:

When Detective Douglas Jones' son goes missing under strange circumstances everyone assumes he ran away. The first break in the case comes when a long lost relative shows up with a new name and a strange tattoo on the palm of his left hand. His name is Tallow Jones. He is a private detective . . . and a wizard.

A wizard is needed too because, in Atlanta, strange abductions are just the tip of the iceberg.

Source: Info in the About Tallow Jones was taken from Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36324291-tallow-jones on 29/07/2018.

Buy Link(s):
 

My Thoughts:

This is the first book in the Tallow Mysteries which is an offshoot series from The Bowl Of Souls saga. Reading about the old world, Gaiana, made me miss the old characters like old friends.. like Death Claw and Fist!! It makes me wish that there would be more Bowl Of Souls books with Death Claw in it and more...

Andrew Tell sounds surprisingly so similar to James Foster that I thought I was listening to James Foster still, until about halfway through. Hah! My ears fooled me!

The author skated closely to destroying the plot. He had a lot of explaining to do to tie ends up nicely. Which he did... and skimmed through by the skin of his teeth.

The cover is not the best cover art in the world. If I hadn't known the author already, I don't think I would be picking up this book. It might be apropos to the story but it is not conducive to "book-buying" to my fantasy geek eyes.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4
Character development = 4
Story itself = 4
Writing Style = 4
Ending = 4
World building = 4
Cover art = 2.5
Pace = 4
Plot = 3.5
Narration = 5

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries

The Author
	Since putting out his first book: Eye of the Moonrat in May of 2012, Trevor H. Cooley has sold over 200,000 copies of his books in ebook and audio formats. He was born in South Carolina and has lived all around the United states, including Utah, New Mexico, Michigan and Tennessee. His love of reading started in the second grade with Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain series. He couldn’t get enough and continued with David Eddings, Tolkein, Robert Jordan, Stephen King, and many others. Since then, all he wanted was to become a published writer. The characters and concepts that eventually became the Bowl of Souls series started in his teens. He wrote short stories, kept notebooks full of ideas, and generally dreamed about the world constantly. There were several attempts at starting a novel over the years. Not long after he was married, his wife told him to stop talking about the story and write it down. Many years and rewrites and submissions and rejection letters later, he finally put the books on Amazon. In August of 2013 he quit his day job and started writing full time.
trevorhcooley.com | facebook | twitter | pinterest | google+ | goodreads | amazon

The Narrator
	I’m an actor and voiceover artist based in Los Angeles, California. I’m a versatile, articulate, and technically clean narrator with a strong background in improvisation and comedy. In audiobook narration, I’m an Audible-Approved producer audibleapproved._CB169116043_with thousands of 5-star performance reviews by Audible listeners. I work closely with independent authors and publishers to bring their books and characters to life.
www.andrewtell.com | facebook | twitter | instagram | goodreads

FTC Disclosure:
This book was purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.

SKIN GAME

Skin Game by Jim Butcher
Book 15 of the Dresden Files series
Read by James Marsters
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: hardback, ebook & audiobook

About Skin Game:

Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard, is about to have a very bad day….

Because as Winter Knight to the Queen of Air and Darkness, Harry never knows what the scheming Mab might want him to do. Usually, it’s something awful.

He doesn’t know the half of it….

Mab has just traded Harry’s skills to pay off one of her debts. And now he must help a group of supernatural villains — led by one of Harry’s most dreaded and despised enemies, Nicodemus Archleone — to break into the highest-security vault in town so that they can then access the highest-security vault in the Nevernever.

It’s a smash-and-grab job to recover the literal Holy Grail from the vaults of the greatest treasure hoard in the supernatural world — which belongs to the one and only Hades, Lord of the freaking Underworld and generally unpleasant character. Worse, Dresden suspects that there is another game afoot that no one is talking about. And he’s dead certain that Nicodemus has no intention of allowing any of his crew to survive the experience. Especially Harry.

Dresden’s always been tricky, but he’s going to have to up his backstabbing game to survive this mess — assuming his own allies don’t end up killing him before his enemies get the chance….

Source: Info in the About Skin Game was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19486421-skin-game on 05/07/2014.

My Thoughts:

This is the only book in this series that took me this long to read. It actually didn't get interesting until Butters glided into the scene with his skateboard glowing orange. I bought this book on pre-order and I just finished it now. That's how long it took me to read this book. Not a usual pace for a Harry Dresden book at all! Hopefully Peace Talks wouldn't be as dragging... **fingers crossed**

When it was first announced that Harry Dresden 15 will be Skin Game, I was wondering why the book is titled as such. I presumed that there will be skin walkers or some such. And there are some such, but getting to it is the real journey. And that is the beauty of the plot. Dragging though it may be, but the plot is still substantial and unpredictable.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 2
Character development = 5
Story itself = 3.5
Writing Style = 3
Ending = 4
World building = 5
Cover art = 5
Pace = 1.5
Plot = 4
Narration = 4

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 cherries


Dresden Files Books:

Review: COLD DAYS

Cold Days by Jim Butcher
Book 14 of the Dresden Files series
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: hardback

About Cold Days:

HARRY DRESDEN LIVES!!!

After being murdered by a mystery assailant, navigating his way through the realm between life and death, and being brought back to the mortal world, Harry realizes that maybe death wasn’t all that bad. Because he is no longer Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard.

He is now Harry Dresden, Winter Knight to Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness. After Harry had no choice but to swear his fealty, Mab wasn’t about to let something as petty as death steal away the prize she had sought for so long. And now, her word is his command, no matter what she wants him to do, no matter where she wants him to go, and no matter who she wants him to kill.

Guess which Mab wants first?

Of course, it won’t be an ordinary, everyday assassination. Mab wants her newest minion to pull off the impossible: kill an immortal. No problem there, right? And to make matters worse, there exists a growing threat to an unfathomable source of magic that could land Harry in the sort of trouble that will make death look like a holiday.

Beset by enemies new and old, Harry must gather his friends and allies, prevent the annihilation of countless innocents, and find a way out of his eternal subservience before his newfound powers claim the only thing he has left to call his own…

His soul.

Source: Info in the About Cold Days was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12216302-cold-days on 30/11/12.

Review:

A lot of things happen in this book including some revelations and twists in the story which I love! Obviously I am a Jim Butcher die hard fan so this review might sound like a fan-rave, so be warned!

I've been waiting for this book for the longest time! And I was ecstatic to receive it in the mail! I love the new book smell of paper! The glossy touch! The beautiful cover art! And dived straight into it! I tried to savour and read this book slowly but it still went too fast... good thing I have Steel's Edge waiting to be read next or I would be on withdrawal symptoms by now.

There are several reasons why I love reading Jim Butcher. First of which is that he never gives his readers a too stupid to live (TSTL) protagonist! Another reason is that he always delivers a satisfying ending. Well, almost always. Third, is that his stories always have a coherent and robust story structure. In which there is a clear beginning of a story, a conflict in the middle and a resolution at the end, even if the book is part of a series. And as if that is not enough, his plot is complex and comes with surprises at times. Lastly, his story telling quality is compelling! And this book is no exception. Jim Butcher obviously wrote this book with all cylinders firing! Can't wait to read the next Dresden Files book... and it doesn't come out until next YEAR!

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 4
Pace = 5
Plot = 5

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries


Thank you to Ken of Paperless Reading for hosting a twitter contest which made it possible for me to win a copy of Cold Days by Jim Butcher!!